Branding 101: How To Creatively Organize Your Multi-Passions Into One Cohesive Brand
As a branding strategist and social media manager for creative women entrepreneurs, one of the questions that I am asked most is:
"How in the world do I organize all of my passions and interests into one brand that makes sense?!"
For multi-passionate creatives this can seem like a double edge sword. So many things to choose from but how to organize everything without feeling completely overwhelmed.
I see it more of a blessing than a curse.
As creatives we have so many ideas flowing out of us that the possibilities are endless to not only make a huge meaningful impact on the world but creative ideas can be easily monetized to create multiple streams of income {music to your ears right?!}.
But the dilemma is how to blend all of those ideas, passions and areas of interests into one cohesive brand that communicates effectively and seamlessly.
For example, I am a mom, a wife, a lover of interior design, decorating, holistic living, a writer, a coach, a Texas country girl who has a corporate paralegal background and spent 11 years in direct sales/network marketing. My passions and experiences often bleed into one another.
I often hear business owners being told that they need to choose one specific niche to focus on. While I don't think that is bad advice for some, I also don't believe in one box fits all way of thinking either. For the multi-passionate creative, myself included, this advice can feel limiting and lead to frustration.
So, what do I believe is the solution for creatives who have multiple passions and find it hard to choose one?
YOU DON'T.
Well, not entirely.
So this is where the confusion starts to set in: "But how am I going to communicate and market myself effectively if I am not talking about and focused on one thing?"
Let me help to clarify this for you. Instead of trying to choose one passion to focus on, work more on defining WHY you are passionate about all of your interests.
Branding is about YOU, not what you do. When you are focused on the WHAT you are boxing yourself into that space. Your focus is always centered there instead of what drives you. Knowing the WHY allows you to keep evolving yourself and your brand over time.
I spend much of my day connecting with beautiful creative women business owners who are searching for this one connective thread that is going to blend all their interests together into one cute neat little package.
They spend countless hours trying to figure out how to explain to people what they do. They are trying to come up with the perfect brand name and unforgettable tagline but usually end up right back where they started and more frustrated. Why? Because the answers they seek are within themselves but they are spending all of their time looking on the outside.
When I work with my clients and they ask me how to fit all the pieces of their passion puzzle together here is my reply:
YOU are the answer.
In order to organize all of your passions and interests you have to dive deeper into WHY these things are important to you. Why they light you up. Why they fuel your inner most desires. Why you could spend countless hours talking about them. Why it fulfills you.
So ask yourself these questions:
Why do you find ALL of these things interesting? What common core belief do you have across the board in ALL areas of your life?
Let's take me for example. How does a mom of 2 boys who loves country living, interior design, obsessed with the color red and holistic health tie all of that together with her experiences into coaching creative women in branding and marketing?
I took my experiences + strengths and asked myself how I wanted to give that knowledge back to help others. Empowering women to succeed in life and business while diving deeper into their inner truth is my passion. My core belief is that life and business should be done for a heart centered space. That success can not be rushed, we should honor the journey that we are on + the lives we can change more than the destination.
When we lead from the soul to bless others we are in turn blessing our own lives. I believe that individuality and authenticity is the foundation and our greatest super power. Its what makes us stand out from the masses. The design aspect of a brand {colors, imagery, etc} allows me to tap into my own love of design, style and colors. My love of holistic health, being a "crunchie mama" and country girl, is part of my personality and value that I share, my love of writing helps me to understand the best direction for marketing strategies {blogging, eBooks, guest blogging} and the color red is very prevalent design element in my brand.
Once I knew WHY I wanted to do what I do everything else fell into place. Every day I continue to dive deeper into who I am so I stay centered in my core beliefs and values. This keeps me from being caught up in the noise of the online world and going down the comparison rabbit hole.
Now think about what you love and WHY you love it. What are the emotions behind it? Define what sparks the fire in you to do the work, the daily grind. THAT is what your brand should be centered around.
So let's say you are a mom who homeschools, loves essential oils and also wants to coach women in how to love themselves more. What is the common denominator between these areas? What centers them?
Is it to live life more wholly? Is it to live life happier? Is it to live life to the fullest? To live life boldly and confidently? Is it to live life out loud? Freely and creatively?
When you focus on the FOUNDATION of the WHY, what drives YOU in ALL areas of your life and NOT on the WHAT, you will be able to effectively blend all of your creative ideas and multitude of passions into one statement like the one I use:
"I help creative women entrepreneurs create, launch and market an authentic soul centered personal brand"
Like the example above with homeschooling, essential oils and coaching. If the foundation of your WHY is to live a life centered around happiness and creative expression that is your brand and everything you do, all of your passions are centered in that truth:
"I help women tap into their inner happiness to live a life of creative expression"
So now when people ask you how you do that you can share with them the WHAT. Maybe for them they would be happier and feel more creative to homeschool their children. Maybe holistic health and essential oils would make them feel happier. Maybe they need your coaching to bring out their inner creative so they can express themselves more freely.
Keep challenging yourself to dive deeper into the Why Of Your Work. The answers you seek can only be found within YOU.
Was this helpful in organizing #TheBrandOfYou? Would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment. I would also be honored for you to share it with your creative tribe.
April Williams is a Creative Momista and Soulpreneur of 2 boys + whimsical wavemaker + creative expressive + Texas country girl + branding junkie who loves green mint tea + horses + fuzzy socks + surrounding herself with high achieving amazing women + peppermint anything + the color red + cozy coffee shops. She is a branding strategist for creative women entrepreneurs and founder of Creative Brandista™ .
Imagine. Create. Inspire.
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