6 Questions to Answer Before You Create A Brand

You’ve finally decided. Your going out on your own and starting your own business. Now for the branding. Here’s a rundown of some questions you’ll need to have answered to get moving on creating a stand-out-from-the-crowd brand.

1. What Problem(s) do you Solve? This should be a single, concise sentence. If not, go back to the drawing board.
2. What is your Mission? Define and refine – I personally prefer one sentence missions. If you absolutely need more than one, just make sure it is extremely clear and well-defined.
3. What is your Perspective or What do you believe in? This is way more an important than you may initially think. This is how you will relate to your potential clients/customers. If they are clear on what you believe in, they will immediately identify themselves as with you or not with you. This is what you want. Remember, not everyone is your customer and it’s better to let them weed themselves out than become unhappy customers.
4. Who are you marketing to? No really, who are you marketing to? Not everyone is your market. Narrow your focus and really hone in on your niche market. You can best do this by taking 2 interests and finding where they overlap. Examples: Moms who Rock Climb, Vegetarian’s who are Film buffs, you get the idea.
5. What makes you/your company Unique? If you’re a personal brand, maybe it’s one of your features. Like Kate Buck Jr’s pink hair or Seth Godin’s bald head. If your a company, maybe it’s your playful nature, like Mailchimp.
6. What is your company Heart? Check for a pulse. If your company is not breathing, time to start resuscitating. The Heart is the why. Why do you get up in the morning and want to do this? This is the cornerstone for anyone creating a memorable brand. (Hint: The answer is not to make money, if it is, you have larger problems than creating a brand). If you’re having trouble, go back to #3 and review your perspective. Dig in and go deep. Figuring out why you believe in this and why it you believe it is important  – this is crucial to being remarkable. Combine with your uniqueness and you are going to be sitting pretty.

Once you have these questions answered, you can begin to really think about your branding.

What your branding includes:

1. Your Name or Company Name
2. Your tagline/slogan
3. Voice
4. Type of text (fonts)
5. Color (s)
6. Style
7. Overall feeling of your “look”
8. Logo or icon