It’s just so easy to overthink business and marketing. When we envision our ideal business, we think extensively about our packaging design, which marketing will endorse our products, and our next ten business steps. If this sounds like you, it’s time for you to stop and rethink your business plan.
Your plan doesn’t need to be flashy to be successful. In fact, flashiness will only hold you back. As you plan your business, what you need is a whole lot of authenticity. So how do you add authenticity to your marketing, brand, and packaging strategy? Well, here are five ideas to guide you.
1. Be You
The first and most crucial step toward being a more authentic entrepreneur is to bring your whole self to your brand. If your best friend found themselves on your brand’s website, they should be able to tell that it is you behind the brand immediately. As you add more people to your team, take time to discover your team identity and make sure that your marketing strategy reflects your personality as a group.
2. Focus On Your Community
Be aware of the community your business serves and resides. It’s more than just your business partners and work team. Actually, it incorporates all the individuals or groups that engage with your company.
Changing from viewing customers as faceless consumers and thinking about community responsibility and engagement is a profound way to build your brand’s longevity. What do you want people to visualize when they think about your brand and your products? Your business should be a two-way street, meaning that your consumers shape the business just as much as the business shapes the consumer.
3. Center Your Brand On Something Meaningful
Consumers now choose brands based on their corporate responsibility to societal and ecological causes. What values do you want your brand to represent? You can change the dialogue and create authenticity in your marketing that attracts consumers by asking this question.
If you struggle to think about what values your business encapsulates, start by asking your consumers what they love about your business. You can also start by thinking about the events in your life that led you to create the business. Meaning to a business creates a passion that drives you through difficulties and generates a lasting following.
4. Create Honest Marketing
The marketing world is so cluttered, cluttered with confusing products and false advertising. As you work to make your business more honest and create authentic marketing, strive to provide your customer base with the peace of mind that they are getting the best product for the best price.
This peace of mind is what customers care about most of all, and the straightforwardness in your advertising should bleed over to the customer experience. If you advertise a simple experience and your customers are immediately confused by your many options, you should beware. Whether actual or perceived, false advertising or unfulfilled promises will severely cut into customer trust in the long run. In short, promise a simple experience and deliver a simple experience.
5. Let Your Customers See Behind The Curtain
One of the most authentic ways to interact with your customers is to give them behind-the-scenes access to how your company works. Unfortunately, many companies think that they need to keep everything a secret or that their clients will not be interested in seeing its inner workings. However, the show “How It’s Made” is proof that people like to know how products make their way from the factory to the consumer. Slack, a company dedicated to business communication, reported that 94% of consumers prefer transparent brands.
Company transparency is a fantastic place to utilize your social media game. If you add fun posts to your social media introducing employees or give snapshots of operations and how your supply chain works, you will build customer trust and intrigue.
These steps may seem complicated, but realistically it’s not so hard, especially when you have the right people on your side. At Matcha Design, we have years of experience collaborating with brands to help them build their brand identity and extend their identity to social media and beyond.
