Welcome to Week 4!
Last week we focused on “them”, your people. This week, we’re bringing the focus back to you and your business. We’re going to be sorting out one of *the* most important aspects of your business…your branding. It’s an area that many bootstrapping businesses neglect – forgetting that first impressions do still count.
Online (and offline) you just can’t afford to forget that…if your shop window isn’t up to scratch, potential customers won’t even walk through the door which is why we’re going to start implementing your brand NOW!
This Week’s Task
Here’s your task for Week 4 of the 12WC: Brand yourself and/or your business
Your outputs should include:
- A name for your business/project/product/service
- What your brand stands for (3 words)
- A logo or some sort of visual identifier for the above
- A colour scheme for your brand
- Your story
This Week’s Advice
Branding isn’t just about paying a designer to create a slick-looking logo (although that can help). It is about the following visual and non-visual elements which all combine to create your brand:
- What your brand stands for & the core message it conveys to customers
- A name for your business and/or product or service
- A visual identity (usually some sort of logo, mark, colour scheme or character)
- A “voice” or persona for your company
Many health & wellness coaches focus on one or two of the above but fail to get all of them right. Remember what I said about bootstrapping? Well, given that you’ve got just one week to sort this out, you are unlikely to find a professional designer who will work to this tight time frame! But that’s no excuse for not completing the task…
This week is about getting clear in your own mind what you want your brand to stand for. The visual element can come later, especially if you would like to hire a professional designer to help. For now though, here are a few things you need to decide upon:
- What story are you telling?
- What single core message do you want to convey to your audience?
- What 3 words would you like people to use to describe your business/product/service?
- What colours convey the image you’d like to portray to a global audience?
- What images, pictures, shapes or photos communicate what you’re trying to sell most effectively?
- What kind of language will your audience best respond to? Formal, informal, slang, any global/international considerations?
Hint: Use the results of last week’s task to help you with some of the above questions.
All of the above questions will help you get closer to the key elements of your brand – they will also provide a great starting point for a brief, should you decide to hire a professional to help.
Suggested Resources
- Website resource: The Meaning of Colour in Web Design
- Website resource: Nameboy
- Article by Seth Godin (old but mostly still relevant): The new rules of naming
- Article in Fast Company: The Brand Called You
- Free ebook from Rockable Press (by Skellie): Rockstar Personal Branding
- Free ebook from Chris Brogan: Personal Branding for the Business Professional
Bonus Resource:
We’re working on the latest Location Independent Guide at the moment – The Location Independent Guide To DIY Design. For challengers taking part across all 3 of our communities, you can download a sample of the first 2 chapters to help a little with this week’s task.
Share Your Progress
As you know, there’s a prize draw at the end of the challenge for anybody who participates and shares their progress each & every week here on the blog, so make sure you bookmark this post and let us know what you achieved this week as soon as you’ve completed the task.
