Brandmerry Blog Archives
3 Key Factors for Telling Better Brand Stories in Marketing
Brand storytelling is all the rage because it improves marketing!
And everyday you should be sharing stories as part of your marketing strategy.
Here are 3 factors to improve your overall marketing strategy.
3 Key Factors for Telling Better Brand Stories in Marketing
BY MICHELLE KNIGHT
We often think about brand storytelling as our brand story. That's typically what you see written on an ‘About Me’ page, a couple of different places on your website and your social media handles.
But a lot of brands stop here.
They've got that brand story and then they do nothing else, and they're missing out on an incredible marketing strategy by doing so.
Brand storytelling will elevate your marketing.
It will elevate your content creation.
It will elevate your customer experience when you fully embrace it.
Today, on The Brandmerry Podcast, I wanted to not only share how important brand storytelling is but also three key factors that are necessary for telling stories in business.
One of the little secret sauces that I have over here at Brandmerry is the power of storytelling.
It's in everything that I create and teach. I have been featured on multiple podcasts, talking about brand storytelling. I have been featured by HoneyBook, leading an entire workshop on brand storytelling.
My goal is to get you to think of storytelling as a powerful tool not just in your brand foundation, but also in your marketing!
IMPORTANCE OF BRANDING AND BRAND STORYTELLING
What branding focuses on the experience that you are providing your audience.
While the business side of things is very much the marketing, how you're showing up every day, the products, the services, etc...
Branding is focused on a core foundation of who you are, who your ideal customer is, strong messaging, and understanding the emotional component to create an overall experience for your ideal customer.
I've already shared how storytelling plays a role in that, but essentially storytelling allows you to identify who you are, why you're doing the work that you're doing, and the mission statement that we talked about in the first episode.
It helps you identify your brand values, which are a guiding light in the choices that you're going to make.
It helps you get deep into who do I want to work with?
Why do I want to work with them?
Who is my product for, who is my service for?
Who is this whole thing for?
Storytelling can play a major role in the branding process. It is the core foundation of everything that I teach inside of my program, You! Branded.
Inside of You Branded, we are focused on getting clear on your story, your ideal customer’s story, the story that you want to tell through your messaging, the story of your offer, your authentic voice, and ultimately the emotional brand.
Once we have that, you have got so much to get started, to move into that marketing phase, to start showing up, sharing content, and building that know, like, trust factor with your growing audience.
Once you have that, you’re ready to move into the marketing phase. This is why the branding phase is so essential - it builds the foundation and sets the tone for everything you’ll create moving forward to make money in your business.
STORYTELLING AND MARKETING IN YOUR SMALL BUSINESS
The marketing piece is how you're showing up, how you're attracting your ideal customers, how you are bringing in those leads and how you are leading them to the purchase.
This is the area of brand storytelling that so many people neglect, but it's so important.
Incorporating storytelling into your content and into your marketing gives you the power to increase the likelihood that your audience will actually remember it.
Your audience is 22 times more likely to remember something that you share on social media, in a blog, in an email, on a video, because you've incorporated storytelling.
Storytelling is a universal language and it does amazing things to our brains as humans and ultimately consumers.
It fires off dopamine which makes us feel good. Neural coupling is happening, which basically states that it's not about the story, it's about the art of telling a story that triggers different things in your customer's brain that attracts them to the message because they can connect it to their own story and something that's happened to them - even if it’s not identical.
That's why storytelling is incredibly powerful for bringing in your ideal customer and captivating them.
By incorporating stories into your everyday pieces of content and your marketing, you're actually giving yourself an incredible advantage on social media, on blogs, in email marketing, and when you're selling on a sales page.
HOW STORYTELLING INCREASES SALES
In 2009, Rob Walker and Joshua Glen held an experiment that has become known in marketing as The Significant Object project and it’s a great example of how storytelling plays a role in our marketing and ultimately the purchase conversions of our services and products.
Yep, you heard that right - storytelling can increase sales!
In 2009, Rob Walker and Joshua Glenn asked 100 creative writers to invent stories about $129 worth of items. They bought $129 worth of items, they hired creative writers to make up stories about each item.
They listed these products on eBay.
The result was a net profit of $3.6 million. It was a 2700% increase in the final markup!
One of the examples that's sold was a paperweight. As you know, we can get these for like a dollar. They specifically bought theirs for $1.47 and it sold for $197. It was a simple paperweight with a story that sold!
This experiment proves that we, as human beings, are drawn to and connect with stories and that we make purchase decisions based on stories and emotional connection.
It is incredibly important for you as a marketer to incorporate storytelling into your entire process!
3 KEY FACTORS FOR BRAND STORYTELLING
We’re focused on brand storytelling today, and I’m not going to sugar coat it - it’s a lot!
Inside of my free training, Build a Better Brand Method, I break down some of the key pieces of brand storytelling and you can watch it for free here.
Inside of my program, Brandmerry Academy, which is my membership community that teaches you how to market off of social media, we talk about storytelling and the different ways that you can create content around storytelling.
There is also this guide if you want to explore further.
So, please know these three factors will get you started, but there is more work to dive into and you’re in the right place at Brandmerry.
WHO IS YOUR AUDIENCE AND WHAT IS THE VALUE
I'm laughing a little bit on the inside here because if you've worked with me or listened to any of my live videos, you know how much I stress the importance of doing ideal customer work. It's non-negotiable over here.
Do you have a content creation problem? It's because you don't know who your ideal customer is.
Don't know what kind of copy to write? It's because you don't know who your ideal customer is.
Don't know what kind of stories to tell? It's because you don't know who your ideal customer is.
Ideal customer research is important, and I'm not talking about just getting on the phone with people and chatting with them all day, every day. There are a lot of strategic ways to do ideal customer research through free tools online, like Answer the Public, to posting a survey, to asking questions in your Insta Stories.
Ideal customer work is something that we teach inside of module two of my course, You! Branded, and it's so important for moving forward in branding and marketing your business.
It’s imperative when it comes to brand storytelling because as business owners, we're not just telling stories to tell stories. We're not just talking about a fun thing we did today. Because that's not going to get people to invest in what we're selling.
We ultimately are using stories to build connections and make sales. So when you're thinking about the types of stories to share, you want to be super clear on the audience that you're telling those stories to.
If you were writing a speech for a TED talk, you would need to know who's in the room.
If you were being asked to speak on stage at a conference for photographers, you wouldn't go in to speak at a conference for people who sell a product. That’s a different audience and you would choose your stories accordingly.
