Think about the brands that have the best marketing and the strongest brand identity: Nike, Coca-Cola, Glossier, Dollar Shave Club, Southwest Airlines…
There’s one thing that all of these brands have on their side, one thing that each brand leans on to get and keep customers.
One word.
Now it’s not the same word for each brand. After all, if there was one single word that could make every company way money, wouldn’t we all be using it? But each brand has one word that they lean on in their branding and advertising that sets them apart and sets them up for success.
For Coca-Cola, that word is “Delightful,” For Dollar Shave Club it’s “affordable,” for Southwest it’s “Friendly.” You get the idea.
But how can one word boost your brand and your conversions?
Boosting Conversions by Boosting Brand Strength and Loyalty
Building an audience and then boosting the conversions and loyalty of that audience can be one of the biggest hurdles for a new company—or even an established one.
This is where having a strong brand identity comes in handy. When your audience has a reliable idea of who you are and what to expect from you, they usually know whether or not they want to buy (and keep buying) from you.
And one of the easiest ways to strengthen your brand is by giving your audience a point of reference: how you compare to other brands they maybe know more about.
That’s not to say you need every ad or post to be about a different company and why you’re better. Far from it.
But when you have one word, your special one word, that embodies your brand and represents your differences from your competition, you will be miles closer to boosting your conversions.
As our favorite expert on brand building and fascinating your audience, Sally Hogshead always says…
Different is better than better.
(NOTE: Want to learn even more incredible branding tricks from Sally Hogshead? Check out this FREE webinar on her Ultimate Personal Branding Tool and get even more tricks to building a strong and reliable brand.)
The Importance of “Different” in Branding
It may sound counterintuitive, but your biggest asset when it comes to branding is difference. You don’t have to be better—though it won’t hurt—but you DO have to be different. After all, your audience can’t determine quality until they’ve already made a purchase.
But if you are different from your competition, that’s already a selling point. The trick then is to set your difference up as a benefit, and use it in your marketing and branding.
This is where the “one word” comes in.
The One Word
We emphasize one word for a very specific reason. While slogans and taglines all have their place in branding, but by narrowing down even further into a single word, you have a really versatile marketing tool.
You can fit a single word into almost any marketing asset: ads, social posts, blog posts, website copy, etc.
But this can’t be just any word. There are specific “rules” you should follow if you want to make the most out of it.
1. It should be an adjective
While nouns and verbs are great for sentence structure (one would even say they are necessary), adjectives are a marketer’s best friend. Because adjectives describe how one thing is different than another thing.
Maybe you sell yoga pants. So do a lot of companies. But if you sell “versatile” yoga pants, that’s different from your competitors who just sell “stretchy” pants.
2. It should be different from your competition
Descriptive is great, but if you limit yourself to basic adjectives, you’ll leave this blog post without any boost to your conversions or brand.
You need to pick a word that embodies your difference, not just your color, or fabric style, or quality. Remember, different is always better than better.
Everyone with a Facebook ad will tell you their yoga pants (or whatever product) are the best, but can every pair of leggings transition from studio to work lunch to daycare pickup?
Lean on your unique qualities as a brand. Remember Southwest with their “friendly” branding? Can you name another airline that you could call “bearable,” let alone “friendly”?
3. It should embody the core of your brand identity
You want this one word to feel like, well, you. It should encompass the most important part of your brand and your products, so that if that one word is the only thing your audience knows about you, it’s enough.
We didn’t say finding this one word was going to be easy. But it is important.
As unthinkable as it seems, when you are able to hone down your brand to a single word, you will have a WAY better grasp on how to advertise and market from here on out. And especially when your word frames you in a way that your audience prefers… But we’ll get into that in just a second.
So now that we know what that one word needs to be, here’s how to discover yours.
Find Your One Word
Finding your one word might seem like the hardest thing you’ve ever done for your company, but it really doesn’t have to be. All you need are three simple steps, and you’ll be able to wordsmith your way into making more money.
1. Do Your Research
I don’t mean investing in a thesaurus, though that may come in handy down the line. I mean do your market research. You can’t know how you are different from your competition if you have no idea what your competition sells or how they sell it.
Whether you are simply looking at other links ranking on Google for similar keywords or looking in Facebook at your competing ads, make sure you have a good idea about who and what you are competing against.
2. Know Your Customer
If it seems like we tell you to have a Customer Avatar Worksheet filled out every week, it’s because we do, and that’s because it is the foundation of good marketing. (There’s a reason it’s one of our foundational marketing frameworks).
When you know who you are selling to and what they value, you know what they will look for in a brand—and a product/service. Which means you know whether they would vibe with your one word.
This word will work its way into nearly all your marketing materials, so it needs to be something that your ideal customer will love.
3. Frame the Benefit
The best word in the world will do nothing if it’s not seen as a good thing. But again, this shouldn’t be a “better” benefit, it should be how your difference is good. Dollar Shave Club wasn’t “sharper,” it was “affordable”—a huge difference from their primary razor competition, and also a major benefit.
So make sure your one word is a good thing, and make sure it is a different benefit from your competition.
Once you have your one word picked out, use it everywhere. Your customer should see this word and think of you first. And with that kind of brand recognition and loyalty, your customers will come running and your conversions will skyrocket.
And if you want to learn even more about how you can solidify your brand, check out Sally Hogshead’s workshop for FREE! She will give you a head start on identifying your audience and finding the right words to sell to them. Sign up here!
