Branding, Marketing & Community 101 — 19% of Success is Showing up.

Chase your dream, kick some ass!

7 min readDec 25, 2022

Physical evidence of branding and marketing goes (at least) as far back as recorded history. Thousands of years ago, in ancient Mesopotamia, food, drink, and goods were stamped with unique seals so their makers could be given proper credit or blame. This groundbreaking idea was, in effect, a brand/logo. Clearly identifying your business is a basic practice today, but it was anything but at the time.

In ancient Rome, creative marketing was finding a busy city intersection and carving your ad into the side of a building, or better yet, paying a gladiator to endorse your product - ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED? Fast forward in time, to the invention of the printing press, we see flyers, brochures, and paper products become cutting edge difference makers. History is littered with notable advancements: newspaper ads, billboards, door-to-door salesmen, radio jingles, TV commercials, Columbia Records “6 CDs for a dollar,” all innovative at their time. The tools of branding and marketing are ever-changing, competition gives way to progress and new ideas.

Which brings us to today. The maturation of social media has put a spotlight on relationship marketing, building a “community” has become an increasingly important part of success. The emergence of web3 is underway and more changes are on the horizon: history tells us so. I’m here to break it down — talk about traditional approaches combined with new perspectives and sprinkle it with real world experience from the front lines. It’s a modern view at branding, marketing, and community management. This series will speak directly to NFT projects, 1/1 artists, and content creators, but the ideas can easily be applied to any business or person looking to grow. I’ve worked and consulted with everything from billion dollar companies to artists trying to sell their first piece of art. They found success in these words, and I hope you do to.

So what’s the first step to making a lasting impression? Well, you gotta show up to work. According to the BanAnakin Institute of Greatness (BIG), 19% of success is showing up and staying active. Don’t wait too long to start; you will never be 100% fully prepared. Learning on the job and encountering setbacks is part of the journey, the trick is to learn, adapt, reflect, and repeat. Consistency is key…

Surround Yourself With People That Share Your Values and Goals

My uncle Amos always used to say — “If you hangout with pigs, you’re gonna get turned to bacon.” and he’s got a point. It’s inevitable that you become similar to your environment. Seek out people, groups, and events that match your goals and values. This turns into new ideas, friends, and can even open a door or two. At worst you’ll learn what you don’t like or identify with. Remember- “luck” is a word disguised as preparation and putting yourself in the right place.

Be Patient, it Takes Time to Build Good Habits

One of the corporations I worked with focused on 30 day action plans, they were excellent at coaching and developing impactful messages for their team and patrons. The key is to build habits over a duration of time, chase progress not perfection. Establish an understanding of “what, why, and how” in the mind and as a muscle memory. Repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, …repetition? repetition! Repeat to remember. Think of it like lifting weights or mastering a new language; the final results don’t come immediately. Continue to keep it a priority, over time it will become second nature. Discuss it everyday at the beginning/end of the shift, or in a less formal way, the morning and evening. Awareness will grow, the goal will be met, and at that point you can roll out a new plan.

Enjoy the Journey — String Those Little Celebrations Together, They Grow Into Huge Milestones

Perfectionism is a double-edged sword. According to sociologist and author Tracy Bowers -

“Some aspects of perfectionism — setting high standards and working toward goals proactively can be good for your career — but perfectionism has a significant downside. Obsessing about making mistakes or letting others down or holding yourself to impossibly high standards can have negative consequences.”

Imagine, with no experience, trying to run a marathon, write a novel, and master a new language all in one day. I exaggerate, but this is the type of expectation many people put on themselves. Some accomplishments require time to bear fruit. A drop of water can become an ocean over time. strive to enjoy every step of the journey and dont be too hard on yourself. The important thing is to come back everyday. Some days will be rougher than others, you can make great gains or no gains. Sometimes just making it through the day in one piece is a win, treat it as one.

Over time, actions that are hard to grasp and take a lot of thought will become effortless. Take tying shoes for example. Anyone else learn to tie shoes with the famous “Bunny Ears” method? Loop-swoop-pull - that shit was not easy at first, little BanAnakin used to get very frustrated, but now I barely even think about it, I am a shoe-tying expert. And don’t even get me started on learning the alphabet. Stay positive, stay on those goals and make them your next loop-swoop-pull…

Perseverance

Even if you are hitting all your marks, staying consistent, staying positive, and finding yourself in the right environment, you will encounter pitfalls. Rejections, ghosting, and bad deals happen. Setbacks are part of the game and sometimes it can feel like you are playing on hard mode. History is full of people that had to take the long route to success. They stuck with it and achieved HUGE things. For some perspective -

Dr. Seuss's first book was rejected 27 times.

Legendary college basketball coach John Wooden won a record 10 NCAA titles, BUT it took him 16 years before he won his 1st.

Walt Disney was fired from his job at the Kansas City Star because he “lacked imagination and had no good ideas.”

Lucille Ball was considered a 2nd tier B talent until she produced “I Love Lucy” at the age of 40.

As a child, Oprah Winfrey grew up in poverty and wore clothes made from potato sacks. Before the “Oprah Winfrey Show” She was demoted from her job as a news anchor because “They told me I was the wrong color, the wrong size, and that I showed too much emotion.”

If you have surrounded yourself with the right influences, are enjoying your day to day adventure, and aren’t being too hard on yourself emotionally, physically or mentally, keep chasing those dreams! If it fills your cup, follow it. When it gets dark the stars come out

Dealing With Imposter Syndrome

Imposter syndrome affects most people in their day to day life. It’s a feeling of self-doubt, like it’s only a matter of time until “they” notice you don’t belong. First described by psychologists in the 1970s, it regularly happens among high-achievers who have a hard time accepting their success. The pressure can have an effect on someone’s emotional well-being and even drive people to step away from an activity or career.

Web3 is VERY new, momentum has picked-up exponentially around the ideas of decentralization, blockchain technologies, and token-based economics. Most influencers and big names in the space have been here only months, not years. If any industry is ripe for the picking, it’s here and now. Most skills are translatable to web3, talent and experience are needed in all phases. A little determination and digging can reveal big results. And if you’re looking to reinvent yourself, do it! Chase your dream, believe in yourself

If you have a pen and paper you are an artist

If you have a voice you are a live show/podcast host

If you can type you are a writer

If you can take gym selfies you are an influencer

Gamble on yourself….Think of it this way - if you believe in yourself, people will see it. If you don’t believe on yourself, people will see it.

Things happen very fast in this space, social media accounts that had 100 followers on last year have 100k today, people working a 9–5 last year are now making a living working for themselves. Show up, stay hungry and believe in yourself. roll the dice, Why not you, why not now?

And there it is, part 1 of the series, 19% of success is showing up! Thanks for reading and stay tuned for future insights on branding, marketing, and Community Management…

Note: This is the 1st article in the series, links to future posts will be found here 👇

102–Crafting a Mission Statement

103–Brand Values

104–Build Awareness

or take a look at — Marketing Case Study — Women’s Razors

BanAnakin [Champ] brings real world experience to Web3 with branding, marketing, and community management. His work with 10k PFP and 1/1 art has contributed to 1000+ Eth in sales volume