You need to understand who your audience is at their core, so you can choose the stories that are ultimately going to connect with them because that's what running a successful business is about.
In addition to that, one of the best practices that I love to teach my clients is identifying the value before you even craft the post, or the email, or the story on a video. So not only are you sharing the story, you've run it through your checker of how it'll connect to your ideal customer and the specific value that it's providing them.
Remember, value doesn't necessarily mean five tips on this, although that's helpful. It can also be humorous, entertaining, inspirational, motivational, or educational.
Remember…
…what is the story?
…how does it connect to your ideal customer?
...what value do you provide?
And then you will know that you've got a story that is going to help move your business forward.
THE 4 C’S OF STORYTELLING
The second thing that you want to keep in mind, one of the key factors in storytelling, is the four Cs. They are character, conflict, conclusion and CTA.
Let's break these down.
CHARACTER
There has to be a central focus for the story that you're telling.
If you're telling a story about something that happened to you, you might be the character.
If you're telling a story about a client testimonial, they might be the character.
If you're telling a story where you want the reader to picture themselves in the story, then it is your reader.
Your character could also be your product or service you’re selling.
The goal is to have a focus on who the story is ultimately about.
CONFLICT
The second thing you want in your story is conflict.
You can call it conflict, obstacle, or decision, and it’s anything that causes some tension in the story. This is important because we, as people, as human beings, need a resolution from conflict, so having this in your story makes it interesting!
Then we offer the conclusion or resolution after introducing the conflict.
CONCLUSION
Having both the conflict and conclusion is a great way to not only hook your audience but keep them engaged.
I was watching WandaVision, not that long ago, and every week I was like, “Oh my gosh. Man, now I have to wait 'til next week!” And I was genuinely frustrated about it, but I also made a note in the back of my mind that I cannot miss next week's episode.
This is what happens in our brain when we are introduced to some sort of conflict and need a resolution. It's called open looping.
As humans, we need resolve. So that's where the conclusion or resolve comes into play.
If you can present the character, you can showcase some sort of tension or conflict, a decision, or a question that was presented and then resolve that and share the conclusion, you're doing that full arc in your ideal customer's mind. That's where the dopamine gets released!
CALL TO ACTION
As business owners, we are not only focused on connection, but we also want to make profits.
So having some sort of call-to-action is important with your stories. That CTA doesn't have to be, “click here” or “visit my bio.”
It could be, “drop me an emoji”, “what did you think about this”, “answer yes or no”, “share this.”
Those are all CTAs. You don't want to miss that piece.
Character, conflict, conclusion, are key in all stories, everywhere. Movie scripts, sitcoms, books that we read. The CTA is that business element that we don't want to forget about.
So again, include character, conflict, conclusion, and CTA in all of your stories.
PAINT A PICTURE
I often have clients who are worried about a story being too long, and as a result, they cut out crucial pieces of the story and ultimately impact the effectiveness of your storytelling.
Now, I’m not saying that you want to write something incredibly lengthy that your audience will never read, but be aware of the language you’re using to enhance the story.
Some of the things that I encourage my clients to do when it comes to painting a picture, is to be descriptive and share emotionally charged language.
If you know things about your ideal customer, about their pain, about their pleasure, things that they would say, incorporating those into your story is powerful. Being descriptive and showcasing the individual pieces.
One of the small parts of my founder’s story is a great example of this.
“I remember sitting on the couch in a postpartum fog, breastfeeding my one-month-old son. I looked up, turned to my husband and said, “I don’t want to go back to work.” He looked up, took a deep breath and said, “Ok.” That was the start of Brandmerry.”
You can see inside of this story how I’ve painted a picture for my audience. If I would have taken out the descriptive elements it would have just been, “I was sitting on the couch and I looked at my husband and I said, I want to leave my job. And he said, okay, let's do it.”
That’s pretty boring.
What I did instead was set up the scene, where I'm talking about being in a postpartum fog, I'm sitting on the couch and breastfeeding my son. You can imagine what that looks like. You might even be seeing yourself in that situation.
I talk about lifting my head, turning to my husband. I share what I said. I talk about him taking a deep breath in, letting it out, turning to me, and saying what he said.
That did not make my story incredibly long, but it enhanced the story 150% and it made it better.
Don't miss out on the opportunity to paint a picture, be descriptive, and use that strong, emotionally charged language when you're sharing your stories online. Especially on social media, because you want your stories to captivate your audience and not just sound like everyone else.
CONCLUSION
Let’s recap the three key factors for storytelling in your marketing.
Number one: Know your audience and the value the story provides.
Number two: Include the four C’s of character, conflict, conclusion, and CTA.
Number three: Paint a picture.
As I've mentioned, you can be showing up and sharing stories all of the time in your marketing.
In fact, I challenge you to incorporate a single story in every piece of content that you create moving forward.
One of the great ways to start is by going back and listening to some of the previous episodes on this podcast for ideas.
In episode one, I talked about creating a mission for your business. Write your mission, and then share various stories about your mission. Why you believe in your mission, when you wrote your mission. If you have a story about why you have a mission, share the story about that.
In episode three, we talked about brand values. Identify your brand values, and then pick out different stories that you can tell from your life that showcase those brand values.
Those are ways that you can get started right now.
You can share your founder’s story or your “About Me” story, which we're going to dive into in a future episode. That's another story that you can break down and share on social media.
So you've got what you need to get started in sharing stories online.
Don't forget to catch the free On-Demand training, the Build a Better Brand Method. You can go to betterbrandmethod.com to learn more about my signature six-part method. You're going to learn more about elevating your messaging. I've got a trick in there on doing your ideal customer research that you're not going to want to miss where I’m talking about telling your brand story.
You can also check out youbrandedcourse.com to learn more about my paid branding course. This is truly where you get the step-by-step system for building a strong brand foundation rooted in story, understanding your ideal customer and mastering your messaging.
- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -
DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES
LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS
MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR
- READ THE LATEST POSTS -
MEET MICHELLE
Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.
I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.
I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.
This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.
3 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Jumping on a New Social Media Platform
Social media marketing is changing every single day, and new platforms
are popping up with the message, "If you're not here, you're missing out!"
The truth is you might not need to be there and today on the blog I'm sharing how to
determine if a new platform is for you.
3 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Jumping on a New Social Media Platform
BY MICHELLE KNIGHT
One of the things that I see happening with entrepreneurs day in and day out is distractions.
It's like squirrel brain everywhere all the time. And I get it.
