Brand specialist todo list

1. CHEAT SHEET
Cheat Sheet: Branding
Managing Perceptions of Your Business
Your brand is the image of your business, how your customers see it. In other words,
your brand is the world’s perception of you.
And it is so much more than just a logo, friend.
In a way, your branding takes your Unique Selling Proposition (from the last lesson)
and communicates it subtly through…well, every stinkin’ thing you do. J
Every interaction you have with a customer -- the graphics you choose, every
Facebook post, every email you send, every little thing about your website, your
packaging, your shipping time, your tone of voice on the phone offering customer
support, your affiliate partnerships, your advertising -- errrrrything matters.
Even what other people say about your company (on social media or through regular
ol’ word-of-mouth) -- it all impacts your brand.
Although you cannot completely control your own brand, you can do a lot to
proactively shape it. And that’s exactly what the exercises in this cheat sheet will
help you do!
Here’s what we’ll cover:
Brand Story
Brand Personality
Visual Branding
Documenting Your Brand Guidelines
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Brand Story
Ok. Truth time, hun.
Why did you take the plunge and start your business in the first place? How did your
product or service come to be? What difference are you trying to make in the
world?
Your answers to these questions make up your brand story.
In short, your brand story is your company’s reason for being.
Here’s how to craft a brand story that will inspire and attract your ideal audience.
Draft Your True Story
1. Getting Started. Lots of people get nervous when it comes to writing –
especially about a personal subject. (And let’s face it- anybody’s story of
starting a business is always a little personal!) But I find the best way to get
started is to put pen to paper (or fingers to a keyboard) and Just. Don’t. Think.
Start by pouring out your story in your own words, sparing no detail, stream-
of-consciousness style.
2. Remember the 7 Story Archetypes. There are really only 7 basic plotlines
that scholars have identified, covering ALL the stories written throughout
history. Make sure your brand story follows one of them, to ensure it’s not too
rambling:
• Overcoming the Monster
• Rags to Riches
• The Quest
• Voyage and Return
• Comedy
• Tragedy
• Rebirth
3. Remember the Key Components of a Good Story. Within those 7 basic
plotlines, we usually see a few key aspects of a hero’s journey. Make sure
you’ve got all the good stuff covered in your own story, too:
• A hero/protagonist
• A problem/antagonist
• A breaking point &
decision to act
• A struggle
• A resolution
• A redemption/
celebration

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Make Sure It’s Compelling
Go back a scan your story for a few characteristics that will guarantee you move the
hearts of your audience and drive them to action.
1. Your Story Should Be…
• True & Authentic. You don’t need to “juice up” the story for drama;
your audience will sniff out inauthenticity from a mile away. Your true
story is already packed with drama- trust me. But you might need to let
your emotional defenses down in order to find it.
• Original. Try to offer a unique perspective. What makes your story
interesting? How is your story different from competitors in your
industry?
• Emotionally Accessible. How does your business touch the lives of
other human beings? Don’t be afraid to show your own human (i.e.-
vulnerable) side.
• Inclusive Of Your Audience. Your story’s conflict, struggle, and
resolution should be relevant to your ideal customer’s core problem
and your product’s promised benefits. Your brand story should be a
one they want to buy into themselves.
2. Make It Visual.
• Paint a picture with verbal imagery to really capture your audience’s
attention.
• Focus on the story’s setting.
• Use sensory details.
• Whenever the format allows (e.g.- website, Facebook, printed
brochure), include graphics to accompany your brand story.
Edit, Edit, Edit!
Now is the time to grab your red pen and go to town! Before you make your story
public, you need to pare it down in the following ways:
1. Keep it short and to-the-point. Ultimately, exact length should fit the format.
2. Include only the most critical points and details.
3. Scan your writing for unnecessary words and passive voice.
4. Make sure your voice conversational…and then maybe add just a tad bit more
polish.

