Branding For Entrepreneurs
What’s a brand?
A brand is the first thing someone thinks when they hear your company's name. Those thoughts are important ones, because it is often how that person views and feels about your business and whether or not they will engage or consume your brand's products or services.
A brand exists whether or not you want it to, so your brand must be created and curated by you or it is done so by public opinion and online influences. Each piece of marketing collateral communicates your brand's message to your target audience on all platforms and mediums.
Branding Process
Brand Audit & Informational Interview
The branding process starts with an audit of your brand to determine the current state of your brand. Next, you’ll either be interviewed by a marketing agency for an informational interview or conduct extensive research on your brand yourself.
Brand Strategy & Marketing Plan
Once you have conducted the brand audit and informational interview, you’ll have the necessary research to develop a long-term brand strategy. Then, you’ll create a yearly marketing plan by each quarter.
Brand Elements
It’s important to make sure all of your brand elements are created, developed and in align with your brand. From your logo to color palette to your bio to your website, it all needs to be cohesive and seamlessly integrated under the umbrella of your brand.
Brand Photoshoot
A brand photoshoot or creative photoshoot will give you a solid foundation to launch your brand, rebrand or give you plenty of content to batch content. A brand photoshoot may have a primary focus on you, with staged scenes throughout your workday that help your audience visualize your expertise. However, if you have a lifestyle brand where you are not the primary focus of the brand, it may be best to do a creative photoshoot. A creative photoshoot is a photoshoot where you are depicting your brand and its values through staged and possibly organic scenes. I
Content Creation
Good thing you just did a brand photoshoot because the never-ending cycle of content creation is demanding of consistent, high-quality or on-trend posts. You’ll want to batch your content as much as you can and follow your brand strategy and marketing plan when applicable. In order to grow, you must play by social media algorithms and to your desired audience.
Entrepreneur Branding
Follow Branding Process
It’s important to follow the branding process to set up a solid foundation for your brand. A solid foundation for your brand will benefit you for the life of your brand.
Batch Content
When you can, batch your content. This could mean scheduling one to two days for a photoshoot each month or one to two days to gather your scheduled out content for the month. You will create all of your visuals (multiple scenes and outfits) within these days. From that point, the process is up to you. If you’d like to write out all of your social media captions in a couple of days and use a social media scheduler app to post for you or if you’d like to write your captions the day of the post as long as the actual content is planned out for the week or month. Batching content requires time and energy up-front but it can save you from the daily or weekly grind of social media content creation.
Social Media & Website Management
Your website is your brand’s heartbeat. Your social media is your brand’s water. It’s hard to build, develop and maintain a personal brand without a great website. Also, in order for your brand to grow, you’ll need to utilize social media to build your credibility and your community.
Marketing Campaigns
Without branding, marketing doesn’t work so it’s important to set your brand up the right way in order to capitalize on running a successful marketing campaign. Get creative and break through the noise with a strategic marketing plan that is in align with your brand. And then do it again.
Collaborate with Brands & Entrepreneurs
Just like IRL, it is important to build and nurture a community, so it is online for your brand. Collaborating with other brands and entrepreneurs not only allows you to be creative in the partnership to best reach their following, but it allows you to hopefully make a meaningful business connection. This is a great strategy for growing brand.
Influencer Marketing
I don’t think anyone is questioning the power of influencer marketing anymore. No question, it can help catapult and shape your brand to new audiences. It’s important to find the right influencer to collaborate or compensate for your business and your brand. This could mean doing extensive research upfront on potential influencers that will align with your brand, creating an influencer and brand ambassador program for your company, and running a marketing campaign to find influencers or pitch to select influencers. Once again, a lot of work upfront, but the payoff is worth it. Make it your goal to create long-term partnerships with influencers as it will benefit your brand.
Cultivate Personal Brand & Business Brand
It’s important to point out that there are two simultaneous brands you need to create, develop and grow: your personal brand and your business or company brand. Each brand requires attention.
Branding Tips For Entrepreneurs
Be Authentic, Not Perfect
Deliver Consistent Brand Message
Market Personal Brand & Business Brand
Collaborate & Partner with Influencers, Brands & Entrepreneurs
While there isn’t a choice of whether or not you have a brand, there is a choice of whether or not you have support in building your brand. ALLYEXIA, a marketing and branding agency based in Denver, Colorado, was created to do just that - create, grow and manage powerful brands. If you’d like help with your brand, feel free to reach out to Allison Gappa at allison.gappa@allyexia.com.