I feel it too, where something new will pop up and we'll wonder if we need to go do that. If it’s going to completely change our business?
We experience a little bit of FOMO if we see other people doing it and we're not on the platform or implementing that strategy.
And while I do believe in adjusting and pivoting, in fact, we've got an episode coming out in a few weeks all about marketing, I also know that pivoting all the time or doing it because of FOMO and not from an aligned decision is not a best practice.
You're going to find yourself distracted, running out of time, and with mediocre content and energy on every platform and within every strategy, rather than simplifying, going all in and excelling at what you're doing.
The goal with marketing is to do a really good job at what you're putting your time and energy into so you yield results quickly.
If you find yourself jumping on the bandwagon with every new platform that's coming up and wondering how to know what you should put your energy towards and what you shouldn't, then this episode and blog is for you!
What do you do when a new cool platform and major FOMO comes up?
What questions do you ask yourself?
What do you have in place and how do you ultimately decide if implementing that is going to be right for you?
Let's get into it!
CREATE YOUR MARKETING RULES
We have a tried and true approach to branding and marketing over here at Brandmerry. It's one of the reasons I created Brandmerry Academy, as a way to build a sustainable marketing practice and growth without feeling the ups and downs of every trending new platform.
When it comes to marketing, we have a very, very, clean, simple, minimalist approach.
And one of the things that we do not do is jump on the new thing.
Now that doesn't mean that I don't research the crap out of it. I'm the marketing strategist, it's my job to do all the dirty work, so then I can pass along to you, “Hey, this is what we're seeing, this is what's happening,” and hopefully offer a different opinion than what you might be seeing online.
I recently experimented with this when Clubhouse was announced.
So just like you probably were, I was like, what is this? Should I be on it? What's happening?
I went back to my marketing rules to ultimately decide if this was the platform for me.
I use these to make aligned decisions in my business and encourage you to create the same.
Rule Number One: I want to drive traffic to my website.
My website is my home base. It is where the information that you need about my brand lives. It's a one-stop shop for messaging, who I am, how I can support you, resources, blogs, podcasts, and authority.
It's where I want people to go, because that's where you can get information that you need no matter where you're at in the client journey. Whether you're just starting out and just want some cool resources to figure out if you like this person, or if you're ready to invest.
Rule Number Two: I create evergreen content.
When I first started my business, like many of you probably, I was showing up on social media all the time. And I felt like I had to show up on social media every single day, because that's what I was being taught. At the time I was working a nine to five, building a business, and I had a baby. That is not a recipe for showing up on social media every single day. It just didn't work. And I started to say, “well, shoot, if that's the way that I'm supposed to grow this business, how is this going to work?”
So I got really good at bulk scheduling.
I got really good at creating content and repurposing it. But then I quickly realized as I went through that, that the key to success was evergreen content.
Content that wasn't going to just disappear in an hour, a day, months even. I'm talking about content that will live on, content that will drive traffic to my website for years and years to come.
So any time a new platform is coming up or something new is happening, I'm asking myself, all right, is this in alignment with my two rules?
Ultimately, when deciding on Clubhouse it could work with rule number one, but straight up broke rule number two.
3 QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF WHEN CHOOSING A MARKETING PLATFORM
New platforms and information are always going to be coming our way, which is why it's really important that we focus on asking ourselves three things.
QUESTION #1
Is my audience there?
This should be the number one question that everyone askS themselves any time they're thinking about their marketing strategy. Is my audience there?
I'll continue with the example of Clubhouse. When I was considering exploring that platform, I started paying attention to my audience and what they were saying. And my audience is made up of working women, some with full-time jobs and most likely taking care of their family and their children and building their business.
Every time I was doing market research or talking to people about Clubhouse they were like, “I don't have time for that. I don't have time to sit on something for six hours and listen in a room and hope that I get value.”
I realized very quickly that my audience was not there.
You need to remember this with all marketing strategies, because if your audience isn't there, then you're just showing up and creating content and nothing's going to happen because the person that you're creating that content for isn't actually there and it's not getting in front of them.
With new platforms, your audience might not be there yet so that's where you've got to do some digging and some research in those different pieces.
But if you know your audience really well, you're going to know right away that they're not there.
QUESTION #2
Do I have the capacity for this?
When I say capacity, I'm referring to time. It's important that you're always prioritizing your time.
I talk about time management a lot over here, time in and of itself is a major value for me. And using our time in the best way possible while also using our time in alignment with the life that we want to create.
We're not just doing things to do things.
We're not just doing things because people told us that we have to do that and that's expected of us.
We're being very, very conscious of our time and how we're spending it. So when you're thinking about it, do you have the capacity for this?
If you're already working at your cap, and if you added something else, would that mean that you would compromise what's already happening?
And that's what I see a lot.
When Clubhouse first started, I was in a membership community and I was watching what was happening in this group. I saw all these people talking about Clubhouse and how amazing it was.
They were talking about how it was amazing and they were on it for eight hours the other day. And they were listening to it while they wrote emails. They grew their email list by like five people and it was very, very exciting.
And then I watched those same individuals within a week or two say, “I don't have any time to work on my business. I'm finding that I don't have time for anything. What are your tips?”
Do you see the disconnect here? Because you do have time, it's how you're spending your time.
Remember, we don't want to compromise what you're already doing, that'll just make everything "okay"!
We don't want every marketing strategy to just be okay, we want them to be awesome. That's why sometimes doing less is best!
QUESTION #3
Does this fit with how I do business?
This goes back to what I shared in the beginning on the two rules. My two rules, when it comes to marketing, are that traffic goes to my website and that I will create evergreen content.
I will not create content that disappears because it's not serving me in the long run. We have blog posts that are still driving traffic from 2016!!
So, if you're going through these questions and they pass question 1 (your audience is there) and question 2 (you have the capacity), but you get to three and it's not in alignment with your rules, then don't jump ship.
Stay the course because so much of marketing is resiliency.
Marketing is about resiliency and putting in the time and the energy and not stretching yourself too thin.
TOP MARKETING RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ENTREPRENEURS
At Brandmerry we believe, and teach, that every single brand should have a website.
Now that does not mean that every single brand needs to be a design expert or needs to fork out a bunch of money for a brand design, or needs to hire a copywriter.
Most of my clients actually don't do any of those things because I give them the tools that they need to do it themselves. Some of my clients even do it in a weekend.
These don't have to be fact, what we're focused on is the information you're providing. Think about your copy, messaging, brand affinity, the emotional pieces of your brand, those are the things that really work on a website.
