Developing My Brand
Developing My Brand – My Personal Brand #8. So last evening, I went live on Facebook to talk about what’s happening with my brand and my agency. Since I got into some of my thoughts about brand-building, I know it would be good to share here too. Especially when I write the article, then record the video; my thoughts tend to be more coherent.
Branding = Distribution
As a result of my ramblings in my live-stream, I’m revisiting those thoughts again today. Because I have noticed that when I write the article first, my videos seem to be much more concise. At least to me, anyway and I am able to create both much faster.
So what is a brand?
Brand is simply just a name. It can your name, the name of your business or the name of a product, a service or even an experience. For example, if someone mentions Coke, you probably know exactly what someone is talking about. Coke-A-Cola the company, Coke-A-Cola the product.
I actually wrote a lengthy article (no video) about Brand Building 101 back in 2015. But when we transitioned to the new company name, that article was archived, at least for now. However, it will be re-published again as part of a brand development product in 2020.
Anyway, a brand is simply another term for what is essentially fame. And fame is basically another way of saying name-recognition. In other words, how well people know your name. So your brand is only as good as the number of people that know your name, business, etc.
Your brand is your distribution
Distribution is just another term to describe the number of people in your audience. For example, if 100 people know you and your business, your distribution is 100 people strong. But if you want to become a household name around the world, a distribution of only 100 people isn’t much.
Growing distribution for my agency is something that I wrestle with, in my mind daily. I’m constantly thinking about ways I can get in front of new audiences while adding to the one I already have. So I have come to a few conclusions about developing my distribution.
- Branding takes distribution and distribution takes money to build. It doesn’t have to be your money, but someone is always paying for it.
- Building your brand takes work. You have to know who you are looking for; what publications do they read, what TV shows do they watch, what podcasts do they listen to, and so on.
- Your only limitation is the extent of your imagination. Get creative and figure out how you can get in front of more people. Do you need to write a book? Who do you need to be seen with? What stages do you need to be presenting on?
