“5 Things You Should Do To Upgrade and Re-Energize Your Brand and Image” With Michelle Knight of Brandmerry.com
…everything in your business stems from your brand, so it’s one of the most important areas to invest! Without a strong brand, which serves as the foundation of your business, your marketing and advertising efforts won’t perform.
It’s important to invest time and energy in building the foundation of your brand, which includes your story, niche, ideal client, core values and brand messaging. All these pieces will support you in your marketing efforts, paid or not.
It’s become more important to focus on who your ideal customer is, which is part of the branding process, so you can create more relatable content. This form of content creation is taking the place of traditional advertising; it’s why we’re seeing a rise in micro and nano-influencers. Brands want to work with people who have a loyal fan base and have built a connection with their audience. This type of marketing, in some cases, is performing better than paid advertisements.
As part of our series about “Brand Makeovers” I had the pleasure to interview Michelle Knight the founder of Brandmerry.com. As a Personal Brand Coach and Marketing Strategist, Michelle supports women to brand themselves online, market their message and create a revenue-generating business that makes an impact.
In just 9 months, Michelle launched her online business and left her 9 to 5, while raising her son. Just one year into her business, Michelle created a 6-figure brand and a thriving online community. She now travels full-time with her family while growing her business and personal brand to impact the lives of thousands of women.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit more. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
After the birth of my son in 2015, I was struggling through a difficult postpartum recovery. It was during this time that I was feeling called to create something more. Although I had full intentions to return to work after my maternity leave, I had a sudden urge to start my own business.
I spent the next nine months building my online business Brandmerry.com using my background in Communications and Public Relations, only to find I struggled to create connections and a strong personal brand. After about eight months of creating without making sales, I took a step back and began to share more of my story, my journey and focused on building a more relatable brand. Almost immediately I signed my first client. I went on to leave my 9 to 5 and within one year I created a 6-figure cash business.
Combining my background in Communications and my journey with showing up and sharing my story I’ve not only been able to create a strong personal brand, but I also have helped thousands of online entrepreneurs brand themselves online, market their message and make an impact through their work.
Can you share a story about the funniest marketing or branding mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
The jury is still out if this is funny or not, it gives me more of a laugh/cry feeling when I think about it, but I know it’s highly relatable to so many entrepreneurs.
In the beginning, I spent all my time and energy, I’m talking almost eight months, trying to build the “perfect” website and brand. This was back when I thought branding was simply the look of your business. Turns out if you build it, they will NOT come. I had the website and the brand, but no traffic or interest in what I had created. I was so focused on everything being ready and presentable that I was only putting my energy towards the backend.
The biggest lesson from this, and what I really try to reinforce with my clients, is that the core part of branding isn’t the aesthetics or your website, it’s the connection, which stems from your values, brand story, and ideal customer. As you’re building these pieces you want to make sure you’re showing up and building community online and via your email list, so you have someone to sell to when you’re ready.
I carry this lesson with me in everything I do. I always check in with myself and teach my community to make sure we’re focused on content, community, and connection every single day.
Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Is there a takeaway or lesson that others can learn from that?
Absolutely! My “tipping point” was my first live stream with my son. I started my business when he was just one month old, so I decided early on that sharing photos of him and my journey with him was comfortable for me and connected with my audience…I just didn’t realize how much.
I was hosting a five-day online challenge and on the first day, he was teething. He was not having the idea of me putting him down for a nap to conduct my live video, so I put him in a baby carrier on my back and started the live stream.
My audience loved it. At the time, they hadn’t seen anything like it and to them, it embodied a true mompreneur. I was scared of what people might say, but then I thought about my brand values and my story and this is who I was. Showing up that day, teaching with a baby on my back changed the way I showed up online. Oh, and I signed multiple women into my program because of it!
I began to incorporate more of my personality and storytelling best practices in my email content, videos, social media presence, blogs, and overall content marketing. It was at that moment, for the first time, I realized branding was about so much more than just the product or service we are selling.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
I recently opened the doors to my new monthly membership community Brandmerry Academy, which teaches entrepreneurs how to market their brand online without relying on social media.
It’s a project very dear to my heart as a mompreneur and full-time traveler. I want the flexibility and freedom in my business without feeling chained to showing up daily on social media. I’ve been able to create that and now I’m on a mission to show entrepreneurs how to do the same.
