Creating a solid brand experience is integral to setting yourself apart in a competitive marketplace and ensuring that your customers know what unique value you bring to the table. Ideally, your customers will walk away with an excellent idea of who you are, what values you hold dear, and why they should stay engaged with your company. These five markers are essential for the optimal client experience.
1. A Good Visual Story
A picture tells a thousand words, so you’ll need to craft a visual story that lets prospective customers know who you are. The best visual experiences are memorable, impactful, and very easy to grasp right off the bat. The first way you’ll communicate with your customers is through your logo. Since you’ll be putting your logo on everything, it should be emblematic of what your company brings to the table, relatively easy to reproduce, and look good at any size.
Although many companies update or enhance their logos from time to time, the general gist is usually the same. Since it’s one of the essential elements of the overall experience, make sure that you do your due diligence and spend ample time working out what will serve your needs best.
Photographs
High-quality, non-copyrighted photographs and images can tell a story and intrigue your customers. Excellent pictures are especially important for your website and visually-heavy social media platforms like Instagram. This is one area where you really don’t want to skimp on quality, so align yourself with a marketing company that excels in choosing the proper photographs for you.
Physical Products
Logos and great photographs are not just for your digital presence, though. A mark of a company with a solid message is consistency throughout all of its products. Your logo should be reinforced in physical products, like packaging and stationery. If other visual elements set your company apart and make it distinguishable, use those also. For example, color schemes and fonts can be highly effective at conveying a specific message.
2. Clear Understanding of the Company’s Values
Your customers and potential customers should walk away with a very clear understanding of what your company stands for and values. You can convey values in many different ways, from a mission or vision statement to the sorts of visuals and text you use. For example, if your company gives back to children’s charities in your hometown, consider having a blog post section of your website devoted to your charity work and the impact it has.
Make sure that these values are totally consistent across all of your media too. For example, crosspost your blogs, images, or quotes on your social media feeds and invite interaction with potential customers. You can also emphasize your values on your website by having your mission statement or a simple one-liner about what your company believes in at the bottom of every page. Overwhelmingly, customers buy from companies that hold their values.
3. Novelty and Interactivity
Give your customers chances to interact with your company in a fun and meaningful way, and they are bound to have a memorable and good experience. Social media platforms are an excellent place to foster this kind of engagement. Ask your customers to participate in different polls or give feedback on posts. Always have a social media manager available to answer questions and communicate with them in real-time. This shows that you care.
You can also post polls or ask for feedback on your website. For example, if your company is a pizza parlor, you could ask your loyal customer base what new and delicious pizza toppings they want to try next month. Engaging correctly is a science. You want to be interactive, but you also want to do it in a way that your customers appreciate and avoid coming across as spammy.
Different Platforms
If you want your customers to have a solid experience, tailor what types of interactions you have with them and the frequency to the platform in question. For example, LinkedIn is a professional social media outlet where meatier, business-style articles could be welcome. Instagram is highly visual, and Facebook lends itself to all different types of media, including video.
The frequency matters, too. While you can get away with tweeting several times per day, you will probably only want to post on LinkedIn a few times a week. Working up a schedule and posting frequently will help you hit the sweet spot and stand out to your existing and potential customers.
4. Establishing Your Reputation
No matter what your business or sector is, trust is always vital. Part of a successful experience is establishing trust right off the bat with long and short-term strategies that establish credibility. Consistency, posting on social media, and engaging with your customers are excellent ways to do this. Another is through having good copy on your website. A mix of long and short-form copy can show your customers that you know what you’re talking about.
Excellent website copy uses your company’s tone and provides the customer with both engaging and informative content. You can also use blog posts or web copy to differentiate yourself in a cluttered marketplace. While it’s never a good idea to intentionally slam your competitors, a few well-placed blog posts or a web page on the benefits of working with you would certainly work in your favor. Also, make sure that you’re consistently creating great content.
5. Customer Feeling Heard and Seen
The customer experience is not complete if your customers are not feeling seen and heard. Many other aspects of the experience can help point them in that direction, like interactivity and producing good and valuable content, but the best way a company can create a positive experience is through engagement. Regular outreach and creating events or incentives with your customer in mind will go a long way.
Many companies make the mistake of going after new customers while neglecting their existing ones. The truth is, for optimal growth, you really need to do both. Existing customers can be excellent referrals, help you stay afloat during hard times, and are easier to upsell to, so make sure that you take as good of care of them as you can. This simple step will put you one toe ahead of your closest competitor.
Simple Perks
Easy, personalized things like newsletters with their names on them, regular engagement over social media, or phone check-ins will help your customers understand that your company stands behind its stated values and is one to work with. It’s all part of the brand experience because it cements who you are in the minds of your customers and establishes you as an excellent corporate partner that genuinely cares about their feelings.
It’s challenging to get the customer experience totally right, which is why you need a good partner on your side. Choose a company that understands scalability, offers excellent branding and marketing packages, full support, and a customized plan that fits your business. At LovelyPixels, we deeply analyze your business needs and craft a unique solution for you. Call LovelyPixels today at 304-207-0678, or visit us online to learn more about how we can help you.
