The Brand Book you must read, really!

Hello there,

Through my experience, I've read a lot of marketing and branding books and one of the books that I find really interesting and I think will help you in developing your own brand the right way is: Building a Storybrand by Donald Miller.

Most of the time business owners don’t understand how customers consume information. In Building a StoryBrand, Donald Miller tells you how to turn your brand messaging into a story. His framework is so interesting. If you're into reading to get your business information and uplevel your business I will definitely recommend the book. If not, my friend, there is always the audio book version :)

In Building a Storybrand, you’ll learn how to attract customers with your unique story : casting them as the protagonist, presenting them with a problem, and showing how your brand can help them overcome their problems which I believe is the most important part about an excellent brand strategy.

Accomplishing this will lead your customers to their own success story which will ultimately help your brand along the way. I hope you'll like it as much as I did and let me know what you think of the book if you already read or listened to it by replying to this email.

If you’ll like us to take a look at your brand book a free call here

What do you want your customers to feel when they meet you?

Hello there,

Today I’m going to talk to you about Internal Branding. Internal branding is the root and the pillar of your brand. It's what will drive everything you’ll do in your business strategy, your marketing strategy, your communication strategy, etc. A clear internal branding = a more precise message and ultimately plenty of loyal customers. At the end of the day you want tons of customers, but what better gift than to end up with repeat and loyal customers, right?

Internal branding consists of your differentiators: how do you differentiate yourself from your competition?

1. Your brand essence:

Your brand essence is what people will say about you; this will drive everything in your business. It’s your brand!

For instance,

When you drive a Jeep, or you see somebody driving a Jeep it feels >> adventurous
When you travel to Disney world with your family, it feels >> magical

WHAT DO YOU WANT YOUR CUSTOMERS TO "FEEL" WHEN THEY GET IN TOUCH WITH YOUR BRAND?

2. Your brand values:

These are principles you'll lead by—what you'll not budge on (please take some time to define these). When your values are set, it’s easier to let people know what you stand for and/or what you stand against.

3. Your unique selling proposition (USP), your brand promise:

What's your special sauce? What makes you different from others? What do you promise your customers?

4. Your positioning:

It's the process of positioning your company in the mind of your tribe — your customers. How do they see you?
To create your positioning, you need to know:

•     How is your brand positioned right now?

•     What is your competition's positioning?

•     What are you doing that’s different from your competition?

5. Your brand voice:

You need to nail this, but to do so, you need to know who your customers are. Please, please, please take some time to research them. If you need help with this, you can always reach out to me here, and I’ll be happy to help you.

Your brand voice will help you connect on a deeper level with your customers. You'll be able to talk directly to them. They would be able to understand you, they would be able to relate to you. So work hard to perfect it and don’t sweat it. As you move along in your business journey, you'll have more data, and consequently, your voice might change a little as well. So don’t be too hard on yourself.

This blog post is getting a little bit too long, so I'll leave you with these thoughts. See you next time for the external branding part.

Have a beautiful day,
Xo, Cindy

Oh, don't forget to join me on Instagram; I would love to connect. 💋

The Importance of Branding for your business

THE INTERNET AND SOCIAL MEDIA CHANGED THE GAME. MORE THAN EVER BEFORE SMALL BUSINESSES NEED TO HAVE A RECOGNIZABLE BRAND TO THRIVE. CONSUMERS ARE SMARTER AND WANT TO CONNECT EMOTIONALLY WITH BRANDS BEFORE BUYING. ARE YOU CONNECTING WITH THEM EMOTIONALLY? HOW DO YOU MAKE THEM FEEL? DO THEY REMEMBER YOU WHEN YOU'RE NOT IN THE ROOM?

My favorite quote from Maya Angelou: “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

We're all humans and we all operate on emotions. We make our decisions out of feelings and emotions. And emotions, my friends, create memories that’s a fact! So the big question is: what memories do you want to create in the mind/subconscious of your customers? More specifically, how do you want your customers to feel when they meet you (your brand)?

