What’s the point of branding anyway? Branding should highlight what’s unique about you, your business and what you have to offer so you can strengthen the relationship you have with your audience and potential clients. So, how do you create a brand that stands out?
With your branding, you should be demonstrating the reasons why someone should choose to work with you over anyone else. This comes through in everything you do from the visual branding you use, your photos and what you say and post on social media. In order to communicate with your audience why they should pick you, you’ll need a message, unique style and way of showing up that is distinctly different.
If you and your brand looks, talks and acts in the same way as all the others out there, then your branding isn’t doing its job and neither is the content you are creating which of course should work hand in hand with your branding. So, quite simply put, if you’re following trends for the sake of it or just doing what everyone else is doing, then it’s time to stop. Right now. If this is you, let’s look at how we can start to fix it…
Give it a personality
When it comes to branding, it’s so important to give it a personality, but also if you are the face of your brand, then allowing your personality to shine through is also important. One quite easy way to ensure that your brand is nothing like anyone else’s is to put yourself in the picture, because you and the people behind your business are completely unique.
Your audience will not only enjoy seeing the person or people behind the business, but it will also help to enhance your connection to your potential clients making them more likely to trust you and therefore, buy from you.
Make your brand values clear
Another way of giving your brand a stand out personality is to think about and start telling your audience what your brand values are. To identify these, first think about what is important to you as a business and what will also be important to your clients.
Once you identify what your brand values are, remember to actually share them and make sure they come across in everything you do. Make sure they are meaningful and not just plucked out of thin air too. Honesty, for example is a great value, but you should dig deeper than this. All brands should be honest, but what more can you offer? How can you make your brand values unique?
Tell your story
First thing first, people are genuinely nosey, and second of all, this will really help people relate to you. Tell your story. How did you get to where you are today? Why did you set up your business? What did you do before? When it comes to making your brand stand out from the crowd there is nothing more powerful than telling your story.
A lot of the time, your clients are investing in you, rather than what you offer or the price you offer it at. That’s why telling your own unique story is so powerful. You don’t have to reveal all about yourself, but definitely do talk about the things that will help your audience to connect with you and relate to you. People need to know how your brand got to where it is today, and this will also give you a ton of ideas for social media content too, so shout about yourself, rather than just keeping the info about you confined to just your about page.
Keep it original
If you’ve been scrolling through Instagram or Pinterest and want to make your brand like all the others you’ve seen, stop right there. It’s so important to keep your branding original. If you attempt to copy your competitor’s brand your potential clients won’t be able to see the reasons why they should pick you and not them. Similarly, if your messaging doesn’t do anything special or stand out, people aren’t going to be attracted to what you’re offering. Instead try to find a different angle that’s original and that no one has taken before.
If you’ve already identified your brand values this can really help your brand and messaging to stand out. You might be a graphic designer for sustainable brands as the environment is important to you, or you might be a wedding photographer who specializes in urban city weddings, for example. Identify what your niche is and then really plug it to your audience. This will help you stand out rather than blend in.
To round up, I can’t emphasise enough that if your branding doesn’t stand out or is in fact copied from another business, then it’s just not going to help carry your business forward. The best thing your branding can be is unique and tell the story as well as communicate the values of your business and yours alone.
If you’re looking for ways to start attracting your dream clients with branding that sets you and your unique story apart from the rest, get in touch with me to find out more about how I can help your business start to convert enquiries into paying clients and start turning the heads of those all important dream clients.
