How to Develop Your Brand

Branding, it’s the soul of your business.

In today’s market, consumers, readers and clients all want a business that has a as a purpose and improves peoples’ lives in some way. 

The only way for a business to accomplish this is to establish, understand, and implement a brand strategy.

The reason so many consumers flock to business with purpose, aka a brand strategy, is because with a brand a business has established who they are, and it feels more human to work and personable. 

I know that brand strategy may seem difficult, but it doesn’t have to be when you have a plan.

Similar to the journey you are on I too had to create a plan and establish who I was as a brand.

In exploring myself and evaluating the beliefs I hold dear, I realized why I was struggling with the same issues as many of my clients and small business friends.

What did I learn? 

If I wanted clients to understand me and what I offered, I had to make sure that my brand strategy was established and implemented consistently throughout my business. 

Armed with this knowledge, of course, I had to try it out on myself.

Brand Strategy Journey

My journey began, as all my journeys begin, juggling bowling pins while balancing plates as I stand on a ball with one foot.

It began with me being knee-deep in an SEO Audit and Implementation for a client, studying for my French Driver’s License, all while reevaluating my own brand strategy.

Thankfully, after scouring the internet, taking a class here and there, reading a ton of material (good and bad), and eventually going cross-eyed, I emerged fresh and confident with a brand strategy that I could be proud of and can be used for any brand.

(I’ve even created a brand strategy workbook for your to get a jump start on your journey, click here!)

I’m going to be brutally honest; my journey to my brand strategy was not glamorous, but it was life changing.

In fact, there were times when I wanted to curl into a ball and cry. To make matters worse, I failed my driver’s exam. My first language is not French, so it was not as easy as I had anticipated.

While I am sure you’re nodding your head at my experience, you’re also probably wondering if all of this was worth it.

Absolutely.

I also think it is worth anyone’s time to develop or revamp their brand.

I’m not kidding when I say I’ve looked at copious amounts of content just to learn about brand strategy.

I read articles, and books, took a couple of courses, listened to a podcast (once), and of course, relied on my personal experience in the market.

Just like you, the courses I bought were either all fluff and had no substance or too complicated to even want to finish.

Did I mention I was also studying for my second French Driving exam?

Through the smoke, I created a step-by-step process that will help you to create an effective brand strategy that will guide you to:

• Understand who you really are and use your beliefs and values to guide your choices/decisions in ways that are better suited for your brand, customers, and future.
• Communicate your brand with consistency and efficiency with every type of content that you dream of making.
• Attract your target audience; you know the audience whose issues you can provide a solution for, not the entire world.
• Position your brand and gear it up to compete against your competitors.

What is a brand?

You have heard of Nestle, and I know you’ve heard of Apple.

These are “brands.”, a physical mark (logo) that identifies the business but also an emotional mark that triggers an emotional experience that either strengthens or weakens said brand.

A brand is what people think or feel and say about your business. Not to be confused with marketing. Marketing your brand is what you say about your business, not what others say about your business.

What is brand strategy?

A brand strategy helps you understand who you are and what you stand for and communicates clearly to others your purpose.

My brand strategy process is broken up like this:

• Brand Purpose-what is it that you do for the greater good?
• Brand messaging-how you talk about who you are
• Visual– identify the expression of your brand

Why do you need a brand strategy?

Say you are trying to get funding from an investor, and they want to know all about your business. As you try to explain the business, you find yourself not able to give a straight answer.

That is because you don’t know who you are or why you exist. You don’t know what you believe in or what you’re trying to achieve.

And if you don’t know, then your investor will not pick up on it and more than likely will not invest in your company. 

Everything from communication with customers to employees suffers if there is a lack of a brand strategy.

Use my Brand Strategy Workbook to help you plan and create your own brand. 

The reason?

From solopreneurs to those working for you, we all want a purpose. The workforce today wants to know that they are contributing to the greater good and making a difference.

Therefore, more times than not the reason many businesses struggle is due to a lack of brand strategy.

There are many businesses out there, like mine, that struggle to find their own brand strategy.

Symptoms of not having a brand strategy…

• -you don’t understand your purpose, vision, mission or your values. So you make marketing decisions that are not reflective of you and your business.
• -you don’t have a documented marketing plan, yet you hope that what you are doing will work
• -your team or even yourself is confused and lacking of focus, and it’s hard to feel interested or engaged in what you’re doing.
• -you don’t have a clear brand messaging, your content is inconsistent and contradictory to who you are. Resulting in inefficiency in attracting people who share your values. Including an audience and potential employees or guest bloggers.
• -you’re unable to articulate your brand clearly to others which means you can’t carve out a place in the market.

The ending conclusion?

Without a brand strategy, you will never grow.

And you’ll end up quitting.

How to build a brand either alone or with help.

You can’t always build a brand alone because you need to create, revise, and weave it into every fabric of your business. Unless you’re incredibly organized and have nothing distracting you, then DIY it! 

Luckily, there is no reason for you to do it alone! You don’t even have to hire a million people to assist you. You can have a two-person team because, hey, it is always best to have a friend.

Before you start your Brand Strategy….

Starting your brand strategy from scratch, you’re focused on trying to do things the “right way.” So, in the beginning, there will be mistakes, but that is how we learn!

To help you with your journey, I’ve included for a limited time a free download of my new Brand Strategy Workbook. Click here to get started! 

When starting, remember two important aspects you need to have beforehand:

-Who are you trying to help? Who are you trying to sell to? What do they need or want? How are their needs not being met?

In today’s market, consumers want to contribute to the “greater good.” And as such, your business needs to highlight how you are contributing to society.

Your purpose is to connect with people genuinely; you need to know exactly who your target audience is and where they hang out. 

When you know your “audience,” understanding how you’re trying to serve them will bring clarity to who you are and how you communicate with them!

Stay tuned to part two of Developing a Brand! In the mean time don’t forget to download your free workbook.