Small Business Branding for Introverts: Get Known on Your Terms
- ARTICLES |
Small Business Branding for Introverts: Get Known on Your Terms
by Marcia Yudkin
Is your small business mainly you and perhaps a couple of employees? And are you the type of person who would rather stay home with a book than schmooze at a party? If you answered yes to both questions, you may shy away from the concept of branding, thinking either that it's only for mega-companies with big advertising budgets or that it's for individuals who love showing off and seem to have been born with a spotlight trained on them.
Let me offer a different way of looking at this issue. Even if you naturally shrink from the limelight, branding offers an opportunity to showcase your strengths and talents, feature your values and help people understand what makes you different from other places where they could be doing business. Then if you represent a match with their needs, values and preferences, they'll get in touch enthusiastically. Those who would be
happier using other vendors will drift away.
With just a bit of stylish self-disclosure and honest profiling of your ideal customer, you receive the reward of clients who respect you, appreciate how you work, value your talents and background, pay when and what you ask for, and stick with you for years. Less conflict, more mutual satisfaction. Fewer complaints, more happy customers and referrals.
Let's say, for example, that you design environmentally responsible flower and vegetable gardens. Your clients want something that is beautiful to look at, delicious and healthy to eat, and ecologically beneficial. Moreover, in the last few years you've realized that you prefer working with those whose senses of smell, visual beauty and taste are alive and who have compassion for the so-called pests who need to be gently redirected away from the flowers and vegetables as they grow. You would rather not work with folks who simply want a nice looking and functional garden, but rather those whose commitment to the Earth and living beings is part of their very soul.
To convey what's important to you, you name your company Alive and Gorgeous Gardening. Your tag line is "Commitment to the Earth, Compassion for All Beings." Your About page shows you wearing a wide-brimmed hat that shades your eyes as you inhale the scent of a white blossom with a beatific smile on your face. You have another page, "What is compassionate gardening?," which explains your philosophy. Your testimonials praise you for producing juicy tomatoes and flawless sweet corn without any pesticides and for knowing how to keep rabbits and deer from eating plants without any harm to the animals.
All this is branding. It's not showy or attention-getting as much as it is specific, candid, stylish and especially appealing for your ideal clients. Those who wouldn't be a good match for your values and approach turn themselves away. The right people respond, setting the stage for a profitable long-term business relationship.
A bookworm as a child, Marcia Yudkin grew up to discover she had a surprising talent for creative marketing. She's the author of more than a dozen books, including 6 Steps to Free Publicity, now in its third edition, and Persuading People to Buy. She also mentors introverts so they discover their uniquely powerful branding and most comfortable marketing strategies.
To learn more about the strengths and preferences of introverts, download her free Marketing for Introverts audio manifesto: Marketing for Introverts: FREE Audio Manifesto from Marcia Yudkin
by Marcia Yudkin
Is your small business mainly you and perhaps a couple of employees? And are you the type of person who would rather stay home with a book than schmooze at a party? If you answered yes to both questions, you may shy away from the concept of branding, thinking either that it's only for mega-companies with big advertising budgets or that it's for individuals who love showing off and seem to have been born with a spotlight trained on them.
Let me offer a different way of looking at this issue. Even if you naturally shrink from the limelight, branding offers an opportunity to showcase your strengths and talents, feature your values and help people understand what makes you different from other places where they could be doing business. Then if you represent a match with their needs, values and preferences, they'll get in touch enthusiastically. Those who would be
happier using other vendors will drift away.
With just a bit of stylish self-disclosure and honest profiling of your ideal customer, you receive the reward of clients who respect you, appreciate how you work, value your talents and background, pay when and what you ask for, and stick with you for years. Less conflict, more mutual satisfaction. Fewer complaints, more happy customers and referrals.
Let's say, for example, that you design environmentally responsible flower and vegetable gardens. Your clients want something that is beautiful to look at, delicious and healthy to eat, and ecologically beneficial. Moreover, in the last few years you've realized that you prefer working with those whose senses of smell, visual beauty and taste are alive and who have compassion for the so-called pests who need to be gently redirected away from the flowers and vegetables as they grow. You would rather not work with folks who simply want a nice looking and functional garden, but rather those whose commitment to the Earth and living beings is part of their very soul.
To convey what's important to you, you name your company Alive and Gorgeous Gardening. Your tag line is "Commitment to the Earth, Compassion for All Beings." Your About page shows you wearing a wide-brimmed hat that shades your eyes as you inhale the scent of a white blossom with a beatific smile on your face. You have another page, "What is compassionate gardening?," which explains your philosophy. Your testimonials praise you for producing juicy tomatoes and flawless sweet corn without any pesticides and for knowing how to keep rabbits and deer from eating plants without any harm to the animals.
All this is branding. It's not showy or attention-getting as much as it is specific, candid, stylish and especially appealing for your ideal clients. Those who wouldn't be a good match for your values and approach turn themselves away. The right people respond, setting the stage for a profitable long-term business relationship.
A bookworm as a child, Marcia Yudkin grew up to discover she had a surprising talent for creative marketing. She's the author of more than a dozen books, including 6 Steps to Free Publicity, now in its third edition, and Persuading People to Buy. She also mentors introverts so they discover their uniquely powerful branding and most comfortable marketing strategies.
To learn more about the strengths and preferences of introverts, download her free Marketing for Introverts audio manifesto: Marketing for Introverts: FREE Audio Manifesto from Marcia Yudkin