Does your #branding need some work?
How would you describe your #Brand presence? Unknown or #viral? Inconsistent or strategic? As a new business owner, I can personally attest that building a brand takes some time and strategic thought. My long-term goal is to have a national presence in the communities that I serve. While every business’ goals are different, we all share something in common- we want to expand our customer/client reach to grow or maintain our business. Jennifer Aaker and Andy Smith’s “The Dragonfly Effect” provides excellent tactics to leverage social media to drive your brand’s message and influence positive change in the community. They also have a blog with useful articles. If you don’t have time to read the book (it’s an easy read and not very long), I recommend downloading it in audio form and listening to it on the way to work or while cleaning the house on the weekend. I’ll quickly break it down so you can see for yourself just how valuable the information can be to your business. Aaker and Smith divided the book into 4 core sections which are essential to any business model, whether it be a small to medium sized business or a non-profit organization:
Focus- How to hatch a goal that will make an impact
Grab Attention- How to stick out in an overcrowded, overmessaged, noisy world
Engage- How to make people connect with your goal
Take Action- How to empower others, enable them- and cultivate a movement
What I enjoyed about “The Dragonfly Effect” in particular was that they broke down each step, gave examples, AND provided actionable ways to achieve them. Another one of my favorite digital strategy books is Brito’s “Your Brand: The Next Media Company.” Brito provides a lot of great insight on which digital platforms to capitalize on and which tools and resources are most useful. While Brito does go over digital strategies, “The Dragonfly Effect” delves much deeper under the surface and explains the psychology behind why specific digital strategies work. By combining the tools, words of wisdom, and strategies from both these books, non-profit organizations like Many Hopes, entrepreneurs, and small businesses can truly take their brand presence to the next level.
My suggestion for an organization like Many Hopes is to leverage all four focuses mentioned in the “Dragonfly Effect” but to focus a large portion of their attention on “Engage- How to make people connect with your goal.” Aaker and Smith discuss the importance of “story-telling” and Many Hopes has a powerful story to share, both visually and descriptively. I think the hardest part of creating engaging content is just that-- the “creation” is the toughest part. It’s the creativity aspect, the time it takes to come up with something “sticky,” and it's the actual brainstorming of the content. What’s great is that Many Hopes has a large community to draw from. I recommend that Many Hopes reach out to their volunteers, their professional network, and the local community to find a Content Writer. If they can find someone who enjoys the creation and creativity that comes from writing content for social media campaigns, Many Hopes has just won half the battle in growing their brand presence. They may even be able to find someone who would be willing to do it pro-bono. For example, some up and coming writers may just want the visibility or experience to add to their portfolio. I believe creating a compelling, consistent story will drive results for Many Hopes and increase their brand presence.
