Branding: The Art of Standing Out and Succeeding

These days, it’s getting increasingly difficult for a company to stand out with its products or services. Brand image corresponds to  clients’ perception of the company. Having a strong, positive brand image can help a company distinguish itself from its competitors, attract new clients and retain existing ones!

3 reasons to have a strong brand image:

1. Develop brand awareness: A company with a strong brand image will have more recognition than one without. 
   
   
2. Create trust: A company with a defined brand image gives clients the perception that it’s well established. This can inspire trust in potential clients, who will be more likely to try the service, as well as potential collaborators, who will see the added value of a partnership.
   
   
3. Create a sense of belonging: As you may have heard, today’s clients buy a brand, not a product or service. We have a relationship with our favourite brands, and often share the same values. The more people recognize themselves in the image you wish to project, the more loyal they will be as clients.

Just like a company, an individual can work on their brand image. This is called personal branding; promoting who you are as an individual. For the self-employed and influencers on social media, developing a strong personal brand is crucial. 

What is personal branding?

Personal branding is the strategy of creating a positive and memorable perception with your target audience. It’s a summary of your life, used to connect with your followers while promoting your services.

How do you create your own personal brand?

Assess the Current State of Your Personal Brand

Do some online research or ask your clients to choose 3 words that best describe your brand to find out what people are saying about you. This will give you an idea of the changes you’ll need to make to achieve the image you want to project.

Set Your Goals

Think about why you want to be known and what you need to do to establish a clear and attractive personal brand. 

Identify Your Target Audience

Knowing who your target audience is will make it easier to create compelling content for them. Analyze who’s looking for your services and who’s following you on social media! If you have a professional account on Instagram, you can access these statistics as well as other highly relevant information. For example, in Accounts Reached on Instagram, you have access to data on your audience such as the main cities, countries, age groups and gender of your audience.

Tell Your Story

Are you a massage therapist? What makes you different from other professionals like you? Share your values and your company’s purpose. This will help you connect with your target audience! The Highlights Instagram feature is great for this kind of content. Create a Highlight that tells your journey and how you got where you are today.

Define Your Positioning

This is crucial before moving on to the next steps, as it will have a major influence on your brand image. To do this, you simply need to identify your service and value proposition. Your unique value proposition sets you apart from the competition, so it's important to develop and integrate it into your communications. 

For example, if you're a massage therapist specializing in sports massages, your positioning might look something like this: I offer  massage therapy services specializing in muscle recovery and optimal performance. 

Choose Colours and Fonts that Reflect Your Image 

As well as being aesthetically pleasing, the colours you choose can convey the emotions you wish to communicate and bring coherence to your brand. The important thing is to choose colours that suit you and differentiate you from your competitors. Colour psychology isn't an exact science, but it can still be useful!

Here are a few examples of colours and their combinations:

• Red

Red represents passion, anger, love, power and more. It evokes impulsiveness, which is why discounts are often associated with this colour. It's a highly visible colour, which also explains why red is used for "Stop" signs. 

• Orange

Orange is the colour of pride, communication and ambition. It's associated with creativity and gives an impression of warmth. It's a colour often used in the world of sports for its dynamism.

• Yellow

Yellow is often used to evoke joyful feelings. It's a great colour for attracting attention. 

• Green

Green represents freshness, safety and nature. It is often used for everything related to health and well-being. Green is also associated with money and finance, as it’s the colour of dollar bills in the United States.

• Blue

Blue is a cool colour. It can be used to promote services related to cleanliness and technology.

• Purple

Purple is often associated with religion, magic and ambition. It’s a very popular colour with young people.

• Black

Black is a colour used to represent death, mystery, strength and authority. It is also used to evoke elegance and prestige.

• White

This colour represents peace, elegance, delicacy, cleanliness and innocence. It is often associated with hospitals and can be used to communicate simplicity.

For the font, we suggest you choose one that best matches the image you want to communicate. DaFont is a good site for finding a font based on a specific theme.

Create Your Logo

Your logo must be unique, identifiable and represent you. It’s important to think about all the places your logo will appear: on your website, as a profile photo on your socials, on advertising and more. For example, if your logo is just text, it will be hard to read in a profile photo. That's why you should create a square version of your logo.

Tips for developing your personal brand:

• Be Yourself

The goal is not to please everyone. Be yourself and be authentic,if you’re not it will show.

• Every Experience Counts

Do you have a passion for the outdoors and go on hikes on weekends? Share it on your socials! These elements create your added value. By sharing parts of your personal day to day other than your professional life on social media, you’ll be able to create a stronger, more personal relationship with your subscribers, which will create loyalty. 

• Take Your Time

Quality is more important than quantity! Take some time to take care of your social media posts, as they reflect the image you want to project to your followers.

Why is personal branding important?

Personal branding is important for a professional like you because it will enhance credibility, facilitate business opportunities, help develop your professional network, and offer protection in times of crisis or controversy. Indeed, if you’ve already established a good reputation and built trusted relationships, people are more likely to give you the benefit of the doubt and support you in difficult times. With 74% of consumers citing word-of-mouth as a major influence on their purchasing decisions, it’s clear that nurturing genuine, trusted relationships are key to a company’s successful growth.