With the advent of the internet and the explosion of social media, we’re all bombarded by images, advertising, information and stories on a daily basis. What would make your customers stop and pay attention to what you’re doing? You need to differentiate yourself ➡️ you must #BRAND Yourself.

You differentiate yourself by creating something interesting. How you create something interesting is by being unapologetically who you are. You have to ask yourself the right questions:

• WHAT IS MY PURPOSE?

• WHAT IS THE ONE THING THAT MY BRAND GIVES TO CUSTOMERS THAT THEY CANNOT GET ANYWHERE ELSE? (BASICALLY WHAT MAKES YOU DIFFERENT?)

• WHO DO I SERVE? (YOUR IDEAL AUDIENCE)

• HOW DO YOU MAKE YOUR CUSTOMER FEEL?

People often think of branding as being the logo, the pretty website, the business cards, etc. As a consequence, they don’t necessarily take the appropriate time to define their brand thoroughly. They think short term whereas branding is a long-term strategy

The logo, website, business cards are all part of the branding process but branding is more than that. Branding is showing who you are — showing your authentic self through and through. It’s the whole experience. The experience your customers have with your company from the day they meet you, to the day you're not present in the room with them. It’s the relationships, the emotional connection and promise you give to your customers.

Branding is the combination of your internal branding, your external branding, and your processes.

Internal branding = voice, vision, mission, personality etc.
External branding = logo, colors, business cards, etc.
Processes = Client processes, internal communication etc.

So let me test this with you: Finish this sentence — Disney makes me feel….
What about this one: JEEP makes me feel ….

So for me, Disney makes me feel magical, and if you know Disney and you’ve experienced it you’ll know that everything that Disney does, says, writes, advertises, plans is engrained in this simple word — magical.

JEEP makes me feel adventurous. What JEEP does advertises, writes, says is ingrained in this one word -- adventurous.

So now take a minute and think about your favorite brand. What emotions did it spark in you? Pause for a second, all the feelings or memories or feelings that you just experienced were "purposely" targeting you.

This leads me to my next point which is: to efficiently brand you need to know your customers. Knowing your customer is “extremely" important for your business. Let me repeat this: knowing your customer is “extremely” important for your business.

To know your ideal client, you need to create a perfect customer profile, which should be meticulously detailed. Where do they live, what do they eat, do they go to the gym, magazines, and blogs they read. This analysis needs to be incredibly detailed, that’s the only way you’ll be able to reach your ideal clients.

By the way, narrowing your niche will not be a detriment to your business. As a contrary, it will give you the opportunity to be a specialist in the industry and who doesn't love specialists? Think about it; when you have a toothache where do you go? To a generalist or a specialist?

In fact, the most crucial part of creating and perfecting your brand is talking to the right people. So you need to study your customers for you to directly speak to them and turn them into loyal fans! Who wouldn’t want that? What I know for sure is: PEOPLE ARE WILLING TO PAY MORE FOR A TARGETED SERVICE.

So for those of you who need a little help with your branding, I have a gift for you.

I made a FREE "Do it yourself Branding" 10 pages E-book that you can download here Hopefully, this will help you in your branding journey.

So now I hope that you understand the importance of branding for your business. To be seen you need to be special, different and unique. You need to be able to convey your unique story to the world.

You need to have that unique story, this unique feeling that you want your customers to feel, emanate from every part of your organization. When you make your story not about the product or service you offer but rather about the entire experience you're on the right path for developing stronger relationships with your customers.

Branding sets the strategy for everything in your business. When you know your brand everything else revolves around it. Finally, please note that branding is an ever going process. You look, adjust and continue to evolve with your brand.

So now that this is out of the way have fun branding your business. If you have any burning questions, let's chat for 15 minutes I would love to hear your Q's.

How To Ditch The Comparison Trap.

If you're starting your business or even if you've been at it for some time now, today more than ever before, the urge to compare yourself to your competition or even people around you is too high. I think that the rise of social media has a play in it.

In this short podcast, I tell you why you fall into it and what you can do to reduce and even alleviate this crazy habit.

Please listen and let me know what you think?

XO, Cindy

If you’ll like us to take a look at your brand book a free call here

How your style impacts your personal brand.

