Marketing and identity: Who are you?

How you use your identity in marketing can be crucial to your success in 2022. Chaos and noise prevail in the marketing channels, and one of the most effective ways to cut through is with a clear identity. 

Why is identity so important in today’s marketing?

The new digital everyday life has made the threshold for communicating directly with the customer very low. “All” companies are on Facebook.

The customer is torn and worn in all directions. Everyone is trying to get the attention of the customer. Everything from grandma to the power company.

For you, this means that the customer is overstimulated, and has little surplus to process information. At least they do not have the surplus to scour your digital surfaces to find an “About us text” that half-heartedly tries to convince the customer of who you are.

By having a clear and implemented identity combined with a strategy on how to implement this identity, you will, among other things, achieve:

1. Customer can more quickly identify if you are a good match for them
2. Customer finds it easier to remember you (repurchase, word of mouth, etc.)
3. You avoid getting expensive and dissatisfied customers who are not a good match for you
4. You get more in return for your marketing budget

How to find your identity?

The biggest mistake many people make is that they look too much at the neighbor when trying to find their identity.

It is allowed to go a little outside the box. That’s actually good. The recycling of the same old superlatives and generic descriptions that pat ourselves on the back falls on deaf ears. The customer is immune to that kind of corporate talk.

Here is a simple recipe on how to cultivate your identity:

1. If you peel away all the layers of superficial talk and get to the core, who are you? Use a maximum of one sentence to answer the question.
2. Read 5 competitors’ «About us texts». Then read the sentence you made in point 1. Is your identity still unique? If yes; congratulations!
3. If no; shift the focus away from the product / service and instead look at the experience you provide to your customers. Repeat the exercise.

This is of course a simplification of a very demanding process, but in many cases this exercise can be enough to move market share.

How to use your identity?

This is the easiest and most difficult point in this post.

This is easy because all you have to do is design all the content in your channels according to your identity. For example:

1. The slogan
2. Facebook posts
3. AdWords ads
4. The product descriptions

It is difficult because it requires discipline. If only parts of your communication are made according to your identity it will be catastrophic. Customer may perceive you as dishonest since you “speak with two tongues”. We know how important it is to be consistent.

This becomes even more difficult if you are a larger company with more employees. This requires good training and clear guidelines on how market communication should be. At everything from salespeople to customer support.

We hope the post has shown you the value of a clear identity and good implementation of this. Often it takes little to go from indistinct to crystal clear.