You can have a pretty website, but if people are landing on there and not converting it's not working for you!
Now, a lot of people will say, "but I have the website and none is landing on it!" That's where these next few pieces come into play.
DRIVING TRAFFIC AND GETTING LEADS
No matter who you sell to, everyone's on Google. Google is the largest search engine and ever business needs to pay attention to how and where they show up when their ideal customers are searching for their services.
In addition to Google, and using the same SEO strategy, are Pinterest and YouTube.
Because of the search engine platforms, just like Google, when you go to Pinterest or YouTube, you type in a topic, and then you get all of these different pieces of information regarding that topic. It's such a powerful tool because your ideal customer is typically further along in the buying process.
So it's about having consistent content on your website, usually in the form of blogging, podcasting with a transcript or show notes, or video embedded with the transcript or show notes. And learning how to drive traffic to your website, so that if someone lands on your website, they then can take action.
These are the strategies we teach inside of Brandmerry Academy so when a new platform comes up you don't feel like you need to jump ship.
These evergreen platforms might shift from time to time, but for years they've been consistent for entrepreneurs everywhere.
CONCLUSION
Remember, no matter what's changing around us, it's important we have our website, we have our core content, we're driving traffic to it and that is what I recommend every business focus on.
Then sprinkle in Instagram, sprinkle in Facebook, sprinkle in TikTok, sprinkle it all in until you reach your capacity. But the reality is many of you don't have the capacity to add more of those things that are going to disappear.
Still not convinced? Here's a scenario for you.
My clients often ask, “Well should I be showing up on Instagram every single day? I heard that you have to post five days a week in order to get results, so I could do that or I could blog.”
What if you didn't do that.
What if you took the same amount of energy that you were going to do on Instagram. Let's say for five days, and you took that amount of time to write a blog post that's going to perform for you years down the line and not disappear in like a day? Then shared that on Instagram for a boost?
Think about steady, steady, steady growth, and not having to jump on and off bandwagons as they come, because it really is about resiliency, and sustainability as a business owner.
P.S. If you want to learn how to repurpose your content like a pro and create a better marketing workflow, grab my free Repurposing Guide here.
- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -
DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES
LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS
MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR
- READ THE LATEST POSTS -
MEET MICHELLE
Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.
I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.
I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.
This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.
What Are Brand Values and Why Are They Important in Personal Branding
Clear brand values are essential as an online brand in 2021 and beyond.
Head over to the blog to learn more about what brand values are important and how to find yours.
What Are Brand Values and Why Are They Important in Personal Branding
BY MICHELLE KNIGHT
Last week, I shared a podcast episode and blog on what I believe is one of the most important parts of creating your brand and business - the mission statement.
You can listen to that episode of The Brandmerry Podcast here.
In continuation of that episode, it’s important to also share more about Brand Values. You'll find that mission and values go hand in hand and are some of the things that I think a lot of solopreneurs, myself included in the beginning, miss out on and don't take the time to establish.
But, like your mission statement, they can help you in your decision-making process in the brands that you work with and the clients that you take. So they're important to establish early on.
THE ROLE OF YOUR MISSION STATEMENT AND VALUES
As I’ve mentioned before, your mission statement is used as a compass in your business.
You’ll use it as a guide for making important decisions like hiring a team, accepting clients, taking on brand collaborations, and more. Just like the mission statement your values are beneficial for you to come back to and make sure you’re making decisions in alignment with your vision and values.
They can also serve as a kind of sounding board in the choices that you're ultimately going to make for your brand and your business moving forward.
But, your brand values also impact the buying decision process from a customer standpoint.
We know that 77% of consumers make purchase decisions based on shared brand values.
So, if a company has a set of brand values that aren't in alignment with that individual, they might move on to another company.
And that's totally fine - remember we want our brand to both to attract our dream clients and repel the wrong ones.
And while your brand values might turn off some people (i.e. not your ideal customer), what typically happens is your ideal customer is magnetized by your stance, opinion and a shared value.
It’s about not only sharing your brand values but more importantly living up to them.
You can absolutely post your brand values on your website for all to see, but if you're not living up to those statements, they mean nothing.
It’s in the art of honoring these values and creating a brand in alignment with them that makes the biggest difference.
HOW TO USE YOUR BRAND VALUES
As I've mentioned before, you absolutely can add your brand values to your website, but that’s not the real reason we take the time to establish them.
There are three main reasons to establish your brand values:
Use them as a guiding light for all elements of your business (including who you work with)
Make better decisions in alignment with your values and ultimate visions for your company
Provides content for your business
As a Personal Branding Consultant and Marketing Strategist, I love to empower my clients to share stories online. One of my favorite types of stories to teach are those that showcase the brand’s values.
For example, let’s say one of your values is authenticity, as it is one of mine, you can share a story about why authenticity matters to you.
You can showcase a time in your life where you had to make a decision with the transparent authentic approach, as opposed to the, "Oh, I've got my shit together approach."
You can share stories. You can share content. You can show up and paint a picture of how you’re honoring your values without just saying, "These are my five brand values."
While listing them out is where it starts, it really comes down to how you use them when building your brand.
WRITING YOUR BRAND VALUES
When it comes to listing out your brand values, my suggestion is to keep them very simple.
You don't need 15 of these bad boys because you're not going to remember them. And as you expand and grow your team, they're not going to remember them either.
You also don't want to make them overly complicated.
I've seen amazing companies share their brand values as single words, two to three-word statements. I've also watched brands do full sentences. Just a full sentence of this is what we believe.
Your brand values are the core principles behind the work that you do, what your company believes in and honors and commits to as a collective, so it’s important that they can easily be remembered and communicated.
This simple communication is what will support your ability to build brand affinity.
Brand affinity is so much deeper than brand awareness, brand attraction and brand connection.
Brand affinity is when you see clients come back over and over and over again. When you see clients who no longer can benefit from your services because they've kind of tapped out of what you provide, but continue to refer people to you and are affiliates for your brand.
They shout your brand and your mission and the things that you're doing from the rooftop.
Brand Affinity comes from a connection of shared values and a shared commitment. It’s incredibly powerful and something I believe every brand should be aspiring to have and a great place to start is with your brand values.
BRAND VALUES EXAMPLE
I know it can be tempting to try and locate a Brand Value Cheat Sheet, I’m sure it exists on the internet, but I encourage you to tap into your story, do the mission work that we talked about in this blog post, and think about the commitment that you're making to your clients, to yourself and to your mission.
