#31: Brand Like Branson - Entrepreneur Secrets Revealed
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Branding! The One Thing You Need to Elevate Your Business
Have you ever found yourself standing at the edge of a high dive, toes curled over the precipice, heart pounding? There's that moment, isn't there? The one where you take a deep breath, and with a blend of fear and excitement, you leap into the unknown.
That's entrepreneurship, isn't it?
A series of high dives. And, just like that pivotal jump, the thrill of what lies beneath is worth every heartbeat.
In this episode, I want to share that thrill with you, the kind of rush that only comes when you find the missing piece of the puzzle - the one element that can propel your business into the stratosphere.
Drumroll, please... It's the launch of Season 2 of the Brilliant Business Beautiful Life Podcast!
To open the season, we're kicking off with what some of the brightest minds in entrepreneurship say is the ONE THING every business owner needs to focus on to have success in 2024.
Imagine having clients lining up, eager to work with you, not just because of what you sell but because of the magnetic pull of your business.
Last year I travelled down to Sydney to learn directly from some amazing business people including Sir Richard Branson and the spirited Jane Lu (founder of Showpo and the Lazy CEO Podcast) what that ONE THING is.
BRANDING!
If you’re thinking logo, colours and fonts – think again. It’s so much BIGGER than that!
So, listen in to Episode 31 ‘Brand Like Branson: Entrepreneur Secrets Revealed’ and learn the importance of leveraging the power of BRANDING to transform your business.
Don't leave your business to chance.
This episode could very well be the catalyst for your next quantum leap.
(full transcription below)
Main Points
03:14 - Beyond Logos: Building a Brand that Grows and Prospers
05:52 - Personal vs Business Branding: Leveraging Your Identity for Growth
07:07 - The Long Game: Crafting a Business Brand That Outlives You
09:14 - Authenticity in Branding: Aligning Vision and Personality
10:14 - The Value of Experience: Elevating Client Perception and Worth
11:26 - Recession-Proofing Through Branding
13:20 - Infusing Joy and Passion into Your Brand's DNA
14:23 - The Holistic Brand
17:30 - How Strong is Your Brand and How to Supercharge It
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Thank you so much for being here! I look forward to seeing you for the next episode.
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The Brilliant Business Beautiful Life Podcast is dedicated to you - because you deserve the business – and life -
of your dreams!
PS. Download the Brilliant Business Beautiful Life Playbook and start designing the business and life you deserve today!
LISTEN + SUBSCRIBE ON APPLE PODCASTS + SPOTIFY
Hi, I’m Samantha Bell
I’m all about helping you build the business – and life – you’ve always wanted.
Listen in for the simple, actionable strategies, mindset shifts, and practices you need to make your business thrive. Plus, a healthy dose of self-care, health, and wellness so you can live the life you absolutely adore while building your beautiful business.
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Transcription
00:04
Welcome to the Brilliant Business, Beautiful Life podcast, where we share simple, actionable strategies plus the mindset and wellness practices you need to build the business and life you love. Head to 16thavecreative.com/playbook and download your free guide to design the business and life you deserve. Today I'm your host, Samantha Bell, and this is the Brilliant Business, Beautiful Life podcast. Are you ready for the business and life of your dreams? Let's get started. Hello, and welcome back to the Brilliant Business, Beautiful Life podcast. This is the start of our second season, and I can't believe it. Back in July 2023, I started the podcast, and we've got 30 episodes already, and this year is gearing up to be even better than last, and I am so excited to share great new content with you that is going to help you build your beautiful business. So, if you've been with me from episode one, thank you. I appreciate you so very much, and I'm honoured to be on your business journey with you. If you're new here, welcome. I'm so glad to be spending time with you and I hope you love the show. I'm Samantha Bell, your host and the founder of 16th Ave Creative Studio, where we transform female-led service businesses around the world into brilliant brands that are the only choice for their clients with our one-stop website design, copywriting and brand design studio, and I talk about all things entrepreneurship, building an online service business and creating a life that you adore. It's wonderful to have you here, and it would be fabulous if you like and subscribe to the podcast so that you never miss an episode. So, are you ready to jump into season two? Let's go. What is the one thing that is going to move your business forward in 2024? What's the overarching hero that will bring you more clients and sales into your business, and what do you need to do right now to transform your business from struggling to get clients from the never-ending famine or feast income cycle to being fully booked, having constant revenue and people lining up to work with you. Well, in December 2023, I headed to Sydney to find out, and it was at the Business in The New Era, inspire and Succeed event where I learned from the best of the best Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, entrepreneur Ty Lopez, Jane Lu, the Founder of Showpo and host of the Lazy CEO podcast, Brittany Saunders, who's the founder of Fayt, the label, and other hugely successful entrepreneurs, and today I'm sharing the one thing that they all agree is the key to your success in 2024. And it is building your brand.
