The following is a guest post by designer + blogger, Kory Woodard. Kory did my branding for The Haute Notes, creating my logos and brand board, which I absolutely adore. Be sure to check out her site for tips on her blog and all of her design services!
When it comes to branding, there’s one important thing you should know: crafting your brand is so much more than just opening Photoshop or Illustrator and making a logo with your favorite fonts and colors. Most people only look at the design side of things; however, there’s so much more to consider. In fact, if you hire a branding expert to help you out, chances are they’re going to ask you to answer questions about your brand that you may have never even considered.
Today, I’m going to share one popular question that you can begin thinking about in regards to your brand to help you gain more clarity and define your brand a little bit more than just through the design basics.
What is my why?
A simple, but layered question to get started. Why do you do what you do? Why do you blog? The trick to this question is that regardless of what your answer is the first time, you can almost always dig deeper to find a more meaningful reason to why you do what you do. Maybe your answer to why you blog is something like, “I blog to have a creative outlet,” or maybe it’s something like, “I blog to find and create inspiration for my creative business.” That’s good, but it’s only the first layer. Why do you need a creative outlet? Is it because you have a lack of creativity in your job? Maybe it helps you cope with personal things? The further you can go with question, the better the answer you’ll find.
Need an example? Well, I run my own creative business. Why? Well, I run it and work for myself because I like being able to define when and how I work. Why? Well, coming from a middle-class home, I saw my parents struggle within their jobs as I grew up. They hated the work they did, and they were often forced to work the way they did in a sense that they had to have money to be able to afford things we needed.
How does that answer affect my business?
Well, when I started my business I was originally only doing blog designs for fellow bloggers. However, since I’ve grown my business, I’ve been able to help passionate women brand their blogs or businesses to help them stand out more in their niche, thus making more money, thus being able to take the leap from a full-time job into self-employment where they create the standards that they work under.
See what I did there? Although I answered this question for my business, it can be applied just the same way to a blog!
For example, why do I blog? Well, I blog to help provide tips and advice that may not already be out there. Why? Well, because in my journey of blogging and starting my business, I wasn’t able to find free or affordable resources I needed to help grow my blog or business.
How does that answer affect my blog?
Well, knowing that I want to offer free and affordable resources to people who want to follow my path, has allowed me to narrow in my niche to fellow bloggers (and soon-to-be bloggers) and business owners. Narrowing in my niche like this has given me countless ideas of posts and resources that I could create to help my readers travel down a path I already have experience with.
When answering the WHY question, it’s all about not being afraid to look a little deeper as to the real reason you do what you do or why you do it in that way. Also, when you’re answering this question, to get the most out of it, you have to give your answer. You won’t gain anything by looking to see what someone else might have said. For this reason, I recommend that you sit down to answer this and try to refrain from going to your favorite brand’s sites and reading their About pages or other related content. By finding your answer to this question, you’re creating an authentic brand for yourself, your blog, and/or your business.
If you need help diving into your WHY and crafting an authentic brand for your blog, my newest ebook, Craft Your Brand is the guide for you! You can pre-order it here for $29!