I was speaking with a client the other day and the subject of branding came up. She felt that until she had thought out every detail of her business and offerings, she couldn’t say anything to anyone because she risked being “off brand”.
Before I share the rest of our conversation let me say this…I’m not a branding expert. What I do know, however, is how to represent yourself.
My client is in early stages of forming her business. She’s a little unsure of herself (okay, maybe more than a little). She needs to do many things that are way outside of her comfort zone. She needs to go to networking events and speak with people, design programs to offer clients and ask them to work with her.
These things are hard for many people to do, even those who are one hundred percent sure of what they are doing and have done it hundreds of times.
So here she is, way out on a ledge and looking for her brand to hold onto. It makes sense. I told her that she already had a brand.
Her business barely had a name, how could it have a brand?
I explained to her that her brand was herself. The only thing she had to do in order to stay “on brand” was to not try to fake it.
I made several suggestions to her that apply to you whether you’re at the beginning stages of your business or have a well-established business with a solid brand behind it. Please check in with yourself and use the following guidelines to make sure you are on brand and that the brand you created continues to be right for your business.
Whenever you represent your brand …
1. Be honest.
2. Don’t hide.
3. Be yourself.
4. Don’t worry what other people think.
5. Don’t water down your message.
The bottom line is that if you are always simply you, you will always be on brand. It’s when we pretend that you go off-brand.
What do you think? I’d love to know. Please share with me below.
Simple, concise and easy to follow. 5 good action implementable steps.