Let those be the guiding light for your values.
Because there's no one size fits all approach for this. When we try to find a one size fits all approach, then we sound like everybody else, and that is not a great branding strategy. It's actually the worst branding strategy. And I do not recommend it.
This is something that you can’t copy and paste or you’re missing the entire point of creating brand values.
In the next section of this post, I’m going to share my six brand values as a source of inspiration for you. I’ll also be sharing why I hold those values within my company. Remember, you can structure your values as single words or sentences - I’ve shown you both options below.
Let’s get into it.
BRANDMERRY BRAND VALUES
Transparency and Authenticity
At Brandmerry, we believe that transparency and authenticity are the keys to true impact and connection. One of our goals at Brandmerry is to support our clients and in building true communities.
And my mission statement is to have women specifically build impact, build movements, and build communities.
So, one of the things that we believe is that the way to do that and the way to have a real impact is to be authentic, to be yourself, to not put on some weird front on social media that's going to blow up in your face one day. To have your clients and customers saying, "You are just like I imagined you were. You are just like you are on your Insta stories."
These are things that my clients have said to me, my customers have said to me over the years.
We honor this by showing up authentically, being transparent about things that are happening in business, as well as teaching my clients how to do the same thing.
Hard Work
At Brandmerry, we believe in hard work. We believe that it is necessary. And while we do believe in balance, we also believe in getting shit done in order to move forward towards our goals.
That is one that I've honestly gone back and forth with for a few years. It's not one that I originally had because there's a hustle mentality that I think is dangerous online.
But I have separated hustle and hard work and have owned that working hard for something that you want and you believe in is okay.
And I want to work with entrepreneurs who work hard.
I want to work with entrepreneurs who are in it, who aren't afraid to get scrappy, who aren't afraid to DM some people who have checked in with them and then ghosted and follow up with them and be like, "Where are you at? What's going on? I want to check in with you."
I want to work with people at Brandmerry, not only my clients but also my team members who will put in the time and energy to reach our goals.
So, in the seasons of life that require hard work, hard work is important.
Commitment
At Brandmerry, we know that commitment builds habits and achieves goals. It is not just a commitment to your mission. It's a commitment to yourself and we're here for it.
So we are fully committed to the work that we do and committed to the mission statement behind the brand. As I bring on employees, I want them to be committed as well.
That's why I show up the way that I show up because I want people to know what they're getting themselves into when working with my business. But I also know that my commitment is important and I want to work with other entrepreneurs and small business owners who are also committed.
You’ll notice I also say, it’s a commitment to yourself because one of the things that I believe in and I stand for is a commitment to putting yourself first and honoring the things that you want. If that means setting boundaries that you need to set with your loved ones in order to honor that commitment, then we do it.
Responsibility
At Brandmerry, we believe in taking responsibility not only for your goals and your actions but also being brave to apologize and own your shit.
Responsibility is important to me. It is just something that I have always carried. It's something my husband and I have in our vows to one another. And responsibility as a business owner, I think is just so important because there are going to be times when you mess up and you need to be brave enough to accept responsibility for that.
You also need to take responsibility for the actions that you're taking. Like, "This is the goal. We're committing to the goal. Now, be responsible and get work done." You'll see how a lot of these fit hand in hand. Hard work, commitment, responsibility, they're all one strong core value that I've broken up.
So, taking responsibility not only for your goals and the things that you want, the actions that you're taking but also a responsibility if you mess up!
I want to work with entrepreneurs that are responsible and I want people on my team that exhibit the same characteristics. And I will honor this as well. It's a driving force for me.
Freedom
If you've been following me for a long time, you know that I actually used to call myself a freedom coach before I understood SEO and any of those important characteristics with marketing.
Freedom has always been kind of an underlying theme of my brand. “Create a life of freedom,” was the very first tagline that I created. And even today, I talk about time, financial, and location freedom as the trifecta that I wanted to achieve and that I have now achieved in my business.
Freedom is what it's about. At Brandmerry, we believe in taking breaks, enjoying vacations and not living on social media. It's not just a marketing practice, it's our everyday mentality.
So you can see how this kind of manifests itself in my business, from the decisions that I make to not live on social media, to taking months off of creating content sometimes to taking month-long, three-months-long breaks with my family to go on vacation.
I have no problem telling my clients, "Hey, I’m going on vacation!" It's a value. It's something that's expected of me. I literally have never had a client go, "What do you mean you're going on vacation?" Because I have this value and I showcase that in everything that I do.
But it's also a guiding principle inside of all of my programs, where I talk about how to market off of social media inside of Brandmerry Academy and the power of repurposing and bulk creating content so that you're not living online all the time.
I believe that we should have a business that complements our life, not the other way around.
And then, as a member of our team, something that I'm looking forward to growing into as we expand is that my employees, employees of Brandmerry, will have days off every week. We'll be able to take week-long vacations every quarter and be able to take a whole day off if they have a doctor’s appointment or something personal.
This idea of freedom in all aspects as a CEO, content creator, educator, boss, woman, etc...is a major value.
Inclusive Community
At Brandmerry, we build, attract, and run communities where voices will be heard. We don't shy away from having hard conversations and we don't tolerate attacks on basic human rights.
So, for me, this is important because I, as someone who has a mission to encourage entrepreneurs to own their stories and share their stories, having these communities and having this brave space to share those stories without judgment and without fear are incredibly important.
In alignment with that, I also take a stand on human rights. I spoke out about the Black Lives Matter campaign and I've continued to do work in my everyday life when things happen politically or socially. If there is something that I feel strongly about, I will talk about it.
I know a lot of people used to say that you shouldn't combine business and politics, and there are still people who believe that businesses should not take stands on political issues. I’m sorry, but that argument is false.
Businesses absolutely should, if they are in alignment with their values.
But, do not do it for show - people can see right through that crap. If this is a value that you have though, if this is important to you, speak up about it and don't be afraid to do that.
That is something that I have honored over the last year by saying, "Yeah, this might piss some people off, but you know what? This is important."
I have a platform and I have a voice, and I'm able to do that.
We're seeing more and more companies rise up to this. I think it's very cool. It just goes back to what we talked about at the beginning around brand affinity. This stuff is important. Choosing your values will help you make decisions that will also help you show up online. And as an added amazing bonus, make more income and impact, which is what we love over here at Brandmerry and the Brandmerry Podcast.
CONCLUSION
So what I encourage you to do is, think of around 5-7 brand values.
