5 Ways to Immediately Make Your Business More Personable Connect with your audience with these simple tips.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
It isn't easy to build brand loyalty. After all, you're asking your customers to give their buying preference to an entity with which they have no inherent connection. However, brands that make an emotional connection with their customers are about twice as likely to retain them.
This is easier said than done. Not every brand has Nike's storied history or Apple's iconic image. Your startup won't be able to pull from the emotional well of positive experiences that accompanies a more well-tenured business. With that said, startups across the nation are successfully connecting with customers by being personable. Rather than remain an unidentifiable corporation, they show their faces and reach out to their customers. By being personable and offering high-quality products, these companies are able to carve out a niche for themselves even without having a household name.
There's no equation for connection, but these five tips can make your brand more accessible to consumers.
Related: 7 Mental Shifts That Allowed Me to Become a Millionaire at 22
1. Be active on social media.
Every good brand needs an active social media presence. Even if you need to practice or (when your budget allows it) hire a social media specialist, it's worth it. Social media is vital in gaining a foothold in the market.
Luckily, there are several platforms that offer social media help. Take a look at Hootsuite, for example. In addition to its analytics services, Hootsuite provides a wealth of educational content that will up your social media game and help you connect with followers.
2. Go live.
In addition to the live aspects of social media, most notably on Facebook and Instagram, you can facilitate real-time voice and video chat through your website to provide customer support. Including this as an option makes you more accessible to customers, especially when trying to resolve their problems.
Check out Tagove, who works with clients like Hyundai and Citibank. Tagove provides video chat, co-browsing and video conferencing options to customers. That way, customers can be confident they're working with an actual person who is attending to their needs.
Related: How to Become a Millionaire by Age 30
3. Personify your brand.
Know who you are, who your customers are and what your niche is. Then, strive to always present yourself in that light. Do everything you can to ensure that your brand is always presented in the best light while staying true to your identity.
Whether you sell basketball shoes or software, there is a specific market that will be attracted to your products. As you go about designing your website and publishing to social media, keep this market in mind and make sure that your brand image is in line with it.
4. Be consistent.
In every aspect of branding, consistency is key. That means you need to be available at all times and maintain contact with your customers.This can be done through an engaging email list, a good company blog and social media.
Consistency builds trust and creates loyalty. Remember, though, that consistency is only good fs you're consistently hitting the right note. If your strategy isn't working as well as you'd like, find ways to tweak, shape and refine your branding message.
Related: 25 Common Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs
5. Reach out.
While your online experience goes a long way in reaching out to your customers, great brands find ways to go the extra mile to make connections. Take eyewear company Warby Parker, who goes above and beyond by sending out five pairs of frames for free to customers to try on.
Because they took their level of service past what anybody else was doing (and because they offer an appealing product), they've become a huge success. This type of decision can only be made when a company looks to their customers before they look to make a profit.
Ultimately, your ability to be personable and connect to customers will result in greater sales numbers, but your efforts to connect must be genuine. By putting forth a real effort to connect to customers and effectively tailoring your experience to what they want, you'll find yourself with a loyal customer base that will take your business to new heights.
