Business Branding Mistake 2: You listen to the advice of others
Despite their best of intentions to provide you with sound branding advice on how to distinguish your services from all of your competitors, it’ s impossible for anyone to truly understand your vision, your values and core beliefs. These are the things that you stand for – it’ s the core of who you are and one of the many aspects you should identify as you work through the branding process. I’ ve been a Personal Branding Strategist for well over a decade, however, in all those years, never have I told a client what they should be doing with their brand, how they should act, what they should say, or what their brand attributes / strengths, their brand voice, or their brand story should be. Going through the branding process should involve unearthing essential information about‘ you’ and what is unique about‘ your’ brand, not what I( or anyone else for that matter) believe you should be. My own values and beliefs can cloud a client’ s true essence, which is why I’ ll never tell someone what they should be. Rather, I’ ll ask the right questions and present them with the right tools to help them unearth their inner brilliance and the key elements that will help them identify the core elements. All of this information will become part of their own powerful, magnetic Signature Brand. So, when working on identifying key elements for your brand, make sure that whatever you incorporate into your brand is uniquely you and resonates with who you are and what you stand for. Not what someone else has told you to be.
Business Branding Mistake 3: You work on all of your external brand touch points but not the core elements of your brand
The branding process MUST start with you. The core of your brand MUST reflect vital elements such as your mission, your values and your purpose. Your unique characteristics and key factors that drive you forward with immense passion and why you have chosen the work you do with your clients will influence your Signature Brand and how you will continue to show up in the world.
As Jim Signorelli outlines in his Story Branding videos, the branding process should start with identifying the inner layers of your brand. It’ s the‘ why’ you do what you do.“ It’ s the cause that you’ re trying to promote.” Once you have identified these core elements, then you can start to work on the outer layers of your brand such as your logo, brochures, designs and other brand touch points. Start with the core elements of your brand first and then move onto the outer layers of your brand.
73 POWERCULTURE APR2013