So many small businesses put so much effort into their branding and leave so much on the table with their customer experience.
Newsflash: your CX is a huge part of your brand.
Branding is all about creating a perception of your company in the minds of your customers. It’s like dressing up for a job interview — you want to present the best possible version of yourself to make a good impression.
Branding is your organization’s dress-up clothes. It’s your logo, your tagline, your colors, your aesthetic styles — all of the things that make your company look good on paper and on the internet. It’s also the voice with which you communicate in all of your published materials, the language and tone you use. All of these things together create an impression in customers’ minds of who your company is and what it stands for. By building a strong brand, you can attract more customers and build trust among existing customers.
But here’s the thing – branding can only take you so far. It’s like having a beautiful exterior but a messy, cluttered interior (don’t look behind the curtain!). Sure, people might be attracted to your shiny logo and catchy tagline, but if they have a terrible experience with your company, they’re not going to stick around for long.
That’s where CX comes in. CX is the overall experience that a customer has with your company. It’s the journey that they take from the moment they first hear about your brand to the moment they make a purchase and beyond. It’s the sum total of all the interactions that they have with your company, from your website to your customer service to your packaging and everything in between.
Branding is important; its the first impression your customers will have with your organization. But if you’re putting all your focus on your branding and neglecting your CX, you’re putting lipstick on a pig. Sure, it might look pretty for a little while, but eventually, people are going to realize that it’s still just a pig.
On the flip side, if you’re focusing all of your attention on CX and neglecting your branding, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to make a stronger and more lasting first impression.
Branding is the hook that gets people interested in your company, and CX as the reason that they stay.