What makes you, your message and product unique?
If you’re pausing to think about it, you might have your answer: you either don't have a brand story or don't know it yet. Either way, in this year of pandemic isolation and narrowed connections, you are what you do, what you make and your social media persona. You need to understand what defines you to others - family, colleagues, strangers, clients, customers, and friends you haven't met yet.
As a writer, creative strategist and artist, I've helped clients understand who they are to their customers, the media, and competitors in their market space. I have performed this role in a Big Three automobile manufacturer's boardroom in Detroit, at advertising agencies in the U.S., Australia, and the U.K., in meetings with the World Wildlife Fund, at national banks, airlines, Hollywood motion picture studios, the Vatican and high-profile causes including the United States Olympic Organizing Committee and the victorious Stars & Stripes America's Cup Challenge. We all have seen others passively take a back seat and let the market drive their brand. There have been times when we stepped back and went along with the flow. It happens. Yet it shouldn’t. If we know our goal, we should keep our eye on the next objective and hold to our course. Abdication of our role, whatever it is, is a failure to author our life, business, and relationships. If we're not guiding our image and reputation, inevitably someone else is. That is a problem. It is essential, therefore, that every individual master their brand.
Regardless of your personal or professional goal, developing your brand story supercharges your ability to envision, connect, and succeed. Artists invest years developing skills that require practice, commitment, and significant sacrifice. As they evolve, they develop expertise that makes artistic excellence possible. This process can be all-consuming and leave little time or tolerance for distraction. Communicating oneself and your work to others can seem impossibly challenging. As a result, many artists avoid sharing themselves and their work to collectors.
An artist's brand makes it possible to engage, educate, and establish relationships with buyers. Some artists react negatively to the word 'brand' because they feel it is too corporate, even crass when all it is is a word to describe an artist's vision, work process, personality, achievements, and most importantly, their uniqueness. Sometimes, it helps to replace a challenging or misunderstood word with another, less freighted word.
How about 'reputation?' Your brand introduces, characterizes, and sets expectations. Your reputation does the same. It also suggests standing, position, professional status, station, even rank.
So, what is your brand exactly?
Your brand can surface when you confront a problem, overcome obstacles, and become associated with your outcome's distinctive qualities.
The Problem
The problem can be anything from trivial to traumatic. It is something that someone decides needs to be addressed or wants others to know about them. A high school athlete who chooses to be a physicist needs to persuade others that s/he is serious about pursuing such a challenging career and prepare for years of extensive postgraduate study. An accountant has a simple way to file taxes that any individual can learn and use for themselves. A dockworker wants to become a shipowner. A shy introvert wants to help other shy introverts understand their Nature and help free them to pursue their rightful places in society and achieve their goals.
The Stakes
The stakes can be small or large. We each view the stakes of any problem in a highly individualistic way. Yet, we recognize that every story involves stakes, and our experience teaches us that the greater the importance of the outcome, the higher the stakes.
The stakes for the athlete are high. S/he may lose friends who relate to her/him as an athlete, but not as a physics nerd. S/he may incur extreme student loan debt for extensive postgraduate studies and then fail as a physicist.
The accountant's idea of a more straightforward way to file taxes may put him out of business.
The dockworker may lose friends, family, and the support of his union.
The shy introvert may expose himself to bullies and unwanted attention.
The Arc That Leads to Your Brand Story
It's your story, it's what defines you to friends, colleagues and clients you haven’t met yet. If you're an influencer, it's because you identified something that you thought could be better, a solution to a problem. You approached it from your distinct perspective and shared what you learned. Others noted what you accomplished and tried it themselves. When it worked for them, you suddenly became a 'can-do' brand.
“Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.”
Maybe you're drawn to the particular color value of conifer tree needles on the Maine coast at sunset in August when the sunlight ignites branches in brilliant greens and golds. You've been painting with pastels for years and have developed a way to achieve the specific hue, value, and chroma of weathered verdant green that haunts your coastal life memories. You've been at it for so long that you've forgotten exactly how you did it. Your work touches the sensibilities of a fan who buys your painting, then another and another. Before you know it, you're the sunset green brand. It's who you are. You innovated a process for representing the emotional truth of one of Nature's mysteries.
Perhaps you are a photographer obsessed with capturing the authentic aesthetic experiences at the edge of the sea, where the land melts into fathomless depths, where sailors walk on water (aboard wooden vessels powered by wind in canvas). You've felt the exhilaration of sailing close to the wind, the lift when a minor adjustment of the helm thrusts your boat forward and becomes what sailors refer to as airborne. Along the way, you've learned about the science of optics, climate, weather, geology, marine geology, human color perception, sunlight refraction in air, and water at various times of day through the seasons. You've internalized understanding of physics, naval architecture, hydrodynamics, tide tables, and shipping news while adapting to transformative changes in the art, craft, and image-making technology. All of this in your pursuit of a simple image; just a slice of the real you, something elemental, minimal, and authentic. More straightforward, yet not at all simple. When you get the right combination of elements at the right time, someone notices, and a brand is born.
Tech giants have gathered so much information about each of us that they can predict our thoughts and actions years into the future. But they're human. They can make mistakes and might misrepresent you. Millions of smaller marketing entities leverage big data to influence your thoughts, beliefs, and actions and the attitudes of your clients. There is that. And then there is you - overwhelming, right?
PROBLEM: You lack the brand story that helps you to navigate to your goals.
STAKES: Without self-knowledge or your vision, you are vulnerable to neglect, failure, or worse. If you can't see what your idea looks like in a year or two, no one else will see it.
SOLUTION: Identify your distinct value and believe in your brand. Tell your authentic story.
Are you still daunted? Sure, me too. People are busy, and they don't have time to learn about your brand.
Stop there; don't make excuses for them or yourself. Decide what you want and share your enthusiasm. By doing so, you launch your brand. You may be surprised. They may ask for your story. That's a start and an excellent way to build a relationship.
You have a role in defining who you are. A little self-knowledge can go a long way in helping you successfully interact with friends, neighbors, bosses, prospective employers, customers, community, and government. Help yourself to become the best version of you. Control your personal and professional brand story. As you do, you will help others understand you better. In turn, they will become your partners in an ever-widening network of authenticity, accomplishment, and mutual respect.
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Mark is an Emmy, Andy and Hermes award-winning strategic communications specialist who creates branding, positioning, advertising, taglines, commercials, videos, docs, books — in a word, marketing — that is beautiful, engaging, and smart.
Mark's insights have helped global brands Sony, Columbia Tristar Pictures, World Wildlife Fund, Chevrolet, and the NFL, among others, make winning multi-million dollar decisions. That's why the United States Olympic Organizing Committee turned to Mark to write the successful proposal and positioning for its first all-weather training facility. And Stars & Stripes America's Cup Challenge asked Mark to help them develop its brand story and identity for its historic effort to return the America's Cup to the United States, and then document the four-year journey to victory.
