When you own a business, brand clarity is what helps you to succeed. In this article, we learn about brand clarity and personal branding. When the word ” Brand” comes into the picture. Most of you identify it with the visual identity like the LOGO, the brand colors and so on. But you should be aware that 70% of the start-ups fail in their first five years. This is alarming, but when it was skimmed for research, we found out that there was a lack of brand clarity.
So, in this post, you are going to learn about
- What is brand clarity
- The Who, What, and Why of a personal brand.
- Brand Messaging
- Brand Story and how it impacts your brand deliverability
What is Brand Clarity?
Brand Clarity is defined as the clarity of the company’s vision, mission, and purpose with which the rest of the collaterals are aligned to.
By brand collaterals, I mean, the logo, brand presence on social media, the brochures, the flyers, the ad campaigns. Every tangible collection of media is associated with the brand.
Usually having clarity of your brand helps you in forging a distinct relationship with your audience. They relate to your brand story and create an impression which converts into sales. This is the underrated formula for success.
Your personal brand will have a value which is a collective of your expertise, the brand positioning, the brand collaterals, the differentiation factor, and so on. Its value is also calculated on how well you can communicate your brand to the consumer.
Personal Branding As A Canopy Concept
Branding is not a simple concept, the brand canopy is large with concepts like Brand identity, Brand tone, Brand voice, SEO, marketing, Social Media Marketing, and so on. But if you own the company, then you are in the driver’s seat, let not the canopy devoid you from the root truth. It’s the brand clarity.
It’s what lies beneath the canopy that matters.
When it comes to clarity, we speak about your personal brand. So, the energy tap is the inner work you do. The psychological aspect is what we are more concerned about.
This is the foundation of building a personal brand – Clarity.
The YOU Of Personal Brand
As I said, we start by doing the inner work. Start journaling, start experimenting, start investing in courses and skills. Keep failing forward so that you will know your purpose.
In every personal brand interview, I have one constant question
“What was your childhood dream and how did it help in shaping your career?”
This question is so powerful, it makes you stop what you are doing and think about the times you really wanted to pursue something, those dreams that you were fighting for. Your answer for success actually lies in those times.
I personally was into books and novels. My childhood dream was to author a book. Now, my career revolves around writing. Maybe I’l author a book or two or more. But it showed me the direction.
So, now,
“What was your childhood dream?”
Write it on a piece of paper and analyze how it got you here. Because don’t worry, your interests can always pivot. But discipline is learned by the personality trait you had as a child who followed his/her dreams.
The next question you will have to answer is
“What are you mostly searching on google or what kind of skills or topics are you constantly learning about.
Analyze that and you will realize who you actually are.
This also solves the major question of Niche selection in deriving brand clarity.
The WHAT Of Personal Brand
Once you are clear about what it is you want to do with your time, The next question is what do you do?
Using all the skills, passion, and purpose you found out What are you going to do with all of it.
Start analyzing and observing a problem, an opportunity. You might already have given deep thought to it but if you are still confused. Then we have a problem.
Your state of mind shows everywhere. The places where your audience comes in contact with your business are called brand touchpoints. It might be your website, your social media content or even the content on your Ad campaigns.
If you are not clear on your offer, on your business foundations. People are left confused.
And confused audience says NO to sales.
Hence your priority is supposed to be what you do before the sales that actually cause a sale.
Focus on getting your brand foundations right and the rest will fall into place. Because when a business is run by an aligned mind. It becomes an unstoppable brand!
The WHO of Personal Brand
It is not only what you do, it is about what transformation you bring in your client’s life that is going to bring the conversions. This is a huge trust factor.
For that, you need to understand your target audience really well. In fact you need to understand them better than themselves. Make sure you know the struggles, their desires, the pain points, and how YOU can help them.
Answer these simple questions
- How will their journey be without your help?
- In what way can you help them achieve their goals?
Be as specific as possible.
With this, you will gain the confidence to look for them in place you never thought of before.
THE WHY Of your Brand?
Why did you start your business?
There has to be a strong reason for it right?
Consumers tend to buy from brands that stand for something more than just looking at profits.
This is where your brand story- your WHY comes into play. Share it as many times as possible. Get on social media and talk about your story. Talk about the beauty of the scars, talk about your failures, talk about the things that inspired you. Share so that people will find their own purpose through your story.
If you evoke this kind of emotion that leads to transformation. You, as a personal brand have won!
For eg: I started my business because I stopped from creating a career for myself by the patriarchal society. I wanted to share that as long as you believe in yourself and spend little time on building skills, much can be achieved. And through this, I aim to raise myself and others along with me to my full potential.
The Importance Of Brand Story in Brand Clarity
The Art of storytelling is an underrated art of selling. But people buy the story rather than your product. Hence why you started this business becomes the core of your storytelling.
Don’t hide your scars, your story might inspire a million hearts to take the first step.
I love how Coach Nicole– A Business Clarity Coach uses her personal story as the core of her brand story. If you need the inspiration to start, go out and follow her page. She is amazing at what she does.
This brand story is going to impact how people perceive you as a personal brand. It helps to forge a connection between you and the consumers.
The How- Differentiation
The one thing that might stop you from taking the next step would be the competition.
Yes, there are already a number of people already doing what you are doing.
But uniqueness is what matters.
It was never told by YOU.
Have you watched Kung Fu Panda?
It’s a beautiful animation movie depicting one’s inner strength and the secret of being YOU. Hence this differentiation matters a lot.
One of the best examples of this is Khushii Pathak Misra. She is the founder of The Mindful Abundance. She talks about building an online business. The differentiation she offers is that it is a soul-led business. More emphasis is given to the law of attraction, manifestations, positive attitude rather than hustle and hundred strategies.
One other person I follow and admire is Tim Beehler. His creations are so vivid and different that few of his posts have left a huge impact on me. His branding and positioning are truly good. You can visit his profile to gain inspiration and book a call to gain brand clarity and understand your unique selling proposition.
The Brand Messaging
Once you are crystal clear, you need the messaging.
Hence the formula for what you do is
“I help (your target audience) with (your offer) so that they achieve (the transformation) without (pain point)
“I help personal brands in the coaching industry position themselves as an authority through SEO and branding so that they can convert premium clients.”
What is yours?
The Brand Deliverability
Once the Brand messaging is in place. It is time to show yourself in the authentic self.
Keep your promise while a customer is on their journey towards the purchase of your product.
Remember
People love to buy and hate to be sold to.
Hence this can be achieved through strategic branding. Attract clients. That is east but to keep your promise will be the major challenge. If your brand clarity is in place then you can super focus on it even while there are changes with algorithms, social media, internet connections,
Hence having brand clarity helps build a strong personal brand as people connect to a clear message. The message has to evolve with you. The brand story is rich and moe connecting when you are authentic.
Conclusion
Building a strong personal brand is not an overnight success. It requires days, weeks, even years of small efforts in the initial days. We call these the confused struggling, habit-building days.
Most of the time it is the lack of brand clarity that keeps you away from success. Hence follow the above method and if you need more clarity on choosing your niche. Please refer to this article on Steps to Build A Strong Personal Brand
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