You don't want too many where you can't remember your brand values.
You want to first start with your story. So identifying who you are, what's ultimately led you to where you are, and identifying your mission statement. Listen to Episode 1 if you want to dive into that a little bit further.
Then, identify some of these key values. You don't have to list out every single thing that you believe in. These are core values, right? These are core principles - you only need a few.
Once you have those, determine how you ultimately want to get them out into the world. Again, you can absolutely post them on your website. You can create a document. You can have them in your contract. You can do a video about your core values. You can do it in whatever way it feels good for you.
But one of the things that I recommend is starting to use these core values as a way to show up, share content and stories online.
That's a great way to showcase your values in a super organic and natural way that allows your audience to say, "Oh, okay. Yes, this is my person. Oh, okay. Yes, this is what I'm looking for." And it's supported my business and my clients over the years.
If you're ready to take it further to build that brand foundation, don't forget to watch the Build a Better Brand Method.
It's a completely free on-demand class, where I walk you through my six-part branding framework. You'll learn more about the power of storytelling in business with a fun case study all about how my business exploded because of storytelling. I also teach you how to do better ideal client research and how to elevate your messaging. It's completely free and on-demand and you can sign up to watch it here.
And at the training, you'll have an opportunity to learn more about You! Branded, which is my signature course teaching you how to create a strong personal brand. Inside of You! Branded the very first module is all about storytelling. So you know that it's important and it is key in building a strong brand and business.
- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -
DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES
LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS
MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR
- READ THE LATEST POSTS -
MEET MICHELLE
Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.
I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.
I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.
This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.
What is the difference between marketing and branding?
You should know that you need both branding and marketing to grow your business, but which comes first and do you always need to be focusing on both? Let's dive into all your branding and marketing questions on the blog!
What is the difference between marketing and branding?
BY MICHELLE KNIGHT
In today’s episode, I took a deep dive into the difference between branding and marketing.
I specifically wanted to share the difference between the two, but also outline what happens at each of those stages.
I find that entrepreneurs sometimes get a little confused as to how long the branding process should take. When they should start marketing. How long to dedicate to marketing their brand and what marketing even entails.
Which one should we build first is a huge question that my clients have when they come to me. And I'm answering all of those questions, and more, in today's episode.
I'm hopeful that no matter where you're at in your business, this is going to give you some insight into some of the gaps that you need to fill, or the next steps that you can take to create your revenue-generating business.
I believe that you do need both branding and marketing. However, what I often see happening online is that people are going about the branding and the marketing in a reversed order, or skipping one entirely.
I'll even go as far as to say they’re spending way too much time on one over the other.
BRANDING VS. MARKETING
So what's the difference? How do we decide which is which and where should we focus our energy where we're at right now in our business?
Branding is about the experience that you are creating for your audience. I also love to refer to it as the foundation.
So if you're thinking about your business like a building, you're thinking about constantly building and adding on to it, getting taller, expanding, scaling, and you need a solid foundation from which to do all of that.
So your brand foundation is what gives you that footing to know what to talk about, where to show up, what you’re offering and more.
I see a lot of entrepreneurs who skim the branding piece of the puzzle in one of three ways.
Some people go into it and build that solid foundation, and that's what I teach over here at Brandmerry, specifically in my course You! Branded.
Some people will skim it, who will just tap their toe into the water a little bit as it comes to branding, but not build a solid foundation. So when they start to scale then it starts to crumble and they realize they’ve got some problems here.
It might sound like, “I keep trying to build higher. I keep trying to reach more people. I keep trying to make more money, but my foundation is crumbling.”
Or we have people who spend way too much time on branding and they don't market their business at all. They wonder why they're not making any money because no one knows about their offer.
So branding is essential in the success of a business.
What I want you to think about when it comes to branding is building that foundation in which you can scale your business.
Now, for marketing, we want to think of it as brand awareness and attraction.
This is you putting your message out into the world. Once you have a solid brand and you've done it correctly, you very rarely need to go back to it. The branding will take some revisiting from time to time. It's always great to be asking and getting ideal client’s feedback. It's always great to go back and check on your offers and your messaging to make sure that they're relevant. You will evolve.
So yes, you're going to need to check back in on your brand from time to time, but if you build that solid brand foundation like we teach over here at Brandmerry, you won't need to keep going back and tweaking and making things different all the time.
There are two phases, in my opinion, when it comes to building a business, branding and marketing. And the second phase, marketing, is all about taking your brand and getting that out into the world.
You’ll hear people talk a lot about brand awareness, and brand awareness is marketing.
It is making other people aware of your brand. In my opinion, awareness isn’t part of the branding process, but you're probably picking up that you can't have one without the other.
BUILDING BRAND AWARENESS
So how do you build brand awareness and market if you don't know what the brand is? How do you know what to market if you don't know what you're marketing?
You can’t! This is why branding and marketing fit side by side for all businesses.
It doesn't matter what you sell, you have to have both. But what I see people doing over and over and over again, is that they're missing one.
They spend a lot of time and a lot of energy building their brand, which is essential, and you need it, but then they're wondering, well, why aren't people finding me?
How come I can't sell anything?
Or how come nobody's landing on my website that I spent all this time creating?
Because they're lacking the marketing.
Or I see a lot of entrepreneurs jump into marketing.
They start posting on social media without a clear roadmap or plan. They start creating multiple offers and promoting them willy-nilly without understanding their ideal customer because they've skipped the branding phase.
A NOTE ON SELLING
Some people say there's branding, marketing, and selling.
But, I don’t agree, because in my opinion marketing is selling. If you’re showing up and marketing your business correctly, then you’re also selling.
If you're constantly bringing in quality leads, leading them through your marketing and leading them through the client journey, then you're selling automatically.
So that’s why it’s important to strip it back and focus on two main pieces: Branding and Marketing.
How much easier is it when you think about running a business with two single pieces, that's all you need.
MARKETING YOUR SMALL BUSINESS
Look, I get it, marketing can be complex.
There are a lot of different pieces that change frequently, and it's something that's happening every single day in your business.
But when you're thinking about showing up and the marketing efforts that you're doing currently, how are they going?
Is it a matter of showing up and marketing, but your message is all over the place?
Not being a hundred percent sure what you’re talking about, or promoting?
Having trouble coming up with content ideas? That's a huge red flag.
Then I would encourage you to go back and build your solid brand foundation.
If you feel like you have a solid brand foundation, but nobody's finding you, then it's probably a marketing problem.
