Brand Story: Free Branding Course With Certificate On How To Build A Brand

Hi there, this is Monique. I hope you're doing well. Welcome to lesson 1 of the Brand Story online course by Dragon Digital Marketing. In this lesson, you'll learn the very basics about branding, and we'll talk about some general misconceptions.

Before we get started, I want to thank you for subscribing to my channel. This way, you get notified when I post new videos and go live to help you out even more with your marketing.

Also, you don't have to take notes, and you can relax, and lay back, while you watch the videos, because I have a summary of this course, you can download for free on my website. The link is also in the video description for all of you watching on YouTube. There you can also find more information and helpful resources, that'll support you to build a successful brand, all for free.

Now, let's get started with the first lesson.

What do you get from having a brand? Well, having a brand mainly gives you 3 benefits.

It adds value to your business. It allows you to create value in the eyes of your audience, and be seen in a unique way, that characterizes your brand, and is different from all the others. This increased business value is what also allows you to charge more for your products and services. So a brand increases your business value.

A brand also gives you recognition. People will recognize your products and services, when they recognize your brand colors, and your logo, or your font, or the language you use.

And your branding establishes trust. People like to buy from someone they know, like, and trust. So when you are really personal, and customer-centered, and human, people will be able to identify with your brand like it was a person.

And they start to associate certain characteristics with your brand, like morals, and like personality traits, that when it resonates with people, builds trust in your brand.

All of these 3 benefits, that you get when you have a brand, are represented by a number of things. Your brand embodies all of those things, and actively communicates your unique message.

So, independent from the inner circle around your brand, the outer circle, shows the shapes all of this comes in, and you can differentiate between 3 categories: The visual elements of your brand, the verbal elements of your brand, and your brand strategy.

Visual elements are what can be seen, like your typography, your colors, your logo, and your images, which also contribute to a coherent look and feel.

Your verbal elements are your brand name, your storytelling, your language, and your voice. By language, I don't mean languages like English or Spanish, but if you use simple and casual language like Dragon Digital Marketing, or if you are going for a more formal and official brand image and use a more formal language, or if your language is super funny and humorous for example.

And then finally your brand strategy is your plan for the development of your brand, and it helps you to reach your goals. It affects all aspects of your business, like your marketing, sales, your customers, and your competitive environment.

We will talk about all the things you can see here on this infographic in this course. And I'll help you to work out your unique value proposition, UVP, and your unique sales proposition or USP as well. So what you can see here on this slide, are all the things that you'll learn in the following lessons.

And this is the role your brand plays in the context of your whole business identity. Your brand is one component of your identity, alongside your mission and your vision, your company culture, the language that you use inside of your company like insider words you have to reference things, your behavior, and then also the communication, your internal communication across the hierarchy levels and your external communication with all stakeholders, and so on.

Now, you know the basics. Congratulations, you now already know more than a lot of business owners, and already got a competitive advantage for your brand.

Now, let's have a look at some common misconceptions about branding.

Branding includes only the logo, business card, and letterhead. True or false?

By now you should already know the answer to this question.

The questions are also in your brand story course workbook. There you can write down why this is true or false, and make sure that you've really understood it.

This is just for you, for yourself, to check yourself and keep track of everything.

The workbook contains all of the exercises we'll be doing together in this course, so if you're on YouTube you can click the link in the description, and if you're on the Dragon Digital Marketing website, you can directly download it from there, along with the course summary. All for free. I highly encourage you to go ahead and download all of the free course materials, because they'll help you to get the most out of this course. And you gotta put the work in to make it work.

This statement is false. Those are just examples for visual elements of your brand. And it's not enough to build a brand solely based on that.

Branding is just marketing bs. True or false?

Well, studies show that a strong brand allows companies to increase sales, increase their profit margin, and brands also help businesses to survive during an economic crisis. Your branding has a strong effect on your business, and it is exactly the reason why people are willing to wait in long lines in front of apple stores worldwide to get that new iPhone, and why people are willing to pay more for Starbucks than for regular coffee. Your brand is also an important point when you want to partner up with other businesses. Having a brand has many benefits for your business, and this statement is false.

If you do xyz, you can build a brand that becomes a success overnight. True or false? What do you think?

Do you think there's a magic success formula, or a shortcut, or secret hack? I really hope that you're not falling for any claims that marketing gurus out there are making, because the reality is. Such a thing doesn't exist. There is no such thing you can do, that makes your brand successful and popular fast. It takes time, it takes effort, it takes a good strategy, it takes consistency, repeatedly and consistently communicating your unique values, until they stick and people get it.

Building that social proof. Branding is a marathon, not a sprint. And that's why it's so important for you to have a strong brand, when you are in it for the long run.

