When we think of branding as being all about how nice your website looks and how many people comment on your business cards it can be difficult to get a handle on the power of your brand. After all, as long as it’s smart, what does it really matter? Well I think it matters a lot if you want to make doing business easy.
Focus matters more than smart
A very good friend of mine (shall we call her Jane?) bought a business eighteen months ago and since then has worked like a trojan with her business partner to grow the sales. Whilst my friend comes from a recruitment background as has no knowledge of the industry, her business partner worked in the business for ten years before they purchased the company, so they certainly know a thing or two between them.
But despite this knowledge and my Jane’s discipline at the selling, business isn’t easy. In fact, it’s incredibly tough for them.
Now branding is no magic wand for a failing business, but when you’re working as hard as Jane is, it’s something that will really make a difference. I look at their website and whilst it may be smart, it’s boring. More than that, it’s confusing and they’re missing opportunities. Jane and I were talking last week and she said “I know we need a new website” but the thing is, if they just create a new website they’re not really fixing the problem.
The real challenge
Before they race out and have a new (smart) website developed, they need to ask themselves: how do we create a brand that is irresistible to our most profitable customers?
Right now, Jane’s website looks the same as most of her competitors and that’s not doing them any favours. In being similar the only differential is price.
Jane’s company sells and provides training for voice recognition software (the stuff that you dictate onto a dictaphone and then it types up what you say). Jane’s website looks like a software house. Shouldn’t it look like an approachable, friendly and efficient business that can train their customers to save time? Shouldn’t they look like a business that are easy to work with? Surely you don’t want this software unless you’re busy, surely you don’t need the training unless you’re not technically savvy? I look at the website as a business owner and it terrifies me.
I really wish I could show you screenshots to illustrate the point but it wouldn’t be fair. And really the point is that this isn’t about the website, this is about their brand, their focus.
This is about creating a brand that sets Jane’s business apart from her competitors, one that makes the company utterly irresistible and engaging to their ideal clients, one that reconnects Jane and her business partner with the business again. One that re-energises them and most of all, makes doing business easier.
Creating a website that looks the same as your competitors is the easy route. Taking three steps back to think about the focus for your business, what you want to be known for and why your customers really do business with you is much harder. And it can be scary. You’re going against the tide, creating something that’s breaking industry norms, and you need to be very confident that you’re doing the right thing. But it’s exciting isn’t it?
Tagged as in Branding, Web Design