Here are some questions to consider to identify where your gaps lie:
Am I showing up consistently in my business?
YES - Great keep going!
NO - It’s your marketing (start there)!
How's that going for me?
Does it feel like my message is all over the place, and I'm not super clear?
Do I struggle to come up with content?
Does my brand feel messy or incomplete?
A lot of entrepreneurs I work with privately will come to me with their Facebook ads and their website, they’re blogging, but nothing's happening. And when we get down to it and we ask those questions, it's super clear that they're missing some major gaps in their brand.
THE MOST POPULAR GAPS IN BRANDING
NUMBER ONE:
Niching down, this is phase one of the branding process that I teach. And this is ultimately the problem you solve.
You've got to figure out what problem you solve and how you're supporting your clients from the start.
If you don't know that from the beginning, then your messaging is going to be confusing to them, and you're going to have a really hard time leading to the sale.
NUMBER TWO:
The second thing that you want to determine is who you're selling to. I think that this might be one of the most important things that you will determine in the branding process because your ideal customer will determine so much of your marketing strategy.
It's going to determine where you're showing up, how you're showing up, what kind of content you're creating, your topics, how long your videos are if you do live video, YouTube, if you're using Pinterest. All of that is going to depend on what you discover at the branding phase.
You need to understand at a very, very deep level who you're targeting, but the ideal customer work is typically where a lot of people are slack-a-lakin.
You need to identify who you are ultimately wanting to attract and sell to. And yes, I said, who, I don't mean 75 different people, who? If you're just starting, please do a favor and focus on one core audience. You can scale as you get bigger, you can have more offers as you get bigger. You'll have more credibility. You'll have more testimonials. You'll have social proof. You'll have those pieces, you'll have a team.
But in the beginning, it's probably just you, maybe a VA if you're lucky, so you want to focus and streamline.
This is one of the things that are important with branding. Some people fear talking about the same thing over and over again, but that is the key to branding. Become known for one specific thing. And then as you are making consistent money and sales in that, add on the different pieces.
NUMBER THREE:
And then the third gap in branding that I typically see is, just messing up the whole thing, is messaging.
I can tell if your messaging is off because of how you're showing up on social media, or your blog content. If there’s a break in consistency, then there’s a break in your messaging.
A key part of branding is repetition. Don't be afraid to talk about the same things in a bunch of different ways, become known for that thing.
DO YOU NEED BOTH BRANDING AND MARKETING?
The answer is YES!
Branding is focused on the experience, the beating heart of your business. So without it, your business is not there.
And then marketing is how you share that with the world. Marketing is how you build brand awareness and where the client attraction happens, which ultimately leads to the sale.
So you have to have both, but one will not work without the other.
Branding is the foundation. You don't have to go back and fix that all the time. You get it, you start marketing it, and then you make tiny adjustments as you market and get feedback.
But a lot of people will sit with branding, and they'll go through it over and over and over and over again, and two years down the line they're like, well, I haven't made any money and it’s because they're not marketing their business.
This is why it’s important to solidify your branding early on. I teach my signature branding process inside the Build a Better Brand Method.
This on-demand training will walk you through my signature 6-part process, plus share insider tips on storytelling, ideal customer and messaging.
In that training I also share with you, my course, You! Branded.
P.S. If you’re interested in a customized approach to branding your business, then my VIP Brand Intensives might be for you. During this 30-day intensive we will solidify your brand and give you the confidence to market your business online. Learn more and apply at brandmerry.com/intensive.
- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -
DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES
LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS
MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR
- READ THE LATEST POSTS -
MEET MICHELLE
Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.
I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.
I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.
This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.
Mission vs Purpose: The Difference in Branding
We've all heard about the importance of defining your purpose or why when starting a business, but what about your mission? In today's blog and podcast episode I'm sharing why having a mission-driven business is
essential as an online brand in 2021 and beyond and how to get started.
Mission vs Purpose: The Difference in Branding
BY MICHELLE KNIGHT
One of the key pieces of branding, and one of the things that I've stepped into as my business has grown, has been this idea of creating mission-driven brands.
In true Michelle fashion, we must start with a story.
For those of you that don't know, I love storytelling. It's how I built my entire business, and I encourage all entrepreneurs to tell stories all of the time as a way to connect with their ideal customers.
So it wouldn't be a kickoff episode on The Brandmerry Podcast, without a story.
Before I had my online business, before I even dreamed of creating Brandmerry, I worked in the nonprofit sector. I've been volunteering in nonprofit work since I was a kid. It was something that was expected of us, and I'm so thankful for that.
It was honestly something I just always did.
When I first went to college, I went to school for musical theater. And when my brother got sick with cancer, I ended up coming home.
Some of the classes at the local university were focused on Nonprofit Management, so I started exploring that avenue and found that I truly loved learning more about creating a nonprofit, messaging and communicating the mission of the nonprofit, and building a profitable nonprofit that can make a difference in so many lives.
That's kind of where my introduction to marketing and communication started, in the nonprofit sector.
Fast-forward a couple of years, and we, unfortunately, lost my brother to cancer, which many of you know. If you've read my story you know that my family created a nonprofit in his honor.
That process was so interesting to be on the other side of as we had to get super clear and specific on the goals and mission of the organization.
One of the things that stood out to me, although again, I didn't put it in connection to branding until much, much later, was the fact that to even begin an application as a nonprofit, you have to clearly state your mission.
What is the focus?
What is the objective?
What is the mission behind the organization that you are creating, and how will you do that with your day-to-day activities?
I just found that to be so fascinating, and I remember helping my parents write the mission statement and learning so much about that process.
Fast-forward a few more years, and my now-husband, Ben and I moved to Chicago, where I pursued a degree in Public Relations, Marketing and Communications. So I went to school to learn how to work with journalists, how to craft messages, studying advertising, studying marketing and communications, studying messaging, and that landed me an internship at a very large nonprofit in Chicago that helped children with cancer.
Later in life, right before I started my business, I was the Communications Manager at a large non-profit in St. Louis, Missouri, and again, I was constantly reminded of the mission and that everything we did came back to the mission.
When I started Brandmerry, I didn't craft my mission right away because I was all wrapped up in, "What's everyone else doing, and what am I supposed to do?" But, there was a moment before my third webinar I remember sitting down and thinking about how I had a company name, Brandmerry, and what did that mean?
What was the point of it?
What was the mission?
I spent a few minutes identifying my mission statement, and it's been the same ever since.
