3 Ways To Make Your Brand More Important Than Your Sale

When it comes to marketing in the online world, it's easy to get caught up in the sale. After all, we run our businesses to make money, right?

But that's just the thing: Too many of us don't really run businesses at all. Instead, we run sales machines, with the sole purpose of optimized conversion rates, email open rates, click-through rates, and the list goes on. While that's all part of the process, it's not everything. And what it certainly is not is sustainable in the long-term.

The markets we exist in will always change, so it's important to be preparing yourself and your company as a brand that can shift with the market and continue to be sustainable even if the exact products or services you sell need to change. Here are a few ways to work on making sure that happens.

1) Be the one giving more, always

People establish brand loyalty through a number of interactions and factors, but many of them (if not all) can be aggregated into one overall measure: how much value you gave them. In general, you can always be the one giving more and still end up making more money in the end. This will help to endear people to your brand.

For example, a few years ago, everyone and their mother was attacking the affiliate marketing with techniques that might not have been sustainable. The ones who didn't always shout me me me were probably able to make a fairly smooth transition to a new product. Those who failed to build real trust and value, however, probably started over at ground zero.

2) Have a brand!

Okay, admittedly, this should have been number one, but too many people focused on a web of microsites, etc. don't have an actual central brand that they can move with over time - they have a number of independent sales machines, and that's it.
If you find yourself in this position, start making a plan to ensure you actually are able to transition into having a brand that you can grow with throughout your career. If you don't have a separate site for yourself or your company, don't have a logo, etc., it might be time to think about these things.

3) Built more than a list.

Not long ago, just the fact that you were building an email list meant that you were ahead of the general online marketing crowd. Now, however, you've got to go even further to standout. Email open rates have been steadily declining, and while the platform is far from useless, it makes sense to be building a larger, more interactive community. Social media is certainly a place to pull this off, especially if you're confident in your ability to pull off consistent, engaging content (or at least curate it).

It may be that some of these are more applicable than others when it comes to your own business, but it's also probably likely that all 3 can be applied for just about anyone. Keep this in mind when you evaluate how you're going to take your personal brand forward!