How to make your brand stand out?

You are all in a market with a lot of competition. How do you stand out of the crowd and make your brand seen by your ideal customer ? Today I will give you 7 strategies that will help you do that.

You make awesome stuff! Yes! You. The one who is reading this right now! You do make awesome stuff. I know you are passionate about your work too. So what is holding you back from making profits?

Your brand is not standing out! Do you know that there are hundreds of thousands of small online stores sell handmade goods on Shopify alone? How do you attract your ideal customer to your store? By making your brand stand out.

Earlier branding only meant having a logo and brand colors that reflected in everything from interior to packaging. Today, even though that is relevant that is not enough. You still should have a logo and brand colors, but that is not what is your brand.

Here are my 7 strategies to make your brand stand out :

Have a consistent look. 

It is a good idea to hire someone to do your brand graphics for you when you start out, if you are not very comfortable handling it yourself. If the budget is a constraint, you can always your ways around it by either finding a student ready to work for cheap or bartering your products for the amount. 

A logo, your name in a specific font and brand colors are the least that you will require. Apart from that you will also need some photos that you will use on all platforms where you have presence - blog, social media, store etc.

Make sure you are consistent in your look everywhere. Even on social media, go to your page weekly and look at it. Can you see your brand colors without having to scroll? Is your profile picture the same across all platforms? 

Branding is not about how you look, it is about how your customer feels. So make sure that every place that your customer finds you, he experiences the same feeling. 

Pay attention to detail

Make sure you are looking at every little detail when it comes to your brand. Always look for little things that people will notice. A hand written note sent with every order will guarantee a smile on the customer satisfaction. Can you include a simple free wallpaper design for the customer's laptop or phone with every digital order? Look at every little thing. From the moment the customer clicks on your store link to the moment they receive their product - pay attention to every small detail of every step. It will take your business miles further.

Be authentic

While you are putting up this storefront on your business - your website and social media - don't forget to be authentic. Be yourself. Keep your own voice.

The best way to do this is to ask someone to read it - someone who knows you well - a parent, sibling, friend, spouse anyone. If you do not have anyone who will be willing to do that, read it out aloud. If you find something that does not feel right, change it. Change it till it sounds like something you would say to a room full of strangers. 

When posting on social media, do not pretend to be someone you are not. Curating your feed is excellent, but keep your character. If you are a formal and shy person, don't go all quirky over your feed just because some other successful business is doing it. 

Remember, like every person out there, your brand has a character. It will be reflected everywhere - in words, pictures, emails, products. Make sure that the character is consistent.

Give your customer an experience

Make your customer feel special. Have you ever walked into a store and tried on a piece of clothing which fits you as if it were made for you? I am sure you will buy it even when you do not have to! Because you feel like it was made for you! 

Make your customer feel the same. Make working with you - be it buying or consulting you - an experience that is tailor made for them. Think of ways to do it. Using their name in conversations can be a good place to start. Adding little gifts to their orders that you know  they will appreciate goes a long way too. Or just featuring them in your blog posts or tagging them in photographs. 

Tell your story

You are a part of your business as much as your business is a part of you. Do not hide behind the brand name. Let people see and meet the real you. Talk to them as you, not just as your brand. Interact with them. Let them see glimpses of the strong woman who owns this business. Let them see the Wonder Woman in you!

If you are using your Instagram to promote your products, make sure your face pops up on the screen without the person having to scroll through the feed. That just means that after every 8-10 photos that you share, include one of yourself. 

You can also use the stories section to show your customers some behind the scene action. Show them when you are shipping something out, or even selecting fabrics for the new quilt!

Go ahead, share with them - as you!

Be consistent

Whatever strategy you decide to apply, be consistent with it. Nothing can be more confusing to a customer than a brand that changes its appearance or its theme all the time. Even if you are running multiple businesses, make sure they are highlighted differently. You can use separate titles and tags for them (like I do) or you can even color code them. Whatever you do, be consistent. 

Show up. Every day. Same time. Same place.

If you want your current customers to come back to you, make it easy for them to find you and recognize you. 

Review

At least once a year, review your brand. Take a good hard look at your brand and ask yourself if you need to make any small or large changes. Confirm that all your posts, products and images are in line with your bigger picture. 

If you need to make changes, either do them subtly (if they are small) one change at a time (eg. changing all blog images) or announce and launch a huge makeover (but make sure you have enough changes that warrant a makeover). 

I am hoping that my strategies help you in making your brand stand out. Do you have any other suggestions that I might have missed? Do let me know in the comments below. Our other readers would love to know.