03:14 - Beyond Logos: Building a Brand that Grows and Prospers
Businesses that focus on becoming a brand grow faster, stronger, more profitable, and more successful than their competitors. So, what makes up your brand? I think it's time to ditch the old playbook. Forget logos, fonts and colours for a moment and let's think big. Think vision, purpose, passion, personality, relationships, messaging audience and selling the vision these are the foundational elements that shape a brand that's not just seen but is felt. Now, to quote Sir Richard, he says it is one of the best advantages a business can have. Customers relate to brands and the values they stand for more than the tangible aspects of a product. Now I get so excited talking about branding because it's where the personality of your business shines and it gives people all the good feels that they need to want to work with you.
04:18
Now I remember Sir Richard Branson sharing how the edgy, controversial Virgin brand was vital to his empire's success, and we can all agree he has a pretty hefty empire. Now, it was the raw, edgy and, at that point in history, name that was very controversial, just the name. He even had to get permission from official channels in the UK to use Virgin as the name because they thought it was offensive. It wasn't until he explained that for his brand, the word virgin wasn't about someone who hasn't had the first sexual encounter, but it was about new experiences, experimenting and essentially being complete amateurs. Then they understood his vision and then they gave him permission to use the name. So, can you see the power in that name and the story behind it? It connects people. It gives the message that anyone can achieve anything. That's branding because branding is not the assets. Branding is how you become relevant, relatable, and relentlessly sought after, and it's those three things that are needed for people to feel comfortable doing business with you. Nothing works without branding. So to use branding to its full potential is really helpful if you can start thinking of yourself and your business as a brand, not the business. That's key.
05:52 - Personal vs Business Branding: Leveraging Your Identity for Growth
But the question people always ask should you build a personal brand or should you build a business brand, and what is the difference? So usually personal brands. They have a far greater reach and higher follower numbers than a business brand. The focus of a personal brand is to develop your personal authority, to develop personal trust, to share your story, your journey, how amazing your experiences are, and to share your unique perspective on life and on business. So Richard shared that when he started Virgin Atlantic, he didn't have the financial resources he needed to compete with those massive, established businesses with huge marketing budgets of the big airlines. So what he had to do was get out there and use himself and his personal brand to promote the business brand, and it worked. Now Virgin Atlantic is a strong brand in itself, but it took leveraging his strong personal brand in the early days to achieve that and he's now doing the same thing with Virgin Cruises in Australia, and excuse the pun, but everyone's getting on board.
07:07 - The Long Game: Crafting a Business Brand That Outlives You
On the other hand, business brands have lower reach, fewer followers yeah, less numbers than a personal brand and they're actually harder to build because you're creating the identity compared to a personal brand, where you are the identity. But business brands serve a critical purpose and this is where you can share the results of the business, the happiness and transformations of the customers in their experience with you. Business branding is more high level, it's less granular than the personal branding, but it gives a feeling of safety and professionalism that consumers need to buy from businesses, because they're not buying from a person, they're buying from an establishment Now a big benefit of a business brand is that it will outlive you, the founder. It's bigger than you. It's bigger than the individual Business brands have the power to allow you, as the founder, to step away from the business.
08:10
So, just for an example, imagine you've achieved what you want to do with the business and you've decided it's time to bow out. Now you don't want to just close it down. You've got an asset that you would like to sell. Well, you can do that with a business brand, but you can't do that with a personal brand. And a business brand also gives you the opportunity to expand with sub brands and build your empire in other directions, but they're all linked up to the main brand. So, understanding this difference makes it much easier for you to focus on those eight elements I mentioned earlier Vision, purpose, passion, personality, relationships, messaging your audience and selling the vision when formulating your brand and deciding which model is right for you. Now many businesses use both side by side, just like Richard Branson does, as the personal brand props up the business brand and helps it get more attention and visibility, especially in those early days.
