I’m almost positive that if you’re interested in this topic it is because you already have a balloon business and you’re looking to get more clients… So let’s get to it!
For most balloon artists, posting on social media is the extent of their marketing efforts and they wonder why they are not getting sales. So here is a high-level breakdown of what Branding, Marketing and Sales can do for your business and how you can implement them in your business.
Branding is your face, your voice, the words you use to talk to your client, your brand colours, your business name, your logo but most importantly, branding is THE GUT FEELING YOUR POTENTIAL CLIENTS GET WHEN THEY SEE YOUR FACE, YOUR NAME OR YOUR BALLOON WORK.
At this point you’re not promoting your product, you’re not asking them to buy anything… If your ideal clients see one of your posts, and they come to your page, what’s their first impression? How will they feel about your brand? That feeling is branding.
Branding is really important because it will help you set the emotional tone for a future relationship with a potential client. You will never buy from someone you don’t like right? Your client will do the same, they’ll only inquire about your product if they liked you first.
Marketing on the other hand, refers to any efforts you make where you ask your potential client to take action — you ask them to book with you, that’s marketing, you ask them to go to the link in bio, that’s marketing, even when you ask a question in your caption hoping they would engage, that’s nurturing and that’s part of marketing. You’re asking your potential client to take an action that will hopefully lead to a sale. Paid advertising and collaborations are part of a marketing strategy.
And SALES is a completely different story, if you had the resources or if you look at any big company, there is always a marketing team AND a sales team.
It doesn’t matter how much you do to attract clients, if you are not able to close the sale effectively, any previous efforts would have been wasted.
Imagine any store, for example Sephora, running a huge marketing campaign for a new product. They send emails, they send you coupons, you see this new product all over social media (paid advertisement) and you’re intrigued and you go to the store. When you get there, the sales rep doesn’t even know where the products are, or she doesn’t have the knowledge to suggest the right product for you, or she doesn’t have a friendly attitude or they’re just rushing you because the store is packed or it’s almost closing time … you would most likely leave the store without purchasing anything because the sales representative didn’t take care of you, right?
So the marketing team did a great job creating interest in the product, attracting potential clients to visit the store, but the sales team did a very poor job in handling clients’ questions or serving them in a positive way, resulting in very low sales.
Can you see the importance of both teams being on the same page in order to get the sale? Majority of balloon artists are solo-prenours wearing multiple hats including these two (marketing and sales), never really knowing the fundamental parts of any business. The more you understand everything that goes into running a successful balloon business, the more intentional you will be when choosing videos to watch, or programs to learn from or even hiring your next employee.
This continues to be a work in progress for us but at least we’re now aware of the importance of excelling in all these areas, and we try to implement and get better as much as possible in our business. I hope after reading this blog, you are encouraged to implement it too.
Here are some high-level points that will help you get started:
Inside our signature program WeBalloonz Tribe, we cover these 3 topics in depth with specific examples and action plans so you can implement it in your business.
If you’re looking to start or grow your balloon business, join our waitlist to be the first to know when we open our doors. Doors to the program only open 3 times a year for one week. The rest of the time we’re focused on helping our members get results.