There are several reasons why you need to build your own brand – even if you are just starting out. If you brand yourself in a way that is true to yourself, you already stand out against your competition. Another reason to build a brand is that you will be more memorable, being visible is much easier as people start to recognize you, it will build like & trust & connection with your audience and you are also showing them that you are in for this business because you are a professional and not just some hobbyist.

But, what elements does a brand have? A lot of people think a brand is a logo, or colors. And albeit those are elements that are included in every brand, a brand is so much more! I have developed an approach I call the 5 Vs of Blissful Branding™.

Let’s have a look what these Vs are.

The Vision

Every brand starts with a vision. Ask yourself: What is important to you? What do you want to achieve in this business? What brings you joy? Where do you see yourself & your business 3 months from now? 6 months from now? 12 months from now? Who do you want to serve? Why do you want to serve them? Why do you do what you do?

The Values

This is a two-sided matter. First, let’s look at the values you want your brand to stand for. What words do you want people to associate with your brand? What do you believe your brand stands for?
The second side is what value does your tribe get from working with you? You already know why you can help them. But how do you do this? What’s in for them?
Don’t skip this step. If you don’t know what you want to stand for, how should your prospects? How are they supposed to build trust with you?

The Visuals

Now we are getting to the more “tangible” side of your brand. Your visuals include your logo, your color scheme, your fonts and other graphical elements like textures & patterns. Try to stay true to your values when you are building your visuals. For example, if you want your brand to be calm because your ideal client is a stressed out solopreneur, it would be a bad choice to select neon colors and funky brush script fonts that are hard to read for your branding suite. If you want to read more about this, I have a more in-depth article about creating your branding suite on the blog here.

The Voice

This is all about how you write / talk and want to be heard. I’m not a copywriter, so I can’t give you expert tips, but one thing that has always worked for me was being my true self. Yes, I’m a bit quirky, sometimes sarcastic and sometimes tough. And I love awesome alliterations (which you have might guessed by now). And remember, being original is way more important than being perfect. Give yourself time. Write as much as possible. It will get easier the more often you do it.

The Visibility

But what good does even the most sophisticated brand do you if no one knows that it exists? Exactly – nothing. Visibility needs to be a part of your brand. You need to show op and shout it from the rooftops – again and again and again and again. I know it can be hard, especially when you are starting out. But it gets easier the more you do it. It’s like a muscle. You need to exercise it constantly.

To make the best out of your visibility efforts, think about 2 things especially: format and frequency. If you hate videos, it won’t do you any good if you force yourself to FB-live 3 times a day. And if you are a mom, you’ll probably won’t have time all day to show up. Pick a format that you are comfortable with and a frequency you can hold up and roll from there.

Try this for 14 days – you can then always come back and adjust if necessary.

With love, sparkles & pixiedust

 

 

P.S.: Looking for a beautiful brand without the luxurious price tag? Check out my pre-made branding templates in the shop.