We all know branding is vital to your business, but does the branding for your business (and yourself!) hit the mark.
Today’s blog is going to delve into the aspects of what makes branding sing!
WHAT IS BRANDING NOT!
Your branding or your business branding IS NOT JUST your logo.
Your logo is certainly a key component of your branding – but it isn’t your whole branding concept!
Yes – that can be confusing seeing as most people assume that’s what it is (And we have many graphic artists and creators to thank for that confusion over many years!)
We know that if you want to get your branding “done” – you go to a graphic artist and talk colours, and fonts and logos – but that’s NOT all your branding is!
Again, it is an important and part of it, but that’s not all of it.
SO, WHAT IS A BRAND?
A brand is a little like marketing – it’s EVERYTHING!
It includes you as the face of your business and the services you offer.
It’s your likeability and your enthusiasm, mixed in nicely with what people say about you and/or your business when you’re not in the room. This is also known as “what you want to be famous for”.
What you want to be famous for is exactly that!
What do you want people to say about you to someone? For example, “You should work with Jenn Donovan, she knows her marketing and works with small business, especially rural ones!”
If someone said that about me – then YAY – that’s me!
If they said, “you should work with Jenn Donovan, she’s got so much free PR, she could help you get some”. Well, that’s ok, I love that someone is talking about me, but once they reach out, I’ll help them find some like Jemimah Ashleigh who’s whole business is around getting people PR.
You see, PR is not my niche – I could help, yes, but I’m probably not what they are looking for, so I generally will refer people on.
Basically, we want our brand to be:
- What WE want it to be/reflect
- Attract the people who want and need OUR specific services
So, I’ll ask you this:
- What would someone say about you and your business when you’re not in the room?
- Do you have your branding right so that they know exactly what to say to recommend or refer you?
HOW DO YOU GET CLEAR ON YOUR BRAND?
Here’s my three steps for doing just that:
- Start with the end in mind – what’s the goal, what’s the BHAG, what do you want to be famous for?
Start here and work backwards!
What I mean is this, it’s designing a business around you, then starting at the end getting your branding exactly as it needs to be to help you reach your goals.
You need to start at the end!
- Get clear on your brand values, mission and vision statements. Know Your Why!
I know that “Knowing your WHY” is something we hear a lot.
We can blame Simon Sinek for that – but knowing why you do what you do, is just as important of knowing what you want it to achieve for you.
This is where your VISION and MISSION statements come into play.
If you’ve never worked on your Why or Vision or Mission statements – do some research, do some work on it. (And, forget the corporate-speak – write from the heart!)
Your VISION STATEMENT is focused on tomorrow – what the business or you want to become – what are our hopes and dreams, what problem are we solving, who and what are we inspiring to change.
Your MISSION STATEMENT is focussed on today – what the business does – what do we do, who do we serve, how do we serve them.
So what does a Vision and Mission statement look like?
As an example in my business:
My Mission: to ensure every small business owner makes marketing a priority in their business
My Vision: To have my clients go from invisible to invincible, to boost their profile, audience and profit, so they can earn what they’re worth and can make a bigger difference in the world.
Additionally, in both your Vision & Mission statement, you should embody your BUSINESS VALUES.
Your BUSINESS VALUES should be somewhere where people can see – e.g.,/ your website – as should your vision and mission.
They don’t have to be under those headings – but they should be somewhere.
- Work on who your target audience is?
Understand the person that you are wanting to be your customer or client – know them back to front, front to back and back again!
Because once you have an understanding of who your audience (ie customer/client) is, coupled with the other things I mentioned above – what you want to be famous for, what the end goal is for your business, then you can start to work on things like your:
- Brand voice
- Brand tone
- Language of your brand
- Brand positioning – e.g. Tiffany or Kmart
And once you have all that – and ONLY once you have all that, can you really start to look at colours, fonts, logos, etc that match all of that in a physical form.
One of the simplest ways to start cultivating your brand is to stop thinking of it like a BUSINESS – think of your brand as PERSON – and that person is actually YOU!
Whether you are working in a business or own a business, you can still have a personal brand!
People don’t just buy from brands; they buy from the people who embody their own morals and values.
And if we do buy from someone or a brand that doesn’t have the same values as us, that’s possibly because they make themselves so likeable and are just so darn enthusiastic at what they do and how they treat us as customers and provide the products and services that we want/need!
SO – do some work on your branding!
The most straight forward way is to ask some trusted sources:
- What your branding says to them
- What they think you do
- What they think your brand says about you.
Because like I said, your brand is often what people say about you when you’re not in the room!
How can I help you?
You can book in for a Discovery call with me and I can see how I might be able to help you with your branding.
If you’d like to book a call – get in touch – send me a message on any of the social platforms or book a call at http://bit.ly/Discoverwithjenn
There is also my Like Minded Business Owners Facebook group which is a fantastic group of small business owners who have a wealth of knowledge to share – please join if you aren’t already a member! The community there are so great with helping each other out, and can provide some honest and constructive feedback on your branding.
Or you can DM me on Instagram or shoot me an email jenn@jenndonovan.com.au
I would like to acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land, the Yorta Yorta People, on which I conduct my business today and pay my respects to their Elders past and present. I extend that respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples reading this blog post
ABOUT THE AUTHOR!
Jenn Donovan is a marketing strategist and social media extraordinaire, coach and mentor to savvy business owners. Owner and Founder of Social Media & Marketing Australia.
With a passion for making business simple, because it’s isn’t easy but it should be simple or at least simpler, she’s built a reputation for helping other small business owners simplify their marketing and businesses so they can reach their goals, be more profitable and live the dream (finding the freedom they set out to achieve when they started … the illusive small business owner freedom dream …!)
Jenn believes in giving before asking and that’s why she’s the host of the popular Small Business Made Simple Podcast.
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