It’s a beautiful day to build a brand from scratch, don’t you think?! If you are new to content creation as a legit job, are thinking about breaking into this industry, this FREE series may be what helps you officially get started.
Welcome to How To Build A Brand In 7 Days. Today we are jumping into lesson one: What is branding anyway? There will be 7 total posts in this series.
Grab a coffee and a notebook / pen. You’re gonna want to take notes! You can also scroll down (or use the article quick links menu) to pin what is branding anyway.
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The biggest Takeaway From Lesson One
One of the main reasons an idea never gets to the launch phase, is because of self-doubt, fear, overwhelm and a ton of other things.
If you take anything away from this lesson, I hope that you remember that the ultimate key to success is to just START, not overthink it and honestly, no one is ever fully prepared or ready.
Successful content creators and brand owners take action and keep moving forward, regardless of the hurdles that pop up.
Launch, then tweak and evolve as you go. Ya know?
Lesson One: What Is Branding Anyway?
When you hear the word “branding” chances are, you think about a logo, a mark, a graphic design representation. Brands like Nike, Apple, Sephora, COACH have a distinct visual symbol, mark, font that is easily recognizable.
The thing is, those are just marks. And it’s only because those brands are globally known that we even recognize or think about those marks when we see, read or hear their name.
Their brand isn’t just a mark, though. Their brand is the EMOTION you feel when you enter their store, have a shopping experience with them, interact with them in person, online and through social media.
Their brand is the lasting impression they leave upon you.
Their marketing is a way to evoke emotion – to make you feel something powerful – that will make you remember them, buy something from them – value them.
More on that very soon.
This 7 part series is all about branding. It’s by far THE most important aspect of building a brand that makes an impact, evokes genuine emotion and helps you reach all your goals in life and in business.
Don’t feel overwhelmed over there. It is a lot. But I’m going to be walking you through each and every step to get you brainstorming ideas, help you gain brand clarity and even help you make some decisions that will ultimately get you started in building a solid foundation for your business.
You’ve totally got this! And honestly? I cannot WAIT to see what you are dreaming up, over there.
So tell me, if your brand was a person, what mood would they portray to others? What vibe would they have, upon meeting them for the very first time? And most importantly, what message would they be voicing over and over?
Define Your Brand's Emotions
- Sincerity
- Personality
- Authoritativeness
3 Reasons Why Your Brand Should Be Sincere
Being genuine in your mission to provide value to your target audience is essential. In what ways will your brand be sincere? Here are some things to consider when answering this question.
- Being sincere helps to build trust with your customer base. By showing your readers, watchers, customers (aka your person) that you’re honest and genuine, they’ll be more likely to trust your brand and become loyal (come back for more).
- Being sincere helps to cultivate an open, comfortable and inviting environment, no matter the niche or genre your brand falls into. Your person will feel more comfortable sharing their thoughts and opinions on your chosen platforms if they know they can trust you. This will help you learn more about your person and create a better experience for them.
- Being sincere helps to create an emotional connection with your person. People are more likely to have a positive opinion of your brand if they feel like they can relate to you on an emotional level. Support is absolutely everything for a brand, whether it’s personal or not.
3 Ways To Add Personality To Your Brand
- Utilize color and imagery in your marketing that reflects the brand’s personality. Whether it’s bright and fun or classic and refined, make sure to select visuals that convey the right message. It’s all about the vibe, baby!
- Create content that is consistent with the brand’s personality. Whether it’s humorous and lighthearted or professional and informative, make sure the tone and message reflect the brand’s values. Don’t stray too far when experimenting. It’s good to not box yourself in per se, but having a specific execution style is important.
- Engage with your person in a way that reflects the brand’s voice. Whether it’s friendly banter or informative advice, make sure to communicate in a way that is in line with the brand’s values. A great tip is to be easily recognizable for ONE key thing. For some, it’s topic. For others, it’s the way they present their content.
4 Ways To Be Authoritative
Being an authority in your niche is essential for overall success. You’ll want to be trustworthy, reliable and confident. In what ways will your brand (you) present itself (yourself) as an authoritative figure?
- Being authoritative in your brand starts with having a clear vision and mission statement. These statements should define who you are, what you do, and what values you stand for. Once you have these outlined, you can then build a strategy that will help you achieve all of your goals, both big and small!
