Who are you? What do you do? These are questions we ask every new person we meet.

Customers ask those same questions of your business when they first lay eyes on you. That initial blind date might take place via e-mail, on the web, through a direct mail postcard, in your restaurant or at your store—so each method of contact had better tell the same story if you want the recipient to really make a love connection.

Your company’s brand is its core, and it manifests itself visually and experientially. It’s not just your logo, your website or your business card—it’s every touchpoint the customer has with your business. And how can you make those thousand decisions on packaging, logo, décor, policies, price if you don’t know what you are trying to convey or to whom? Easy. Your brand serves as a guidepost for everything you do.

Red Slice clarifies your brand and helps you tell your story—so you can engage, inform and delight your customers.

Already know who you are and who your ideal customer is? Great! Now if you could just find them. Those who don’t do this well are the ones who advertise car loans to 14-year olds or a sassy women’s boutique to a middle-aged all-guys rugby club. You might argue you could turn some of those folks into customers eventually, but why waste that kind of time or budget? Isn’t it easier to go where your customers are and entice them, rather than yelling out the window and hoping the right ones hear you?

Effective marketing shouldn’t result in eyestrain from searching for the proverbial needle or a sore throat shouting to people who will never buy from you anyway. The right targeting and message actually make marketing much more effective and, frankly, fun. As long as you have a good brand foundation, a clear value proposition, and a definitive profile of your ideal customers, you can grab them and hug them and squeeze them and never let them go (figuratively, of course; otherwise that’s just stalking).