58 - What is Branding and Why You Need It

The definition of “branding”, according to BusinessDictionary.com is “the process involved in creating a unique name and image for a product or service in the consumers' mind, mainly through advertising campaigns with a consistent theme. Branding aims to establish a significant and differentiated presence in the market that attracts and retains loyal customers.”
​
Having said that, do you think you need branding?  If you’d like to know what I think, then I recommend you hang out as I’ll be sharing my thoughts with you on today’s Perspective Wednesday!

Let me ask you: When I describe a big yellow M on top of a fast food chain, do you instantly know which company I’m referring to?  Can you guess which insurance company uses this slogan: “Like a good neighbor [this insurance company] is there”?  

It is very likely that you do know which companies I’m referring to.  Now, I know that I have listeners all over the world, but still, I’m sure that most of you knew I was talking about  McDonald’s.  The second one is State Farm insurance - an insurance and financial services company that has branches throughout the United States - “Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.”

But, how come you were able to guess which companies I was talking about?  Well, that’s thanks to branding.  And, in today’s episode I am going to talk about why you need to start branding your house cleaning business.

You see, you need to work on and develop a branding strategy for your company so that you can more effectively and efficiently advertise your house cleaning business in the future.  This is why you need.

You want to get to the point where your company and your company’s mission are instantly recognized by your name, logo, symbols, slogan and even colors.  You want these factors to immediately identify your cleaning company, what you stand for, and what your mission statement - as a business - is.  

In other words, when you firmly establish your brand you have a greater chance of being recognized within your market.  “Well, how can I do so?”, you might be asking.

Here’s how: by being consistent.  

Do you have a slogan?  If you do, then you need to use it on every … single … post.  Create a hashtag with your slogan; make sure that your business cards have your slogan.  Have your slogan on your website right next to your company’s name and also on your company t-shirts, if you have any.

Same goes for your logo.  Make sure that your logo is visible on all of your posts, business cards, company shirts, website and any place you can think of where your company is represented.  Now, I get asked about resources on where to get logos, but this is something you can do yourself, especially, if you’re barely starting out.  I’ve recommended this graphic design tool on my website, but I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned it on any episode.  It’s called Canva; you can find them on canva.com and they also have an iOS and Android app. 
You can use Canva to create your logo or create images that you can share on your social media accounts and when you do remember to include your logo, your slogan and try to be consistent with your colors, too.

Now, what do I mean by colors?  Well, what colors are your uniforms?  Or company shirts?  Or, hats?  Or, what are the predominant colors on your website?  Try to stay consistent with those colors.  Remember, you want to get into your current and potential customers’ minds so well, that when they see your slogan, colors, logo, they automatically think about you and your company’s name and what you stand for.

This is branding.

Finally, another aspect of branding that a lot of people leave out is communication.  Your way of communicating is also a form of branding.  How do you answer your phone?  How do you reply to emails and text messages?  Remember, you want to be consistent and have your customers expect your reply to be the same every time they try to contact you.  

Customers like familiarity.  And, you can achieve this by having processes and systems that will guarantee your business will function in the same manner every single day.

Well, that’s it for today.  Let me know what you thought about today’s episode in the show notes section or send me a message on any of my social media accounts.
Do you have a branding strategy?  If so, I’d love to find out!  Share with me and my audience!

I wish you all the best!  And, I’ll catch you on the next episode!

---

Today's episode was brought to you by Weebly!

You know how much I emphasize the importance of providing your customers with a great experience and it all starts with your website!  Nowadays, one of the very first things customers do is search for cleaning services online and if your website is just not cutting it, you might be losing potential customers!  With Weebly, you’ll be able to create a high-quality website with easy-to-use tools! 

​You’ll have tons of professional themes to choose from, and getting started is so easy with their drag-and-drop website builder!

WEEBLY

---

Before you leave, remember to follow me on my social media accounts!

---

One more thing!

Have you subscribed to the podcast, yet? 

If not, you can do so on your favorite podcast platform.  I'll leave the links below. 

​Thank you so much and have a great day!

iTunes
​Stitcher
Spotify 
​Google Play ​​​​​​​​