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Brand Personality
Your Brand Personality is the set of human characteristics that describe your brand.
Thinking about your brand as a person is helpful in creating and maintaining a
consistent voice and tone that your ideal customers will truly respond to.
Ask yourself these questions to get started:
‣ What do people think of your business?
‣ How does your business makes people feel?
‣ What are your biz’s “personality traits?” (e.g.: fun, edgy, chic,earnest,
comforting, playful, no-nonsense)
Brainstorm A List Of Adjectives
If your brand were a person, what kind of person would it be? Here’s a big ol’ list of
adjectives to get your creative juices flowing. Pick up to a dozen characteristics:
Accessible
Active
Adaptable
Admirable
Adventurous
Agreeable
Alert
Amiable
Anticipative
Appreciative
Articulate
Aspiring
Athletic
Attractive
Balanced
Benevolent
Brave
Brilliant
Calm
Capable
Captivating
Caring
Challenging
Charismatic
Charming
Cheerful
Clean
Clear-headed
Clever
Colorful
Companionly
Compassionate
Conciliatory
Confident
Conscientious
Considerate
Constant
Contemplative
Cooperative
Courageous
Courteous
Creative
Cultured
Curious
Daring
Debonair
Decent
Decisive
Dedicated
Deep
Dignified
Directed
Disciplined
Discreet
Dramatic
Dutiful
Dynamic
Earnest
Ebullient
Educated
Efficient
Elegant
Eloquent
Empathetic
Energetic
Enthusiastic
Esthetic
Exciting
Extraordinary
Fair
Faithful
Farsighted

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Felicific
Firm
Flexible
Focused
Forceful
Forgiving
Forthright
Freethinking
Friendly
Fun-loving
Gallant
Generous
Gentle
Genuine
Good-natured
Gracious
Hardworking
Healthy
Hearty
Helpful
Heroic
High-minded
Honest
Honorable
Humble
Humorous
Idealistic
Imaginative
Impressive
Incisive
Incorruptible
Idealistic
Independent
Individualistic
Innocent
Innovative
Inoffensive
Insightful
Insouciant
Intelligent
Intuitive
Invulnerable
Kind
Knowledge
Leader
Leisurely
Liberal
Logical
Lovable
Loyal
Lyrical
Magnanimous
Many-sided
Masculine
Mature
Methodical
Meticulous
Moderate
Modest
Multi-leveled
Neat
Objective
Observant
Open
Optimistic
Orderly
Organized
Original
Painstaking
Passionate
Patient
Patriotic
Peaceful
Perceptive
Perfectionist
Personable
Persuasive
Playful
Polished
Popular
Practical
Precise
Principled
Profound
Protean
Protective
Providential
Prudent
Punctual
Purposeful
Quirky
Rational
Realistic
Rebellious
Reflective
Relaxed
Reliable
Resourceful
Respectful
Responsible
Responsive
Reverential
Romantic
Rustic
Sage
Sane
Scholarly
Scrupulous
Secure
Selfless
Self-critical
Self-defacing
Self-denying
Self-reliant
Self-sufficent
Sensitive
Sentimental
Seraphic
Serious
Sexy
Sharing
Shrewd
Simple
Skillful

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Smart
Sober
Sociable
Solid
Sophisticated
Spontaneous
Sporting
Stable
Steadfast
Steady
Stoic
Strong
Studious
Suave
Subtle
Sweet
Sympathetic
Systematic
Tasteful
Teacherly
Thorough
Tidy
Tolerant
Tractable
Trusting
Trustworthy
Uncomplaining
Understanding
Undogmatic
Upright
Urbane
Venturesome
Vivacious
Warm
Well-bred
Well-read
Well-rounded
Winning
Wise
Witty
Youthful

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Identify Personality Archetypes
I have always found it tremendously helpful to connect a brand personality with an
archetype that will resonate unconsciously with the target audience.
Using archetypes (i.e.- typical examples of a certain type of person) is a simple way
to connect powerfully with your audience…and not to mention, it will make your job
creating killer content about a million times easier.
Here are the 12 Jungian Archetypes (as in, Carl Jung, the psychoanalyst) which are
commonly used in modern marketing. Pick the 1-2 archetypes below that most
overlap with your list of personality adjectives.

