Quick question… What's your brand value?

Imagine for a moment you are walking along one day in the park. You look down and see a beautiful envelope, which you pick up. Its fine quality paper, with an embossed company logo on the back and full postage on the front and it's very impressive.

To your surprise, however, the envelope has nothing written on the front - no recipient's name, no address. And you can tell, on closer inspection, that it also has no contents.

This envelope is like many small business's marketing messages. All the investment is spent on the tactical element represented here by the stamped envelope. It's like purchasing advertising, web sites, brochures, network memberships and tradeshow stands.

What's missing; is a target market (the address) and a message (letter inside the envelope). Who should get this envelope? What do you want them to know?

In marketing terms, this missing piece is a unique brand message stating who your product or services is for, and why they need to purchase from you as opposed to your competitors. Without a brand message, you may as well toss your money out the window, because your marketing is doing nothing for you.

Not having a marketing strategy is like sending out sealed, stamped envelopes without addresses or anything inside.

This is why so many small business owners find marketing expensive, difficult, and a waste of time and money. If they went back and did Step #1 (below), their marketing message would be significantly more impactful.

Marketing Step #1: Identify your brand value
A brand is the unique identity of your business. It's not just what we communicate; it includes all the impressions and beliefs your target audiences have about who you are and what value you bring them.

Well branded businesses attract the attention of their intended audience with clear, compelling and authentic messages. It can actually shorten the sales cycle, because prospects quickly understand why they should do business with you. They also appreciate your value, so you can charge premium prices and expect both repeat business and referrals.

Don't have a brand?  Don't worry - the vast majority of businesses don't.

The good news is, when you identify and communicate your brand, its like you're the only one in your industry marketing to your potential clients and sales can jump remarkably and often in very quick time.

If your client attraction strategies aren't working, you're not alone. Research I under took this year consistently showed less than 20% of the business owners felt confident they knew who their ideal clients were and how they were different from their competitors.

Knowing you are different and being able to communicate it concisely and beneficially is the difference between marketing being an expense versus the best investment you will ever make.

Basically over eighty percent of the researched businesses were wasting money on marketing, sending out sealed, stamped envelopes without addresses or anything inside.

Your true competitive edge is about communicating your brand effectively.

Before you waste another cent implementing strategies that deliver NO message, invest in identifying your brand. Here's exactly what you need to do…

1. Develop a Vision of where your business is going, and the role your brand will play in getting it there.
2. Assess the alternatives to your brand i.e. your competitors.
3. Define your target market.
4. Segregate your specific point of difference or Unique Selling Proposition.
5. Once you've identified your brand differentiators, form a value statement of whom you're for and why. For example: "ABC Tutoring works with high school students [target market] who stress out when taking tests [problem or need]. We blend proven scientific approaches with nontraditional techniques like meditation to help improve scores by up to 40% [differentiation and proof]."
6. Finally, select the marketing strategies you'll use to deliver the message of your brand to your target market.

Posted by Deborah Jackson on December 4, 2009