BUILD A BRAND THAT STANDS OUT
How to Build a Brand, not JUST an Online Business
by Mel Fee
THE BLOG
Our online business tips
Hey, I’m Mel Fee
Brand and Marketing Strategist
for female entrepreneurs
In my previous article, I explained the difference between building a business and building a brand. Today I would like to give you some advice on how to actually build a brand and not ‘just’ a business.
1 - Clarify your niche
Alright, this is a big one. There is so much confusion around the word itself, I thought I’d start by clarifying what it means. First of, your niche is NOT your industry. You can’t say for example, ‘I’m in the personal development niche’. Personal development is not a niche, it’s an industry.
So what is a niche?
A niche is a portion of the market that has its own specific needs and preferences.
It’s important you fully understand your market, WHO is in it and WHY and WHAT exactly you can do for them.
What does niching down mean?
Let’s say you’re a fitness coach, you might think ‘hey I can help everyone get in shape’. That’s a fair assumption, but the thing is if you’re too broad, you’ll end up attracting no-one.
Niching down means becoming more specific around the type of person you’re targeting and/or the type of problem you’re solving. By niching down on a specific area of fitness, and/or on a specific type of people, you’ll be able to establish yourself as a go-to expert and own your zone of genius.
The interest of niching down:
The interest of niching down is to limit the chance of having direct competitors offering exactly the same type of service to the same people. If you select a particular category of people and serve needs that haven’t been met yet, you’ve got more opportunity to stand out and be known for something specifically.
2 - Be clear on your origin story
Storytelling forms an important part of brand building. Why did you start your business? Why are you doing what you’re doing?
Get clear on where your business originated from and what motivates you so you can articulate it in your brand story.
Your brand origin story helps you connect with ‘your people’. It helps you stand apart and become more relatable.
You used to be like your ideal clients: Your brand story might be that you have been exactly where your ideal clients are right now and successfully made a change.
You’ve been going through the same hurdles and know what it takes to reach the other side. You now want to use your experience and all the learnings to fast-track their results.
You have experience solving a problem they have: You might also have never been in their exact situation but have experience helping people with the same problems.
For example, you might be a money mindset coach for influencers. You don’t have to be an influencer yourself to help them at all. As long as you know your field and have built experience taking clients through the same transformation they’re after, your story can be as empowering.
3 - Craft your positioning statement
Your brand positioning statement should be clear and concise. There is not just one rigid way of writing it but it should in all cases establish WHO you help, WHAT you do and WHY or HOW you do it.
It’s the natural progression of the steps 1 and 2 and 3 mentioned above.
For instance, my brand positioning statement is:
I help female solopreneurs brand and marketing their expertise so they can grow a profitable business online.
You can see my :
Who: Female solopreneurs
What: Grow a profitable online business
How: by branding and marketing their expertise (implying service not product owners)
4 - Offer a transformation
Now you’re clear on your niche and you know what to solve for who, you can create a great offer.
Have a transformation in mind. Take your ideal clients from a place where they’re struggling to their desired state.
Don’t aim to create the perfect offer from the get-go. Instead, focus on serving your audience the best you can, offering value and delivering results. It’s only after trial and error and customer feedback that you’ll be able to fine-tune your offer. Practice makes perfect!
5 - Create a unique brand identity
Now you’ve got a niche, a story, a positioning statement and an offering, it’s time to develop a brand identity that attracts and resonate with your ideal clients.
Your visuals are the very first thing your prospects will notice so you need to make the best first impression. Make sure your brand identity is aesthetically pleasing and cohesive across platforms. From your website, social media and email templates to your free resources, everything should look consistent to translate credibility and trust.
That’s it for now. I hope you found these tips useful. To learn more on how to build a successful brand and attract ideal clients to your service-based online business, download my Standout Brand Roadmap.
