Do you lie to yourself for the sake of a dollar? Do you believe you can do something just because you see someone else do’n it? If you answer yes to either of those questions, then you forgot you're an individual and don't have to be as good as the proverbial "them".
It's not necessary to lie just to prove yourself right instead of admitting you're lost in the sauce. You think your brand is everything it should be, because you don't know what it could be. You don't want to admit you don't know how you fit into the market or how to effectively scale your brand. You would rather build your brand on bullshit than give up the lie. I'm here to tell ya, all that does is leave you broken and broke.
Branding whatcha momma gave ya is knowing how you want your personality to show up, show out and show off in your personal and business brand. Your won't have to trot out the bells and whistles of your business, if you let your brand do the heavy lifting. But, there are are things you gotta know about.
Unlike corporate brands, as a solopreneur or small business owner, you're putting together a brand strategy based on you and how you want to lead. This type of brand strategy gives you an opportunity to do it your way and kick corporate ass. The level of authenticity and vulnerability you bring to the game can’t be matched only copied by corporate giants. Now, I’m not talking about putting all your business in the streets. I’m saying that you are a brandividual. Own that you don't wanna blend in or compete. Own that you wanna life outside of business.
When you brand whatcha momma gave you, I want you to focus on these three things...
knowing your brand
knowing your landscape
knowing your metrics
Knowing your brand is strategic
You may think every business owner knows their brand. If that were true I wouldn't have clients. Brand strategy gives you the ability to control how you identify, embrace brand ego® and project a brand image that says everything you want it to. For too long entrepreneurs have accepted that the customer/client holds all the cards. That means you have to fight to live up to what they want. If you deviate or don’t live up to it, they cancel or sic twitter on you.
When you brand whatcha momma gave you, you lean into your individuality. It makes the positioning of your brand strategy as unique as a fingerprint. Since you know you, you know your brand and can market more effectively. It also means your brand can make a sale without you having to discount your offer, lower your price, or chase after your potential audience.
Picture your favorite luxury brand. I don't care if you can afford it or not. It is seldom, if ever, that your luxury brands will use materials that are more expensive than a lower priced item. Denim is denim no matter what label is on them. What they’ve sold you is a perception of luxury. Even broke folx buy expensive shit they can’t really afford because they’ve bought into how the brand told them they would feel if they bought it.
Rolex has never offered a discount.
Prada doesn’t offer coupons. Tiffany's doesn't have a clearance section. But are the materials they use that much more expensive than a Timex or Walmart brand. Sometimes it's the hand craftsmanship but not always. But when you tell folx they can’t afford something, they want it all the more. They have to prove they are as good as the person who didn't have to save for it.
There was a story I recently heard. Rolex and Timex were riding in first class together. After introducing themselves Timex said, "Hey we’re in the same business." Rolex corrected him saying, “No we’re not. You sell watches, I sell luxury.” Talk about being called worse things by better people. Well damn.
Ask yourself these questions to see how well you know your brand.
What outcome does your solution provide?
What are the different solutions within your industry?
Where do you see your brand in three years?
Knowing your landscape gives you leverage
Knowing how to get in where you fit in and still stand out is no easy thing. This is especially true for folx who embrace their brandividuality but dim it down when others are around. Or was that just me. Forget about being luxury or premium, you need to be distinct. Remember the fingerprint? Well your lived experience and expertise should put you in a different playing field.
Since you don’t see the world the same as your frenemies, you shouldn't try to fit into their version of it. You just need to know the landscape and what’s out there comparable to what your brand. That knowledge tells you how to show up, show out and show off for the folx who are checking for you.
Look at the coaching/consulting industry. There are so many that you can’t throw a rock without hitting one. Folx will snatch the title out the air because once upon a time someone asked them for business advice and they gave it. When that second person asked, they thought they were the shit.
I’m not hate’n on folx who do that, I am hate’n on the fact that they spend little time building out a coaching framework, honing their skills or properly working it into their brand strategy. They don’t know how it fits their brand architecture, they don’t even know how they fit into the coaching/consulting landscape.
Here are three more questions to see how well you know your landscape.
What affects the growth of your landscape?
Who are the leaders in your landscape?
What is the sensitivity of your landscape?
Knowing your metrics is like counting money
You can probably count on one hand who's on your ride or die team. Knowing who you can count on is great. Well in business, you can’t grow whatcha don’t know. It took me some years and cost me millions to learn this lesson. In my previous business I ignored branding and marketing metrics because I didn’t know shit. Hell, I didn't even know I had metrics. Only thing I knew was to count the money to make sure we made enough.
The metrics you get from knowing your brand can come from social media engagement, email opens or video watches. The metrics surrounding your landscape can come in the form of knowing your market share locally, nationally or internationally.
Your ability to scale and grow your brand, lie in the metrics you produce and use. You have to look beyond the likes and thumbs up to fully understand your kpi’s. It’s a good indication that you need help in this area if you don’t know that kpi stands for key performance indicator.
There is a saying, you can’t manage, what you can’t measure. If you aren’t using the metrics you have access to, you will continue to fight and struggle to scale your business. So here are the final questions, before I shut the fuck up (imagine I did if you got the answers).
Do you know the best time to email your clients?
Do you know the best time of year to launch a new offer?
Do you know when you get the most engagement?
The success of how you work smarter is that everything is tied to everything else. But it begins with the brand strategy of you branding whatcha momma gave you. When you fake, skip or half ass any part of the process you end up working harder to make a dollar outta 15 cents. That’s #SideWaysCrazy right there. Wouldn't you agree.
So as you brand, make it your business to know you, your brand, your landscape and your metrics. In a nutshell, know your shit because it all affects your money.
If you need help getting there, click below to see what you're already working with.
Ghetto Country Brandmother®
Certified as a Brand Strategist, Business & Life Coach with a degree in Business. She is also a former bbq restaurant owner & certified bbq judge.
She is making it her personal mission to show entrevivalist™ how to connect the dots of their
life, brand & business one brandybaby® at a time.
