Get Clear On These 4 Things Before Investing In Branding
The new year is always buzzing with new-found energy, hopeful anticipation, and excitement for crossing those intentions and goals off your list. For some, this might be the year you finally hit the green light on that business idea you’ve been mulling on. Is that you? If it is — congratulations! You’ve accomplished one of the biggest hurdles, which is pushing past fear and doubt, saying YES to yourself, and simply starting. There is a rewarding journey of entrepreneurship ahead of you.
Or maybe you’ve been in the game for a while, but are craving a time of focus and resetting, giving the foundation of your business the attention it deserves, cultivating its growth and evolving in a way that resonates with your audience. And maybe, even, finally investing in the branding you’ve been dreaming about
Wherever you land, once you’ve made the decision to prioritize your branding, you may be asking what’s next? With so many ideas swirling around, it can be hard to know where to focus first. While there are a lot of tasks to do and hats to wear, there are a few areas I recommend getting clear on first, so that everything else can build from a place of clarity and confidence and you can ensure you get the best return on investment.
Craft your Brand Statement
Whether you’re the face or the founder behind-the-scenes, now is the time to put pen to paper and get clear about who you are and what you have to offer by crafting a formal brand statement.
Your brand statement should be a clear and concise explanation of what your business offers, its unique approach, and what makes it different from others in the same space. It should be concise, to the point, and easy to share. Think of it as an elevator pitch that communicates the overarching mission and value your business provides.
Having this clear, concise, and easy-to-remember brand statement will not only help you share and market your business, but will also help you stay consistent in the way you are promoting your brand. Your audience will begin to understand exactly what your business is, what they can come to you for, and how to easily share it with others.
→ TIP: Think of sharing your brand statement like playing a game of telephone. Remember that game? One person starts by whispering a short phrase or sentence into their neighbor's ear. Then, that neighbor shares it with their neighbor, until it makes its way around the group. Finally, the last person shares what they *think* the phrase is. Most of the time, the original phrase is completely butchered, or is a completely different compilation of words all together!
Think of your brand statement like your telephone phrase. We want it to stay in-tact as it reaches your audience. How? Keep it clear, concise, and memorable enough to make from you to your audience, and your audience to their audience. Not only are you aiming to build awareness for your business or brand, but making it easy for people to share you with others.
2. Outline Your Offerings
Whether your business is service-based or product-based, you’ll want to have your offerings clearly defined. Once people buy into you and your brand, they’ll want to know exactly how they can become a customer.
If you’re a product-based business, I’d encourage you to zoom out of your product list and think on how you can group your products into larger categories and sub-categories. Not only will this help you in your website hierarchy, but will help you clearly communicate to your audience at a high level what they can expect from you. Plus, having a structure in place will help you as you plan content, establish marketing strategies, and build brand awareness.
If you’re a service based business, it’s time to get clear. If someone browses your website, they should be able to hop on a services page and get a crystal-clear picture of exactly how they can become a customer. My advice? Keep it digestible. If you have a variety of offerings, try categorizing them into larger groups so your audience can grasp at a high level what you offer. If you have a shorter list of core offerings, see if you can categorize by pricing tier to best fit the needs of your potential clients. For example, I usually like to have an entry package, signature package, and premium package for my core services. This way, shopping clients can get a birds-eye view of the type of services you offer, and once they inquire or click to learn more, you can get more detailed with your offerings.
3. Define Your Target Market and Ideal Client(s)
Once you’ve laid the foundation of defining your business and offerings, it’s time to get clear on who you’re after. Uncovering and defining your target market and ideal client will not only give you clarity around your business, branding direction, and marketing decision, but will help you uncover the specific needs of your client and how you can best meet them with your product, service, branding, and website.
→ PICTURE THIS:
You’re standing in the middle of Times Square, shouting for all to hear about your business and services. For some embellishment, you’re also flipping one of those foam signs, k? Some people will listen to your spiel as they walk right by, some won’t acknowledge you, and most people can’t even hear you. This is what it’s like when you’re building a business without defining a target audience. You’re talking to everyone and no one at the same time.
But let’s imagine you’ve taken the time to define your target market. You know their gender, age range, income level, region of the country, and other broad attributes. Now, the likelihood of someone’s fit for your offering increases significantly. You’re no longer falling on deaf ears, crossing your fingers someone will listen. You’re talking to a specific, pre-defined subset of people that you know will best resonate with your product.
How to Define Your Target Market
So, what exactly is needed to define your Target Market? You’ll want to define attributes that help you narrow down a group from the broader population of consumers in a way that is relevant to your product or offering.
Define things like:
Gender
Household Income
Marital Status
Children
Location or Region
Ethnicity (if applicable)
Religious Affiliation (if applicable)
How to Define Your Ideal Client Profile
Once you’ve defined your target market, it’s time to go even deeper by defining your ideal client profile. An ideal client profile is a specific outline and deep dive of one, two, or three different personas that you might be targeting within your target market.
Defining your ideal client helps you tap into the specific motivations, pain points, habits, hurdles, and lifestyle that your potential clients might be living. Dig deep and define things like: profession, salary, palace of residence, likes, dislikes, goals, hobbies, core desires, and challenges. Once you define these things, you’ll be able to define how your specific offering or product can fit into their life, or even better, help solve some of the challenges they’re facing.
4. Define Your Value Proposition
Now that you’re clear on your business and offerings, you’ll want to clearly define your value proposition. Your value proposition is, simply put, how your offering is different or better from others doing the same (or similar) thing. Your value proposition will be key in differentiating yourself from competitors, standing out to your target market, and articulating your value in your messaging, marketing, and more. If a client is looking at you and your competitors, why should they choose you? Whatever your answer may be: that is your value proposition. You want to ensure that this is clear in your Brand Statement, on your website, reflected in your branding and throughout your messaging, making it loud and clear what sets you apart from the rest.
In Summary:
Taking the time to get clear on these four pillars will help you develop a strong foundation from which to build your brand. This ‘core four’ will be a true north for you as you make decisions to grow your business and develop your branding, marketing, and more. In fact, these questions are things that I have clients define before we even kick off a branding or web design project.
Now that we’ve gone through the ‘core four,’ take inventory of your current brand, website, messaging, and more to make sure it resonates with where your business is at today. Make tweaks to ensure that you are leading with your refined brand statement, have your offerings laid out clearly, and that your messaging and branding communicate the value you offer to your target audience.
Need help pulling in these pillars into a well-defined brand identity and stand-out website?
That’s what I’m here for. Let’s work together →
TLDR; Getting your business off the ground but not sure where to start? Download my free Brand Checklist to get the run-down on all you need for a stand-out brand.
Hi there, I’m Blake!
Branding expert, graphic designer, and your new (personal) cheerleader. With over a decade of experience building brands, my sweet spot is helping passionate entrepreneurs like you grow their business with confidence and clarity. Let’s work together →