Your brand is a story well told.
Brand isn’t the product or service you provide. It’s not your logo, your advertising, or your website. These are delivery methods for your brand. Your brand is the personality of your business.
Let’s identify your “why”
The Golden Circle
Simon Sinek’s theory of value proposition explains how to use the Golden Circle model to truly differentiate your brand message.
What You Do
Most business owners can easily identify what they do for a living. It’s the product or service you perform for your clientele. Unfortunately, a marketing effort focused on what you do makes you a commodity. When comparing what you do against your competitors, you’ll find that oftentimes they’re so similar that the only thing a consumer can compare is price. That’s a game that you’ll eventually lose.
How You Do It Better
A more influential section of your Golden Circle is the “how”. How you do what you do, your Unique Service Propositions (USPs) teach a consumer your unique business philosophies, operations, or characteristics that allow you to perform your service better than your competitors. These USPs shouldn’t necessarily be attached to your product or service, but more a holistic view of what makes your business better.
Why You Do It
There are easier ways to make money than running your own business, so why do you keep doing it? What did you experience or identify as a gap in the industry that you understood you could fill? What’s your story; the motivator that got you started in this business and keeps you going when things are difficult? That’s your “why”. Your consumers are drawn more to this story than your how and what. Your “why” is the most influential part of your brand message.
Ethos: Personal Brand
If your company were a celebrity, who would it be and why?
Celebrities spend their professional life building an identity to show to the public. The interviews, events, and public appearances all are allowed to see the character they have invented to represent the person they want you to think they are. This is very strategic. What are the characteristics you want your company to be known for? Are you a Robert Downey Jr. or more of a Barbara Walters?