A lot of us get super overwhelmed when it comes to brand building. Boiling our big vision and mission down into something succinct can feel daunting.

Getting clear on our messaging and positioning so we can connect with our target market can make our heads spin. The good news is, it doesn’t need to feel that way. With the right process, building a brand you’re proud of can feel productive (and dare I say, fun). 

The key is to keep things simple for yourself and audience. My six-part framework will show you what you need to do to nail your brand positioning so you can grow your business.

1. Clarify your vision (a.k.a. your value proposition)

The first piece to building your brand is getting clear on your vision for your brand or business. Lots of folks think a vision needs to be this big grand thing, but I like to think of it as a value proposition – a vision of the value you intend to add. 

 

There are three main questions you need to answer to clarify your vision. 

1. What do you?
2. Who do you do it for?
3. What’s the value you provide?

 

What do you do? To get the wheels turning, maybe you: strategize, coach, teach, create, lead, or educate. Think of the verbs that describe what you do best.

 

Then, take it a step further:

 

Who do you do it for? Who are you seeking to help or influence? Who is your target audience? Maybe they’re millennial women, mothers, entrepreneurs, designers, freelancers, or startups.

 

And the final step:

 

What value do you provide? What do people walk away with after interacting with your brand or business? What’s changed for them? What do you help them do or accomplish?

 

Now, tie all that magic into a tight vision statement or value proposition. As an example, here’s mine:

 

I help (what I do) entrepreneurial women (who I do it for) make decisions with confidence, go from ideas to action, and get customers saying yes (the value I provide). 

 

2. Know your purpose

All strong brands and businesses have a clear purpose, so the next step in your brand building efforts is to get to the heart of your why. When you dig into why you do what you do, it’ll not only be eye-opening for you, but it’ll be evident to your audience as well. 

 

Some questions to think about are: 

• Why do you do what you do?
• Why is this work important to you? 
• What changes in the world because of what you do?

 

If you’ve done a good job of getting to the root of your why, your purpose will ooze through everything you share online and offline, which makes you authentic and magnetic to your audience. Plus, knowing your purpose will keep you going on those hard days! 

 

Something to keep in mind: how does your purpose tie back to your original vision? Your purpose needs to be rooted in your value proposition and the problem you solve for your audience. For example, if you started your business because you hated working for someone else, that purpose wouldn’t be rooted in your vision unless your business helps other women leave their 9 to 5 and work for themselves too. Even then, that doesn’t get to the root of your why. It might be a reason why you started your business, but if you keep digging you’ll find a more meaningful answer that is rooted in your vision. 

 

3. Understand your Audience

Building a brand requires you to know your audience. You’re not here to speak to or serve everyone. In fact, that’s a recipe to resonate with no one. When it comes to brand building, don’t be afraid to get specific. Who is it you want to speak to or influence?

 

Some questions to think about when honing in on your audience are: 

• What problem do you solve for them? 
• What beliefs do they have about their problem(s)? 
• What does your audience value and believe about themselves? 
• What’s their “hell”: what are they trying to move away from? 
• What’s their “heaven”: what are they trying to move towards?

 

Do you know what your audiences’ biggest pain points are? Understanding what keeps them up at night will guide what you share and create. Speaking to those pain points will help you connect with them, build trust, and position you as someone who can solve their problems or at the very least, someone they should follow. If you don’t understand your audience, building a brand will feel overwhelming and generate little return for your efforts. Brand positioning requires you to hone in on a specific audience with a problem or set of problems you can solve.

 

If you had trouble with your value proposition, try going back to it after you’ve worked on understanding your audience.

 

4. Define your values

Think of your brand values as the themes that guide your life and business, but also, the themes that will guide your content. When you think about what you want to be known for, your values are an essential element in shaping that vision for yourself, your work, and people’s perceptions of you. Your values guide your business decisions, shape the messages you share, and tie your content into a cohesive brand story that makes your audience feel something – all of which are essential to brand building! 

 

Look back at what you wrote in your vision, purpose, and the problem you solve for “themes”. Reflect, then write three to five values that come up for you. 

 

Once you’ve got those, define what each value means to you (i.e. one of my core values is connection, but how I define connection might be different than how you define connection). Then, write out an example of how you’ve lived or live by each of those values (think of examples of how a value has influenced or guided your decisions or actions before).

 

In my Brand & Messaging North Star workbook, I created a table for you to keep this organized. Access it here. 

 

Building a brand means sharing content that fits within your value proposition and embodies your values. Once you’ve got your values down, you can look to them for content inspiration anytime you’ve hit a wall. For example, if a value of yours is freedom, you can always think of a story to share with your audience that’s grounded in freedom and adds value by educating, inspiring, or entertaining them. 

5. Craft your story

Your story is about uncovering your journey to now. When we’re clear on our story – what’s shaped us, changed us, and made us – and the events that led us to our career or business and why, we’re able to differentiate ourselves in the market, build our tribe, and be memorable. Humans have a hard time remembering facts, figures, and even names. But, they’re wired to remember stories! There’s a lot of competition out there, but no one has your exact story, with your lessons and your worldview, so capitalize on it. 

 

Some questions to think about in terms of your story are: 

• What’s been the making of you?
• How did you get into your career or business? 
• Who or what influenced you? 
• What challenges did you overcome? 
• How did you pull through?

 

Think about it this way: if you’re guest posting, speaking, or getting interviewed on podcasts, people are going to ask you about your story. If it’s just a checklist of your resume, well, that’s not very memorable. It’s kind of dull and doesn’t do you justice. Getting clear on your story and how it relates to your career or business is something that you can use on your About Me page on your website or something you can condense into shorter blurbs for bios, pitches, and so forth.

 

Something to keep in mind: your story needs to tie back into why you do what you do or why you’re uniquely qualified to be doing what you’re doing. For example, if you’re a startup founder building a productivity app, your story should be grounded in your own struggles with productivity, how that affected you, the things you learned, and ultimately why you built your productivity app (and why you’re the person for the job).

 

Remember, other people might have the same hard skills as you, but no one has your exact story. Think of it as a point of difference for your brand building efforts! 

 

6. Hone in on your point of difference

 

Figuring out what makes you unique in the market is critical to building a brand and carving out a niche for yourself. When I was a product marketer I used to do a lot of deep “competitive analysis”, comparing products, features, and messaging. You don’t need to go too crazy when it comes to analyzing your competition, but you do need to pay attention to who’s playing in your field of business.  

 

To hone in on your point of difference, you need to know who you’re being compared to and how you stand out from them. Create a simple table for yourself with one box on the left for competitors and one box on the right for yourself. Do some high-level research and see who else is playing in your field of business. 

 

Once you do that, ask yourself: 

• What stands out to you about them?
• What do you like or not like? 
• What do you have or offer that they don’t?
• What experiences or approaches to you have that differ from theirs?

 

Add everything about them to the column on the left, and everything that you believe differentiates you to the column on the right.

 

In my Brand & Messaging North Star workbook, I created a table for you to keep track of this. Access it here. 

 

If you’re wondering, “what constitutes a point of difference?”, a few examples might be:

• Your niche
• Your approach
• The specific problem you solve
• The audience you serve
• Your unique experience
• Your tone or brand voice
• Your point of view
• How you make people feel

 

The list goes on. Have fun with it! Knowing this will also help you refine your value proposition and help your brand positioning efforts without too much overthinking. 

 

Most importantly, figure out what makes you you. Don’t get swayed by how other people are “doing it”. Figure out what differentiates you, what makes you you – and become more of that. No one else is exactly like you – it’s one of the most important if not the best competitive advantage you have.