A personal brand is a reflection of who you are and how you present yourself to the world. It’s how the world perceives you emotionally. How do people think of you when they see you? When they hear your name? What emotions are you igniting in them when they hear your name or your brand name. Personal style on the other hand is the way you present yourself to the world — externally. It’s an extension of your personal brand. It’s the accessory that defines and refines your personal brand.

I want to emphasize that personal branding is not about pretending to be someone you are not. Personal branding is about being your authentic self; showing the world who you are and making the world embrace your talent, your potential and your entire being. Fashion, or should I say your appearance is simply here to amplify your personal brand. People sometimes argue that fashion/appearance is overrated and should not affect how people view oneself; but unfortunately personal style is a big part of how society works -- The first impression always counts. I am not saying that the way you dress makes or defines you as a person but the way you dress is definitely a reflection of your personal brand, meaning the way you want to be seen.

Think about it for a minute; you are at a networking event and you meet a women who claims to be an exceptional hairstylist and fashion guru. When you look at her clothing and hair, the whole package do not speak professionalism neither expertise. The hair is not up to par and her attire is not screaming professionalism. Would you go to her for fashion advice or to get a hair cut?

Now let’s look at the other way around: you are at that same networking event and you meet a young lady who claims to be a bombshell hairstylist and fashion expert. Her clothes and accessories are nicely put together and her hair looks fabulous. Would you be more inclined to ask her for fashion advice and get a hair cut from her?

In a nutshell, whichever industry you are in, own your brand. If you are a hairstylist, make sure that your hair speaks volume about your qualifications. If you are in fashion, own your style with confidence. If you are an artist, then look artsy. Own your style, own your brand.

Defining your personal brand is an extensive creative process, you have to really own yourself and ask yourself the right questions: What qualities do I possess that will help you make your business better? What qualities do I possess that would make people want to be around me? Don’t dismiss anything, just brainstorm and brain dump.

There are way more questions and exercises that go into this process, but let’s start here at least. Let me give you some tips to help you start the process:

Think about 3 adjectives or words that would describe you best:

•      What do you want to be known for?

•      What kind of emotions do these words ignite in others?

When you answer those questions, then the process really starts.

At this point, I usually ask my clients to create a mood board with these three words in mind. Pick out colors, moods, inspirations, styles that thosewords ignite in you. These three words will affect everything you do, wear, write and say.

To revamp your style:

• Do a style audit:  Look at what you already have in your closet and see if what you have matches what you are and what you are putting yourself out to be (think about those three words). if it doesn’t then you might need to start putting together a new wardrobe, make sure that the new revamp emanates the emotions you want to convey about your brand.

• Get inspiration via Pinterest: you can find a myriad of style inspiration via Pinterest; it is a great place to start if you are at a lost of ideas

• Enlist the help of a professional personal stylist if budget allows. They know their job and will be able to direct you and pair what you find out about yourself with your desired future path.

• Play with colors: Too many people are just leaning toward darker colors, neutrals, black etc… try to stray away from those and add a little bit of zest in your wardrobe.

• Play with cool accessories/jewelry. Statement necklaces, rings, shoes or bags could be a great discussion starters at networking events.

• Don’t forget to bring a super positive energy to the table. Energy is very important, it’s basically 75% of the work! 

Keep in mind that these three words will become your compass for everything you do right down to your business cards, website, blog, social media design etc... I mean everything. It will provide consistency and help people grasp what you are all about.

ADVICE

Be and stay authentic to yourself. Trying to emulate somebody’s else is not the answer. Sit down and work on yourself and what you think you bring to the table. The right people will be attracted to you and will love you. Last but not least have fun doing it; its the journey that really counts!

If you’ll like us to take a look at your brand book a free call here

Take your idea from conception to completion

LISTEN NOW

I compiled a small list of steps you should take to get your crazy sexy ideas from conception to completion; it can be hard sometimes but it can be done. An idea is just an idea; it's only by taking strategic actions that your idea will materialize.

Listen to the podcast and let me know below what other steps you took to make your idea happen. Until next time,

Xo, Cindy