Branding : simple + difficult

The bold and the boring

The brand of an entertainment company or an individual is the way the public identifies that company. What is the core personality of the company?

If your brand is strong, most people will agree on the same brand description. If your brand is weak, each individual might have a very different feeling about who your company is. Your brand can be strong and out of your control – like someone caught in a scandal. It can be weak and in your control – like a soda nobody cares about.

Strong

It’s pretty simple theoretically. What good thing or things do you provide to your audience that your competition doesn’t?

It’s simple, but difficult to get right. That’s why people like me get so much money to help you with your brand. Here are some reasons it’s hard…

• It’s hard to self-analyze
• People don’t understand the terms “audience” or “competition”
• It’s rough to settle on a message
• People think a brand is a logo, or a color, or a name, or some other shit
• It’s hard to edit – nobody wants to be pigeonholed

Define Audience

Here, I’m using the word “audience” to mean the group of people who you care have an impression of your brand.

If you’re trying to talk to people to buy tickets for a show, your audience is the potential audience of your show. If you’re selling to a booker, your audience is the kind of bookers that would book you. If you’re trying to get your family to agree you have a good career, your audience is your family.

If you feel like your audience is “everybody!” you’re going to have a tough time. In fact, the smaller you can make your audience group the easier it is to make the perfect message just for them.

Define Competition

Your competition is the entertainers who are trying to get the same gigs as you, or have the same TV time slot as you or whatever. They are competing for buy-in from your audience. If they’re not going for your audience, they’re not your competition.

Message

Your brand is a message.. a story. If your brand is strong and well used, it’s in everything that you create. It’s reflected in your company name, your logo, the fonts you use, how you talk on the phone, the style of shirt you wear etc.

Machette to the point

1. Talk to your friend like they are your perfect client.
2. Describe to your dream customer exactly why they would be better off hiring you / buying your ticket / tuning in to your show.
3. Take notes or have your friend take notes of your points
4. You’ll most likely talk a lot of trash about your competition. Turn the negatives about them into positives about yourself.
5. Figure out which positives would have highest value to your dream customer.

This exercise will help you at least get a starting place for a brand.