What is that magic something that other successful brands have that you don’t have? If the thought of grabbing attention, making connections, and creating flawless marketing is giving you nightmares it’s time to reign it in and lock it down. Your verbal and visual brand needs love, but how?
Don’t worry. I got you. After five years of running a formidable brand experience development studio, I’ve crafted hundreds of brands that go on to create insane marketing campaigns. I’m going to dish about the secret brand development work big fashion companies employ to create killer marketing that attract and keep their customers. Grab a pen, get a paper, it’s about to get real.
Brand Building Secret #1 – Tapping into Your Audience
Your brand is the foundation of your marketing. And, your brand isn’t just your logo. The core building block of an amazing brand, and ultimately perfect marketing, is your audience. So what should you do first?
- Get to know them.
- Truly understand them.
- Gut check yourself.
- Do you know what they care about most?
If the answer is “NO,” congrats! You’ve just identified one of your biggest brand and marketing problems. Lucky for everyone, it’s a common, it’s fixable, and you don’t need to panic.
Your audience is a wealthy resource of pure knowledge, raw emotion, and real grit. They’re the ones you’re really serving, so talk to them. And better yet? They’re always ready to tell you what they think, (good, bad, and ugly). Gathering information from them is a breeze. Most businesses are terrified of this step, so they skip it. Don’t be like them. You’re not like most businesses.
Instead, consider this: Billion dollar companies don’t let fear of the unknown stop them. They crave data, test their products ruthlessly, and masterfully manipulate their marketing. They see golden opportunities to create innovative product because they’re always listening and thinking outside the box.
Don’t let fear wreck your chances of becoming a huge brand. Work up your courage, collect your audience in one place, and ask. Test your product line, survey them about your brand visuals, ask them who they love to follow on social media. Get interested in what they have to
say.
Before you design a single marketing campaign, post on Instagram, or create visuals for your company, know your audience. If you don’t know them, you’ll keep falling flat.
Brand Building Secret #2 – Tapping into Your Purpose
Grabbing hold of your audience’s feelings and wants is an important step in creating a killer brand, and ultimately, killer marketing. Next up: it’s time to take a critical look at what your company does that’s valuable on the market.
What’s your brand’s purpose?
If you lack purpose, you lack structure. If you lack structure, your marketing is going to be a terrible uphill battle. Your brand visuals won’t look right. Your logo will be a mess. Your brand messaging will feel forced. Every marketing campaign will reflect that confusion.
Customers will scroll by you on social media, thinking “Boring. Next.” You’ll keep swinging, but never landing those hits.
- You need a reason for existing. What’s your reason?
- And, is your reason interesting to your customers?
To find your true purpose examine why you started your business, line, or brand. What drives you to create every day? What are you passionate about? What makes you truly different than everyone else? Grab hold of that purpose.
Vet your purpose against competitors, customers, and your own wants / desires. Are you doing something of value? The answer has to be YES!
If it isn’t, take it back to the drawing board. You need to be valuable before you go viral.
Brand Building Secret #3 – Aligning Your Brand
Once you nail down your audience and your purpose, you have all the information you need for the next phase. Time to make a killer brand that puts out world class marketing.
The purpose and intent of your business should drive everything you do: your social media, your overall visuals, your messaging, and yes… even your logo.
But before you start working, take stock of what stays and what goes. Examine your brand and marketing with a critical eye. Is your purpose showing itself in everything you do? When you write a post on social media, are you driving home why you’re important? Does your logo
showcase how you’re different or interesting?
Be honest, and stay focused.
You’re only as good as your last marketing effort, so get ruthless about it. Make a list of every place your brand shows up that needs real work. Vet your copy, examine your photography, and scour your social media posts. Ugly business cards? Boring website? Nothing is safe, not even your logo.
You can’t confidently market if you have weak links in your chain. Identify what needs to be fixed.
By the end, you’ll have a master list to work from that will help you blow the top of your marketing efforts.
Brand Building Secret #4 – Turning Your Brand into a Marketing Weapon
Sharpening your brand into a marketing weapon takes courage to recognize what isn’t working. It takes nerves of steel to fix those issues as well.
But, with a master list in hand, nothing can stop you from sharpening your brand into a killer marketing machine.
It’s time to improve every piece that’s flat, boring, or lacks impact. Make a timeline, make a budget, ask for help, get insight, whatever it takes. Just be honest with your journey and your goals. Whether you do it today or a year from now, the work needs to be done before you blow up into a super star.
Improve your weak links and you’ll see a huge boost in the focus, intent, and look of your marketing.
Once you’ve put in the effort improving your weak links, it’ll be infinitely easier to market your business. By laying the foundation of a great brand, you’ll build the necessary confidence it takes to walk, talk, and look appealing to customers.
No more staring at your phone, wondering what caption to write on your Instagram post. No more struggling to hire the right photographers, or plan out your next lookbook.
You’ll know exactly what’s on brand, what it should look like, and how to show people you’re amazing. You’ll be faster to market, quicker to grow, and easier to scale. You’ll know your purpose, you’ll know your people, and you’ll look and feel flawless. All that will be left is talking to them.
Want more brand and marketing tips? Connect with us (Wildcat Echo) on Instagram. We’re always dishing there.
Elizabeth Hague is the co-founder of Wildcat Echo, a brand experience studio that sharpens flat, boring brands into killer marketing tools. She and her team work to create verbal, visual, and digital brand experiences that craft memorable interactions and influence customers. To find out more check out https://www.wildcatecho.com/ or email the crew at: team@wildcatecho.com
Dyan
Fashion has always survived the meanest leanest of times. Hoping this is another one of those times. In the mean I wish I knew how to make young women want to manufacture and how to get local like kinds to be in the same state of mind and that is survival. It really is having a product that people can resonate with and are willing to take one or more home. Always satisfied when they look at their purchase. That to me is the quintessential sign of success in this field.