Know Thyself, Know Thy Brand

Hi Friends!

I recently came to the realization that I throw around these slightly ambiguous phrases like “find your voice” and “represent your personality”. To some these may just sound like marketing buzzwords- and they may be just that. But they’re really important buzzwords if that makes you feel any better. See you can pour your entire heart and soul into a business, love it to death, and treat it like family but at the end of the day you don’t literally get to follow people around and tell them how great your pseudo-lovechild is. It might sound crazy and neurotic but chances are if you’ve started your own business you’re already both of these things. So if your business were a real person how would it act and what would it say?

I am who I am

In this platform of blogging I have the absolute privilege of speaking to you through my own voice- and since I’m selling myself and my services it all works out for the best- go me! I get that I may not be for everybody, and that’s fine since I probably don’t want to work with those people anyways. On all of the other social media accounts for this business I may ‘tweak ‘ that voice slightly (I mean really slightly) to fit character limits or push in a couple more hashtags but overall that voice still comes off as light, friendly, and just a little cheeky. I like to think I’ve given it the same personality as well- one that comes along with bright, bold, eye-catching images. Bottom line: I want to come across as an expert in my field. So to sum up I, as this brand, am confident, bold, and open. Yea that’s cool.

You do you

There are so many promotional platforms now when it comes to digital marketing. On Twitter you get 140 (soon to change, but whatever) characters and that’s not a lot but you still gotta add a little flair and remain authentic to yourself your brand. Don’t be a phony- we’re all Holden Caulfield’s now and can see right through it. Here’s the trick though: when you switch over to another platform that voice can’t change. It’s still the same person after all. That personality can’t change either! This isn’t high school, you can’t change who you are just because you’re trying to fit in with the artsy kids on Instagram. If you don’t belong somewhere then don’t force yourself- your target market isn’t there either. Yea so you know that’s why your local coffee shop isn’t on LinkedIn, and if they are could you send them to me please? We need to chat. Sometimes it doesn’t hurt to write down a few traits- create a persona for your business to keep in mind when you’re creating content (or hire somebody :)).

Your people will come

There’s this really cool thing that happens when your brand gets its soul: people start finding you and their profiles and streams portray the same values that you hold near and dear. Then more come and you’re building this great little community on a social platform of people who admire your brand. Ah-mazing. Now don’t disappoint them by losing that voice or being inconsistent! Curate content that your people will benefit from, and use a content calendar to keep it all in order. When it all comes together you’ve got a social strategy that should give you the warm and fuzzies so make it happen!

Who is your brand? Let us know in the comments below!

Bye Friends!