Expand your business with strategies from successful businesswomen.
Starting or running a business is a challenging endeavor. However, many women are successfully doing it, whether they’re running a full-time business or starting a side hustle.
Melanie Jones, editor-in-chief of Utah Business Magazine, shares five ways to strengthen your brand. These solutions come from women in various positions, some are entrepreneurs who’ve started their own companies, while others are vice presidents at big corporations.
1. Defining Your Brand
Find your niche and people will follow you for that specifically.
“Define what your brand is and is not. You cannot be everything to everyone. If you try, you’ll never be able to fully align with the right audience and maximize market potential.” – Sara Nelson, director of marketing at a CHOICE Humanitarian
2. Be Authentic
Once you show people who you are, stick with it and don’t go against it.
“Once you have solidified your brand and the message, be consistent in exemplifying it.” – Emily Faraone, co-founder of 58 Ember Media.
“Be authentic to those values that you determined demonstrate who you and your brand are,” Melanie echoed.
Jennifer Cornet, president of Bread and Butter, also emphasizes leaning into authenticity.
“Authenticity is key to a strong brand. Be genuine in your interactions.”
3. Be Consistent
Find out who you are and the branding you want to show to the world. Once you’ve done that, mix things up a little bit by finding different ways to express your brand values.
“Stay consistent, but not stagnant. Things like fonts, colors, logo placement, and tone need to stay consistent. But it’s important to find ways to keep things fresh, so your customers don’t get bored.” – Beccy Bingham, VP of marketing at Novva Data Centers
“Stay rooted in who you are, and then you can be yourself and wear different colors every day,” Melanie explained.
It’s also important to be consistent in your messaging. Nai Kannell, CMO at MedTrainer, says this:
“Stay consistent with your message across your website ads and among your own employees. Good branding means everyone will have the same message or say the same thing.”
4. Engage Consistently
There’s nothing worse than reaching out to a company and hearing radio silence. Customers want to hear from the brands they trust.
“Ensure your brand has a consistent voice and visual identity, especially when engaging with your customers. Consistently and actively respond on all social media platforms and make the effort to engage.” – Ginalen Soto, owner of Roots Coffee & Co.
5. Community Building & Networking
There’s nothing better than coming together with friends over a product you love. This is how a community is built.
“Focus on how you can foster a sense of community with your customers. Everyone wants to be part of something bigger than themselves. And that is really what you are selling, regardless of product or service.” – Nikki Day, founder and CEO of Ayla & Co.
Networking is also part of community building.
“Attend networking events. This is a great way to meet and learn from incredible people, even though there may not be an opportunity to work together immediately. Your network is your net worth.” – Caitlin Hansen, co-founder and COO of Mindless
Read more about these women at utahbusiness.com.
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