EP105: The Brand Clarity Show
To succeed in business, it must be clear what you do and why people should do business with you. This is easier said than done for many including myself.
Today’s Episode will cover: What is Brand Clarity for personal brands and online businesses? Why is clarity so important? Why do I and so many others struggle with it? What action steps can you take to gain clarity?
What is Brand Clarity?
Brand is your mark or style or image that identifies you and differentiates you from competitors. This is a combination of your logo and colors and fonts and style, etc all rolled into one.
Clarity is simply the quality of being clear.
Brand + Clarity then: When people glance at your work or online content is it immediately clear or recognizable that it was created by you and does it stand apart from others? Do people recognize and understand who you are and what you do?
The message of your brand is your story.
Your potential clients or customers need to understand what makes you you and why you do what you do so they can relate and connect with you and your brand.
What are some reasons people struggle with clarity in business?
Fear Fear comes in many varieties: Fear of Failure Fear of Success Fear of Picking the Wrong Niche or Specialty Fear of the Unknown
Self-Awareness When you start you may not fully understand your strengths and weaknesses. What are you really good at? What are your unique qualities that makes you different or better than others?
Self-Doubt Self-doubt for me usually comes in the form of second guessing myself:
Do I really like what I’m doing? Am I on the right track? Do I have the business skills to pull it off? I’m not great at business, can I do this like I need to?
Another type of fear: Impostor Syndrome is when you compare yourself with others and you question whether you can compete on the same playing field as others.
–Are you really good enough to call yourself an expert in something? –There are so many people who are better designers or writers or podcasters or tutorial and video makers? –What if you get hired for a job that you cannot handle?
Why & Story -In addition to fear and self-awareness and self-doubt and that is the lack of understanding your story and message. -Why do you want to start your own business? What series of events put you in this position to go into business or start a personal brand? -What are your business and life goals? What makes you, you? -Do you have or have you worked on practicing an elevator pitch that succinctly tells your story?
-Your brand and identity how is people describe you when you are not in the room and if you have no idea who you are as a business or brand, nobody else will either.
Action Steps to achieve clarity in your brand and business
Starting today and doing vs contemplating is the first step. -The way you find clarity is by taking action and not by trying to figure it out by studying others or taking classes or reading books, so the sooner you start the sooner you discover it.
Do. Create. Make Things Throw as much against the wall as you can. It is a vital part of the process to understand what you like doing, what you are good at and just as importantly what you are not good at. Don’t think about what you think will make you the most money, think about what you would do for the rest of your life for free and be happy about it.
Self-Awareness -Ask others what you are good at -Take online assessments like StrengthsFinder 2.0
-Learn to trust yourself and listen to your intuition and gut by focusing on your strengths and not trying to fix everything that you consider a weakness. -Go all in on those areas or interests that make you smile and that you are pretty good at and over time you start to believe in your process
Self-Doubt and Establishing Your Authority. This comes from practice and experience. The better you become at your craft, the more people want to work with you.
There is no timeline to becoming clear on your brand message, but it will never happen if you do not work at it everyday and hit that share or upload button. ton of hard work.
Why & Story: Write it down everywhere and read it Say it out loud all the time. Read your About Page bio…is it you? Ask your inner circle to help you. Auditing your platforms and making sure the message and story is consistent everywhere is an important exercise. Facebook, Insta, YouTube, your website, etc. Is your story clear in all of your bios or is the branding and imagery consistent or is what you do or the value you deliver easily identifiable to someone visiting one of your channels or website for the first time?
Brand Story: My name is Mike Murphy. I am a one man band who helps people figure things out. Not entirely clear what I do, but a part of my story and branding.
Services: My name is Mike Murphy and I make tutorials and social media promo videos to help businesses and personal brands reach their target audience, stay relevant and stand out from the competition and promote their podcast, product or service
Questions, Comments, Feedback?
mike@mikemurphy.co
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