Written by: Paul Arnold, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
How can you increase a customer’s buying decision to purchase your product or service? How can you get your customer to know, like and trust you? This article will answer those questions and outline the most important factors for building a strong brand to market your business.
Helping Your Client’s Decision to Buy
Here are three ways a strong brand increases your customer’s buying decision.
Time: Customers and clients are often short on time and have to make a fast buying decision. If you have a strong brand, your prospects will be able to make that buying decision with confidence.
Trust: By clearly demonstrating what your business stands for, your prospect will have more trust in your brand. Having credibility is imperative in the decision-making process of your prospective client. If you have multiple unrelated product or service offerings, that can weaken your brand and cause confusion. If you run multiple businesses, it is sometimes best to have separate brands.
Choice: There are several related product and service purchase options for your prospective client. A strong brand will clearly demonstrate your value proposition. Once your client sees what makes your brand unique, they will choose to purchase from you over your competitor.
The K-L-T Factor
One of the most important factors of marketing your business is the K-L-T factor of your product or service. Is your product or service something that your customers can know, like, and trust? If you cannot achieve all of these three fundamental pillars, you will have difficulty marketing your product or service.
Know: How Will People Know My Business?
Does my customer know me and my business? Do they know my product or service? It comes down to how effective you are at promoting your product or service to your potential customers or prospects. How are you going to bring awareness to your product or service? If I try looking up your company, product, or service on the internet, am I going to find it, and what am I going to see? We all know the expression you only have one chance to make a first impression. When your customer meets you or scrolls through your product/service online, they will have made up their mind within seconds about whether they are interested in your product or service.
How are you planning to let your prospects or potential customers know about you or your product/service? Are you going to buy social media ads or hand out flyers? Are you planning to go door to door or give a speech at a community event? Are you going to promote your product or service through your existing social media following? Are you going to run a social media contest or give out samples at a popular sporting event? You need to have a plan to make people know what you will sell. This is all part of your marketing strategy.
Like: How Will I Make Them Like My Product or Service?
This may sound like a no-brainer, but it is surprising to see how many entrepreneurs do not contemplate the likeability of the product or service they are selling. Do you, your product, or your service have a likeable or inspirational brand? Put yourself in the shoes of your customer. If you came across your product or service being sold by someone else, would you want to buy it?
Entrepreneurs who market themselves on social media are establishing their brand with every post. I see some entrepreneurs sabotaging themselves by posting a rant, a religious or political opinion, or a sexual image that would either offend people or annoy someone. Remember what your father or mother told you: never discuss religion, politics, or sex at the dinner table. Well, the same goes for social media.
If you post something in favor of a conservative or republican, you will irritate a supporter of the liberal or democratic party. If you post a Hindu event with a picture of Ganesh, the elephantheaded Hindu god of beginnings, your potential customers will be left scratching their heads at your exotic spiritual beliefs. Lastly, if you post a flyer of yourself or a scantily clad model, you may receive a lot of likes from men, but you are certainly not going to leave your female friends wanting to introduce your product or service to their husbands. If you are attractive, you can use your assets, but let’s keep it classy. The only exception would be if you are marketing a new business venture in the fitness or adult entertainment industry.
It is best to avoid ranting on social media, unless you can laugh at your own foolishness at the same time using self-deprecation. With every passionate opinion, there will always be someone you annoy, whether they say something or not. If you are upset about something, take twenty-four hours until you have a clear head and give yourself some time to reflect before you take any actions you may regret. You don’t want to sabotage your own personal brand to your potential customers before you even start. If your social media followers are enjoying your posts and gaining value from your insight, they are more likely to support your business venture because they like you!
Trust: Why Should They Believe What I Say?
This is the credibility factor. If you need to ask about health, we automatically trust medical doctors and PhDs because they have spent six to ten years studying and researching that topic. Education or designations is one way to establish credibility. Experience above all goes a long way. It is a lot easier to work and trust someone working in a field for ten years versus a six-month newbie. Through experience, you can obtain client referrals and testimonials that demonstrate your capabilities to other new potential clients.
