Be Yourself
Dear Erin,
The branding study I was telling you about was well-received when we presented it this week. We had full buy-in from the team that branding is not just a logo, a color palette or a few Instagram posts, but a reflection of culture and who your business is. As a result, everyone was pretty engaged and we had a great conversation.
Great news: I think we all are in agreement about who we are. Sounds simple, right? Hah - it’s not always the case.
Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll dribble out some of the constructs we used in our brand work, which I think will help you think about your own brand and how to intentionally create your messaging strategy. But it all boils down to one thing:
Be yourself.
One of the most important things I’ve learned is that you not only cannot be all things to all people - you don’t have to be. You doing you - that’s enough to appeal to more people than you ever thought you’d reach. Figure out who you are and then find your peeps. Define your authentic business model and then find the customers who are looking for just that. They are out there. Just this weekend I sent you that link to a local dance troupe doing a Star Wars-themed burlesque show. Think that’s too niche? Too out there? They’re killing it! And they are not trying to be anything other than what they are.
The core of branding is you; getting in touch with who you are, what you stand for and what problem you are trying to solve. That’s the work; that’s the foundation of everything else. Replace “you” with “your business.” (I use “you” and “your business” interchangeably; since you are a one-person show right now, it’s the same. Later, your business may take on a slightly different persona than yourself.) What is it? What does it stand for? What gap is it filling (aka what customer problem is it trying to solve)? You and I started working on this before the holidays and I know you have a pretty good sense of it. Dig out those notes and journal some more. Here are a few prompts to consider:
What are your 2-5 core values? If you’ve not worked on this before, I’d highly recommend hopping over to brenebrown.com and working through her values identification exercise.
What problem are you trying to solve?
Who are you trying to solve it for? (Who is your ideal customer? Ideal donor? Ideal dancer? Ideal audience member?)
How would you describe yourself? How would the people you’ve worked with describe you? Are the answers the same?
Close your eyes and imagine yourself completely in the flow. Happy, productive, making something. Now ask yourself: what are you doing? Where are you? Describe what you see.
Dad’s favorite question when he interviews medical students: “Who is your authentic self?”
I’ve been pretty attuned to this question of authenticity while Justin and I were working on brand these past few months. But I’ll tell you: once you start looking, you’ll realize it’s everywhere. Every discipline I explore suggests that your authentic self will lead you to your highest and best path. The leadership work I do starts with knowing yourself. Master Class sessions I’ve watched from none other than Steve Martin and Tan France tell you to lean into who you already are if you want to get this right. In our fundraising of late we are emphasizing who we are to a fault, working not just to position ourselves in our sector relative to competitors, but also to assure our donors that we are laser-focused on the mission they chose to support by giving to us. “Mission creep” (adding programs or position statements that speak to issues behind what you are set up to do) not only dilutes your message and confuses those you serve, but it can cause some problems with those who gave you money for a very specific cause.
Bonus to this self-reflection: once you make peace with who you are and what you are meant to do, and leave out trying to be something you aren’t, you find that the path to excellence is clear. Work feels natural. Everything starts to fall into place. You can charge what you are worth because you are speaking to the people who share your vision and are willing to pay to be a part of it.
More to come on this one, for sure.
Love, Mom
