Branding a business can be tough to master. You want to get the right balance between who you really are and what will appeal to people. It looks so easy when you see others doing it but when it comes to mastering it yourself, it’s harder than it looks.
I wrote about why we need a personal brand in our business and I suggest you read that first to give you some insight into what a brand can do for you and your business. You can find it here.
Your brand represents you.
When you’re branding your own business it’s important that there are aspects of you integrated throughout. This is what will give your business a personal feel. People want to feel as though they know you and that’s why a personal brand can be such a powerful way to drive traffic to your site and increase your income.
Thinking about our own positive qualities can be difficult because we tend to focus on the negative ones. But part of being a confident business owner means we can acknowledge the things that make us awesome. This isn’t being arrogant; it’s simply embracing who we are.
A good place to start is by asking yourself these questions:
what are my interests?
what are my hobbies?
what do I do to relax?
what am I passionate about?
what positive things do others say about me?
what makes me unique?
If you are struggling with this part I urge you to push through. You are simply amazing, my dear, and there are plenty of people who would agree with me. We all have our unique qualities and you are no exception. If it helps, pretend that a friend is describing you. You can even do this exercise with someone who knows you well. Sometimes our friends and family members can see who we really are better than we can ourselves.
Your business should stand out.
The next thing you need to do is answer the question your customers are bound to ask: “why should I buy from you and not from [enter name of your competition]?” They will want to know what makes you and your company so great. Figure out what you do better than your competition and why that’s a good thing.
Make sure you’re not simply comparing yourself to the competition and naming all the things they do better. Instead, focus on what you have to offer that they don’t.
Playing the comparison game can be very easy when it comes to small businesses, especially with the addition of social media. In order to build a solid brand, it is so important to have confidence in yourself and in what you are offering customers. Without confidence, it will be easy to compare to others and always find ways you come up short.
This is so important. It’s okay to learn from what they do well and implement what you learn but building your brand isn’t about becoming a carbon copy of someone else.
Competition is healthy.
Let’s say you’re competing with someone who does lots of live teaching and webinars and has an outgoing and captivating personality. Your content is just as valuable as hers but you happen to be shy in front of a camera.
Well, guess what? Your brand is about you, not her, so make it about you and what you are offering. So you’re shy in front of cameras, but maybe you’re a great listener. Maybe you love taking the time to respond to every single comment from your followers. Maybe because of that people walk away from you feeling like a million bucks.
You need to narrow down those areas of strength that you have, the ones that make you shine, and then figure out how to make them shine brighter. This is how you build your business brand. Look at the list of attributes you wrote down at the beginning. What does your business do best? Where are the strong points? How will those strong points benefit your customers? What are you offering that the competition isn’t?
Brands are emotional.
No matter how you have branded yourself, when people see something of yours, they are going to experience an emotion. It may not be a positive one, but you can be sure they will feel something.
A good question to ask yourself is, “what do I want people to feel when they encounter my brand?” Answering this question will also help you define exactly what it is you want your brand to convey. When someone sees your images on Instagram, your email in their inbox, and your ad on Facebook, what are the first several feelings you want them to have? Is it excitement? Joy? Warmth? Jealousy? Ambition? Maybe inspired? Or motivated? Choose your top three and use them to help define what your brand looks like.
Brands are visual.
Use colors and images to convey those feelings. Branding is science behind the scenes and art in the showroom. When someone sees your image in their feed, they don’t start thinking about how much fun you are on live video or how much they dig your amazing tips.
Those things are the SCIENCE of your brand and this is what causes your followers to fall in love with you, even though they don’t recognize it as that. It’s the behind-the-scenes work you put in defining and crafting your brand. It’s the precise formula you’ve put together to attract traffic. They don’t need or want to see those things.
What they want to see is your image. How does your brand present itself visually? This is the ART of your brand and this is what customers thinkis causing them to love you. What they don’t know is that they fell in love with the core values of your brand (those things that make you unique from competitors) and the image is simply the representation of those core values.
It’s like when Kate Spade releases a new purse. You think you are loving the purse for its minimal-chic design but the truth is, you fell in love with Kate Spade handbags a long time ago. Not for the amazing bags (which are simply the image) but for the brand itself (chic, feminine, affordable luxury, minimal). The bags do a fantastic job representing the brand, but in truth, they are only the image, or the art, of the brand.
Branding is science AND art.
Putting together the image of your brand is a matter of choosing which elements properly reflect the feeling onto your customers that you’d like them to experience. For example, if you want your brand to convey adrenaline, excitement, and fun, you will probably choose bright pops of color and a variety of fun photos that cause viewers to take a second look. Your fonts will be bold and statement-making. Chances are, this image is a reflection of you as a person as well.
Let personal taste direct you.
When I was choosing a color palette for The Vanilla Muse, I realized that the palette I put together was a direct copy of my wardrobe. Black, white, lots of soft neutrals, and feminine touches like blush pink and rose gold. It confirmed that the colors I chose would work well for my site because I was already drawn to those colors enough to wear them. So use your own closet as a guide, as long as you enjoy wearing what’s in it. If not, it may be time for an overhaul *wink*.
Branding can seem like a lot of work. And when we use words like science and art it almost makes you feel like you’re back in high school. But don’t let it overwhelm you. Great things are not created in a day. If you’re not feeling it right now, take a break. It will still be there tomorrow. Don’t push yourself.
As you grow you will find that your brand grows right along with you. You will someday change many of the things you decide today. And that’s okay. We change, trends change, and our customers change. So don’t sweat it if you don’t get it all figured out today.
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