5 Tips To Elevate Your Brand

Regardless of the number of locations you have or the size of your operation, unquestionably your greatest and most valuable asset is your brand. Your brand goes beyond your logo; it encompasses all aspects of what your company represents. When you focus on elevating your brand, you’re also improving the perception your customers, or potential customers, have of the service you provide.

Nurturing and developing your brand doesn’t have to be complicated. Here are are 5 tips to elevate your brand from Kevin Zalaznik, Director of Marketing for Hoffman Car Wash & Hoffman Development.

1.) Establish Brand Standards

Whether it’s done by your own internal marketing team or an agency, developing brand standards ensures aesthetic consistency across your locations.

“[Brand standards are] the baseline for everything that you do. From your fonts, to your colors to how your marketing voice sounds to a customer… All those things drive integrated marketing and that just leads to strengthening you brand.”

2.) Evaluate Your Facilities

What do customers see from the moment they enter your property until the moment they exit? Everything from the cleanliness of your locations to your signage to your landscaping contributes to the customer experience.

“Our buildings are part of our brand. They’re easily recognizable, but they also have to match the quality of the service; they have to portray to the customer the quality that they’re going to get…Let’s say there’s a Coke bottle sitting on the ground next to the trash can – just picking that up and throwing it away is marketing that your property is clean. A clean, well-maintained property is an indication to a customer of how the establishment is run.”

3.) Focus On Training

One of the best ways to connect your brand with a dependable quality of service is through the training process. In theory your employees should be able to transition seamlessly between locations, assuming they offer the same services. Implementing a uniform training process helps provide your customers with a predictable experience.

“We created a Director of Training position at Hoffman Development because we had 18 different managers who could potentially be running their stores 18 different ways. With our Unlimited program it’s very possible a customer could visit 5 different stores in 5 days. Even if the employee’s customer interaction is scanning a barcode and guiding onto the conveyor, that process should be exactly the same across the board…The customer’s perception of the service they’re getting is directly associated with that consistency across all those touch points, no matter how quick or limited the interactions may be.

4.) Get Involved In Your Community

Don’t allow your brand to be one dimensional. One way to expand your reach is to commit to improving the community you serve.

“This year we’ll be doing two food drives that will each generate thousands of donations…We also do a Veteran’s Day event each year. On top of that we partner with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, as well the Interfaith Partnership for the Homeless. We’ll also donate auction items for fundraisers throughout the year. If it’s part of your mission and your commitment to your community is sincere, that will only help to improve your standing, which in turn helps your brand image.

5.) Utilize Social Proof

Demonstrating your value and trustworthiness as a brand is vital, and one of the easiest ways to do that is through social proof. Social proof is essentially evidence that customers have found value in your service.

“One of the simplest ways to use social proof is by curating user-generated content. Re-post customer photos and share reviews from your social media channels and publicize positive online reviews. Using your social media channels to broadcast the positive feedback and experiences your existing customers have had goes a long way in shaping the general perception of your brand.“

Hear more from Kevin Zalaznik on Episode 9 of the Modern Car Wash Podcast.

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