(This is a follow up blog to our weekly #MagnetMarketers session with Jessika Phillips, Mike Gingerich and special guest Phil Pallen.)
A lot of people in the industry say that branding is a waste of both time and money. Per Phil Pallen, you shouldn't listen to them. Branding is an essential tool to help you achieve your goals, and is a powerful way for you to grow your business. Why? Because branding is a way to recreate the in-person experience as closely as possible online. Branding, when done right, is relationship building. 
People like consistency. Branding helps you do just that, by creating synergy with your online presence and your real life persona. Doing this can be very profitable as well. When you brand your business right, it can double your business profits, so it’s a shame if people don’t use such an awesome tool to grow a business.
One of the reasons branding is valuable is because people like to know who they are buying from. Personality is the deciding factor, and branding allows you to showcase who you are. Before people buy from you, they’re going to check your website and your social media pages. They want to see consistency between platforms, learn more about who you are, and begin to understand what ideals and values you have.
So, branding is essential! But, often when people decide that branding is for them the makes a couple of mistakes in the execution. There are three steps to creating a brand. Many people skip the first two.
Do something you love
Your brand needs to be a combination of something you love to do and something that other people need. What are your passions? Imagine you won the lottery. You don’t have to work for the rest of your life. But that eventually gets boring. What would you do then, what business would you build? That’s the important factor. You need to take a love that you have, something you want to do and combine it with a need that people have.
Build it from the ground up
Next, you have to show something for it. Build your business. The more you take the time to create an excellent company the better the money will be down the road. So take the time to make everything as good as you can get it. You’ll need a website, beautiful photos, social media platforms. Focus on quality.
Promote the brand
Lastly, you’re going to begin to promote the brand. This is where most businesses come in. They skip the necessary foundation and try to promote anyway. Why spend the money to promote your brand when it looks like crap? You need to begin by building the house first! So many businesses end up have to renovate what they have done, redoing the work they already did poorly. You need quality photos, not ancient head shots. Make the visuals appealing, but make sure they look like you. As you continue to promote your brand stay consistent and keep good visuals
People want to form relationships with you and if they like what they see, they’ll buy from you
Make sure to keep everything consistent. Colors, fonts, graphics all need to look like you brand. Did you know that 60 percent of the sales cycle is over before someone even so much as speaks with a sales representative?Your presence online speaks for you!
So you want to make sure your online presence and your branding speaks for you as much as possible. Make it look like you! Because people are checking out who you are before they meet you, branding allows you have control over that first impression. Your goal is to make sure people understand who you are in three seconds or less.
We know this is a lot to take in. Don’t freak out. Instead, turn that anxiety into productive work. And don’t worry if it seems to be taking a long time to build or renovate your business. The longer you take to build your brand the better the result will be. Remember, clarity doesn’t arrive right away.
Once your site has gone live, and you continue to promote, keep thinking ahead. What’s your next move? Communicate where you are now, continue to brainstorm, and come up with the next phase.
If you missed out on our session and want to hear more of the conversation, replay it here. And, join us next Tuesday at 4 p.m. EST.
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