Every day we are all bombarded with advertisements, and in general we make split second decisions whether to give them our attention. If someone is searching for a dog walker in your local area, your (and your competitor’s) brand is the first thing they will see and in all likelihood influence their decision as to whether they will investigate further – the power of the brand will influence their decision.
It is essential to have a great service for your clients, good customer reviews and an excellent and professional reputation, but if you don’t have a strong brand image you may still get bypassed for the dog walking business a few miles away with the great logo, flashy website and cool T-shirts. People might never get a chance to see that your dog walking service is by miles and miles the best service they could ever wish for once they are ‘inside’ your company, if there is nothing to catch their attention on the ‘outside’.
The solution is to build a strong, friendly and easily identifiable brand!
Building a strong brand is the best way to communicate your core message and communicate ‘consistently’ with your customers.
Branding may sound a bit ‘pretentious’, boring or complicated but it doesn’t have to be…
Defining your Dog Walking Service Brand
At its most basic level, your brand is all the facts, images emotions that spring to mind when your customer thinks about your dog walking company. This could include your name, slogan, logo, the colors and photos on your website, your advertising materials and the way you present yourself at the first meeting with your customers. When your prospective customers experience any of these things they should associate them with your brand and the professional message it conveys and the great services you offer.
Branding is about creating something instantly recognizable – that will create an emotional connection between you and your customers – that in turn will make them more loyal over the long term.
For a lot of business, and dog walking is one of them, branding boils down to creating one key image or idea that is instantly recognizable as yours. Put it his way, what one word would you want to associate with your dog walking service – what would it be? Reliable? Trustworthy? Professional?
Your brand is your business identity – and you need to strengthen it at every opportunity.
Your brand is, in a sense, a promise to your customers – in time they will come to associate certain expectations with your brand (good service, kindness to their dogs etc.)
Don’t confuse your brand with advertising – advertising tells your customers to come to you, whilst a brand communicates what and who you are.
Creating a strong Dog Walking Service Brand
Making a strong brand requires a bit of thought, you will need a logo that sticks in the mind and conveys what your business is all about or a slogan/catchphrase that sticks out from the competition. If you are not clear on your branding your potential customers may go elsewhere.
So What Does a Great Brand Look Like?
So now that we know what a brand is and why it matters to your business, we’ll look at the top three qualities that make a great brand.
1. As we’ve said great brands are easily recognizable – They are often simple and you don’t need to explain them (if you do, they are not a great brand!). They are easy to recall and remember, and they will ‘stick’ in the customers’ mind. Here are some brands that everyone knows: Apple (hi-tech/exclusive), McDonalds (fast and affordable) and Coke (a modern icon). Be bold and brassy with your brand; make it stand out from the competition.
2. Great brands appeal to your customers’ emotions – People should feel emotionally connected to your brand, because you have made sure they and their dogs have had a positive experience with your company.
3. Be consistent in your branding – Whether you are designing posters, meeting potential customers at a dog show or thinking about the way your website should look – always keep your brand in mind and ‘follow’ it through with everything you do, make sure one consistent logo/message appears on everything you do, keep the same fonts, colors schemes running through your website, business cards, flyers etc. to re-enforce your brands image.
Great, recognizable brands take some time to develop, so you should spend a while considering how you want your customers and prospective customers to feel when they think about and work with your dog walking company.