Building A Brand: For Fun, or Fans?

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Do you want to build your brand just for fun, or would you rather choose to make a difference in the world?

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Most of the time, brands fail either because they don't have a clear vision, or they are after short-term successes like "make big money in one day" kind of things.

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However, without a purpose statement—a clear WHY, it's impossible to be distinctive in the market and have an audience for sales in the long run.

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So, first of all, you need to know your audience: Who is your brand going to interact with? Who will it help? How will it affect people's lives?

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We buy products, or services from the brands we feel positive about or we like, because they do one thing really well: solve problems for us.

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All the successful brands have got to this point by knowing their target audience deeply. If and only if you are clear about who it is you want to help, can you help them. Otherwise, your brand will be built just for fun, and be gone in the near future.

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At the beginning of each of our Brand Strategy Workshops, I start by asking the same question to the entrepreneurs:

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"Why did you start this business?"

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At first, 99% of them say the same thing: "To make money."

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Alright. That's crystal clear. That's the super-obvious reason behind all for-profit organizations. That's Business 101.

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We all want to make money. I can't disagree.

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But... Is that the only the motivation behind your business? Really?

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I keep asking questions: "How much money do you expect to make in the first year of business?"

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At this point, the dialogue gets hot. People tend to want to keep their revenue goals secret. "OK, that's fine, let's continue on with examples," I suggest.

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Let's assume that you want to make 500,000 EUR in the first year. Sounds good?

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What if, in a completely hypothetical world, I gave you 1,000,000 EUR which is actually your goal for two year, would you just up and quit what you have started?

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Things get even hotter now.

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Because they realize that they want something bigger than money. They want to have an impact.

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A difference is what they actually seek.

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A difference in their audience's lives or businesses. They want to share their expertise perhaps, or they want to offer an amazingly innovative product. They want to help people. Solve a problem for them, so that they can feel fulfilled by this business.

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Money can't be the only motivation behind things. A greater purpose will drive a business, and money is only a natural outcome of building a successful brand.

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To make that difference, you gotta know your audience very well.

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You need to analyze them deeply, and understand their pain points.

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Empathy: This is the only secret to helping them.

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Make your audience's life easier, eliminate their pain points, offer a better world with your product or service.

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Only with this mindset, you can create a brand not for fun, but for "fans."

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As Melinda Livsey, the inspiring and lovely brand strategist, always emphasizes:

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Find out your ideal clients, your fans, and make it all about them.

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A good brand generates strong emotional bonds with its audience. It makes a "difference" to them. A lovemark.

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Make that difference.

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Be that lovemark.

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Imagery:

Liam Gant, pexels.com

Elevate, pexels.com

Luis Quintero, pexels.com

Wendy Wei, pexels.com