We may receive commissions for affiliate links included in this article. This is a sponsored post. Future Sharks makes no warranties about the statements, facts and/or claims made on this article. These are the opinions of the author. Read our advertising and contributor disclosure here.
You have built a basic brand. Therefore, you get basic results.
Your Earnings Are Basic
You make just enough to pay the bills of your business with no profits made for yourself.
On some days, you don’t feel cut out for this. This isn’t what you thought it would be, right?
You thought that you were trading your old job for new financial freedom. However, you find yourself working more and (honestly) earning less.
Your Influence Is Basic
You have very few people who actually want to hear what you have to say.
You haven’t established your authority, and you have no social proof that you are who you say you are.
Outside of the people in your immediate circle, there aren’t many people making an effort to reach out to you.
These are just two outcomes of a basic brand and why you need to evolve your brand to brilliant.
I am going to give you a four-step solution on how to do this, right after explaining this:
What Makes A Brand Basic?
A basic brand wraps itself up in just one element.
If you have a visually attractive brand but lack a strategy that attracts your target audience, you have a basic brand.
If you know that you provide great service but can’t communicate this to your target audience, you have a basic brand.
When it comes to brilliant branding, a one-sided approach doesn’t cut it.
As a brand builder, I run into too many clients who focus solely on how things look.
They want the strongest fonts and the boldest colors. They want the sleekest logo and the cleanest website design possible.
While there is nothing wrong with that, I challenge my branding clients to not get so wrapped up in just the design aspect.
If that describes you then that is my challenge for you, as well. You are putting all of your attention on only one piece of the pie, and that is keeping your brand stuck at basic.
Here Is My Four-Step Solution To Evolve Your Brand From Basic To Brilliant:
1. Exist Authentically
At the end of the day, you are your brand.
Services make people look at your business, but what they are really paying attention to is your brand.
They are paying attention to this as a whole–not just in terms of design.
Therefore, your brand needs to be a bold representation of what you believe in. You cannot afford to be a people-pleasing sell-out. Dare to be different.
“It’s all about vulnerability and transparency, showcasing who you are authentically to the world. That’s what gets people to connect with you”
—Rob Fajardo, Founder of Leave Normal Behind
Brilliant brands speak with or without words what they believe. They build intuitively upon the foundations of their truth.
Do you differentiate your business by showing what it is from the inside out? (If not, you should really read about the power in doing that.)
2. Develop Your Strategy
Strategy invites results.
Your brand will remain basic if you do not have an intentional plan to make it do what you created it to do.
For brilliant brands, this has to go beyond profit. As a brilliant brand, you build beyond yourself.
I challenge my clients to develop a long-term strategy. With the help of our “Five I’s Of Leadership” blueprint, our clients discover how they will:
- innovate industries
- impact lives
- inspire audiences
- influence change
- be involved
Brilliant ideas and ideologies alone cannot create these results. To create strategic results, use this five-point plan of action.
3. Create A Marketable Design
With all of that being said, now we can talk design.
Your brand needs a visual design that sells itself to your target audience.
To do this effectively, you have to do more than just look nice. You must design with intention.
The colors that you choose, the fonts that you use, and your other design elements do speak. Therefore, you have to make sure you are saying the right things through your brand’s visual design.
This is why instead of going straight into the creative process of brand building, I walk my clients through discovering its foundations. As a result of having firm foundations, the design is more powerful.
The design is marketable.
4. Build “With”, Not “Against”
“If you can’t beat them, join them.”
Within the right context, this is a not-so-hidden gem for brilliant brands: a brilliant network. You may have already discovered this in Step 2.
Collaboration takes you further faster. Strategic partnerships eliminate the stress of feeling as though you have to offer every solution in your own strength. Knowing people who know “people” and who can make that introduction is vital.
When building your personal brand, don’t neglect to build professional relationships outside of yourself.
➡ Looking to get featured on Future Sharks?