8. 8The Profitable Digital Marketing PlanCheat Sheet
Visual Branding
Visual branding is the collection of design elements which communicate your
business’ positioning (USP, core values) and brand strategy (brand story, brand
personality to your ideal audience.
Visual branding is what most people think of when they talk about “brand.” It’s the
shiny object that gets all the attention from biz coaches. But the reason I’ve put this
section at the end of this lesson is that visual branding is only as effective as the
clarity of your positioning and brand strategy. Lucky for you, you’ve got the hard part
out of the way already!
Here’s what you need to know:
Logos
Your logo – the symbol that will represent your company to the world – can be
designed by a professional designer based on the positioning and brand strategy
you give her. If your start-up budget doesn’t allow for a custom design, try a DIY
design tool like Canva.
You’ll also want to design a few logo lockups - different variations for different
usage or placement. At minimum, you’ll want to include a:
• Black and white / grayscale version
• Version composed to fit in a square tile or circle (for use on social platforms)
Colors
In choosing a color family to represent your brand, you’ll want:
• 2-3 main colors
• 2-3 secondary colors for complementary usage
The colors you choose will carry certain meaning about your brand. I’m a big fan of
an infographic designed by Column Five Media for Marketo; it does a great job
explaining what different colors mean to consumers:

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Once you choose your main color(s), use a tool like the Adobe Color CC Color
Wheel (https://color.adobe.com/create/color-wheel) to pick your complementary
set of colors.

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Typefaces
You’ll want to choose 1-2 main fonts (a.k.a- typefaces) which are distinctive and
decorative. These will be used for webpage headlines, ads, and all kinds of graphic
designs.
Then round out your font family with 1-2 complementary fonts which are more
neutral. These will be used for bulk text that requires more readable typeface.
Download the Choosing a Typeface Cheat Sheet
for a systematic process for picking the
most appropriate font for your brand!
Graphic Aesthetics
The images you use across all your marketing should have a consistent style and
theme. This is one often-overlooked factor that can make the difference between a
brand that seems amateur and one that’s polished and inspires trust.
Consider elements like:
• Photo filters
• Color families (warm v. cool)
• Subject’s presence in photos (close-ups, candid-style, etc.)
If you decide to use photography – and you don’t yet have the budget to hire a
professional brand photographer – there are some solid stock photography services
you can use.
But beware the stock photography “cheese” factor! You know – the generic,
impersonal, unrealistic shots full of clearly staged poses. C’mon. It’s laughable, and it
makes a brand look cheap and out-of-touch.
One alternative is to opt out of photography altogether in favor of illustrations, line
art, cartoons, or charts. Once again, I’ll point you to DIY design tools like Canva here.
And Powtoon is a great, affordable tool for designing polished animated videos!

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Documenting Your Brand Guidelines
Now that you’ve defined your key brand elements, the last step is to assemble them
all into a cohesive document.
It’s so useful to have a brand guideline document at hand. It will help you:
• Quickly produce consistently awesome content – in every format, for every
channel.
• Get your team up-to-speed (designers, writers, etc.) – and cut down on
revisions.
• Avoid confusion with collaborators – and ensure great partnerships from the
get-go.
Next Steps
Download these worksheets to document your brand guidelines in a beautifully
clear and concise format:
• Brand Story Worksheet
• Brand Personality Worksheet
• Visual Branding Worksheet
*Note: In the Visual Branding Worksheet, you’ll find space to add images of your logos
and colors.
To do this, you’ll need a PDF editing program like Adobe Acrobat. (Select Edit à Edit
Text and Images à Add Images).
If you don’t have this kind of program, you can simply note the color codes in your
document - and be sure to keep your logo image files (PNG, JPG, and PDF) handy to
share with others as needed.