Double Your Day Rate: 4 Ways to Increase Your Small Business Brand Value

Do you want to double your day rate? Before you do, having a strong brand strategy is a MUST! After all, you need the foundation that conveys your business’s brand value, which stems from clear messaging and identity. Once these elements are in place, you’ll be positioned to charge more and attract your ideal clients. Get a glimpse of what I mean below!

A solid brand will equip you with:

• A robust strategy to guide your business

• Clarity on the value you provide to clients

• The ability to articulate what problems you solve and why YOU are the expert for their specific issues

On the other hand, you also shouldn’t choose your brand colors simply because you like them. There should be a level of reflection, research, and strategy involved in the process.

All of the above enables you to increase your prices and revenue by improving your perceived value. Research by Kantar found that consumers are willing to pay 37% more on average for a service or product from brands that are Meaningfully Different. They define these brands as “those that stand out and then stand for something”). Simply put, a strong brand means no more relying on competitive prices or constant discounts to close sales!

I’m a huge believer in working smarter, not harder—that’s why I’ve built my own business to work with the solopreneurs I love helping and do the work I love doing on my terms! And I believe you should be able to do the same. 

I’m also anti-hustle culture. I want my clients to work to live, not live to work. But that means putting in the hard work upfront on your brand so it works for you, creating value, and enabling you to charge your desired prices so you’re not working round the clock! Let’s explore some examples and four key ways a thoughtful strategy will boost your brand value.

Is a Brand Strategy REALLY Necessary to Raise Your Rates?

Yep, 100%! I’ve worked with a range of clients to build their brands, some of whom have gone from charging $500 per month to $2,000 per day for the same work. That includes my own business!

Mini Case Study#1: From Marketing Generalist to Branding Specialist

I have learned significantly from repositioning my own brand. When I first started Boss Diplomat, I didn’t have a niche. I offered a long list of brand and marketing services, which made finding clients tricky as the competition was quite fierce both locally and online. 

However, the minute I narrowed my specialty to branding for solopreneurs, I became known for this niche. Doors magically began opening. I found more clients more easily—not just any, but my dream clients! Why? Because most of my competitors were not focusing on this area. While some said they provide branding services, it often wasn’t accurate, or they weren’t providing comprehensive branding.

I went from charging $999 to $5,000 per project—all thanks to my refocused brand identity and strategy!

My solutions and target audience are precise, raising my brand value. I can work exclusively with premium clients because I’m offering premium service in return. For any service outside of branding (e.g., marketing, sales, advertising, public relations, or copywriting), I refer them to my partners. Although I could help clients with these areas, I choose not to so I don’t water down my brand, get stuck doing projects I don’t enjoy, and get burnt out.

Mini Case Study #2: From Success Coach to Income Strategist

I don’t expect you to strictly take my word for it. So here’s the story of a client whom I helped rebrand and 50x her rate!

I worked with one client who formerly called herself a Success Coach. Because of this unclear title, she had difficulty explaining to potential clients what she does and how she could help them. So, I repositioned her to an Income Strategist, clearly showing that she helps entrepreneurs add extra income streams to their businesses.

By clarifying her offer, this savvy Income Strategist went from charging just $50 to $2,500 per client for her intensive program!

Remember, just because you can do everything for everyone doesn’t mean you should.

4 Ways Your Brand Strategy Increases Your Brand Value

1. Create a Consistent Brand Image & Voice

One of the first things branding guides you to do is embrace your authentic voice, tell your story, and relate to clients. Once you’ve nailed this, you can start showing up consistently on all channels, from social media to email marketing to PR opportunities, making you recognizable.

Consistency is the key to a good brand strategy! It’s what customers want, which is evident from the fact that brand consistency can increase revenue between 10% and 20%. When customers know what to expect from every interaction with your business, no matter the platform, it builds the know, like, trust factor.  

Think of a recent positive experience you had with a business. You may have heard about them from a friend and visited their website. Or maybe you got an ad for them on social media and checked out their page to learn more. 

What caught your eye? What impressed you most? They likely had an appealing message that first pulled you in, like a one-on-one conversation, along with eye-catching imagery and colors. As you dove into their content, you may have liked their approachable tone or intriguing story. Whatever resonated with you, it’s a sign of a well-thought-out brand strategy.

