Why Branding Makes You A Better Lover.
Brand talk is very much a buzz word right now and is like the morning dew; once you have a grasp on it, the next thing you know, it's gone. What does it mean? How do you know what your brand should be? I get it. You kinda feel like a vampire commissioned to paint a sunset.
I'm here to help you understand everything you need to know about building a brand that is rock solid and take all the ethereal bullshit out of it. Also, I'll cover why it makes you a better lover.
First, you will want to figure out some core values for you or the business you have created. NOTE: Artists, you have a fragile line between you and your art, and that's 100% OK. You just need to be intentional with your brand boundaries, which we will talk about later. OK, back to the regularly scheduled programming.
For Sasquatch Studio, I created my brand based on the following core values: Honesty, Kindness, Generosity, Discipline, and Humor. The reason I picked them is a whole nother blog post, but let's just say for the sake of brevity that all of these matter to me, Sasquatch, at a profound level. These values are my guiding light. Every interaction, every email, every client I work with, these values are forefront in my mind. When someone yells at me, and I want to yell back. I remember kindness and generosity. When I have a deadline and don't know how I'm going to get it done in time, I remember discipline and honesty.
You can literally pick any word that you want as one of your core values as long as it means something to you, that's all that matters. To help prime the pump, here a few words I cooked up for you:
ACCEPTANCE ACHIEVEMENT ADVENTURE ALTRUISTIC AMBITION ATTENTIVE AUTHENTICITY AUTHORITY AUTONOMY BALANCE BEAUTY BOLDNESS BRAVERY BRILLIANCE CALM CARING CLEANLINESS CHALLENGE CITIZENSHIP COMMUNITY COMPASSION COMPETENCY CONTRIBUTION CREATIVITY CURIOSITY DETERMINATION FAIRNESS FAITH FAME FREEDOM FRIENDSHIPS FUN GROWTH HAPPINESS HONESTY HUMILITY HUMOR IMAGINATION IMPROVEMENT INDEPENDENCE INDIVIDUALITY INFLUENCE INNER HARMONY INNOVATION INSPIRATIONAL INTELLIGENCE JOY JUSTICE KINDNESS KNOWLEDGE LEADERSHIP LEARNING LOVE LOYALTY MASTERY MEANINGFUL MINDFUL MOTIVATED NEATNESS NURTURING OBEDIENCE OPENNESS OPTIMISM PARTNERSHIP PASSION PEACE PLEASURE POISE POPULARITY PROSPERITY PURPOSE QUALITY QUIETNESS RECOGNITION RELIGION REPUTATION RESILIENT RESPECT RESPONSIBILITY SECURITY SELF-RESPECT SENSITIVITY SERENITY SERVICE SPIRITUALITY STABILITY SUCCESS STATUS THOUGHTFUL TIMELINESS TOLERANCE TRANSPARENCY TRUSTWORTHINESS WEALTH WISDOM WONDER WORTH
Now that you have figured out your core values, you can move on to other things your brand needs. Our next stop, colors. This is a very subjective one, but at the same time, I think we can all agree if you picked hatred and loathing as a core value, you're probably not going to pick bubble gum pink as one of your colors. PROBABLY. I'd suggest just closing your eyes, saying some of the words, and see if you come up with a color. Or you can just go to a home depot or lowes and see which colors on their giant color wall resonate with you. No one said this didn't need to be fun. Just take a day and enjoy the process. The clarity you'll get from this exercise will be worth its weight in paint or gold or some shit by the time you're done.
OK. The colors are done. Now what? Now we get into logo creation. Unless you are a graphic designer or know your way around illustrator/canva really well, just hire someone and create a badass Pinterest board for them to work off of. This board will have your colors and some inspiration that they can draw from. It'll pay off for you not to get frustrated and get something you're not going to endlessly wonder if it's good enough.
BOOM. Core values. BOOM. Colors. BOOM. Logo.
Now it's the time to decide on some finer details like what platforms online will you mainly use. Are you a Snapchat and TikTok brand or a Facebook and LinkedIn kinda brand. More importantly, how are you going to come across on those platforms, and where are the majority of your people? This all goes back to your core values. Before you write anything, look at your core values for the first month and then create from that framework. It'll take a few weeks or months, but after a while, you'll start to settle into the style of the brand you created, and you will be off to the races.
A brand is about trust first and foremost. That's why you put effort into it. You can't expect Peggy Sue to trust your word when you've literally taken no time to think about the words you are saying to her. The return of this exercise will pay off in dividends before you know it.
BUT WHY DOES IT MAKE YOU A BETTER LOVER?
Confidence and empathy. That's why. You have put in hours of preparation to clarify how you want people to see your brand. That takes dedication and understanding of who you're pursuing. You see how this correlates? A good lover AND brand listens with care, is confident, passionate about what they do, and know why they are there. It's that simple.
We should talk about audience next. That a very key step in branding but I’ll cover that another time.