Sex up your brand with Sharon Zehavi
We’re talking to Sharon today, all the way from Toronto, Canada, about branding. She’s telling us how to sex up your brand!
Sex up your brand
What a memorable name! Well, you’d expect so from a marketing expert! Graham mentioned she’s always wearing red and black and, Sharon says, this is because red and black are very powerful colours. They are associated with passion, fire and risk, boldness. It corresponds with her personality.
The way you’re attractive to your target market, of course, depends on who that market is. Everything must be catered to them.
For example, Sharon needs to be bold and ballsy to make a statement to her clientele and attract those who, too, want to be ballsy with their marketing and branding.
If you know your target market well, which you should, you should know how you need to present yourself to attract the people you want. You should know the sort of messages they will find attractive and intriguing, what questions you can solve for them, etc.
For Kevin’s brand and the accounting sector, you would look at competency and safety. Maybe organised and done-for-you. Because, the main thing people want from an accountant is their accounts to be taken off their hands and sorted for them.
Branding – what they feel about you and what they know about you before they meet you.
What helps brand?
Sometimes it’s not about colour. Sometimes, it’s about positioning and credibility. You can sex up your brand by showing how you are different from other people.
Sharon says this doesn’t mean you have to be so aggressively different that you’re unrecognisable from the industry. You just need one thing that makes people choose you over ‘any’ accountant (for example).
Identity
Branding isn’t random. Brand is something you build to create an identity people will relate to. That’s why Nike or Adidas can produce a t-shirt with just a logo, and it will snapped up by many people. This is because so many recognise and relate to the brand.
However, even when you know your target market, you know the values, etc – mistakes will be made. This is the case for small and large companies both.
How do you work out what your brand should be in the first place?
When you work with a small business where you just have a product or service, the first step is about knowing who your target market is. And really knowing.
Identify what their behaviours are like and what their set of values are. As a result, you can connect with them on a different level. Most of the times people decide not to work with you, it’s not actually about the product or the service.
It’s like going on a date: if you know the priorities and the things that the person cares about, and you show them you care about them, then you have a better likelihood a long term relationship can start.
Values
When you know your values, that will drive every decision you make all the way to customer service, and the emails you send, etc.
The more loyal you are to the brand, the more customers will be loyal to the brand.
How do you service clients?
It depends on what point they are at in their business.
One of the first things she does is look at what’s already happening. What are your services/products? What’s already out there?
After that, it can be quite unique to every specific company. Because, once they know who they’re targeting, there’s a strategy for every step of the way to the business goals.
Sharon’s motto
What can I do for you?
Most people think about their selves first – what can you do for me? But Sharon has a skill for showing and telling others what she can do for them. And, it’s one of the things she tells all her clients. Or rather, shows – GIVE before you TAKE.
Lead generation without ads
Sharon doesn’t pay for advertising. For her, branding is a longterm strategy that makes people come to you, rather than you coming to them. This is because, when they come to you, they’re already half-way in.
- The main question is “who is your target market?”
- Facebook/social media is a great place to establish your credibility and build an audience. The way you do that is to be engaging enough with your target audience, so that they see you as the one with all the answers to their problems.
- It’s all about positioning here.
Consistency is really important. If they want to see x attributes on social media, you need to deliver that to keep that social media audience.
If you want to know more about what Sharon offers, you can go to her website, or find her on Facebook or LinkedIn.
If you want to know more about Graham, click here.
If you want to know about Kevin Appleby, click here.