5 Steps to a Better Brand: Wording

Defining a brand identity isn’t a “fluffy” exercise with little measurable returns. A solid brand identity can be the critical groundwork for developing prospect loyalty, customer retention, and competitive advantage.

When you begin developing your business, one of the first things everyone wants to do is dive into their logo. Maybe you even already have one in mind. But there’s more to your brand than your logo.

How can you know the visual representation of your business is correct if you don’t know what your business is really about yet?

Perhaps you’re making changes in direction, product, or strategy that calls for a re-brand. How will you know. If your brand still aligns with your vision?  

In this series, we’ll look at the Five Parts of a Brand.  By the time we’re finished, you’ll have solid answers to those questions.

1. Wording: Language that describes you, what you do, and why it’s valuable to your customers.

This is one of the most important parts of your brand.  Before your call your graphic designer, you need to be able to describe your brand in words.  Mine are: Knowledgeable, Efficient, and Clever.

I chose them because they are the things I love most about business management and digital marketing. I bring a wide breadth of experience that allows me to find efficient solutions to client needs. In addition, I love finding ways to be clever and make people stop to truly experience a moment because business that fills needs and can always be meaningful.

These words evoke ideals that influence every decision I make and describe the type of service I bring to my clients. They’re also words I can imagine clients using to describe our work together.

A Quick Exercise:

1. Set a timer for five minutes and write down ALL the words that excite you. Words that describe how you feel about your business or how you want your clients to feel. Just get down every word you can as you imagine doing the work, providing the service, interacting with the clients. How does it look? How does it feel? What does everyone’s face say?
2. Next, set a timer for another five minutes and narrow it down to the words that speak to you the *most*. The ones that get you down in your core and make you shiver with excitement. If possible, knock it down to three or less.
3. Bonus points: Check thesaurus.com to see if there’s a similar word that really knocks your socks off.

Don’t throw away those other words though! Keep them handy for other business development exercises and use them as guideposts for what’s important.