Do you love your brand?
“True love is the greatest thing in the world – except for a nice MLT – mutton, lettuce and tomato sandwich, where the mutton is nice and lean and the tomato is ripe.”
Valentine’s Day is upon us. Or, as some refer to it, Singles Awareness Day.
But pirates like myself aren’t really known for our helpful romantic advice, so let me ask you about a different kind of relationship…
Do you love your brand?
Does your mission statement read like inspirational prose, or more like a medical diagnosis?
Do your core values resonate deep within you, providing continuity for your team members and setting the boundaries against bad-fit clients and projects? Or is it just a list of generic nouns that don’t mean anything to anyone?
Does your organizational vision give you goosebumps when your think about the exponentially positive impact it will have over the next 10 years? Or have you not even considered where your organization will be next year?
How about your brand identity? Are you proud to display it in all of your marketing initiatives? Or maybe you’re thinking, “The thrill is gone.”
If your answers to any of these questions trouble you, it may be time to rekindle the romance with your brand.
Recapture the original magic
Take a weekend and spend some time with your brand. Look over your whole brand — not just your logo — but everything that relates to it:
mission, vision, values
positioning statement, tagline
logo, color palette, typography, brand imagery
audience, consumer personas
client testimonials
website content
social media content
print marketing
You’ll likely discover there are parts of your brand that you still love deeply. But maybe they’ve been forgotten or buried in the busyness of running your business.
You may realize there’s a part of your brand that was tacked on during a recent campaign and, like a prom dress from the 80’s, doesn’t really fit anymore.
Maybe you’ve worked with several different social media marketers over the past few years and your brand has been watered down because you weren’t diligent in staying true to your mission, vision, and values.
Pull out those love letters from your clients: the testimonials. These are extremely useful in telling you how your brand is perceived; clients telling you how you made them feel or what you were able to help them accomplish.
By Monday morning, you may realize that this brand relationship is worth saving, but it’s going to take some work to restore it to its former glory.
If you’d like some help rekindling the flame with your brand, or just need help getting your thoughts organized, send me a hail and we can book a time to chat.
You’re ready for a more mature relationship
Perhaps the above scenario doesn’t ring true for you.
Like a lot of entrepreneurs, you probably started your business with a $25 logo and a $500 website built by your cousin. There’s no shame in working within a tight budget, and besides, you were doing everything on your own and wearing 12 different hats.
However, now that your business has grown and you have an assistant (or two) you realize that your $25 logo is not a brand. What you thought was a deep relationship was really just a junior high school crush.
You’re looking for a more mature relationship and ready to invest the time and effort into developing an authentic brand; one that’s worthy of your growing, professional business.
But how do you start discovering your authentic brand? You can check out this helpful article or you can schedule a call to talk it through.