Should you invest in branding your business? Branding your business is important if you want to build a profitable business. Even though I say this advice is for content creators and coaches, this can be used for anyone who wants to start a business. If you’re interested in entrepreneurship, then keep watching to find out if you should invest in branding your business.
Should you invest in branding your business (advice for content creators and coaches)
01. Why branding is important for content creators and coaches
I’ve talked about how brand design is not about being just pretty but being strategic. Your goal is to attract your dream audience. But before we get to that, you have to figure out how you want to grow your business.
What do you want to do 5, 10, or even 20 years from now?
Knowing this will help you know what direction to go in your business. As a content creator, you can evolve into speaking, being an influencer, collaborating with brands, teaching what you do, and more.
I talk about this more later, so keep reading.
Do you know your audience and where they like to hang out?
Branding is important for content creators and coaches because it helps you know who your dream audience is and what content to create. If you want to cut corners and not do this work, I want you to leave knowing this is my most important advice for content creators and coaches: know your audience.
Knowing who your audience is will give you an idea of what type of content to create, what services to provide, what product to create, how to market your services, and where to market your services. All of this is important.
If you have limited time and resources and can only choose one social media platform to be active on, you would choose the one your dream audience shows up on the most. You wouldn’t spend your time on Instagram when you know your audience is most active on Twitter. You would have wasted your time and effort.
The secret to standing out online
Have you checked out your competition? Do you even know who your competitors are? When you’re branding your business, you have to know who your competitors are. Knowing your competitors will help you stand out from them.
Once you know who your competitors are, check out their content and services and ask yourself how you differ from your competitors. If you see your competitors are missing something or are weak in a topic or some other aspect, write it down and add it to your brand.
For example, if you’re a copywriter for websites and you see your competitor doesn’t focus on landing pages or sales pages, you can add those topics and services to your business.
02. How should I get started building a brand?
Notice I didn’t mention anything about graphics, colors, logos, or images. That’s because before you get into design, you really have to nail down your brand foundation. How should you get started branding your business?
With all the things I mentioned just now. Know yourself (business goals), your audience, and your competitors. Make sure you know all of this before you create any content.
Why can’t I go after a general audience?
If you focus on one small thing, it’s easier to conquer and then expand. Do you think Tiffany and Co started off as a big brand? No, Tiffany and Co started off as a stationery and fancy goods store. Tiffany’s father had to loan him $1000 to start the store. It took about 40 years to have the title of the world’s finest diamond.
The point is to start small with what you have, who you can help, and what you can do.
I can give you a lot of examples of this, but, I will give you one more. Taylor Swift started off singing country music before she expanded into pop music. I don’t think she purposely did it. She probably loved country music in the beginning and just loves music in general so followed what she loved to do.
But, if she wanted to start with pop in the beginning, who knows if she would be as big as she is now since she would have had a lot of competitors.
If you’re a business coach, do you think you can attract every business?
The answer is no. People want what attracts them. We all have a certain style or a type of person we like. For example, I don’t like people yelling at me, so I would never hire a coach or trainer who yells at me or belittles me. Other people love it, or those coaches wouldn’t exist.
If you need help nailing down your brand foundation, grab your copy of The Ultimate Roadmap to Discover Your Brand Style. You can find the link in the description box down below.
Do you have trouble brainstorming content ideas? Let me know in the comments down below.
03. How do I figure out the goals for my business?
Before you get started figuring out who your dream audience is, you need to know yourself first.
01. Why did you create this business?
02. What does your business do?
03. How will your work impact your audience or clients?
04. Where do you want to be in 5 years?
05. Where do you want to be in 10 years?
06. What type of legacy do you want to create?
Knowing yourself will help you know what you like to do and what you don’t like to do. This will help you figure out what direction you want your business to go in as your business grows.
For example, someone who wants to be on a talk show in 5 years will have different goals and a different journey than someone who wants to freely travel around the world working from their laptop.
04. How do I find my dream audience?
Once you know your goals, you can think about who you want to help and how you can help them. When you know who you want to help, go find them. I like to use real people instead of creating imaginary people to help.
When you find your ‘real’ dream audience, you can try to find their:
- Education
- Hobbies
- Where they hang out
- Books they like to read
All this information can be used to help create your brand and it can also be used to figure out what content to create and where you should create it.
How can you find real people? On social media. You can find people by their title or research hashtags that pertain to who you want to help. If your dream audience is creative entrepreneurs, you can search creative entrepreneurs or #creativeentreprenuers on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and so on.
If you don’t have any clue who you want to help, you can look up your competitor’s social media and go through their comments. Click on the person who commented and check out their profile. You can decide if they’re someone you would like to help or not.
Don’t know who your competitors are? Then keep reading.
05. How do I figure out who my competitors are?
When you’re looking for your competitors, be ambitious! You’re trying to build a successful, profitable business so go big. I like to look at the people who are at the top.
I like to search on YouTube. Once I find an account, I’ll check out how many subscribers they have, check out their most popular content, and look at how many people watched their most recent video. You can do this for any social media platform: Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and more.
My tip is to start from the platform you’re going to be the most active on or where your audience hangs out the most. Your main platform. If you’re short on time, what’s the point of looking at platforms you or your audience don’t use?
Quick advice for content creators and coaches who haven’t done this research: you can search Google, YouTube, Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms for your industry or topic. Then choose your competitors by how many subscribers they have and if you have too many competitors you can narrow it down by their niche and audience.
Summary of Should you invest in branding your business (advice for content creators and coaches)
I know I just touched upon each of these topics, but they’re really important if you want to build a profitable business as a content creator or coach. Should you invest in branding your business? Yes, definitely. Knowing yourself, knowing your audience, knowing your competitors, and then using all that information to create your brand will help you create great content and attract your dream audience.
If you need help nailing down your brand, don’t forget to grab your copy of The Ultimate Roadmap to Discover Your Brand Style.
