In a world of Google and voice assistants, people looking for a specific product or service can simply ask for the provider by name. This means that branding is more important than ever.
Someone looking for the best fried chicken in town is able to ask Siri specifically for your restaurant. Someone looking to build their brand can Google Junior Nyemb.
As a freelancer or small business, would customers ask for you by name?
When people ask for you by name, it means, in marketing terms, that your brand has high equity.
There are multiple complex factors used to measure brand equity. But in my opinion, they all come down to three things: awareness, trust and loyalty.
If you figure out how to earn all three, you will build a brand with very high equity.
1. AWARENESS
In a pre-internet and pre-social media world, attention was very expensive to earn. It was a luxury afforded only to big brands with deep pockets. Nowadays, all that is required is the courage to put yourself out there and to create content that tells people who you are.
Social media is the most powerful tool ever invented to build brand awareness. Use it to tell customers about what you do, who you do it for and why you do it. With enough empathy to understand and address the needs of your audience, and the generosity to show up with your best work consistently, you will earn massive brand awareness over time.
In a digital world, even building an amazing website or pushing out an ad to thousands is cheaper than ever before.
2. TRUST
Every first-time buyer has the same problem: fear of uncertainty. Customers worry about making the wrong purchasing decision. Brand equity matters because, if people are asking for you by name, you virtually have no competition. But it also matters because brands with high equity are safe. They are familiar, tried and true. Thus, they inspire trust.
Without the kind of equity that Nike or Apple command, you have to rely on the power of credibility of those who already know you and trust you. You have to borrow the trust they’ve earned within their network by asking for reviews and recommendations.
And if you’re just getting started, showing up often with useful content on social media, offering free trials and generous refund policies are very effective ways to earn customers’ trust or at least make them comfortable enough to take a leap of faith.
3. LOYALTY
The surest way to earn loyalty is to consistently deliver on your promises. When you do, customers’ trust deepens and morphs into loyalty. And if you fall short of what you promised, be honest, transparent, and swift in righting your wrongs.
As powerful as it is to deliver on your promises, it is expected. To turn customers into raving fans, you will have to go beyond what’s expected. Surprising customers in big and small ways will earn you the kind of loyalty that is the hallmark of great brands.
Ultimately, iconic brands do not rely on prices, features or even great customer service to build great equity. They forge unbreakable bonds with customers by fulfilling their aspirational needs: status, connection, belonging, individuality or independence, to name only a few. When a brand speaks to deeper parts within us, we can’t help but to give them our love.
People ask for Apple and Harley Davidson by name because those brands are ubiquitous, trusted, and most importantly, because they’ve earned the loyalty of millions around the world. Loyal customers are great brand ambassadors. Because they love you, others are more inclined to trust you. Because they can’t stop raving about you, they earn you even more brand awareness and ensure that, over time, more people will ask for you by name.
