It’s very fitting that September is International Strategic Thinking Month. The year has gone fast, and it feels like the new one is creeping up quickly. At least that’s what the holiday section at Costco is telling us.
Many of you are now thinking about what the next year will bring; what you want more of, what you never want to do again, and what you want your business to look like after ringing in the New Year. We LOVE this conversation at Office of Awesome, and it’s the first thing we talk about with new clients.
If there is a new direction for your business, then your brand can be a POWERFUL tool.
We like to talk about WORKING BRANDS – not in the sense that they are effective, but that they have a J-O-B to do in your business.
A Working Brand:
- Inspires passion around the work
- Incites action in marketing
- Invigorates the business to move into the future
We’re not in logo-land anymore! Brands now have the ability to lead with vision, spark conversation, and get potential clients really excited about where you’re going. Doesn’t that sound awesome?
Sure, but what do I do to create an awesome brand?
Here’s our insider tips on how to think strategically about your brand:
1. Look really closely at what’s WORKING. The clients that you love, the products you love delivering, and the work that give you the most satisfaction AND pays the bills. Yep, you have to have your eye on the money or else you are building a hobby.
2. Take what’s really working and discard the rest. We’ll call it the foundation. Now let’s explore:
○ What work will you do now and in the future?
This is your brand entry point, it’s introduction to the world of potential clients.
○ What conversations are important to you?
This is your content strategy, focused solely on the level of conversation your ideal client want to have.
○ What’s the unique value you bring?
These are your campaigns, highlighting the things your ideal client needs to hear so that buying from you is the natural choice.
3. Have that future business in mind? BRAND THAT. Brands are the megaphones of the business, what does yours need to say now?
○ What work will you do now and in the future?
This is your brand entry point, it’s introduction to the world of potential clients.
○ What conversations are important to you?
This is your content strategy, focused solely on the level of conversation your ideal client wants to have.
○ What’s the unique value you bring?
These are your campaigns, highlighting the things your ideal client needs to hear so that buying from you is the natural choice.
As you can see, your brand is an important tool when it comes to marketing and sales. When it’s WORKING, it can help you determine which potential clients are a good fit, which opportunities are worth going after, and more importantly steer the direction of your business to exciting new places that you can’t wait go. When YOU get excited about your brand, others will too.
Leah Prehn is a Co-Founder of the Office of Awesome, a unique branding agency that brings the experience of a large agency to small and medium-sized businesses. Working from the foundation of their signature Brand Architecture, the Office of Awesome offers traditional marketing support through a collective of awesomely talented people.
If you want to hear more from Leah, and the Office of Awesome, check out their podcast, “The Working Brand Podcast”, available on iTunes and Stitcher.
Connect with Leah on Twitter @OfcOfAwesome
Photos from Adobe Stock
