How to create an irresistible brand experience

Here’s the truth: People don’t buy services, they buy brand experiences.

What do I mean when I say ‘Brand experience’? 👇🏼

Service vs Brand Experience

This may seem novice, but stick with me.

Service

A service is a packaged-up offering that you provide. It’s something that has a beginning and an end and provides a transformation of some kind for your audience. It likely solves specific pain-points or fills a gap that your community has.

Brand Experience

A brand experience likely begins wayyyyy before you even know about someone.

It can begin in 1000 different ways – whether that’s interacting with your social, hearing about you from a friend, stumbling upon your website, finding you on Google, seeing your work somewhere else, or connecting in some other way.

It can be linear, and also not. Some will bite instantly and become a client on day 1. Others may silently watch from afar for years before you even become aware of them. You will likely even have those that become a part of your inner circle, go away for awhile and come back to you!

The possibilities are endless and ultimately, the brand experience never ends, it just evolves.

This is why creating a holistic, magnetically charged, sustainable brand experience is the KEY to creating a business, a brand and a set of services that your people will swoon over and talk about with their friends.

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How to create an exceptional, holistic brand experience

Let’s start with a truth:

Even if the logistics of your business feel like they are identical to someone else’s, the personality, tone, vibe, processes, and how you show up – that’s all YOU. YOU are what makes your brand different from anyone else’s.

No one can do what you do, the way that you do it. So stand boldly and confidently in this truth while creating your most authentic and magnetic brand experience.

Now – on to crafting your experience.

Identify your brand archetype

Who are YOU? Who is your brand? What are the deep, rooted feelings that have propelled you in this particular direction for your business and life?

Do you want to show up as an expert in your field? Do you want to cultivate a feeling of belonging? Provide the feeling of freedom or fun?

Do you want to confidently show up as a power-woman, red lipstick, business-suite style or as a softer, neutral, more grounded presence?

Do you provide soft, calm encouragement or take on the “basketball coach” type of leader?

These are just a few examples of different brand archetypes and how they can manifest. Whichever direction, vibe and true being that you are, stand BOLDLY and CONFIDENTLY in it. This is what I mean when I say “be authentically you” because your people will gravitate to you if you show up in complete confidence and the people that don’t align with that… well they aren’t your people!

Pro Tip

Don’t try to appease and tailor to everyone, because then you’re white-washing your brand and will likely appeal to no one (dramatically speaking).

Map your brand strategy & fully understand your audience

I’ve said it before, I will say it again, and I will keep on saying it because it is THAT important – START WITH BRAND STRATEGY. A brand strategy signifies where your business is at currently and where you want it to go in the future. It helps you define your ‘why’ behind your business and gives you a foundational plan for literally everything you do in your business.

BUT, doing this by copying other people’s businesses and content won’t help you.

What your brand strategy should include:

• Unique Value Proposition (UVP)

• Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

• Mission, Vision & Values

• Audience Overview Including:

  • Where they are hanging out and like to engage (social, email, in-person, etc)

  • Their struggles and things they are actively saying

  • How they feel before your help and how they want to feel after

  • How your services or offerings bridge the gap from before to after

  • Different stages of engagement, accessibility or tier of clients

  • For a deep dive on this, check out this post about how to identify your ideal audience

• Industry Awareness Including:

  • Current industry landscape

  • Current trends

  • Challenges and opportunities

  • Best-in-class examples

• Messaging Overview Including:

  • Voice & tone guidelines

  • Key messaging approach

  • Core messaging examples

  • Keywords

Imagine how incredibly useful this information would be if you had it all ready-to-go in one place and backed by research.

Struggling to know what to post about on social? → Go back to your audience’s pain points and convey how you help

Thinking of a new service or offering? → Consider which tier or sub-segment you’re targeting

Not sure what you want your brand to look like? → See how others are doing it and either take your own twist or find the “white-space” to play in

This is your North Star, guiding your decisions, actions, design, content and well… everything.

