A Free Guide: Brand Building for Founders
One of the top questions I get from founders trying to build a business is: “What should I be branding? Myself, or my business?”
The answer is both, of course.
But the trick lies in understanding how the two can (and should) interact to reinforce one another. This dynamic will naturally evolve as your business grows, so what’s most important is to get started and be prepared to return to these questions over time.
With that in mind, here are three steps to build your brand strategy:
Step 1: Remember that YOU are your brand.
People trust people.
No matter what it is that you are selling or to whom, we are all in the business of relationships and trust. And the greatest asset your company has is you: the founder.
Even for companies with a more established brand identity and presence, the founder is the heart and soul of your identity. It’s a lot harder to connect with a thing than a person, so let people see you in your brand.
Don’t keep your own personality and presence hidden behind a corporate identity.
Especially as you get started, you may want to lead with (or at least balance the airtime) in building up your presence as an individual thought leader – and bring the company brand along with you as your visibility grows.
Step 2: Lean into the power of your origin story.
Our world turns on storytelling, and the greatest power in any company story is that initial moment of discovery.
We sell solutions, and so your exhibit A is going to be in that initial stroke of inspiration that led you to start your business to begin with.
Think about these three questions:
Why did I start this company?
Why does the world need another [type of company]?
What is our origin story?
Write it down. Then get up tomorrow and reread it and make it shorter.
Share it with a smart friend who believes in you and ask them to help make it punchier.
And then put it on your website. The most-trafficked page on a company website is often the “about” page, and Hubspot calls this one of the top ways to optimize your site for traffic.
Tell your story there. And be sure to use first person – show us some personality!
Step 3: Simplify. All of it.
Don’t tell 5 stories, tell one.
Entrepreneurs tend to have their fingers in a lot of different activities, which can make it feel challenging to figure out which story you are trying to tell with your brand.
But here’s the thing about brands: whether you are branding a person, a company, or even an idea – they all use the same building blocks.
Your brand identity is made up of 5 key pieces:
Objective. Anchor your brand in whatever it is you need it to accomplish for you and your business. This might sound something like this: “Drive awareness and attract my ideal clients.”
Purpose. Here’s where you go back to the outcomes of step 2. Why does the world need what I or we offer? What is it that is ultimately driving us, and why does this matter? A great example of a purpose statement is Disney’s “Create happiness,” or I love what Boston-based Center for Women and Enterprise does, which is “Lift up women who lift up the world.”
Persona. Again, whether you’re a person or a company (or both), persona is a key part of your strategy. It’s what sets you apart, builds relationships, and helps people feel an emotional connection to you. This should be a short series of statements that describe what it feels like to engage with you (and/or your company).
Proposition. This should be obvious. It’s the foundation. What is your value? What are you offering, and to whom? There are any number of value proposition statements out there that you can use to chart out yours. If you want to go deep, I like this framework from Harvard Business School.
Audience. Characterize who you need to reach. What do you know about them? What are their main needs – so you can adapt and reframe your value as a solution for that need?
The idea is to bring these pieces closer together so they work in harmony. You could build out a brand strategy for your personal brand and for your company – but as a founder or a solopreneur, the lines between the two are naturally blurred.
So, try bringing them together. See what happens. And use this as a strategic guide to inform and synchronize your content everywhere it appears.
****
That’s it. Branding does not have to be rocket science – it should be intuitive.
And these steps are perennial, they should be something you can go back to and revisit on a periodic basis as you continue to grow and evolve alongside your business.
If you want to work with us to build out your brand strategy, reach out to us here, or check out our bootcamps and workshops.