To truly build your brand up to a complete and finalized state is really tough. A lot of people do it half-heartedly so that they can focus all of their energy on sales. And while that's tempting enough, without a strong brand image it's a constant battle to achieve the sales you need. On the other hand, if you put your heart, soul, sweat, blood, and tears into making your brand as perfect as you can, then customers will roll in, and keep rolling in because they'll love being a part of your brand!
Before beginning to build your Ecommerce brand you should research as much as you can about what you really want to represent, and who you want to appeal to. Once you create your brand, you've got to stay committed to the image and the values. Everything that the brand represents: you must represent. From your Ecommerce theme to your Customer service. Take Eric Bandholz as a perfect example of success. His Ecommerce store, beardbrand.com, sells grooming products for style conscious guys with beards. If you are familiar with Mr Bandholz himself, you'll notice that he too is a style conscious guy who loves his beard.
As far as your ideal customers are concerned, ensure you have narrowed your customers down to a tiny, niche market. At first you may think of this as counter-productive, but if you try to cast a wider net and catch a variety of different people with differing interests, you'll actually end up reeling in nobody. However, if your brand appeals to your niche market on every level then you'll notice that niche will begin to flourish and grow all by itself. Again taking BeardBrand as an example, you may think that grooming products for beards is a little 'too' niche, right? But Bandholz is currently raking in $120 000 per month in sales, proving that there's no such thing as 'too' niche.
Customers love a good story, and this is the reason why no successful brand is without one. A great example of this is the Toms brand story. When Blake Mycoskie befriended needy children whilst traveling, he decided he just had to help them. So, he created Toms and the one for one movement. For every pair of new Toms bought , Mycoskie's company also give a pair to a child in need.
Your story doesn't have to be as heartbreakingly beautiful as this, but it's important to let the customers in, and show them how and why you created your Ecommerce brand. It's also vital to always be yourself. Don't sugarcoat things, don't pretend to be someone your not, just allow your customers to see you: the good, the bad, and the ugly. By being upfront with your customers about your past struggles (and maybe even some present ones) they'll respect you and come to trust you.
Trust is so important within the deeply competitive world of Ecommerce. As stated above, you should narrow your sights down to a niche market, but no matter how specific you go, there will always be competitors there to steal your sales. A good way to put the competition in perspective is to think of your favorite celebrity. Who is the person you most want to meet? Once you have somebody in mind, imagine you're right in front of them, a few footsteps away from getting an autograph, maybe even a hug! And then, before you're allowed to move towards them, imagine all of their other fans appearing around you. Still think you'll get that hug now? It's possible, no doubt about that, but you have to work hard.
In order for customers to love being a part of your brand, they will definitely have to have a strong faith in you. There's a great section on how to gain customers' trust in one of our previous articles: How to optimize your Ecommerce store page for conversion.
You can also tell your brand story via the About Us page on your site. If you don't have an About Us page on your site -- you need one! About us pages have been proven to increase conversion rates and create deeper brand -- customer relationships. The best About Us pages really go in to depth about the journey of the brand by discussing obstacles that the store owner has overcome, and the morals that they have in place. Click here to take a look at the About Us page for the Ecommerce store, Raw Generation. Raw Generation is simply another juicing company, but with the back story of the founders, this father-daughter company manages to stand out from the crowd.
Another way to show your true self to your customers is to stop trying to sell on social media. Sure, that's the hidden agenda behind having a social media presence, but making it obvious is more likely to turn customers away than win them. Instead, try using social media just to be social. Find out what your customers are up to, and share snippets of your life with them. Customers are loyal to brands because they like the idea/story/personality behind them -- it's not always about the price.
Take the video below, by DollarShaveClub.com, as an example. They decided to share quite a risque video with their customers, but it showed their true personality, and people loved it! One of the best things about it was probably the fact that the founder of the Ecommerce brand himself, starred in the video! This kind of clever, indirect marketing is what will make customers stick with you and love being a part of your brand.
We hope all of this helps you to build a strong Ecommerce brand that your customers will love to be a part of! If you want to know more, then as always, we're here to listen and give great advice! Leave a comment in the box below and we'll be sure to get back to you :)