The Importance of Brand Mantras in Drawing the Right Crowd

Are you finding the clients and staff you attract never quite fit your ‘ideal’ criteria? How do you attract the right people to your business? It’s not really that different to what you do in your personal life, yet those simple things are too often ignored by businesses.

Imagine you are back on the dating scene, whether you are heading to bar, being set up by someone or using an app, you want to be noticed by someone who will be perfect for you. Being in business and looking for clients or staff is no different. See, the truth about marketing your business is that you are doing a kind dating dance.

On the first layer, it is about how you present yourself. Scratch past the surface and you want to know more about the other person, what makes them tick. When you are dating and you are looking for a commitment so for example you can grow old together and livie in the south of Italy. There is no point dating someone who wants an apartment in the city and is not interested in a long-term relationship. You only find this out by getting to know the person.

Your brand mantra is what you live by. It is who you are. In business, you need to allow people to get know you. What is it your business believes in; what is it that is important? Do you have a vision and how will you achieve it?

Take a look at some of the most successful businesses and you’ll notice the power of their statements. They make them easily accessible so they attract more of the right people.

Who needs a Vision, Mission and Values statement you say? Every business I reply. These core elements need to be reviewed annually and truly reflect what you are trying to achieve, how you are going to get there and the types of people/businesses you want to be working with as part of your team, partners or clients. Having these statements sorted out and accessible to view publicly help you keep your business on track and attract the right people.

In my experience, if you don’t have these statements or fail to review them regularly, there is a good chance your brand, marketing and overall communications are not reaching their potential.

Set aside a few hours each year to go over each of these statements with all the people involved in your business, from staff to owners. You all need to be on the same page. Not only that you have to be prepared to grow/change as circumstances internally and in the community in which you operate shift.

What you need to remember is your Vision statement should reflect what your ideal version of the world will look like once you achieved all your objectives. To keep with my ‘hat’ example, “Every person in the world wearing a tailored, protective hat whenever they venture outside.”

Your mission statement is about how you are going to achieve this vision. Using the hat example again, “Fund a global awareness campaign about the need for wearing a hat and make our stores easily accessible to anyone so we can deliver an affordable custom solution.”

When it comes to value statements, there are lots of theories here. One of the practical tips to grow your business for most small to medium businesses, simple is often the best. Choose keywords which reflect what is important to you, about the people you attract working for you as well as those who will buy from you. In our hat example, ‘health’, ‘communication’ and ‘cultural sensitivity’ might be the start of a list. On average six to nine words is all you need. Think carefully and reflect on the good and bad people who have crossed paths with your business, and see if they sit on the right side of the value.

Some larger businesses have gone into great detail about their values. There is a good reason for this because they want to create a real culture that crosses multiple locations and countries.

Have a look also at Apple, who summarise their values and have a page on their website dedicated to each and how it plays out with their brands. Their values are; Accessibility, Environment, Privacy and Supplier Responsibility. It is also worth checking out the Netflix culture documentation for further inspiration.