Why You Aren’t Attracting Your Dream Clients

I think we all enter our industries doing work we don’t exactly love. But sooner than later, we hit a point where we are confident in our work, and are ready to start attracting our dream clients. Or you’ve been in the industry for years and are losing traction as consumers become more dependent on the internet to meet their needs.

Most likely, you aren’t attracting the clients you want because your branding sucks. (Sorry, not sorry)

What is Branding?

In some ways, branding is everything about your business, but I will try to simplify it for you:

Branding is the consistent look and feel of your business that sets you apart from your competition.

I emphasize consistent because your branding must be consistent across all platforms, otherwise, well, it’s not branding. Your clients won’t be able to see that this is YOU when they move across your Facebook page to your Youtube Channel, Instagram, etc.

Not only that, but branding makes your business easily identifiable in the sea of “me,me,me’s” on the internet. Think about you favorite clothing brands: you chose like the brand because of what it represents as much as you like the clothes.

Abercrombie & Fitch is a great example of well-thought branding. Immediately upon walking into the store, you smell their signature scent. Their employees are even chosen to fit within their brand identity (remember the lawsuit they had years ago for profiling only pretty people?). And all their clothing comes with their logo or signature stitching. It’s impossible for you not notice their clothing when someone is wearing it.

Where Do You Start When Branding Your Business?

When working with my clients on branding their business, I first begin by asking them about their story. So, What led you to starting your business? By pinpointing your unique voice and vision, it makes it easier to develop a visual representation that you identify with as much as your ideal clients.

Which leads me to my next question: What is your ideal client and what is their story? Answering this question precisely is necessary for every business’ success. I’m talking about knowing their sleeping patterns, their fears, where they work and what position, etc. You must know your ideal client as well as you know yourself, or the branding of your business will attract the wrong clients. And, inevitably, this leads to burn out because you lose passion in your work serving people you don’t like.

Then I take over, and start my magic creating a brand identity for you. Your brand identity consist of a logo, color scheme, fonts, and images.

When creating a solid brand identity there are several important criteria:

The Logo

Keep the logo simple! Ugh, I can’t tell you how many clients want an elaborate logo. But honestly, the most simple logos are the most memorable. Here are a few logos you most likely know (and note they don’t even have their business name on the logo!) Simple makes it easier to be identified across all platform, packages, and printing.

The Color Scheme

We all tend to think about ourselves at this point; we choose the colors we like most. But, think about your clients here. What colors would attract them? If this isn’t an easy question to answer, google search ‘color psychology’. Choosing the right colors for your brand, especially if you sell products, can literally dictate your success.

Research reveals people make a subconscious judgment about a person, environment, or product within 90 seconds of initial viewing and that between 62% and 90% of that assessment is based on color alone.

CCICOLOR – Institute for Color Research

The Fonts

Different fonts evoke different feels. While Times New Roman creates induces a sophisticated editorial vibe, Montserrat has a more modern and casual feel. Choose wisely.

Images & Textures

Are you using photographs? And if so, are you using a consistent Lightroom Preset or Instagram filter?

Or maybe you are going for illustrated images. This would attract an older more serious crowd compared to emoji and cartoon images.

Website & Domain Name

I try to speak with my clients first before they choose their domain name. Believe it or not, this is an easy step to mess up. You want your domain name to be so easy that people will be able to remember after hours (or days) after seeing it. The more intuitive the better.

Also consider easy typos when choosing a domain name. For example, did the URL include “womAn” or “womEn”? If you have a word that is easily mixed up in your URL, consider renaming.

As for websites, consider this like your office or store front. It literally is within the online realm. You have about 15 seconds to gain browser trust, so how will you portray your business to them?

Having a good website is imperative to marketing your business. It is the first impression. If is it’s not visually appealing or interesting, while also adding value in some way, why do you even have a website?

Why Do You Need a Solid Brand Identity?

As you can see, brand identity creates the first impression for potential clients. It differentiates you from the sea of competitors (especially now with the world wide web), while also attracting clients who appreciate your business’ personality.

Branding also creates an experience for your clients that keeps them coming back; branding creates loyalty. If you don’t have one cohesive message or feel, then you aren’t reliable- and everyone wants reliability.

Not only that, but a strong brand makes it easier finding and keeping the right employees, because they share the same values and know the type of work you are looking expect.