And when you want to grow your business, and are here to stay, and all about long-term success. So this statement is false as well. Building a brand is not for the ones who seek short-term fake growth, and instant satisfaction.

And the last myth is, branding is too expensive. That's what many people think.

First of all, branding is not an expense, it is truly an investment. And you do not need to invest a lot of money or have a million dollar budget to build a strong brand. In fact, you can start with $0. For free. In this course, I'll teach you how you can build a strong brand for your small business with passion and consistency. All organically. How is this possible? It's possible because your brand just has to be unique to be successful. If no-one else is like you, and has your values, then you have found your niche, and you have no or little competition in that niche. And your brand will resonate with your tribe, and you'll find your people, your supporters, your fans, who share those values with you.

It's about expressing yourself, which you can do on a budget. So this misconception is false too.

That's what I got for you today. I hope you've enjoyed it and learned something.

Stay safe, thank you so much for watching. I hope to see you again in my next video, which is gonna be about the fundamentals of brands and brand stories.

Thank you.

Hi there. This is Monique. Welcome to lesson two of the Brand Story online course by Dragon Digital Marketing. In this lesson, you'll learn all about the fundamentals of brands and brand stories.

But before we get started with the lesson, I would like to thank you for subscribing to my channel and clicking on the bell. Now you'll get notified when I post new videos and go live. Also, you don't have to take notes and can completely focus on watching the videos, because you can download a summary as well as a workbook with all the exercises for free on my website. The link is also in the video description for all of you watching on YouTube. So make sure you head over to my website and get those free resources because they help you to build a successful brand. Now without any further ado, let's get started with the lesson.

Question. What is a brand? Let's have a look at the definition. A brand is a name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers. That's the definition of the American Marketing Association.

And why do you need a brand? Well, there are a number of reasons that argue for having a brand. Your brand helps you to set yourself apart from the competition. This is critical because we all operate on a global market, thanks to the internet. It's a crowded place and your brand makes you stand out and prevail. Especially in uncertain times, people buy the brands they know and trust. When money is short, like during a crisis, many people are not willing to take any more risks and try out new products they don't even know, and don't even know what to expect from. When there's already so much going on in your head, the last thing that you need on top of that is to get a detergent you don't even know if it can remove all of the stains and how it'll leave your clothes smelling, or a lotion that you don't even know how it makes your skin feel, or a book from an author you've never heard of. You get the concept, right? So your brand will increase your sales and awareness and gets you more social proof and word of mouth than if you had no brand. People love to tell others about the brands they like. People wear brands, eat brands, listen to brands. They're constantly telling others about the brands they love. On the flip side, you can't tell someone about a company you can't remember.

Imagine this scenario: You're over at your friends' house and invited to have dinner with them, and you're watching them bring the food, and in the kitchen, you notice an eye-catching pot. And you ask: "Oh, that's a cool pot you got there. Where did you get it from?" And they say: "Oh, that's my new instant pot. I love it so much. I got it on Amazon. It's from Amazon." What an amazing compliment and what an amazing opportunity for the pot company, we'll never know the name of because they don't have a strong brand for their instant pot. So all the customers can remember is where they got it from, from Amazon, which is a strong brand. You don't want to miss out on such referrals and other opportunities like this, and you don't want to be this pot company.

Now imagine: After dinner, your dinner is over, you've eaten and now you're chilling in the living room and you notice that smell. It smells amazing, right, and you notice that it comes from scented candles, burning on an end table. And you ask: "Oh, your place smells so amazing. What kind of candles are those?" And now your friend says: "Oh, those are Yankee Candles." Or: "Those candles are from Glade." I'm just trying to make an example here because those brands are strong enough to be present in people's heads. So your friend won't say: "Oh, I got these from Amazon." Even if she did. Because the brand is strong.

Do you think that those are realistic situations and you can see yourself in those situations and think those examples are plausible? Leave me a comment below. I'd love to know. My point is, a brand gives you recognition and awareness and it increases your business value and gets you more sales because you get more referrals and so on. That's what I've been talking about on the last slide. Brands will transform your products into something more valuable by telling a story.

No matter how small a product may seem, like at Tangle Teaser is more than a hairbrush, an Oral B 3D White is more than just a toothbrush, and a hair appointment at an exclusive Paul Mitchell salon is more than just a regular hair appointment. To also give you an example for a service here, because branding is not only for products. And you don't got to become huge like Apple or Nike to benefit from the positive effects of having a brand for your products and services. You just gotta be unique in your niche and be super specific and super targeted with your branding to be remembered.

Now, let's talk about the story part. The story, after all, is what catches on. So what is a story? Let's have a look at the definition for a story in general first, and then move on to what's a brand story. A story is an account of past events in someone's life, or in the development of something. Therefore, a brand story, like any other story, is made up of a series of events too. In your brand story, you tell the series of events that have led you to found your company, and you explain why this drives your mission today.