09:14 - Authenticity in Branding: Aligning Vision and Personality
A great starting point to decide whether you should focus on personal branding or business branding is your business name. What have you called your business? If you've got a business name, like, for example, mine is called 16th Ave Creative Studio, it's a business name, so my branding would start with branding my business. However, if you are using your personal name, you would start with personal branding. Makes sense, right? And you can always switch gears or combine the two further down the track. The important thing is to get started with your branding ASAP, right now. So, once you've selected which type of branding is the best for you in your business and all the presenters said the same thing at the event, it must be authentic. It must be linked strongly to your why, to your personality and to your vision. These are the factors that create amazing brands.
10:14 - The Value of Experience: Elevating Client Perception and Worth
Branding is all about the experience your clients and customers have with you, and the better the perceived experience, the more valuable the business, which means you can charge higher prices and have the opportunity to work with higher quality clients, because price and quality they go hand in hand, and strategic branding allows you that. It affords you that opportunity, it gives people confidence in you, in what you offer, and it gives the impression of people being part of something bigger than themselves, which is super critical in times like these, where many people today are feeling disconnected from the world around them. It creates an opportunity for connection. Another thing great branding can do is to help recession proof your business. Think about when different countries go into a recession. Quite often, it's the smaller start-up businesses, unknowns, and less expensive brands that suffer or go out of business, while it's the well-established, well-loved or high-quality brands that tend to just sail through relatively unscathed.
11:26 - Recession-Proofing Through Branding
So think about big global brands like Koch, Nike, Porsche, and Chanel. Have they folded in a recession? No, some big brands do, but they're much less likely to. Why? Because people and businesses with money with a big brand still trade, they still spend money, even during recessions, and quite often, they leverage the recession to grow their business even further. They might buy more smaller businesses that are going bust. They might use that opportunity to get into markets where smaller businesses have failed and, unfortunately, had to close their doors. So they have that opportunity to leverage the recession because, as I said, people and businesses with money and great branding, they still trade and spend, even during recessions.
12:23
Obviously, I've used those large global brands as an example, but have a think about the national brands in your country. It's the same story. Quality brands can withstand the external challenges they face far more strongly than their smaller competitors. Strong brands are resilient. Weak brands fold and fail. Now, on the day, Brittany Saunders, the founder of Fayt the label, gave an awesome presentation. She was so enthusiastic and passionate and that's what she brings to her brand. And she said your business should be a brand, not a product. And what stood out for me personally with both Brittany and Jane Lu, the founder of Showpo, was the joy and the passion they have for their business and I think they've done a really excellent job of incorporating that into their brands.
13:20 - Infusing Joy and Passion into Your Brand's DNA
And it comes back to that relatability piece. When you are crystal clear on your vision and your mission, and your why, everything needs to come back to that deep why. It makes translating the intangible into tangible. It makes it easy to create distinct brand elements that are part of your brand in an authentic process, especially when your why is your driving focus. You've also got to think long term. You've got to be consistent and be genuinely yourself and be fearless. Give people something to connect with that feels valuable. And if you're being fearlessly, genuinely you, who is true to your vision and your why, that's what you're giving people. You're giving someone something to connect with, something that's going to speak to them on a personal level and that is going to make them align with your brand. It's crucial.
14:23 - The Holistic Brand
So branding is creating that valuable identity of your business, and it does include your branding assets, like your tagline, your tone of voice, the visual design elements like your colours and your fonts and your imagery and, of course, your logo. But that's not the whole picture. Your brand is your entire business, every aspect, online and offline. So, what does that mean? It means your branding is everything. It's your conversations on the phone, it's your conversations face to face at networking events. It's your emails, it's your website, it's your content, social media, print material, your blogs, podcasts, webinars, services, products, packaging, everything. It's all your brand. So it's natural that they all must be deeply connected. They must be purposeful and aligned to your mission, your vision and your why.