Crystalize your offerings

This plays directly with the point above. By crystalizing your services and offerings, and aligning them to the bigger strategic foundation, you can clearly define how everything fits together, what needs to be created, and who it needs to be created for.

Note: THIS WILL CHANGE and evolve as you learn more and grow your business.

You’ll start to see new patterns emerge, or perhaps learn that your audience struggles with something you didn’t even consider. These are all opportunities for you to expand, show up and be there for your audience. It shows you’re listening and your audience will feel like you know them (because you do – thank you research and ongoing, active listening 😉)

Define your user journey & where you want to show up

A big part of this is understanding where your people are! If your core audience is baby-boomers who only go on Facebook, it doesn’t make sense to focus on TikTok.

If your offering only applies to a specific location, social media is absolutely still relevant, but how are you also showing up more locally targeted?

Consider literally every touch point that needs to be a part of the journey.

A few ideas (and NO you do not need to be in all of these)

• Your website (the most important)

• Social media posts & stories

• Social media DM’s

• Email

• Podcast

• Youtube channel

• Physical location or store

• Physical goods like packaging, business cards and other marketing materials

• Auto email-responders and direct email responses

• Lead gen forms and follow-ups

• Word-of-mouth conversations

• Onboarding

• Client experience while working together

• Offboarding

• Ongoing client support and maintenance

Pro tip #1

Start with the absolute must-have’s and build from there. Don’t try to do everything perfectly right from the get-go. Why? Because starting anything new takes a lot of energy and you likely won’t have your messaging, offers and everything in between completely correct right from the start. Reduce the overwhelm and start small. Focus on a few key areas, test, refine and evolve and THEN expand. (Speaking from experience people)

Pro tip #2

Take your time. That is all.

Create your content pillars

You have your strategy, you understand your audience and their needs, you have a good sense of how you can help and what you can offer, and you know where you need to show up.

Now we can focus on content and how you verbalize everything you have to offer.

There are a few ways to figure out your content pillars and honestly, it’s trial and error, trying and evolving to get it right for YOU. But here are a few ideas to get you started.

What are the key things you help with across all of your audience types?

For me, this is:

• Brand Transformation

• Accessible Design (Process, Insights and Offerings)

• Brand Strategy/Education

For you, this might be:

• Mindset

• Strategy

• Motherhood

You can also look at a layer deeper. If you have multiple sub-segments, what are their core needs in each segment?

For instance, when I’m targeting early-stage and financially conscious brands, I talk about the ability to get quality brand and web design affordably and quickly. Vs when I am talking to people who need fully custom solutions, I am talking about when and why you may need a custom solution (specific, more complex website features, further along in their business, etc).

This is also a good way to help your audience understand who you serve and how to self-select which group they may fall into.

This also can help you identify the potential flow of your offerings if they lead into each other.

For instance, if you have a “starter” package to get their feet wet, but then they can upgrade into the more holistic experience, your audience can see that they have a way to test the waters AND have the ability to level-up.

A few reminders when creating your brand experience

→ Consider the “small” brand moments and treat them just as intentionally as your big ones

→ Play, test, and refine your process continuously

→ Remain authentically YOU

So there you have it! A true deep-dive into what makes a really solid brand experience that is built for growth and exceeds your audience’s expectations, keeping them coming back for more.

How you show up on social, on your website, through proposals and service details, and all of the touchpoints that happen before any money or services are exchanged have a significant impact on the tone, vibe, perception, and trust you’re building with your clients…

✨ And may even be the thing that persuades your clients to sign or buy with you ✨

already have a brand and want a few simple ways to elevate the experience for your clients?

Here are a few simple ways to level-up your client experience, make a stellar first-impression, increase engagement, and show how committed you are to your clients👇🏼

• Branded course materials that seamlessly match your archetype and become irresistibly magnetic to your audience

• Branded proposal that sets the tone and expertise for your services

• Custom 404 page that increases site engagement

• Custom post-inquiry thank you page to bridge the gap between inquiry and engagement

• Custom email signature because details matter

• On-brand social posts and reel covers

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Need help setting up your Brand Experience? Explore our services and let’s talk!

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