We’ve had a warm November here in New Hampshire. The golfers are still out! So we haven’t seen any snowballs yet.
But I want to tell you about a different kind of snowball—the kind that will create a kind of “awareness momentum” that builds and builds and helps build your business.
Two weeks ago I told you the story of Kate, the high school girl who built a brand for her babysitting business, at a cost of about $100. As you recall, she created this line:
Kate Loves Kids
World Class Babysitting
(And her phone number)
She put this line on a red rocking horse and put that image on flyers and posters that were distributed all over town.
A catchy line, a compelling promise, combined with a memorable image—all adding up to a consistent message that was distributed in a way that her target audience would see it here, there, everywhere, again and again. Not brain surgery. But it worked like a snowball rolling down hill!
Creating a brand may not be quite that simple for your business, but the basic principles are pretty much the same. Get your promise and your message focused and concentrated into a single idea, and then find a way to “brand” that idea on the minds of your target audience. Be consistent and be persistent.
Sure, it takes time. It’s an investment to build widespread brand recognition. But once you get there, you begin reaping all kinds of business-building benefits, which have a momentum-building, snowball effect: the more you’re known, the more your business grows, which makes you more well known, which makes the business grow more, and on and on it goes.
Here are the 8 “Snowball Benefits” of Widespread Brand Recognition.
1. Comfort Zone Factor. Building a likable, memorable brand puts more consumers in the comfort zone with you. They begin to feel they know you. And the more they see your brand everywhere, the more they will tend to assume that you’re a reliable, quality company. They think: “I see that company everywhere, so they must be good.”
2. Decision Short-cut. Branding short-cuts the decision process for busy consumers with short attention spans. The more people know and trust your brand, the more they will call you first instead of shopping around.
3. Reduce Cost of Marketing. As brand awareness builds, more and more people will become customers simply on the strength of what they know about your brand. You won’t have to work so hard or spend so much to get new customers.
4. Encourage Customer Loyalty. Building a brand that people remember and trust encourages your one-time customers to become lifetime customers who buy from you again and again. People like to stay loyal to brands they trust.
5. Trigger More Referrals. Building a brand that people remember also triggers more word-of-mouth and referrals. The more your brand is on people’s minds, the more it will also be on their lips! People are more comfortable referring a company when they know it is a recognized brand.
6. Defend Against Competitors. The best defense is a good offense. The more customers know and trust your brand, the less they will be vulnerable to other appeals. And new competitors who see how well known your brand is will be less eager to try to move in on your territory.
7. Recruit the Best. Having a popular brand helps to attract better employees, which, in turn, can help maintain morale and quality of work. People like to work for a company that is well known and respected.
8. Increase Value of Your Company. Building a strong brand makes your company much more valuable (in case you ever decide to sell or need to attract investors). The New York Times recently reported that many large corporations today calculate that more than 50% of the value of their corporation can be attributed to their brand!
When you fail to build a widely recognized brand, you miss out on this Snowball Effect.
And if you don’t build a strong brand in your market, sooner or later someone else will. They will own the prime spot in consumers’ minds—and all the leads and sales that come from that—and you won’t!
Remember the story of Virginia, the little girl who long ago wrote to the newspaper asking if there is a Santa Clause?
Let’s assume that little girl has grown up and runs her own business. Here’s what I would tell her: “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Clause for grownups too–and that Santa Clause is Branding!”
