Entrepreneurs seldom consider what they want from their brand. I know this from my own past experience and that of my clients. It's an afterthought that comes into play when it's time to design websites or social media posts. A tell-tale sign that you don’t know what you want from your brand comes through in the content you create.
Back in the day when we had our restaurants I was throwing up food pics and vids with no real thought to what I wanted from folx. Duh, I thought it was obvious that I wanted them to buy bbq. And while that may have been obvious the plan for my brand was not. As a certified brand strategist and business coach and can look back on a whole lot of fuckery I thought was branding and brand able.
If you're one of those entrepreneurs that's focused more on trends than what you want from your brand, you're diminishing your value. You post content based on trends even though you're not a content creator. You put more of your personal life on display than your expertise because you think it's the "know, like, and trust" thing to do. How you dance, drink coffee, or point at words says nothing about your personal or business brand. You are riding the coattails of content creators.
Is that building the type of brand awareness you really WANT? No, I don’t think so.
At the end of the day you wanna make money from doing something you love or something you're good at. On a brand level that means you want at least three things. To accomplish those three things you have to stop looking at your brand through a content creator lens because you are a brand leader. As a brand leader you want is to generate leads, increase sales and build loyalty.
How are you generating leads when you point at words? How are you increasing sales posting vacation pics? How are you building brand loyalty when you use your cute kids as a distraction? When I see this, I see you chasing bullshit. Whether you think your personal or business brand is making an impression, is it how you want to be remembered? Your first impression by someone needing your services should be based on brand value, expertise, positioning, not trends or your personal life.
Let's dig a little deeper into these three areas.
You Wanna Generate Leads
One of the 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People written by Franklin Covey's is to begin with the end in mind. What is the end game for your lead generator? If you don’t have an end game your lead magnate is wasted. You have no direction for your ATM. If you have no direction you need to get your brand strategy together.
Brand strategy is the go to for generating viable leads because you know what you want from your brand and who, the ATM, available target market. I get hot like fish grease when I hear someone tells an entrepreneur to focus on trends. That makes you a trend follower instead of brand leader. There is no reason for ANYONE to follow a follower. I'm just say'n.
When you're using a lead generator you should know the end result. A likely lead generator is a downloadable freebie from your website. I’m all for this lead magnet to get an email. However, you can't run your business off freebies. You also can't keep using discounts and giveaways as your go-to lead magnate. Take it from a former restaurant owner. The folx who only show up for the freebies are not your ATM.
When you hear advice about giveaways, discounts and whatnot, run the other way. This is the advice of broke-ass entrepreneurs in hustle mode with no value. They’re trying to build a business out of something they know little about or don’t know their worth.
Your ATM expects you to be a brand leader, not a brand. They are looking for you to make a promise, stay focused and create a culture. Doing that means you have an end goal. Start at the end and work your way backward. Doing this helps you create a path of least resistance for your ATM.
You Wanna Increase Sales
The next move you wanna make with your brand is to make it make money. To do this, you have to know your worth. Knowing the price of the competition means nothing. It's your brand equity that matters. The more brand equity you produce, the more your brand is worth. The more your brand is worth, the more you can charge.
When you created that lead generator and your ATM responded, it was the beginning of a relationship. The more your ATM relates with your brand, the more valuable you become to your ATM. Your job in the relationship is to continue to add value. Writing a blog post or sending an email should add brand value. Posting a reel, TikTok, or Youtube short should add brand value. Dancing, pointing, and cute kids are not a value add.
I don't believe four or five-figure clients take you seriously when you're dancing and pointing. The most common price tag I see in my feed for these entrepreneurs is $39-47. These are some of the same people who are chasing down five-figure months. The folx who respond to it don't care one way or another because they only care about the price. No shade just wanna make a point. Let's do a little revenue math for that, shall we?
"If no one hates it, no one really loves it." – Jessica Walsh
On a good day, the average landing page has a conversion rate of about 2.3%. That means at least 9,217 people need to hit your landing page and convert it into 212 sales. That's you dancing and pointing hoping 9,217 people will see it and 212 will buy your $47 offer.
A different scenario would be that you upped the brand game which increases your brand equity. Increased brand equity means you can increase your price. So instead of $47, your price is $147 or $1,047. The $147 price tag requires 68 sales. The $1,047 requires 9.5. You can do the rest of the math.
If you're charging the higher price with low brand equity you're gonna need to do a lot more dancing and pointing with cute kids on vacation. That is not a good a brand strategy for converting high-paying clients.
You also can't use the excuse of, that's what everyone else is charging as a reason to raise your price. You don’t know if they’re making money or not. You don't know what type of results they're providing. You don't know their brand equity. Basing your worth on their price will not increase your revenue. Increasing your brand equity is what increases your revenue.
You Wanna Build Loyalty
The final thing you want from your brand in 2022 is loyalty from your ATM. The levels of loyalty can range from mildly interested to super fan. Does it come by word of mouth, repeat customers, or more followers sharing your post? Becoming the brand favorite can be a game-changer for a brand leader. To be that game-changing brand leader, consider the lifetime value of an ATM.
Somewhere in the ATM is a line between customer loyalty and brand loyalty. Customer loyalty is based on price. Brand loyalty can give a fuck about price. That's because it relies on how the user feels about the brand, not the cost of its offers.
When you keep your promise or fix a fuck up when you don't, you're increasing the level of loyalty. It's really a relationship vibe. But just like any relationship, some folx hang on to the point of being toxic. That includes you hanging on to ATMs that are working your nerves or are more trouble than they’re worth.
You may think that's a bit off-topic, but it's not. Your ATM expects a certain level of reciprocated loyalty. It's where keeping your promise comes into play. It is the very least amount of loyalty you can deliver. The consistency of showing up and doing what you said is not hard when authenticity and honesty are part of your brand values.
Even when you brand vertically, staying in your lane is seen as a level of loyalty. To brand vertically is to stay true to the game. You negate this level of loyalty by doing too much. You have multiple businesses or multiple offers that span various interest. This level of overkill implies you do nothing well or you can't focus.
The saying that less is more should be a brand staple. It's why you need niching is a thing. It's why ATM is a thing. It's why minimum viable anything is a thing. It's the little things in a relationship that breed loyalty. Your brand doesn't need to make oversized gestures to increase loyalty. All your brand needs to do is reciprocate the love by holding up its end of the relationship.
Wrap Up
When I titled this post Knowing What You Want From The Brand, I should’ve added the word should. If you’re looking to increase in 2022 stepping up as a Brand Leader is where it starts. If you were a brand in 2021 I say rebel in 2022 and be a Brand Leader. If you need help getting started, you can use guidebook below.
No more, you are your brand bullshit. No more dancing for your money, unless you’re a paid dancer. I’m here for a rebellious 2022. I’m just saying.
Phyllis Williams-Strawder
Ghetto Country Brandmother®
Phyllis is Certified as a
👉🏾 Brand Strategist;
👉🏾 Business Coach; and
👉🏾 Life Coach
with a degree in Business.
Phyllis also the former owner of Bigmista's BBQ
& the author of That Damn Girl Stuff.
Phyllis describes her personal brand as and empathic bitch leading a respectful rebellion of #BrandLeadership ☝🏾 Brandbaby® at a time. (#AuthenticBranding #BrandedAF)