15:30
So if you think of your branding in these terms, it becomes very clear, crystal clear, that one of the most important aspects of your business is branding, and if you don't leverage that, you could be missing out on working with some amazing clients and increasing your profits. If you don't give your branding the attention it deserves, and you don't want to leave money on the table, do you, I mean? But that's exactly what you do if you create a business but don't create a unique, strong, professional, holistic brand. Now, remember businesses that focus on becoming a brand. They grow faster, stronger and more profitable and more successful than their competitors, and it's so exciting for me when I see my clients embrace this light bulb moment. For female entrepreneurs in particular, I feel that branding allows them a freedom. It gives them permission to step outside of their insecurities, that well-known imposter syndrome we all struggle with and doubts because of the shift in focus. Instead of focusing on their insecurities and what will people think because they're thinking about themselves rather, they start focusing on the brand, which empowers them to act like the CEO in their business and they make better decisions, they take risks and they get things done, rather than procrastinating because they're bound by the shackles of fear around their personal insecurities. It's a powerful mindset shift. It's a tremendous shift in mindset. Branding is potent empowerment and it's how you become remembered, revered, and relentlessly sought after.
17:30 - How Strong is Your Brand and How to Supercharge It
But how do you know if your branding is potent? You need to do some things. You need to have a good look at your whole business and identify areas where your brand can shine brighter. And is it being consistent? Are you using it absolutely everywhere, even in your phone conversations with clients or face-to-face in networking events? Are you using it everywhere? Are you connecting with your audience? Does your brand reflect your vision's value, your impact? Is it unique? Is it instantly recognisable, is it trustworthy and look really professional, or does it look DIY? Did you do it yourself a few years ago and it's been serving you okay, so you've just left it there. You really need to have a good look at those things. And then you've got to incorporate branding strategies into your business that enhance your online and offline activities. So how do you do that?
18:30
Well, I think the first step is a little bit of self-discovery with a fun branding quiz. It's a really quick way to see where you shine and where you can use a little polish to spice things up a little, and, who knows, you might just find the inspiration you need to kick things up a notch. I have created a very special free quiz that's going to give you the answer to how strong your brand is and give you some personalised feedback on what you can do to improve your branding. It takes two minutes, it's completely free and you get your results instantly. It's the supercharge your business with a magnetic online presence quiz, and you can take the quiz right now at my website, 16thavecreative.com/online-presence-quiz, and I'll pop the link below in the show notes for you as well. So it's a really great starting point to help you uncover your branding strengths and learn your weaknesses so that you can build or improve a potent brand. And if you do have a potent brand already, congratulations. But there's always more you can do to make it even more impactful. So take the quiz and check out how potent your branding is. Well, there you have it.
19:50
The one thing you need to transform your business in 2024 is brilliant branding. It's what all the amazing entrepreneurs from Business in The New Era couldn't stop talking about, because, when done right, branding injects your vision and personality into every corner of your business. It's what makes clients flock to you, not just for what you sell, but for the unique experience they will have with you. It's about Sir Richard Branson turning a controversial name into an emblem of innovation and experience. It's about entrepreneurs like Brittany Saunders and Jane Lu, who infuse their passion into their brand and makes them shine. Your brand is your promise to your customer. It's what makes you unmistakably you. So, as you gear up to make your mark in 2024, remember that branding is how you become relevant, relatable, and relentlessly sought after. So you can have a business that earns you premium pricing and create a legacy that outlives you. So dive into the branding journey.
21:12
Take the free quiz to gauge your brand's strength and if you feel like chatting about it, I'm just a Zoom call away. You can always book a free call with me. So let's harness the power of branding and turn your business into the success story that you know it can be. Thank you so much for being here. Don't forget to subscribe and remember stay brilliant, stay beautiful, and I'll see you next week. Thanks so much for listening. I'd love to know your biggest takeaway from today's episode, so leave me a comment below or send a DM on Instagram. If you enjoyed this episode, hit the subscribe button wherever you listen to the Brilliant Business, Beautiful Life podcast and feel free to share it with someone else who'll love it too. I look forward to seeing you for the next episode and remember the time is now for your Brilliant Business and the beautiful life you adore.
