Being the best brand – there’s no secret
‘It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, but only bad one to lose it.’ – Benjamin Franklin
With so many options, the modern consumer is fickle. Each time they purchase, they must weigh up whether they want to buy the cheap or quality option. As part of my coaching, I would never encourage my clients to target being the cheapest in their market; it is incredibly difficult to achieve and is often unsustainable. However, if you do not provide a quality product or service, then you will make your clients wish they had chosen the cheaper option.
Effective marketing will help, but its influence is only temporary. To maintain your reputation, it is important to provide a consistent and positive offering to your clients.
A limiting mindset – Hunting
It can be tempting for companies to go out and acquire as many clients as they can. This will produce good short-term results, but is not always the most profitable strategy to choose. This kind of acquisition will flatter certain parts of a business at different times. Immediately the marketing and sales teams will seem to have overachieved, but the big question is whether these new customers will return.
It takes a certain amount of investment to onboard a new client. The advertising to grab their attention and various parts of the marketing funnel they progress through all cost money, as well as your colleagues’ time and energy to ensure these elements are running smoothly. Therefore, whilst acquiring lots of new customers flatters some departments, it also puts strains on others further down the line.
You must have the correct infrastructure to deal with increased demand.
A missing element – Don’t forget what you already have
I am not suggesting that companies do not go out and seek new clients. All organisations should have an eye on the future and expanding your market share may well be a key focus. What I would warn against is onboarding new customers for the sake of it. There are two approaches you might take.
The first, a more targeted campaign for finding ideal clients should produce better results. These people are more likely to be aligned with your company values and consequently, should purchase more frequently and require less support.
The second is maximising profit from your existing client base. Are you extracting as much as you can from the people already on your side? The best way to do this is to delight your current customers, so they feel loyal to your brand. I would suggest that whilst clever marketing is important in communicating a business’s positive stories, what actually defines you is how you treat your clients and what they would say about your product or service.
A different perspective – Reputation first
If you want your organisation to have the best possible reputation, consider these three approaches:
1. Brand guidelines – What makes your company unique? Customers are looking for consistency, they don’t want to do business with you once, then return to find a completely different process. Ensure your organisation understands what foundations is it is built on, whether this is something as important as the professionalism of your staff, right down to the house colours you use across your content.
2. Touchpoints – Make every interaction a customer, or potential customer, has with your business a pleasure. Even the very small details, such as an email to confirm the shipping of your product should seem familiar and aligned with the rest of your approach. The vital thing to realise is that although some interactions, such as a brief phone call can seem inconsequential, conducting them wrongly can ruin the relationship entirely.
3. Paywall – What are you going to offer for free and what are you going to charge for? Amongst the competitive marketplace, organisations are under increasing pressure to provide free samples of their product, to invite clients in. Consider what you could give for free that would demonstrate why they should choose you. Alongside this, make sure you charge for valuable, services or products you provide. Giving away too much will make your offerings seem less worth purchasing. Decide where to draw the line.
Building an attractive an engaging brand is the goal, but this cannot be established overnight. As long as your business remains consistent to its fundamental values, provides an excellent product/service and treats its clients with enthusiasm and respect, then you are well on the way to becoming the customers’ choice.
Take pride in what you do, be friendly and keep doing those things. It’s that simple.