I was recently interviewed for a web show where the host asked me how business owners can create a profitable brand. It’s a really good question, especially in this day and age when everyone seems to have a brand.
Before getting into that, let me give you a little background. When I started blogging in 2010, I had no idea what it meant to have a brand. I also didn’t know how blogging could be a business. The terms “brand”, “startup” and “influencer” were not all the rage like they are today. I like to blame my naivety on the times.
That being said, now that these terms are more commonplace, there is still a lot of confusion out there. Here are some of the ways to create a profitable brand based on my eight years of blogging.
Know how the money is made.
The first step in creating a profitable brand is to know thy market. This means you need to know all of the following:
- What are your market’s concerns?
- How do they communicate?
- What do they think is the solution to their problems?
- How do they consume content?
- What is the actual solution?
- How are they motivated?
- Are there any emotions involved? What are they?
These are just a few of the things you need to know in order to create branding that pops. And this is just for written content. There’s also a lot to be said for colors and palettes, but I leave that up to designers.
Know where the money is going to come from.
The second step in creating a profitable brand is knowing where the profit comes from. When I started blogging, I didn’t know I could make money. It would also be years before I figured out how to make money with the following I’d built. Once I figured it out, that’s when I was able to reverse engineer the process.
This is also the strategy I teach my students in my six-week group coaching program. It goes as follows:
- Market research
- Create product based on research
- Write and publish all marketing content based on research
- Build out a simple sales funnel that moves someone from social media follower to email subscriber and then buyer.
By first getting clear on what you’re selling, then you’re able to create a brand that moves people toward buying the product.
Be consistent.
The next step in creating a profitable brand is to be consistent. This means you need to be consistent with all of the following:
- Your messaging
- How often you put content out there
- Your solutions
- You need to walk your talk
Does this mean you need to be perfect? No. I, for one, am a lost cause with regularly maintaining my own blog lately. However, I already have a ton of content. I also am on social media every day driving traffic back to that blog.
Final Thoughts
Building a profitable brand is equal parts strategy and consistency. By combining the two, you’re able to create a message and a system that helps get you paid.