One reason that we often ask our friends and family for referrals is that we trust their judgment. In my industry of the financial services, it is a lot easier to receive new customers from client referrals than it is to obtain a new client from knocking on their front door. The clients I have obtained by face-to-face door knocking can take three to six months of building trust before they become a client. It is a lot easier to obtain a new client through a warm referral and important to show gratitude when it happens.
If you offer a service, trust is formed by building relationships with your prospective clients. You can achieve this through social media or emails by sharing educational content. You can also let people see a little of your personality. You could post about your personal interests or hobbies with a post of you with your family pet or doing your favorite activity. If people can relate to your content and obtain value from your educational material, they are more inclined to see the benefit of your services.
If you sell a product, people either like it or not. If it is technology, it should be user-friendly and solve a problem or help users be more efficient. Creating a consistent brand that people can trust and benefit from will pay dividends. Companies like Apple, McDonald’s, and Toyota all have reliable brands; customers know the quality of the product and the level of service to expect by association with those brands.
A network marketer approached me about buying his product after I had inquired about what he does. His value proposition was reasonable in that his product would save money and benefit a charity. However, he had no business card. Instead, he presented something printed on a flyer. He was new to this business and relied on his associate in prompting him to attend our business networking event.
My impression was that he did not have sufficient credibility to warrant me buying his product. I did not have faith that his product was reliable or that he was competent. His message was not clear, and his communication was further impeded by a thick accent. In my mind, he had not sufficiently established credibility to sell me his product. I did not have confidence in him, even though he represented an international company that could potentially save me money. In my mind, he had not earned my trust to sell me his product.
WII-FM: What’s In It For Me?
It is critical that your product or service brand is tuned into the important frequency of WII FM: What’s In It For Me! I will not purchase your product or service unless there is a direct benefit to me. Are you making my life more convenient? Are you going to save me money? Are you going to help me become healthier? Are you going to bring more joy and happiness into my life? Are you going to improve my home or my technology? Are you going to help me grow my business? If nothing benefits me directly, I am not likely to spend my hard-earned money to purchase your product or service.
Many of you have seen The Wolf of Wall Street when Leonardo DiCaprio’s character playing Jordan Belfort asks his colleagues to sell a pen. The first instinct would be to discuss the features of the pen, such as the color and style. It is not until the one guy asks Jordan to write his name down that the pen becomes an instrument required to solve a need. The ability to position your product or service as a benefit that solves a problem rather than to describe the features is the art of WII-FM.
Working in the financial services, it is easy to get caught up in demonstrating the highest returns for clients or the lowest cost of the management fees. However, once you show that you can help pay for their children’s education or help them enjoy greater freedom in retirement or save $250,000 in estate taxes, then you are showing that your services can provide a direct benefit to your potential client.
Put yourself in your customer’s shoes and try to view your product, service, or the brand you have created through their eyes. It is valuable to get feedback from other people to make sure you are on the right track. Before you spend your money investing in websites, business cards, manufacturing your product, or developing your services, make sure you have a truly valuable product or service that can indeed benefit people. Make sure it is something that they will want to spend money on.
Ask around and see if your friends will pay money for what you want to sell. Is there a chance you are on the wrong path or direction? Not that your next idea may hit the nail on the head and be the million-dollar bonanza. You just want to make sure you are on the right track before investing the time, money, and energy to create a product or service that can truly benefit others.
Paul Arnold, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Paul Arnold published his first book Business Strategy Success Principles, to help business owners and entrepreneurs have an action plans to grow their businesses and enjoy and easier life. Paul has started six businesses over the past 14 years, with 30 years in sales and marketing. He is a business strategy coach and runs a book writing workshop, Adapt and Overcome Innovation and Change Strategy Summit.