Now, consider a not-so-great experience with a brand. Perhaps you tried to explore their website but couldn’t clearly understand what they do or how they stand out. Maybe it was blah and impersonal, showing no face(s) behind the business and looking like everyone else in their industry. And it probably didn’t feel like they were speaking to you. 

Establishing a consistent identity and message is essential to increasing your brand value. After all, it takes five to seven interactions for people to start recognizing your brand and even more for them to become familiar with and remember you by name!

2. Embrace Your Expertise & Niche

As you develop your small business brand strategy, you’ll define exactly what you do and for whom. This prepares you to show your target audience how you are the expert in solving their problem. Eventually, you’ll have client testimonials and stories you can share to highlight who you help!

Niching down helps you stand out by identifying and showing what you do differently. This increases your brand awareness, and you become an authority known for your unique approach and/or solution. Since 81% of consumers state they must be able to trust a brand to consider buying from them, demonstrating your expertise is crucial.

Sure, you have competition in your industry. But you may have a different process, something in your services that no one else is doing, or a meaningful background story that gives you a unique perspective. Smart brand positioning will set your brand apart, connect you to your ideal clients, and increase your brand value so you can charge more!

3. Know & Attract Your Ideal Clients

Speaking of connecting with your ideal clients, let’s touch on another vital area of your brand strategy: Identifying your target audience and segments. Branding will equip you to:

• Understand their pain points, needs, and desires

• Communicate your solution in a way that resonates with them

• Explain step-by-step how you’ll help them reach their end goal

• Create content tailored to their needs—82% see brands more positively after reading custom content!

• Show them you get them, and you’re THE only option

You know the manifestation philosophy that you get back from what you put into the universe? The same goes for your branding! When your branding and marketing are high-quality, you’ll attract high-quality clients. But when your branding and marketing are weak and lack a strategy, you’ll bring in low-paying, more difficult customers who simply aren’t a good fit.

Knowing your ideal clients also allows you to deliver an exceptional customer experience, which in turn strengthens brand loyalty and word-of-mouth marketing. When your clients excitedly share their positive experiences about what you helped them achieve, you’ll gain a proven track record and the ability to raise your rates.

Maintaining existing clients is much less expensive than acquiring new ones—and a long-term client only increases in value over time. A strong brand helps you foster relationships with clients you already love working with. 

4. Develop Effective Processes & Marketing

Finally, branding guides other business areas, such as systems to streamline sales and client management. You’ll know your core offerings and your process for each. The beauty of this is you can focus on the projects and tasks you love most, leveraging your strengths to help clients. 

This focus will elevate the client experience, as you will be prepared to:

• Efficiently convey what you offer, how it works, and why it’s best for them

• Show the strategy behind every product or service you provide 

• Shorten the sales cycle by mitigating their concerns and need to research

All of the above makes it clear that you know your stuff and have your processes down to a science, increasing your brand value. And when clients know to expect premium, efficient service, they’ll be willing to invest more sooner!

Branding also guides your marketing and advertising strategies. Cohesive messaging that conveys your mission and values is essential to creating effective campaigns on every platform. This shows your audience you know what you’re doing and have the experience to back it up.

Without a brand strategy and identity, your business will seem disjointed and indecisive. For example, having multiple versions of your logo, an inconsistent color palette, and messaging that says you help anyone and everyone with vague explanations of your services will only confuse people—and as Donald Miller, author of Building a StoryBrand, says, “When you confuse, you lose!”

Raise Your Value with a Solid Brand Strategy

The Kantar study found that businesses with clear brands (i.e., audiences understand what they stand for) contribute 70% more to sales. It’s safe to say that having a solid brand strategy will strengthen your brand value and reputation! 

People will perceive your brand positively because of your consistency, expertise, and excellent customer experience. And they’ll trust you thanks to your clients’ success stories, which demonstrate how you help improve their lives.

Are you ready to be taken seriously and double (or more) your day rate? Let’s build a brand that showcases your value and connects you with your ideal clients! Learn more about my signature Brand Blueprint and book yours today.