I was at a good client of mine’s office discussing business in general two days ago and she said something that got me thinking… She said,

[size=18pt]“how do people intend to grow their businesses when they don’t advertise?”[/size]

Anyway, before I begin my ranting on how you can increase your revenue, (so that the information doesn’t turn out to be useless or ineffective) it’s important I let you know you actually need a GOOD brand identity for the tips to be relevant.

So what is brand identity?

In one word, COMMUNICATIONS.

Brand identity is the way you communicate your brand to the public. Simply put, what you say and what you show. When done professionally, it serves its function of standing you out thus grabbing attention and attracting your intended market. If your communication is perfectly in conformity with what you do, then it is bound to keep those attracted coming back with others. That will definitely have a positive effect on revenue.

In simpler English, if your brand identity is neither outstanding nor attractive, it might depict a lack of professionalism which of course will attract very few (probably wrong) people and that’s definitely not a good identity.

Further explanation on this Brand Identity brouhaha? Alright!

Brand Identity is divided into two major arms;
1. Verbal identity (what you say)
2. Visual identity (what you show)

1. Verbal identity
What you say, how you say it, where you say it and when you say it can make or break your business.

In determining your verbal identity, the bottom line is to ensure you consistently sound like you know what you do VERY WELL. But in doing so, don’t sound like most other businesses who are overly full of themselves and use serious mechanical words like it’s robots they’re talking to; it’s human beings WITH EMOTIONS you’re selling to.

Would have loved to explain further but for fear of boring you to death with an epistle, let me just jump to listing some important elements of verbal identity.

I. Business Name
I know it is the name of your first daughter in whom you are very well pleased however, if it is something only people from your village can properly pronounce, my friend, it has no business being your business name.

Please do not use a name that sounds like something from the mouth of an orangutan from the deep jungles of Africa. It might not be important to you but you should know that the way your name sounds influences people’s willingness to associate with you. Even if ‘kurugbugbaku shoe makers’ make the best shoes in the world, I’ll buy my spouse shoes from ‘Iris Shoe Place’ one million times before I even think of driving past them

Oh! I said I wouldn’t explain anymore and here I am blabbing away again. Sorry! Let’s continue with just listing the elements.

II. Tag line
III. Vision & Mission
IV. Product naming
V. Choice/tone of words.

2. Visual identity (what you show)
Visual Identity simply means design that identifies you. Err, maybe it isn’t that simple. Good Visual Identity must serve the primary function of clearly communicating your brand in an engaging and compelling way (with the addition of good verbal identity above). Design must be aesthetically appealing. In fact, beautiful design is great but anything short of communicating your brand automatically translates to beautiful nonsense.

Some important elements of visual identity are;

I. Logo
II. Colours
III. Typeface
IV. Mascot
V. Pictures

Finally, to ensure your brand identity is communicating the right thing, it must clearly and constantly answer the following questions;

I. What am I branding? (The product/service you offer)
II. Who is it for? (Your target market)
III. My difference (what only you do or something you do better than your competitors)

Now that we know what a good brand identity is, if you’ve got one I’m sure you’re wondering, SO HOW DO I MAXIMIZE IT TO INCREASE MY REVENUE? The answer is marketing.

HOLD ON! This is not the time to run away from this mail!
I too detest the embarrassment of being rejected from office to office and I do not have a treasure chest to finance big budget advertising so what I’ll be revealing to you is 7 cost effective marketing strategy that has worked for me and a couple of my friends (sometimes from the comfort of our bedroom if I might add). But so as not to tire you out by turning this post into a mini textbook, let’s still walk away from the post at this point and continue with it in the next series of rantings.

See you on this blog soon.

PS: If you hate waiting like me and will like to get all 7 cost effective marketing strategy right away including all the other information in italic that I couldn’t elaborate on here, GOOD NEWS, they were all copied from the eBook; ‘BRANDICULOUS: the ridiculously simple way to build a profitable business’. You can send a mail to yox@yoxstudios.com to request your copy and you’ll be replied with how you can purchase it right away.



This entry was posted in Branding at http://www.yoxstudios.com/wp/maximizing-your-brand-identity-to-increase-your-revenue-part-1/ on September 3, 2013