How to Elevate Your Brand Image in 5 Steps

When you think about your business, do you focus on your brand images or creating amazing products? Or, are you one of the few savvy businesses that focus on both?

Here’s the thing, growing a successful business just isn’t about creating the best product on the market. You also need a strong brand authority to help your products stand out and gain market share. The fastest way to do this is to focus on your brand image. 

Today, I want to help you learn how to elevate your brand image so you can connect with your audience and grow your business (even during a pandemic).

So what is a brand image anyways? 

According to a Forbes article, “Brand image is more than a logo that identifies your business, product or service. Today, it is a mix of the associations consumers make based on every interaction they have with your business.”

Unfortunately, a lot of entrepreneurs don’t think about their brand image until things go sideways. Or, they think it’s not that important, so they focus all of their efforts on the product or service, not the brand itself. As the same Forbes article said, “Business owners often associate brand image with expenses and unnecessary fluff that add no value to their existing product or service.”

Instead of thinking about brand image as an expense, let’s start thinking about it as a worthwhile investment. It could make all the difference in growing your business to new heights in 2020 (and beyond).

Why You Need a Strong Image

If you haven’t put a ton of time and effort into your brand image yet, here are some compelling reasons to help you understand the importance of it. 

Creates a Brand Identity

Have you ever noticed how easy it is to spot the latest Apple device or how noticeable it is if someone is drinking a Starbucks coffee? This is because they have created a very strong brand identity, which makes it easy for almost everyone in the world to know their company, not just a logo. 

While most businesses won’t have that type of worldwide recognition, it’s important to create an identity for your niche. You want to leverage your brand image to help your company stand out from the crowd and create raving fans. Your customers should not only love your product or service but should have a positive sentiment about your brand as well. 

Builds Credibility

Your brand image also has a huge impact on your overall credibility as a business. A great example is Nordstrom’s return policy. The company is known as one of the most forgiving policies in the world as they accept nearly every return imaginable. This in turn helps build credibility, which increases customer loyalty and has helped make them a top retailer. 

But even if you don’t want to become the Nordstrom of your industry, a strong brand image can help you with repeat business and customer retention. 

Previews of Your Products

Even if people haven’t bought your products or services, a brand image can help give them a preview of what they can expect. Think about it, a consistent and clear brand image shows people that you aren’t just winging it and that you take your brand seriously. 

That’s why we focus on creating a blog with tons of great content that is useful for people who want to run webinars. Free content (like this blog) is a preview of what it’s like to join our paid programs.

Another good example of previewing your brand image is a free lead magnet you give out to grow your email list. Here’s how you can think about it:

• When people get access to the free resource (like a PDF, mini-course, video series, etc.), what is their experience like? 
• Is it coming from a professional email in a timely manner? 
• Does it look like you spent time and money creating this free product (or is it some cheap thing you slapped together)? 
• Is the free resource so good that you could charge for it and makes subscribers feel special just for downloading? 

Ideally, you want to invest in your audience before they invest in you. 

It’s up to you to show them you’re 100% committed to helping them get results in their life or business. Plus, when you offer free stuff that is so good, customers are more likely to invest in your offers down the road. 

How to Elevate Your Brand Image Using Webinars

As you can tell, building and maintaining a brand image is a huge part of running a successful business. Instead of waiting for a disaster to worry about your brand image, get ahead by using webinars to cultivate a strong image of your brand.

With webinars, there are a variety of ways that you can show off your brand, build credibility with your audience, and create a meaningful relationship with them. Here are some of the easiest ways to elevate your brand image using webinars.

Include a Company Logo 

The first step is make sure that your logo is front and center on your webinar slide deck. Some of our most successful users usually have their logo featured on their title slide, footer of slides, and on the final slide.

Plus, it’s also a good idea to include the URL of your company and/or social media handles on the footer as well. Not only will this keep your brand top of mind but will also help protect your content online.

Finally, if you send any other collateral (like sending them a free workbook before the webinar), make sure that you have the logo and URL included as well. This will give attendees a strong first impression of your brand and probably won’t hurt your attendance rates either. 

