Building a brand is all about defining who you are, what you stand for, and how you want to be perceived. While this could be a whole post itself, I’ll keep this short.
Your brand is so much more than just a logo or color scheme. It's the values, voice, vibes, and overall essence of who you are and what you stand for. It's what people think of when they hear your name or see your content. When you're clear on your brand, it makes creating content, visuals, and everything in between way easier!
Being the Face of Your Brand…or Not
Your personal brand is so much more than just your name or your profile pic. You get to connect with your audience on a deeper level. But like everything else, it has its cons.
When you're trying to grow your business from a personal side, people watch everything you do, everything you say and everything you post. Most are watching for you to fail, not succeed. They are waiting for you to say something they don't like or agree with so they can jump down your throat. Let's be real.
That said, not everyone wants to be front and center, and that's okay too. You don't have to show your face to represent your brand, but it helps build a connection with your audience. A faceless brand can absolutely still build influence... It has its pros and cons as well.
Whether you're building a personal brand or a business brand, the way you present yourself to the world can make all the difference. We take a deeper dive into creating your brand’s identity in the e-book Creating Your Business From Scratch.
Define Your Brand’s Values
First things first - what are your brand values? What matters most to you? Authenticity? Creativity? Sustainability? Your values is the core of your brand and helps guide your content creation and connections with your audience.
To find those key values, pick 3-5 words that are truly the most important to you. Defining this helps you determine your brand voice and vibe.
Do some soul searching to define your values - are you fun and playful? Wise and helpful? Bold and adventurous? For example, if inspiration is your brand’s value, post motivational stories. If expertise is a value, share how-to articles.
This was one of the first few things I did when finding how I wanted to position The Ultimate Business Guide.
The brand values I chose for it were:
- Professional
- Transparency
- Individuality
- Balance
I felt those were the most important values for me to communicate an all-in-one guide for entrepreneurs. When I created this e-book, I wanted it to come across as professional and transparent (hence “tell-all”).
My goal of this approach is to create a connection with my customers on a more person-to-person or individual basis. Balance is a vital principle in entrepreneurship. If I don’t have a sense of balance with my journey in influencing, then I won’t know where to look and the messages I’m trying to communicate may not get across because of the areas of less interest can easily go unnoticed.
What about your brand values? How do you want to portray your brand?
Develop Your Brand Voice
Your brand voice is how you communicate - is it casual, formal, funny, or informative? Think about the tone you want to strike with your audience. Your brand vibes are the emotions you want people to feel - are you chill, energetic, whimsical, or inspiring?
For example, my brand’s voice for my Securing Brand Deals e-book is professional, yet inspirational and authentic.
Whatever tone you choose for your brand, use it consistently across all of your social media platforms!
Ask yourself - if my brand was a person, how would they speak?
Curate Your Visuals
Now it’s time to create visuals that represent your brand. Choose a logo, color palette, and font that align with your values, voice, and vibe. Do you want muted earth tones or bright neons? Fancy script fonts or clean sans serifs? A text-only logo or an illustrated mascot?
Don’t confuse people by changing things up, unless you’re re-branding! Build familiarity and loyalty through consistency. Your visuals should match the vibe you’re going for.
Creating Valuable Content
Having content pillars helps keep your brand consistent and focused. Develop 3-5 content pillars that map back to your core values and interests. You want people to immediately recognize your content as yours.
But what types of content will you focus on? Blog posts, videos, podcasts? Build your content around the topics and values most important to your brand. Post new content consistently to increase your visibility and influence.
Once you get clear on your brand pillars, it will inform everything - from the tone of your captions, to the kind of photos you take, to the way you show up on video.
Who’s Your Target Audience?
Finally, define your target audience. Who do you want to reach? Males, females, or both? What age range? Get to know your audience well so you can create content, visuals, and an overall brand experience they’ll genuinely appreciate and value.
Just Be You
Keep being your authentic self, focus on consistency, and have fun with it! Building a memorable brand is all about figuring out what makes you, you. When you create a genuine brand that resonates with who you are, it will attract your people and allow you to build a community that matters.
Don't be afraid to have fun with it and get creative! Share the weird, quirky parts of who you are. Give your audience a glimpse behind the scenes. The more you can share your true, authentic self, the more your audience will connect with you and what you stand for.
I hope these tips help you build a brand that truly reflects you and connects with your people! Don’t forget to share this post.