Brandmerry Academy teaches entrepreneurs how to use advanced and more passive marketing strategies to consistently grow their community and profits without wasting time.
What advice would you give to other marketers to thrive and avoid burnout?
It always comes from understanding who you are and your purpose. I think this is why I love story work so much because by tapping into our past chapters we’re able to identify what matters most to us and build a business around that. When we try to market our business in a way that isn’t in alignment with who we are, our values and our purpose, is when we experience burnout.
My best advice would be to always check in with yourself. Some of the best marketing strategies I’ve discovered have come from asking myself what I want to do. Why not try it? What do you have to lose? When we constantly check in with ourselves and the strategies we’re using in our business we become better marketers. We show up more. We create better content. We build genuine relationships.
Ok, let’s now jump to the core part of our interview. In a nutshell, how would you define the difference between brand marketing (branding) and product marketing (advertising)? Can you explain?
I think this is a very traditional way of looking at running a business. Traditional marketing no longer applies, the future of marketing, no matter what you sell, comes down to emotional and human connection. The emotional and human connection is your brand and both pieces need to be present for any marketing strategy or advertisement to work.
Think of branding as the first step in building a message and a set of values that you then use as the backbone for your business. Marketing those values and messaging to attract your ideal customer comes next. Only then should we add on the layer of advertisement. In my view, it’s a step by step process.
Can you explain to our readers why it is important to invest resources and energy into building a brand, in addition to the general marketing and advertising efforts?
As I mentioned before everything in your business stems from your brand, so it’s one of the most important areas to invest! Without a strong brand, which serves as the foundation of your business, your marketing and advertising efforts won’t perform.
It’s important to invest time and energy in building the foundation of your brand, which includes your story, niche, ideal client, core values and brand messaging. All these pieces will support you in your marketing efforts, paid or not.
It’s become more important to focus on who your ideal customer is, which is part of the branding process, so you can create more relatable content. This form of content creation is taking the place of traditional advertising; it’s why we’re seeing a rise in micro and nano-influencers. Brands want to work with people who have a loyal fan base and have built a connection with their audience. This type of marketing, in some cases, is performing better than paid advertisements.
Let’s now talk about rebranding. What are a few reasons why a company would consider rebranding?
I think there are two main reasons why a company should consider a rebrand: If you feel like your brand values or mission have shifted and/or if your ideal customer has changed. In both of those cases, it’s important to go back to the drawing board and rebuild your foundation.
Another reason a company might consider a rebrand would be if they have scaled past their initial few products. Maybe the company is wanting to create more of an umbrella brand that includes products, services, conferences, etc., this would be a great time to go through a “brand update” to make sure all the pieces strategically connect.
Are there downsides of rebranding? Are there companies that you would advise against doing a “Brand Makeover”? Why?
If you’re choosing to rebrand it should be to fix a communication problem; whether that’s a disconnect with your brand values, a change in your brand story, your messaging, your ideal client, etc. However, if you’re rebranding because you think you need an update, you saw something better or you’re bored (trust me this happens so often) then it won’t fix the real problem.
When considering a rebrand, I recommend you find a direct correlation to what it will improve regarding community/ fan growth/ sales and evaluate what is working and what’s not before they begin.
Ok, here is the main question of our discussion. Can you share 5 strategies that a company can do to upgrade and re-energize their brand and image”? Please tell us a story or an example for each.
Strategy #1: Identify your brand values and story
As I’ve mentioned before your brand values and story matter! They are the first connection you will form with your audience and begin the trust-building process.
The idea behind identifying your brand values and story is that you can carry that over into everything you create with the end goal to attract the right people. But, there’s also another important layer to this and that is to repel the people who aren’t right for your brand. A great message should both attract and repel.
Strategy #2: Get in the head of your audience
We all like to think we’ve done our ideal customer research, but I’ve found that this is not always the case. This work is hard, and it should be because it’s going to impact everything you do. After you decide your brand values and the story you need to know how to communicate that with your audience, so you’ve got to know who they are otherwise it won’t connect.
To take it a step further I always recommend using the language of your audience, another reason market research is so important. The more you communicate with your audience using language they recognize or would use to describe their pain and pleasure the more effective your messaging will be.
