To grow your brand, you must know your brand, promote it, and realign it as you grow.
Authenticity. Intention. Accountability. These three overarching values will allow your brand to flourish, or cause your brand to flounder, depending on your embodiment of these values.
Authenticity: Be yourself. You can’t “be” yourself until you “know” yourself. Therefore, take the time to envision who you want to be, how you want to be, and what impact you want to have.
With these understandings, take another step back and ask yourself WHY you’re envisioning these outcomes. Finally, take ten more steps back by evaluating who you are now, and what it will take to transform into your envisioned brand. Embrace who you are at this moment, and remember to embrace your current shortcomings in closing the gap between your current state and your future state (how you want your brand to pivot or develop).
As you embrace both elements of this contrast, own them! Talk about them openly. Share your successes, trials, and fears. All people relate to triumph, failure, and doubt. When you connect with people on these levels, you express your humanity and your authenticity. Allow yourself to stumble, to learn, and to grow. And along your journey, own your experiences and leverage them to genuinely connect with your audience.
Be authentic. For your current brand and future brand. And open up to your audience about your triumphs and the tribulations.
Intention: Connect your vision with your mission. The vision is your WHY, and the mission is the HOW in realizing your vision. Craft goals, deliverables, and performance milestones to measure and realign your actions with your purpose.
When you’re intentional, you’re proactively managing your brand and the interactions you initiate with your audience. As Kyle Elliott brilliantly expressed, people must be cognizant of their intent and their impact. The intent of a message can succumb to noise, which mitigates or reverses the message’s targeted impact.
As you become more intentional in representing your brand, you ensure that your messaging falls on active ears that absorb your intent. When impact organically flows from intent, you maintain control over the development of your brand.
Be intentional. In your vision and your mission. And ensure that your impact matches your intent.
Accountability: Just as you initially took time to evaluate your future state (your vision) and your current state (why you’re envisioning your particular behaviors and impact), you must take the time to reevaluate and realign your branding efforts over time.
As you grow your audience and influence, you may get distracted by the newest trend or shiny object that steers you off track. That’s okay. When you realign your HOW with your WHY, you hold yourself accountable to fulfilling your vision and adding continued value to your audience.
And if you get off track for too long, your audience may hold you accountable and provide you with feedback to get you back on track. As you grow your relationships and enhance your impact, you can actively engage your audience and leverage them as additional realignment catalysts. The greater your impact, the more impact your audience can have on you. And that will lead to even more synergistic brand refinement and growth, especially as your audience grows alongside your brand.
Be accountable. To yourself and to your audience. And let your audience hold you accountable.
Short story even shorter: grow your brand by leveraging authenticity, intention, and accountability.
Your authenticity allows you to truly understand and embrace your brand.
Your intention allows you to promote and grow your brand.
Your accountability allows you to realign and provide additional value to your brand and your audience.
And don’t be afraid to engage your audience in exploring how you can better serve them! Your brand is transformative in cultivating and guiding your audience, but it’s also reflective in serving the immediate and future needs of your audience.
Be authentic. Be intentional. Be accountable.
And see your brand develop beyond compare.
Shoutout to Jevonnah Ellison for inspiring this post! Thank you Jevonnah and Kyle for your insights and continued service to your brand, clients, and audience.
