If your current branding doesn’t position you as the go-to expert and have your ideal clients knocking down the door to work with you, it’s time to take a step back, and dig a little deeper.
“Brand is the promise, the big idea, the expectations that reside in each customer’s mind about a product, service or company. Branding is about making an emotional connection”
Alina Wheeler
As Alina Wheeler tells us, a brand is so much more than your logo and the visuals that first attract your audience’s attention. It’s the vision, the value you deliver and the whole experience of engaging and working with you from start to finish. By getting clear on your vision, values and voice you can cultivate an emotional connection with your audience, sharing your story and resonating with them on a deeper level, turning them into loyal clients.
Think about any brands you follow or that stand out to you, chances are they share your values, you feel aligned with them in some way and you feel like they really speak directly to you.
This doesn’t happen randomly or by accident, you can bet that those brands have done their homework and dug deep to create that connection.
How can you create that connection with your audience? The four V´s are a great place to start.
Vision
Are you clear on your Why? Why you are motivated to show up and serve your clients? Who are these clients and what are their pain points? What impact do you want to have for them? What’s your long term vision for your business, what are your goals?
You might wonder why we need to start with this bigger “why”. It’s important to be clear on your vision for the brand and what the long term goals are. This will guide you as you grow, making sure that all your decisions align to move you in the right direction.
Knowing who your clients are and their pain points will help you understand how best to serve them, and to communicate the value you deliver, speaking to the way they want to feel when they get the results you can help them achieve.
Your answers will also define your mission, how you’re going to serve your clients, both the offers themselves and the process of delivering them.
Knowing your “why” can be really powerful in setting you apart from the competition. Chances are you aren’t the only one offering the kind of services you provide, but how you offer them and why is what will help you stand out.
Values
There is a saying that “like attracts like”, and that’s certainly true with your core values. What values are important to you, what do you live by?
Perhaps you are adventurous, respectful, brave, positive, disciplined… when you incorporate those values in the way you serve your clients and your communication with your audience, it makes it easier for people who share those values to find and work with you.
This also naturally helps to filter out those potential clients who won’t be such a good fit, who don’t share your values.
Voice
Your voice is how you communicate both in writing and verbally with your clients, across all touch points. It´s your tone, your language, and it can be really powerful and liberating once you have defined it, or in the case of most service providers, strengthened it.
What do we mean by that? As a service provider, you are the heart of your brand. Your values, your vision, and your voice. If you are naturally funny be that, instead of trying to be more serious. If you are naturally very positive let that shine through your words. Being you, in your authentic voice, will communicate your values and personality in a really natural way, and give people a feel for the experience of working with you.
Visuals
These are last on the list for a reason. Without all of the above they can end up being beautiful but ineffective. Once you are clear on your vision, your values and your voice, you can use your visuals to support your messaging and really target your ideal clients in a way that will resonate with them.
Often your logo is the first thing that springs to mind when you think of brand visuals, but there are more elements to consider.
Colours convey emotions and provoke different feelings, using colour psychology will help you choose a palette that will be as unique as you are, subtly communicating your brand personality.
Just as with colours, there is also a psychology of fonts and choosing the right ones will affect your audience’s perception of your business.
Sans Serif fonts are clear and easy to understand, they are generally considered to be contemporary, sleek and clean, sometimes elegant.
Serif fonts are more traditional, serious, practical, corporate and formal.
Slab serif fonts are thicker than your regular Serif fonts and are often considered more masculine and assertive, strong and also more modern.
Script fonts can range from causal handwritten fonts to formal calligraphic scripts. They are often used as a third font option to compliment the main two, having a human, soft quality.
Display fonts are more diverse and often reminiscent of a certain time period or genre.
Finally imagery and graphics also need to be aligned with your brand personality. If you have a more relaxed, approachable feel to your brand, you won’t want to use very serious corporate style images. We include an image mood board in your brand strategy guide, to help direct future photo shoots or designers choosing stock images on your behalf, to keep consistency in your visual communication.
Action steps
So what now? We’ve created a handy workbook to guide you through the process of defining your vision, values and voice. Download it below and work through the steps.
Ready to take it a step further? Give us 30 minutes of your time and we’ll dig deep into your goals, what’s keeping you stuck right now and how we can help to unstick you!