Strategy #3: Determine the core emotions of your brand
We buy based on the way a brand makes us feel, so one of the best things you can do in the branding process is to determine how you want people to feel when they come in contact with your brand. This contact can come in the form of your copy, visuals or personal interaction.
When you take the time to decide how you want people to feel, again tapping into what your audience desires to feel (i.e. pleasure) the more impactful your initial contact will be. Think about scrolling on social media, we stop when we feel a connection to something, often a photo. This is your first point of contact and can be the difference between interacting with your ideal customer and being looked over for another brand.
I recommend brands choose 5–7 key brand emotions to get started and make sure what they create, including photos, logos, fonts, colors and copy all tie back to them.
Strategy #4: Focus on relationships.
Traditional marketing and advertising are no longer working. What consumers are looking for is a focus on building connections and nurturing the relationship through valuable content, support, and general conversations.
Social media has made this so easy. We have an opportunity to interact with our ideal customer every single day on social media, but so many brands are just using it to “sell”. One of the best strategies brands can adopt is to make relationship-building a top priority in 2020 and beyond.
When you focus on building relationships with your audience, you’re not only going to improve conversions, but you’re building life-long fans and those will be your best referrers and word of mouth supporters for years to come.
Strategy #5: Diversify your marketing
We’re so lucky to have all these free platforms to reach our ideal customer, but so many entrepreneurs are only relying on one strategy. I suggest every business implement SEO (Search Engine Optimization) so their ideal customer can find them on Google, choose at least one social media platform for relationship building and use platforms like YouTube, Pinterest, blogging, video, podcasting or something else to make sure they are reaching their audience.
Relying on one platform is limiting yourself as a marketer and with all the options available to us today you’re doing your brand a disservice by only focusing on one.
In your opinion, what is an example of a company that has done a fantastic job doing a “Brand Makeover”. What specifically impresses you? What can one do to replicate that?
I’m not sure if this is a single company, but it’s a movement that I’ve loved following. In the past few years, nationwide travel in the US has experienced a rebrand with their Visit California, Visit Montana, Visit [insert state here] campaigns.
I’ve enjoyed seeing this form of branding happen for locations, just proving that it doesn’t matter what you sell, everything needs a brand.
My favorite part of these “Brand Makeovers” has been that the videos we see tell a story, they share the values of the people who live there and showcase some of the pieces they are most proud of. Aside from the commercials they’ve also gone on to build websites for travelers and locals alike.
I love these campaigns because they took control of their brand, rather than allowing others to brand it for them. This is a super powerful lesson and something we can all remember. If we don’t take the time and energy to build our personal brand, someone will do it for us.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I believe that if we allow ourselves to own our stories and do the deep work to heal and accept them for what they are we as a collective will grow.
There is so much power in not only owning our stories but having the courage to share them with others. I’ve had the experience of impacting so many lives by just sharing my truth and purpose with the world and wish more and more women would do that. You don’t have to have your own business or company to do it, although that is an excellent platform, it’s more in the day today.
It’s my mission to bring awareness to this and give women the tools to uncover their stories and share it with others. More vulnerability. More acceptance. All leading us to live a life of freedom and purpose. I often daydream about what impact this could have on future generations and it’s so powerful!
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
One of my favorite quotes since childhood is from Judy Garland. She said, “Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of someone else.” When I first discovered it, I was navigating those teenage years, always feeling different, but trying to ‘be’ like everyone else.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve seen this become more and more relevant to the pressure of social media and stand out. There is one way to stand out and that’s by owning who you are at your core. Those quirky traits, characteristics are what make you unique, stop trying to be like someone else. We don’t need more of the same, we need individuality! Oh, and nothing is truer when it comes to branding.
How can our readers follow you online?
I’m sharing my journey and travels on Instagram: http://instagram.com/michelleknightco
I also host a weekly live show on Facebook every Monday. Mondays With Michelle airs at 6 pm CST and can be found at http://facebook.com/brandmerrycoaching
And I invite everyone who is wanting to explore their personal brand more to visit my website brandmerry.com, check out the blog and grab my free Personal Brand Roadmap to get started.
Thank you so much for these excellent insights! We wish you continued success in your work.
“5 Things You Should Do To Upgrade and Re-Energize Your Brand and Image” With Michelle Knight of… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
