Branding Is NOT This…

Before I even get into what branding is, let’s quickly rule out what it’s NOT.

Branding is NOT just a logo or design. Design is the end result of your brand. How can you just skip deciding who your audience is, what story you wish to tell, and focus on the end result? It’s like having a music artist freestyle their whole album because they’re so excited to get their newly designed album cover out into the world. I’m not saying a strategy like that won’t work. Roll the dice and play if you have time to waste seeing if it does.

I rather take the artist who took the time to write their lyrics, chose their beats and collaborations. The best design in the world won’t keep people. It’ll only get them in the door which your competitors are able to do as well, ultimately giving your temporary audience no reason to stay. They’ll leap at the next cool design or a better offer than yours. And that’s an unnecessarily stressful way to build a fan base.

Branding is NOT marketing. Marketing is designed for instant gratification and is tailored to specific objectives. You’re selling that product or service. People support you and you try to nurture that experience factor AFTER.

Alright, I’m good. Now that I’ve addressed those two misconceptions, allow me to break it down further. Branding is the art of storytelling. It’s emotional and encompasses your business as a whole. It reverse engineers the marketing process I’ve previously explained above. With brand, you’re nurturing their experience leading up to them supporting you. You want to establish a fan base similar to artist in the music industry which I cover in my Poetic Brand MasterClass The true intent of brand is to lay the foundation for self-sustainability.

If you have a brand, your business can function without marketing. Whereas, if you’re marketing without having established a brand, you’re vulnerable. This is crucial to understand especially due to the timing of this pandemic. Many businesses were forced to cut marketing spend due to trying to maintain their business. Many of those businesses depended on marketing to generate revenue. Many of them have either been struggling to stay afloat or have went out of business entirely.

So what are the main benefits of brand:

• Define your story
• Attract a higher value audience
• Identify competitors
• Self-sustainability

Everything done after building your brand should simply scale what’s naturally working. No one carries an umbrella when it’s sunny out. I get it. Seems foolish to me too. But it’s better to be prepared than to get caught in the rain. Ha! That was corny but you get it right?

The biggest return on investment for your money, energy, and time is to create a brand.

If you’re serious about creating a brand, apply for my Poetic Brand MasterClass