3 Essential Steps to Creating a Stand-Out Brand

Creating a great brand is like a planting a flower. You need to start with the basic ingredients. Good soil and proper sunshine. You would not plant seeds in sand. You would not plant a sunflower in a basement. Same thing with a brand. You need to start your brand with quality, well-chosen ingredients.

What are the 3 essential steps to creating a great brand?

1. The Terra Firma Foundation: Your promise, your story, your target market, your reputation.

2. The Stem: Your products and services.

3. The Flower: Your image, logo, ads, social media, website, etc.

#1: The Terra Firma Foundation.

• Your promise

• Your mission

• Your story

• Your target market

• Your reputation

The foundation of your brand is your promise to your customers. It is your story. It is why you do what you do. It is your mission. It is finding your target audience. Finding the foundation of your brand means you have to really think about who you are. Who do you work with best? Who inspires you? Author Michael Port in Book Yourself Solid calls choosing your target market “The Red Velvet Rope Policy.” What that means is choosing a target market that motivates you and matches your skills and personality. “The Red Velvet Rope Policy” will keep out the clients that drain your skills and energy. Clients that siphon off your spirit and energy prevent you from doing a great job. Finding clients that you enjoy and motivate you will inspire you to do great work. And, when you do great work, you will get more work!

#2: The Stem.

• Your products & services

Your service or product must help your target audience solve a problem. The secret to serving your potential clients is knowing what they want and helping them get what they want. It is really important to concentrate on what your clients need and why they need it. For example, I am a graphic designer, and I have a potential client that needs a new logo. Well, I can go on and on about how I am a creative designer and how I will design an attractive logo for his/business. But, really, how does that help my potential client. What my potential client needs to hear from me is how that new logo I design will help him stand out and communicate an appropriate message to his audience. And, ultimately bring him more clients and more business.

#3: The Flower.

• Your logo

• Your website

• Your ads

• Your social media presence

• Your marketing materials

Your brand will bloom when you take proper care to create your visual identity. The “flower” gets all the attention. The “flower” is your great, stand-out logo, it is your overall visual allure. The “flower” part of your brand is what makes you stand-out in a crowd. The “flower” is instantly recognizable. It is remarkable. Your logo, social media presence, ads, marketing materials, etc. are the crown of your brand that attracts customers. The “flower” also holds the “seeds” to your brand. The seeds grow your business and attract more attention. The more you attract attention the more clients and customers will learn about who you are and what you do.

Your brand is a living organism – it is the life cycle of your company.

Your brand is the sum of your company’s identity. The truth is that clients don’t only buy products & services. They buy your promise, reputation & how your brand makes them feel.