Building an Authentic Business Brand

We keep hearing a lot about authenticity these days. Many entrepreneurs understand that they need to make their business authentic and relevant, but they get lost in application. When it comes to authenticating a business’ brand, there are several key marketing success factors. A key success factor is what is required of every business to ensure competence, competition, and success. Determining key success factors should be a priority for any size business interested in authenticating its brand.

Essentially, every business keen on succeeding in a particular market or industry should understand the environment of the industry well enough to know what is and what isn’t necessary to successfully exist and thrive in any given market. Effective authentication is only possible when a business makes a conscious effort to keep its finger on the pulse of its relative industry.

Another very relevant marketing related key success factor includes the establishment and successful maintenance of a fast and accurate technical support, assistance or customer service. To build a magnetic customer service procedures, simply take a look at what you like and what you don’t like as a customer yourself. What pleasant or unpleasant experiences have you had and how did they influence your behavior as a customer. Remember to also do your research and invest into attractive packaging and styling.

With the boom of Internet and social media, communication with clients and potential clients jumped to a yet another level. Authentic brands come down to where their target market and clients are, join the conversations, offer solutions and build connections. Twitter became a fantastic place where we all seem to be equal in a way that anyone can reach out to anyone else. That’s how you can join the conversations your clients have about their problems and offer your solutions. Facebook helps you stay in front of your “fans” without being offensive and sending emails couple times a day. People today don’t care how big or small your business is, but they care about value they get from working with you or buying your products and services.

This brings me to a yet another key success factor to building and authentic business brand. Communication with your team. You can benefit from your work contacts as well as hurt your business based on how you communicate with people around you. And I don’t mean just your VA or technical support guy. I mean everyone you come into contact with that works with you on a specific project or event, like your event manager, speakers, hosts you work with, affiliates, even coaches you work with. It might surprise you, but when you take a closer look at your business, you will find many people who support you and your business. How do you work with them? What are they left with once the project or event is over? Do you build lasting relationships and trust or do people leave never wanting to work with you again? Remember, little “Thank you!” goes a long way even today.

The given key success factors will vary with each existing market. In fact, they should be unique and your own. The same way how you are different the way you interact with your prospects and clients, the way you communicate with your team and the way you offer support and help will probably be different than mine. And this is what makes a good and authentic brand. Yes, you can adapt systems and processes, but you will still need to personalize them based on your brand personality. The process of authenticating a business’ brand includes the creation of a favorable image, including the reputation with buyers. A great justification for the need to authenticate your business brand is the fact that a business that is uniquely and effectively adapted in an otherwise unfavorable market can still earns a good profit.