Now is not the time to get complacent.
It’s easy to fall behind on your brand right now when the world has gone to pot and who knows what’s around the corner. When you’re homeschooling your kids whilst running a business – with only the summer holidays for practice. When you’re wondering how you’re going to find new customers when you don’t even sell toilet paper.
But that’s why your brand IS more important than ever before. Now is THE time to ensure that you’re out there making a noise and being visible. Because if you mope around feeling sorry for yourself you’re not going to be showing up. You’re not there reminding people that you exist, sharing your story.
Because that thing that you sell – people need that.
Have you completed a SWOT analysis for the coronavirus and your business yet? If not, click here.
Things seem a bit uncertain and that’s a challenge. Something I don’t think any of us are wild about. We are creatures of habit and when something shakes us up we’re not happy about.
Which means we’re all dying to return to normal.
That normal might not be very different to now for some people.
To others that normal might be sitting working on their businesses or doing something that they usually do. Realising that they need your thing. Because despite what’s going on in the world, we all still live on it. We all still need to do the things we always do – just within the confines of what’s OK and what isn’t. Because if we don’t we are gonna struggle so so much.
To some, that normal might be when this is all over. When the virus is no more, the children are back at school and we can shake hands again. Or when they can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Whenever that normal arrives – you need to be ready for it. Don’t climb into a hole and wait until then to grow your brand – the moment to do that is NOW. Because your brand is grown by being visible, showing up, sharing your message, letting people know that you exist and you have what they need.
Your brand is grown by showing others what you’re all about. By posting that image or making that video or scheduling those posts.
Your brand is grown by finding your audience and speaking to them. By appealing to their interests and likes. By grabbing their attention.
Your brand is grown by gathering new subscribers and having conversations with them. By chatting with new group members, by creating interaction and engagement and developing a relationship with others.
A relationship that you might not even know exists until one day you get that sale, that email, that meeting request.
Because building a brand is all about connecting with those people who you want to work with and this happens through all of the stuff you put out there. So you can’t turn up to a networking event balancing your coffee and croissant in one hand whilst you shake hands with the other – but you CAN network online. You can have calls. You can use your brand colours and fonts. You can comment. You can share. You can post. You can email. You can zoom. You can podcast. You can run ads. You can create freebies. You can spread your brand values. You can be as visible as possible and ensure that your ideal client knows exactly who you are exactly the right time for them.
Don’t stick your head in the sand. Figure out the things that work and ensure that your audience knows that you’re right there when they’re ready for you.