Personal Branding for Marketing
A lot of small businesses and self-employed professionals spend a lot of time and money at the beginning on marketing and advertising, unfortunately this is often unsuccessful.
This is because they have not created an identity that is developed towards their target market, they have not defined clearly who they are, what they do, how they add value and their positioning within their marketplace.
Our lives are filled with so much information, we are now receiving over 3,000 commercial messages a day even though only a handful get through as we filter out most of them to protect us from overload.
When you build your brand it is an investment for the long term, it saves you money and time as it helps you to avoid making the mistakes so many businesses make at the beginning.
How many times have you had fliers through your door and thrown them away without a second glance? Or had phone calls from companies that have no idea what you do? These businesses went forward without building their brand.
Your Brand will allow you to carry your message and crucial information about you and your company including values, attributes, marketplace etc. You can promote your Brand thorough strategically selected channels, which will generate new business from your target market, your style and business.
By developing your Personal Brand you will create a reputation in your marketplace; you will be credible and remain visible. You will achieve more success by sending a clear, consistent and targeted message over time.
Your Personal Brand is like the foundation of your business. If you were to build a building without a solid foundation, after a short while it would fall down and you would have to start all over again. It is just not worth skipping this step in the process.
I have seen many people take out expensive advertising campaigns, send out press releases with no story, build a website which has no direction and as a consequence, no visitors.
Start with your Personal Brand; a tool that will give you more success than marketing on its own. When you know yourself and what you offer and what makes you unique your business will run more effectively.
5 things that you can do today on... how to avoid marketing mistakes
1. Start Branding first!
2. Don’t waste money on non targeted advertising campaigns
3. Start with targeted PR - cheap and effective
4. Know your target market before designing anything
5. Plan your objectives before starting a website
Expert Advice by Dawn Winder of www.i-define.co.uk
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