Branding
2 Quotes That Will Change The Way You Think About Branding
It’s fair to say I spend a lot of my time thinking about branding, teaching branding skills, and designing brand identities. So, I was thrilled to come across these viewpoints about branding from Seth Godin and Jeff Bezos. Their viewpoints shed light on the broader view of what “brand” and “branding” mean for your business today.
People are talking about you right now!
Let’s talk a closer look at what Jeff Bezos says: A brand is “What other people say about you when you’re in the other room.”
How does that make you feel to think that someone right now is gossiping about your business (and you)?
This could be simultaneously frightening and thrilling. Getting talked about is a good thing. Having some gossip floating around about your company is way better than not being talked about at all.
But what is being said? Is the conversation positive or negative?
Do you have any control over the tone of the conversation?
You bet you do!
You have the ability to impact that conversation. What people are saying about you when you’re not there doesn’t have to be left up to chance.
Use every interaction as an opportunity.
As Seth Godin says: “Every interaction, in any form, is branding.” Every action your business takes, every interaction with someone, is a chance to strengthen your brand and create an experience, to tell your brand’s story in the way you want it to be told.
This is the really exciting part of branding, because it’s not about having a perfect brand from the start, it’s about seeing each interaction (each touch point with the world) as an opportunity to strengthen your brand and business.
Here are some examples of how you can use interactions as opportunities to build a strong brand: You can provide stellar customer service. You can interact on social media in uplifting positive ways. You can create products and services that do exactly what you promised they would do. You can create brand visuals that align with your brand personality (Are you bubbly and bright? Are you calm and soothing? Choose colors and fonts to reflect those traits.).
How will you strengthen your brand today?
What interactions will you have today (phone calls, blog posts, social media posts, your sales process) with current customers or potential customers? How can you make the most out of each opportunity to connect with your audience in a way that shows them just how awesome you are?
Brand Recognition: It’s An Inside Job
We all want to be recognized.
We want our audiences to say, “Hey, I know her!” when our tweets go out, when our Facebook status updates roll by, and when we launch a course.
So, how do you make that spark of recognition happen automatically?
Consistency is key!
Our brains like patterns. We recognize the things we see and hear repeatedly. Consistency isn’t boring to our brains.
We recognize brands because we’ve seen the same logo, slogan, colors, fonts, and brand visuals over, and over, and over again. We instantly identify Coke, McDonalds, and Apple with just the slightest glance.
One glance and we already know the back story of our relationship with the brand. We’ve zipped past the introductions and awkward talk about the weather and our kids, and headed right to the heart of the matter: what’s new … the search for our name on a can of Coke, the dates the McRib will be back, the plan to stand in line for a new iPhone.
Ready to start being more consistent with your branding so that these jolts of recognition happen more often?
Start by looking inside
What do you call yourself? Are you a coach, a designer, a consultant, a strategist, a writer, a guru, a poet, a singer, a _______. What describes you?
Say it out loud right now… “I’m a ______.”
Then practice: say it to yourself when you go to bed tonight and when you get up in the morning. Say it again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next, and the next until it starts to feel really solid, like a super strong concrete foundation. When this statement is solid in your mind, you can use it on your website, add it to your email signature, use it to introduce yourself.
Brand recognition starts with you. It’s an inside job (at first).
p.s. You’ll be tempted to add more to the “I’m a _______” statement, to qualify, to make it more, but resist this impulse at first. Give yourself time to build that solid foundation inside before you add on the rest.
Brand and Be Seen: Financial Coach
Brand and Be Seen is a series of blog posts offering brand style guides for fictional brands to inspire you to create your own beautiful brand. Feel free to use the font combinations and color palettes as you wish. Happy branding!
About the Brand
Katja Darrow helps entrepreneurs manage their finances. She has a thing for pinstriped suits, consistency, and money. Her clients choose her because she helps them understand financial basics in fresh ways and helps them implement systems so their financial bases are covered automatically.
Details:
Logo: Bickham Script Pro
Tagline: Arial
Hex Colors: #efefef, #d2d5d5, #b8a38f, #e77b5f, #2f333b
Design Elements: flourishes and patterns available in Photoshop.
More Brand and Be Seen…
Learn how to choose fonts and colors to best tell your brand story and build a website to match in The Brand Workshop or work one-on-one with Christie Halmick of Jewels Branch to brand your business and website.