Branding is Consistency & Confidence
So, I’ll get to branding in a sec, but first – a bigger picture about another idea - selling. So, here’s the way I think about selling - selling is a dance. It’s a dance between two things:
- All the great things you’ve done before (the successes, the wins, maybe even the lessons learned)
- All that’s possible for the future
That extra-special dance happens through branding.
Now, let’s be honest - branding is super trendy these days; everyone wants to work in branding, everyone likes to talk about branding, everyone is starting to turn over and think about themselves as their very own brand.
It’s cool to spot branding. Because it is, in fact, cool.
What’s even cooler though is that branding is really a conversation about two things we innately crave as humans – consistency and confidence. Like, roundtheclock consistency and confidence. Think about the brands or the personal brands that you love - more often than note, they are both consistent and confident. 24 hours a day.
What’s even cooler is that you have the choice to be both – consistent and confident – in your own branding or your company’s branding in three very accessible ways that don’t require a Dr. Strange, deep-dive, metaphysical journey.
These three very accessible ways: language, imagery, and ideas.
Language
Given the work that I do, I’m uber-concerned with a brand’s language – and when I say ‘language’ I really mean voice, sentence structure, punctuation, presentation.
So, a quick question to think about your language or your brand’s/company’s language - is your brand’s website or social media written by or in the same voice? If it’s not the exact, same person, do you have a couple of brand standards to define your voice? Examples include: We always use strong, action verbs in the present tense; or we consciously choose to write in sharp, short sentences with 6-8 words.
A good example for me: I always
Imagery
So, the best place to see this played one out these days is in social media. When pictures or graphics – imagery – are all over the place with no consistency or quality or care, it’s a CF. And when it’s a CF, I feel anxious. And when I feel anxious, I tune out.
You don’t necessarily need a professional photographer for your IG, for example – but, you do need to be consistent and confident in your pictures.
Some quick fixes: Try to stick to simple pictures with one hallmark ‘thing’ or person that you’re featuring, consider using the same filter for your images, or think about a theme to your page – are you posting examples of past work, coffee, people, places? Are perhaps rotating through a couple of those consistently?
Chances are if you feel like your imagery is all over the place – then it is.
Ideas
There are a couple of people I know who are pretty consistent in their branding because they subconsciously brand themselves around ideas which, in my opinion, is the holy grail of branding.
Examples: a non-profit will consistently post about community, engagement, kindness; a gym or studio will consistently write about fitness, health; a meditation studio will share news about trending stories in mindfulness, balance, wellness, peace of mind.
These are all ideas – or, better yet, core values to a brand.
Something to think about: Are there three to five core values that you always come back to in your branding? What if you committed to a month of posting or sharing content that only speaks to those core values.
WHY THIS MATTERS
Consistency and confidence are awesome for a lot of different reasons. As a business or personal brand, you should think about how you use consistency and confidence as a means by which to train someone else to remember you for a business opportunity – maybe that’s writing, photography, coworking, auto repair, wedding planning. How can you be the go-to when someone else has a niche need?
Now, let’s go back to the original idea of selling. Imagine baking consistency and confidence into talking up your brand’s key wins and then all that’s possible for the future. Now, you’ve got a go-to selling point to bring someone into a very clear, consistent and confident brand, company culture, tribe. Which is really the goal of any branding.