- When it comes to building your brand authority, you should focus on creating content that is valuable, informative, and relevant to your target audience aka your person.
You can do this through written content like blog posts. Visual content is queen these days so video is a popular choice. Audio content like podcasts and or audiobooks is a fantastic content publication option.
Whatever feels the best and is something you can commit to doing on a regular basis, is the way to go! - A fantastic way to practice being authoritative is to make sure you are active on your chosen platforms. Whether it’s on social media, privately through email and DM’s or even through blog post comments, engaging with your customers is a must-have on your brand-building list. Respond in a timely manner and share helpful information that will actually help them.
- Finally, it’s important to focus on building relationships with others that fall within your industry (or even the same genre circles). These creative individuals can help you spread the word about your brand and help you reach more people (it’s often referred to as creator collaborations and/or authentic sharing swaps).
Reaching out to these types of people is a big subject in itself, but I wanted to throw it out there for you to think about and consider.
A MUST-READ
3 Legal Documents Every Blogger Needs For Their Blog in 2023
Is your new WordPress blog legally protected? It’s crucial to protect yourself and your readers with these 3 blogging policies and disclosure pages. Don’t make this huge mistake. Here’s what I used for THIS blog.
The Ultimate Key To Success Is Perseverance
per·se·ver·ance | ˌpərsəˈvirəns
Perseverance is persistence in doing something despite difficulties, obstacles, feelings of discouragement or a delay in achieving success.
Building a brand that you are intentional with takes time, courage, and perseverance ESPECIALLY when you get to road blocks, creative overwhelm, impatience, boredom, uncertainness and disappointment.
Those are hardships we ALL face in our entrepreneurial journey, but it’s your response to the tough stuff and the willpower to get through them is what will carry you to places you can’t even imagine, yet.
You can do this.
You can do anything you put your mind to, as long as you want it bad enough.
ULTIMATE GEAR BUNDLE FOR CREATORS
Sony ZV-E10 Mirrorless Camera Vlogger Kit with 16-50mm F3.5-5.6 Lens With Grip + Filters + Wide & Telephoto Lenses + Deco Gear Case & Other Accessories
Something about me is that I research the crap outta things before I make a purchase. This is especially important for me to do if it’s a high-cost item.
When you are a professional content creator, but don’t need top of the line gear (but WANT incredible gear), you have to find a middle ground product that helps you to deliver quality content, that also is easy to use. This mirrorless Sony vlogging camera is a GEM.
I’m obsessed with the ease of use. The clearly defined buttons for the different modes you may need and use (like blurry background aka beautiful bokeh or product reviews or quick focus and more). Watch the product video for a great idea of all the features this little camera provides.
This is my next big purchase and I cannot WAIT to do an unboxing and review. I already know I’m going to love it – I used to own a successful professional photography studio as both a portrait photographer and high-end wedding photographer so gear is something I take very seriously over here. 🙂
Pin what is branding anyway For Later
Final Thoughts
I hope this first lesson in my How To Build A Brand Series was helpful to you. My last piece of honest advice is this; Really take some time with your branding, if you are just starting out or even if you’re in the phase of wanting to be more consistent and intentional with a rebrand.
Definitely keep in mind the overall vibe and mission statement or brand’s purpose.
After all, you WANT your target audience to take in your content and easily identify you (and remember you) so they can then easily share your brand with their friends, family and even strangers!
If you are clear in your presentation, you’ll come to mind for them very quickly if they ever find themselves in a conversation that also makes them think about you / your brand. Cool, right?
Thank you for reading “What is branding anyway!” I’m right here to cheer you on and help in any way that I can. See you soon for lesson two.
ALL ARTICLES IN THE HOW TO BUILD A BRAND IN 7 DAYS SERIES
- LESSON ONE: What Is Branding Anyway
- LESSON TWO: Make Money Creating Content You Actually Love
- LESSON THREE: How To Figure Out Who You're Talking To
- LESSON FOUR: Create A Killer Mission Statement
- LESSON FIVE: Get Your Mood Board On
- LESSON SIX: DIY Branding With Canva
- LESSON SEVEN: Create A Blogging Business Plan