Choose The Right Presenter(s)

Another huge part of creating a strong brand image with webinars is choosing your presenter. If you’re the CEO and founder of the company, are you running them? Or, are you having one of your team members take lead? Or, maybe a combination of both to mix it up if you do regular webinars?

If you’re a personal brand business selling your knowledge and expertise, you should likely be the face of the business and host the webinar. But if you’re a larger business, you can have different team members run them or even have multiple presenters as well. 

Always make sure that whoever is running the webinar accurately portrays your brand with the right energy and enthusiasm. Plus, with EasyWebinar’s dashboard, it’s easy to track your metrics for each webinar so you can A/B test different presenters to see which converts the highest as well. 

Use Company Colors

Another easy way to create a strong brand image is to use the same color palette throughout your content. Ideally, you should have two main colors and one or two secondary colors. If you don’t have a color palette yet, use this free resource to generate color schemes.

Then, use a combination of primary and secondary colors throughout your webinar slides. These colors should also match your social media and make it easy for people to identify your brand against competitors.

One caveat… when designing your webinar slide deck, make sure that you’re not using the same slide format over and over again either. Since the average person has a shorter attention span than a goldfish, you want to mix it up your content. 

To increase the length of time an average attendee spends on your webinar, try to have 3-4 main types of slides (but mix it up with different borders, formatting, etc.). Also, don’t forget to add images, GIFs or graphics to act as a pattern interrupt and keep them engaged. 

Invest in Nice Equipment

As Will Rogers said, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” A lot of times, a webinar is the first impression that attendees have with you and your business.  

Since you only get one first impression, it is crucial to ensure the best experience for your audience so you can start the relationship on the right foot. If you show up with a high-quality camera and good webinar microphone, it will make a world of difference with your attendees.

Remember, people want to work with individuals and businesses that take their business seriously. Invest in your business, so they are more likely to invest in you. Remember, how you do one thing is how you do everything. 

Upgrade Your Environment

Finally, don’t forget the effect of your physical environment when running webinars to portray your brand image. Ideally, you want a clean, distraction free environment if you choose to turn on your camera. This usually includes three main components.

Background

If you turn on the camera, what will your audience see? Is it a clean, organized office or a desk that looks like a tornado went through it with papers everywhere? 

Ideally, you want to have a background that doesn’t distract from you and your webinar topics. Make sure to tidy up and have a professional setting for running webinars (especially if you’re doing an AMA webinar format). 

To show off your brand image even more, you can always have your logo in the background as well. Otherwise, have minimal props so attendees don’t get distracted and stick around for the full webinar and hear your pitch. If you need a good example, make sure to watch any of Amy Porterfield’s webinars as she has a very professional, minimalistic background. 

Background Noise

While the physical background is important, don’t forget about the background noise either. If it’s hard for your audience to hear you, they are much more likely to leave early and never get a chance to hear your offer. Plus, this isn’t a very professional look for your business.

To eliminate background noise, make sure to have a quiet room and communicate with any team members or family that might be at home in advance.  

Appearance

Lastly, don’t forget your appearance as well. While attendees might not see your full body on a webinar, make sure that you show up ready to rock your webinar. I’ve found the better you look, the more confidence you’ll have and likely the better presentation for your audience. 

Final Thoughts

Don’t wait until it’s too late to start working on your brand image. If you don’t want to invest a big amount right now, start by doing little things like picking a color palette or updating your webinar slides. Then, over time make a clear plan to keep upgrading your brand image on social media, free lead magnets, paid products, and more.

Plus, with the current pandemic, now is the best time to show up more professionally than ever before. Show your audience that you’re committed to their success, even during a worldwide shutdown. These little tweaks can make a huge difference along the way. 

Start improving your brand image today, and I promise you won’t regret it in the future. 

Next Steps 

If you aren’t using webinars to grow your business, you’re missing out on growing your brand and tons of sales. 

While there are a lot of options to choose from, we’re 100% confident that EasyWebinar is the best all-around webinar platform to help you get started. We are an easy-to-use webinar software that makes high converting webinars a reality. 

Sign up for a FREE 14-day trial for EasyWebinar to get started or switch providers today!