As I began to work with entrepreneurs and work with businesses and consulted nonprofits, I’ve always come back to the importance of crafting a mission statement for your brand and business.
MISSION VS PURPOSE
Now, what is the difference between mission and purpose? They're kind of connected, but I find people interchange them a lot and it can be confusing.
Simon Sinek has a wonderful approach to identifying your why. What I have found in working with entrepreneurs and small business owners and navigating this myself is that typically, the purpose or why is really focused on why YOU’RE building it.
What it will allow you to do in your life; the personal benefits to you.
I know for myself and many of my clients, my why is the fact that I want to travel, and I want to create a legacy for my son, and I want to create financial freedom for my family, for my clients, and their future. A big driver for me is experiencing what I call the freedom trifecta - time, financial and location.
In the beginning, my why was so simple it was literally that I wanted to shop exclusively at Whole Foods for my groceries.
So, as my business has grown I’ve recognized that my why or purpose has changed a lot over the years. And while, I’ve always had a goal to impact the lives of others, “Impact others!” isn’t really a brand mission.
So when it comes to writing a mission statement I want you to think of it as your ultimate objective. It’s the long-term mission behind your brand and specifically how you want to make an impact and support your audience.
The difference here is that its super long-term, and I think this is where a lot of entrepreneurs get hung up.
There are setting goals for the business, typically three, six, nine months and a year and thinking this is what I can do now.
A mission statement is less of a goal (i.e. deadline) and more of a compass.
It is a compass for the work that you are going to do. It's going to help you in your decision-making processes.
When you start to hire team members, it's going to help you in the hiring process.
It's going to help you with your stance on social responsibility.
It's going to shape your values.
It's going to impact who you will and will not work with.
Ultimately, your mission statement provides a focus for your brand.
It's the guiding force for everything that you're going to do in your business.
So from the standpoint of a business owner, it's incredibly powerful to determine a mission statement and to be able to ask yourself, "Is this in alignment with my mission?"
It's something that nonprofits do all of the time and it’s required by the government to say, "This is the program that we're doing, and this is how it connects to my mission," and so forth. I think this clarity and connectedness is what so many small business owners are missing.
If I'm launching a new program I might consider:
How does this connect to my mission?
How does this connect to my objective and how I am committing to showing up?
So having a mission statement early on in your business can truly impact a lot of the decisions that you're going to make.
BRAND AFFINITY
In addition to your decisions as the brand owner, we also know that brand affinity comes down to a connection between a brand and a consumer on a deep, deep level, typically around brand values and a clear brand mission statement.
I'm going to be talking about brand values in a future episode, so I won't get too into it now, but I want you to remember that your values and mission matter when it comes to selling your products and services.
We have the statistics that tell us that people will buy because of this connection, because of shared values, because of a shared mission.
I'm about to share with you my mission statement, but before I do, I want to say that this isn't something that you have to broadcast everywhere. You don’t need a title that says, MISSION STATEMENT on your page, you can work it into your content, story, etc.
And remember, it’s not just about saying it - it’s about honoring it as you grow your business!
You can absolutely say your mission. People do it all the time, and I love that, but you don't have to.
This is for you.
This is your guiding force.
This is to make sure that the things that you're doing are in alignment with your mission, with the ultimate objective for your company, whether your company has a name like Brandmerry or it's Michelle Knight.
It does not matter. It's still a company.
Remember, it’s important to treat your businesses as a business, so take the time to get in touch with what you want to be remembered for and the impact you want to make.
At Brandmerry, we believe in two outcomes, income and impact.
Because one without the other kind of sucks.
You can have a lot of income and not be making a difference in the world. I think that's a true disservice as a company and something that we're seeing more and more of over the last few years in social responsibility and companies taking a stand, and standing behind their missions and standing behind their values through action.
You can also be making a huge impact, but limiting yourself because you don't have the income. You could be doing even more good in the world if you had the income and the funds, and that's one of the ways that I love to look at money. Yes, of course, I want money for travel and I want money to support my family, and there's nothing wrong with saying that.
I want to be a millionaire, but I also know that with that money, I can do more.
I will have the resources to do more, and so my impact will be greater.
Here's the last thing I'll share with you before I share my mission statement.
When you're thinking of your mission statement, it's not about a particular product, it's not about a particular service. It might be so far away from where you are right now, and that is okay.
It's a compass.
It's a guiding light.
It can evolve.
Just like all things with branding and marketing and running a business, things will evolve, and your mission statement may evolve as well. However, it doesn’t have to, my mission statement is the same one I wrote back in 2016, right before my third webinar with about two attendees!
The Brandmerry mission is to help women uncover their story and their authentic voice so they can build a movement and brand around their mission.
So everything that I do comes back to working with entrepreneurs, women specifically at this stage of my business, who want to make an impact, who have a mission of their own, and who’re creating a business and a brand as a way to reach more people.
In doing so, my mission is to make sure that these CEOs and these business owners are connecting to their story, they're connecting to their authenticity, and they're sharing that with others because I know that through that, you can create a greater movement.
If you think about how I show up on social media, how I show up on my website, the copy on my website, if you think about my products and my services, they all come back to this.
Brand storytelling, authenticity, mission statements, they're in all of the work that I create for my clients.
WRITING YOUR MISSION STATEMENT
This week, I want to encourage you to sit down and answer a few questions:
What is the impact that I want to make?
How can I share that objective and how do I want to reach that objective with my audience?
How can I craft a mission statement and use that as a sounding board for all of my decisions moving forward?
Because as I mentioned, you might be a solopreneur right now, but you're going to grow and you're going to expand, and you're going to need to hire a team and choose to work with brands, there will be collaborations, and you can come back to your mission statement to say, "Is this in alignment with my mission statement or isn't it?"
It makes making decisions a heck of a lot easier as a business owner.
Not to mention, I just think you're super rad for having a mission statement and doing the work to support it.
The other cool thing is that it puts you in the CEO role of your business, and that's powerful, especially when you're just starting, to step into that mindset of like, "This can be bigger than it is right now, and I see that. I see that future."
When writing your statement keep it simple and have fun with it.
HELPFUL LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
Episode 2 of The Brandmerry Podcast: The Difference Between Branding and Marketing
Build a Better Brand Method Free Class >> BetterBrandMethod.com
P.S. If you are ready to build a better brand, a mission-driven brand, a brand that makes an impact, a brand that builds a community, and of course, a revenue-generating business you need to watch my free training.
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MEET MICHELLE
Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.
I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.
I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.
This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.