Are You Standing Out? Or Blending In?
As a promotional products distributor, you are in the business of branding. You must lead by example with a strong brand that differentiates you from the rest, establishing your expertise and authority in the marketplace.
Your Brand Is Your Business Identity
Too many distributors do not pay much attention to their own brand, but it is always on display. Every time a potential client is exposed to your company they instantly make a decision about your expertise, credibility, and creativity. A brand is not only your logo and keeping somewhat consistent colors in your marketing materials. Branding (or lack thereof) tells a story about who you are as a business. It’s what your website communicates through its layout, content, and visuals. It’s the way you talk about your business; the emails you send; how you and/or your staff answer the phone; your social media pages and posts; the polo shirts your staff wear; the promotional pens that are floating around; and the list goes on and on.
It all needs to represent what you are all about as a business, in a cohesive way.
What Makes an Effective Distributor Brand?
The 4 Components of a Brand
Branding is a complex process. Simply put, your brand is your promise to your customer. It tells them what they can expect from working with you, and it differentiates your offering from your competitors. Your brand is derived from who you are, who you want to be as a business, and who people perceive you to be.
An effective brand strategy gives you a major edge in an increasingly competitive market such as the promotional products industry. But how do you develop a distinct brand? By understanding who your ideal clients are, communicating to them, clearly, how you are the best choice, presenting great visual representations, and being authentic.
Your Target Audience Profile
You can’t be all things to all people. When you know exactly who your perfect buyer is, in great detail, you’ll be able to speak to what’s important to them. They’ll want to do business with you because you “get” them. That’s why you must have a deep understanding of how they think, what their challenges, concerns, and motivations are in terms of the solutions you provide. You may have more than one type of ideal customer, therefore it’s important to understand each one in depth, so you talk to each in the most relevant way to them.
Marketing Key Message
A strong marketing message is key to attract and keep your most profitable clients. By consistently and clearly communicating what you do and who you help, it connects your business to your audience and moves them into action. An effective marketing message taps into what’s important and relevant to your target audience and makes them feel confident you understand their business challenges and what’s important to them, and therefore that your business is the best choice.
Your Voice
Your style and point of view is a very important branding component. It represents the personality of your business, that when aligned with yours it becomes relatable and authentic. We help you define your tonality and how you want your brand to come across. Maybe your style is authoritative, or maybe you want to appear as creative, or fun, or forward-thinking. Once you define your style we help you infuse it into your brand the right way.
Visual Identity
From designing your new logo, to determining the look and feel of your brand, our skilled designers translate your business personality, what you do, and how you want to be perceived into unique professional graphic representations. Having it done professionally means you receive a comprehensive Brand Identity Package. This includes original files of your logo that meet industry standards formats, as well as guidelines specifying your colors, fonts, style parameters, logo layouts, among other brand information. The purpose of this is that your staff can use the proper logo in the proper way when creating visuals for documents, and also supply vendors to ensure the best logo reproduction and consistency across all your materials, every time.
How We Help
We have a knack for uncovering what makes your brand unique, your “sweet spot”. Our job is to translate your business personality, what you do, and what your ideal clients want from you, into compelling communications and graphic representations that not only capture the attention of the people you want to do business with, but also moves them to action.
Do You Need To Upgrade Your Brand?
In this commodity-driven business, you can’t afford to look and sound like everyone else, because it leaves nothing but price as a comparison parameter.
As your partner, we’ll help you identify your mojo and create a powerful brand that attracts your perfect clients. They’ll love what they see and think to themselves, “these guys get me”.