2. How To Be Your Own Brand
The Brand Therapist Now In Session Discussing:
How To Be Your Own Brand
Hey everyone. This is the brand therapist podcast talking about how to be your own brand, or as I like to say BYOB. So last session we talked about the brand equation and the combination of your life and business to be represented through your brand. How do you stand out and differentiate yourself from everyone else? The answer BYOB. So this concept is really intimidating for some people, especially those of us who grew up thinking that we had to look and fit a certain part.
What we don't realize is that we are the part in our own business. With social media out there now it's so easy to focus on the competition and what they're doing well and comparing ourselves to them, that we don't take time to really appreciate who we are and what we have to offer. With billions of people in the world, there's an audience that needs and wants the services you provide. And with truly unique and original ideas, really hard to come by these days, our brand is really what sets us apart from the competition. So what does it mean to really be your own brand? It really ties back into being authentic and genuine in your brand and your brand equation. The core values of your brand should be the same core values that you live by in your personal life. The messaging and voice of your brand should be the same way you speak and communicate with others personally.
Be You Authentically
Some of my personal favorites that I feel really represent being your own brand are Gary V and Rachel Hollis. They're both completely different, but both so authentically themselves in their business. So what makes you uniquely you and how do you show that in your brand? So here's a couple examples of my own. The first is my family. And more specifically my son. He is absolutely the best part of me and is the reason that being a mom is a major part of my brand. My clients are not unaccustomed to him showing up with me to meetings. And he oftentimes pops in and says, hi on a zoom call, even if I've told him not to. Um, he was three days old, the first day he went into the office with me and is the reason I left a marketing director position that I loved, to navigate business ownership.
A second example is coffee. I drink a lot of coffee, um, so much so that I have clients sometimes joke with me that they don't recognize me without coffee in hand. So how do I equate that and show that in my brand. If you look through my social or even in my consulting programs and services and promotional materials for that, oftentimes you'll see me either with coffee in hand or somewhere in the shot. Another part of that is when I do live speaking sessions and trainings, I usually have coffee in hand if I can, mostly because terrified of public speaking and coffee is a comfort mechanism for me, but also being able to take something that is so common in my daily life and allow it into my brand, builds that much more authenticity and prevents me from feeling like I'm switching back and forth between the personal me and the professional me. For the most part, these are one in the same.
The last example I'm gonna throw at you is how I dress. I feel like an absolute child playing dress up when I have to wear a suit. Seriously, I used to try to fit that part and, you know, dress professional for work and speaking engagements, and things like that. And now I obviously know my audience and know when to dress up and, you know, be presentable in the capacity of what I'm doing, but my audience also knows me and who I am as a brand is casual. So a messy bun, and yoga pants or jeans is my signature look. And, really only connects me more to that ideal client. For me, I work with men and women, all sorts of industries, but because of my brand and who I am as a person, it really caters to high powered women, oftentimes moms.
Dean Grasiozi talks about marketing and how it is really just attracting people that you want and, and repelling those that you don't. So instead of being afraid of showing these things in your brand and potentially offending or deterring a clients instead, this can really be a way to qualify leads and qualify potential clients, so that when you are interacting with a new lead and they've seen your brand and are familiar with your brand and they already are connected and invested in you as a brand. Again, going back to Gary V that I mentioned earlier, those of us who are obsessed with him, love his authenticity and the no filter approach. Those who might be offended by that language are not his target audience.
Action Item to Create Results
So actionable item for you here, kind of a fun little analysis, I call it the BYOB analysis. Grab a piece of paper and a pen and list down the qualities that make you, you. So again, for me, some of these are coffee, family, and being casual. Next to those, write down how that fits and appears within your brand. Once you've done that, then do the reverse and write down characteristics of your brand, look at those and which ones fit into your brand equation and which ones might need to be reevaluated.
So for this, a quick example, talking about my family and how important that is and my son as part of my brand. So I used to travel for speaking sessions. I absolutely love to travel. So in theory, this fits into my brand. The problem is I hate traveling without my family. I just absolutely hate being away from them. And any moms out there understand the mommy guilt, that's tied with that, and that became very difficult with me. So this was really a major breakdown in my brand equation.
Once I realized this, I changed my brand. I completely, you know, we've talked about in the last episode, I left my business and started a whole new brand. And my family is now a key element in that. So now I don't really travel much for work anymore, but when I do, chances are I have my husband and my son with me. So spend a few minutes, not too much time, just, you know, whatever, just comes to mind, jot those down and just take a look and do a quick analysis and check in with your brand.
That's all I have for you today. Thanks for your time. Hopefully this gives you some actionable takeaways that will help you strengthen your brand. You can always feel free to email them to me. I love to look at what people come up with. Email is hello@thebraintherapist.co
Listen to the audio at https://www.thebrandtherapist.co/podcast-1/episode/ea4b1870/2-how-to-be-your-own-brand
For our services check out The Brand Therapist and contact us at https://www.thebrandtherapist.co/