Selling starts the moment someone finds you online. 

So you have to get ready to stand out in a crowded and growing space of online entrepreneurs. Let’s face it, there’s a real risk of going under in a sea of sameness. 

Ever wonder why so many online entrepreneurs seem so alike? It’s simple, they ARE. SO. ALIKE. 

And your ideal clients won’t pay for conformity, they will pay for distinction. A distinctive brand is essential to grow and scale a successful business.

Your brand is the reason people buy from you.

Your brand is the promise you make to your audience. 

Your brand is what gives YOU a voice that nobody else can copy. 

But don’t just take brand advice from me, babe.

Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, famously said that your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room. 

#bizwhiz

“Why should I care what other people think about me?”, I hear all the time from clients. 

And I get it. The empowerment of women means growing some thick skin and healthy confidence to shrug off the shade. Babe, keep doing what you’re doing and hear me out when I ask you to do this, too…

📣 Tell your story or someone else will tell it for you. 📣

Yes, we DO have some control over what other people think and say about us. But only if we take control of the narrative that shapes how we are perceived by our audience. That doesn’t mean putting on a show and pretending to be someone we are not. People can sniff out a poser a mile away.

It means formulating an authentic brand and communicating it with the right visuals, the right language, the right message to the right audience. 

It means developing a brand story that sells your message and your offers by profoundly connecting to your audience’s emotions. 

And if we do, then the message that we’re trying to communicate on our brand will be well received by our audience. 

How Do I Know I Got My Branding Right?

Branding is fundamental to attracting your ideal clients because your branding is ultimately the embodiment of you.

When you build a distinctive brand, you pour your heart and soul into a visual container, an emotional container, a container of language, a container of ideas ⎯ and share it with the world.

Your brand isn’t about products and services, because products and services change. Your brand remains the same. Because of that, your brand needs to have longevity so you can keep using it as your business grows. Your ideal clients are connected to your brand when they feel it’s credible, trustworthy, engaging, and passionate. They will invest in you because they want to be a part of your brand and what it stands for.

And you’ll know if you’ve nailed your branding or not…

When there is alignment between what you want people to think about your brand and what they actually do think of your brand, that is good branding. 

When people think something different than what you want them to, that is bad branding and there is a branding breakdown.

The Four Components of Branding

Branding isn’t about cute colors, fancy fonts and pretty pictures. Sure, they are part of branding, but there is so much more. 

There are four major components to branding: brand identity, brand language, brand story, and visual branding. 

Brand identity answers the question “What do you stand for?” Your brand identity speaks to your mission, your values and your purpose. 

Brand language gives you and your business a voice and a way of communicating through writing and speech that invites your audience to know you and listen to what you have to say.

Brand story brings your message and emotion into your brand as a vehicle to communicate our own humanity, our transformation, what it is we are selling and what we want our audience to care about. People remember stories that inspire.

Visual branding is the fun part of branding and is all about what your brand looks like, so fonts, logos, colors, and photos. 

Good branding is when what people think and what we want people to think are in alignment. Good branding is also when a brand is memorable.

“What is the one thing you remember about my brand?” 

You want every single one of your ideal clients to be able to instantaneously answer that question. That’s when you know that you are standing out and that your brand is the reason why.

Good branding is above all authentic and honest. Ask yourself this: does what I’m putting out into the world about my brand feel true to the core of who I am and to the core of what I believe? If it’s true for you, it’s authentic to you and it will be authentic to the rest of the world. 

Success in branding is measurable in more than Benjamins:

Your audience will root for you.

Your audience will recommend you.

Your audience will keep coming back for more. 

If people are loyal to your brand, you’ve just gone from good to great. 

Anybody can be a one-hit wonder, but great brands are what will allow you to scale your business to multiple seven figures.