Dave Alsobrooks
The Relationship Conversation
The idea of building a strong business brand can be overwhelming. Textbooks define branding as the process of shaping people's perceptions of a brand through symbols, designs, and messages. This can feel like a daunting task without clear guidance on where to begin. So, where exactly do you start?
Branding does require effort <sorry>. But it's not necessarily about the “things” as much as being true to who you are as a brand and delivering on your promises to customers. In that sense, you may have already taken the first steps towards branding without even realizing it.
At its core, branding is about building relationships based on reciprocal value. It involves offering support, empathy, and understanding between you and your customers. Humanizing your brand makes this process infinitely easier.
Why?
Focusing on humanizing your brand quickly pays off because people trust people, not corporations. Gaining their trust becomes less challenging when you can make them see the person or culture behind your brand. When your marketing feels like it's coming from real people, each message consistently reinforces connection, resulting in a multiplied impact.
How?
To humanize your brand is to be honest about your values and beliefs. You cannot be different things to different people. While you may tailor your messaging, the core story should remain consistent. By being authentic, you will attract the customers who align with your brand. More importantly, you will attract customers who genuinely want what you offer. Instead of striving to be overly unique, focus on communicating your true identity. Otherwise, customers will eventually realize the disconnect. And as they say, the truth hurts.
When it comes to expressing the true story behind your brand and the promise you will make, the sooner the better. Your story is the foundation for developing marketing strategies, sales funnels, and campaigns—essentially everything you undertake. It is rooted in what you already know to be true, and it resides within you. Consistently telling this story in all your endeavors reinforces your core values, enhances connection to customers, and builds genuine relationships over time.
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Bound creates connection through surfacing truths and building connection. A free 30-minute consultation provides everything we need to know to put together a plan for articulating your story in a way that is true to you and the promises you wish to make and keep with others. The ones that will help you forge deep relationships that serve the long term health of your endeavor.