So often, professionals insist on the idea of “branding” to be solely a marketing function. Brand, however, is more than a website, a logo, and letterhead. Brand identity is how a company (or firm) is perceived by its constituents, not logos, colors, or websites. A company can have a beautiful logo, but it cannot compensate for poor perception.
In today’s consumer-driven market, reputation is not based on what a company says about itself, but what customers say.
Consider large companies such as Disney and Southwest. These two companies focus their efforts on one-to-one interactions, striving to make each customer or guest feel special. These companies will go out of their way to make every experience positively memorable and to smooth out the rough interactions.
That’s their brand.
What’s Your Brand?
Apply those principles to your own practice. What do your clients expect from you? Do you exceed those expectations? Do your clients see you a partner or trusted advisor?
The AICPA posted a blog penned by James Metzler, CPA, in 2016, and the ideas apply today. In this post (Three Ways to Make Your Value Clear to Clients), Mr. Metzler asserts the first thing practitioners must do is make it personal. The examples he gives are perfect examples of major and minor interactions in the context of ABLE.
Make It Personal
ABLE can support personalized interactions through its Thought Leadership module. With this tool, users can send relevant content (either of their own or from ABLE’s robust article library) directly to clients as a personalized email. Thought Leadership provides an easy way to develop and send a one-to-one email in a one-to-many fashion.
To reflect back on the topic of branding, clients will interpret the content sharing and invitation to talk as evidence that you are operating with their best business interests in mind. Your brand strength improves in direct proportion to the strength of your business relationships.
To learn more about how ABLE can help you build your brand, schedule a no-obligation demo today.