Why is your brand story important? Just like in your favorite books and movies, your brand story will make your audience remember who you are, and develop empathy for you, and they'll know what to expect from you, and be able to relate to you, identify with you, and ultimately care about you.

When I developed an interest in marketing and was just starting out and beginning my career, I noticed that there is so much bad marketing out there that helps no one. Clickbaity titles, and vacuous articles, poorly designed visuals, and everything was just so salesy. In addition to that, it was also often disruptive. Like, I'd get cold called by salespeople, find spam emails in my inbox from people who have bought my data, because I know I've never opted in to receiving their stuff. And I felt disturbed by all of the popups and ads that I would have to click away on websites as soon as I landed on that site. So annoying, right? So these inconvenient experiences with others' digital marketing felt annoying to me as a consumer. And I knew that I wasn't alone. And these marketing practices were also counterproductive for the companies that use them. And I knew that I could do a better job. And I wanted to actually help and do helpful digital marketing that's customer-centered. With Dragon Digital Marketing. I want to bring people together with what they really need and want and improve the exchange relationships between people. We work on becoming the vanguard that brings people around the world together with what they need and want. And we can see ourselves improving the way that human beings gain what they need and want from other human beings. It's all about being human, right? So, we work on making this difference by personalizing the communication and meeting people where they are with inspiring products and services and inspiring messages. That is our brand story. That is why I started Dragon Digital Marketing. And that's also what keeps me going.

With a compelling brand story, you don't have to compete on price. You can make it about your values. Who wants to be disrupted in their life or annoyed by generic marketing messages and things that you never asked for and you don't really need or want? You'd rather have your products or services marketed in a way that's helpful to your customers and about their needs and wants, and from someone with empathy that does their research right. So the value is worth the premium.

Here's a quote from Elon Musk I want to share with you. "Brand is just a perception, and perception will match reality over time. Sometimes it will be ahead, other times it will be behind. But brand is simply a collective impression some have about a product." You have to communicate your brand story consistently over time. And eventually people will get it. And that's how you build a brand.

I want to show you another example of Evian. The brand message of Evian bottled water is "Live young" and Evian has been communicating its message consistently over time. And I want you to watch the two videos right now to get a better understanding for consistently communicating your message, your story. I'mma play those videos for you right now. (video playing) Okay, so now the second one. (video playing) By the way, if you're watching my videos on YouTube, I have actually included the videos in the playlist. And for all of you watching on dragon-digital-marketing.com, I have embedded the videos on my website too, so you can watch it in full screen, if you want to watch them again. As you could see, the first video is quite a bit older than the second one, which is more modern. And Evian has been communicating the message "Live young" for many, many years consistently. On their website, you can read more about their story, if you're interested. Here are two statements that I just found wonderful. "We believe in living with a sense of purpose. We're always thirsty for fresh challenges and creating progressive new solutions to benefit future generations." That's a beautiful message, right? Evian is a great example.

And if you stick around with me and watch my next videos too, you'll learn how to find your brand story and tell it really well as well, because we're done now with the basics and fundamentals. And the next lesson will be about your visual elements of your brand and super insightful.

I hope to see you there. Thank you so much for watching.

Hi there. This is Monique. Welcome to lesson three of the Brand Story online course by Dragon Digital Marketing. In this lesson, I want to talk about the visual elements of branding. Before we get started, I want to thank you for subscribing to my channel and clicking on the bell because now you'll get notified when I post new videos and go live to help you out with your marketing. This is a free course that also comes with free downloadable course materials, including a course summary and a workbook with all of the exercises that we'll do together and more. The link is also in the video description. So make sure you head over to my website and download them because you want to get the most out of this opportunity. So now let's get into the visual elements of your brand.

There are three things that we'll talk about in this lesson. Those are your brand colors. You'll learn about color theory and color psychology. Logos. You'll learn about the different logo types and which one is best for your brand. And you'll also learn about typography and which font to choose for your brand. And if you want more than one font, which fonts to combine.

So let's start with colors.

The way colors are perceived has a huge impact on human behavior, spanning across the board from causing headaches to instilling peace. Now, this all depends on your upbringing and your culture and your personal subjective experiences to a certain degree. However, you can use colors to evoke desired emotions in your audience. This is called color psychology. Remember, people identify with how you make them feel, how your brand makes them feel, and why you exist, your vision and your mission, not with what you do. So it's all about emotions.

Have a look at this picture. Those are some really popular and well known brands. And you associate certain feelings with them depending on the color, right? Yellow is optimistic and clear and warm. Orange is friendly and cheerful and confident. Red is exciting, bold and youthful. Purple and pink are creative, imaginative and wise. Blue stands for trust and strength and dependability. Green is more peaceful and stands for health and growth. And gray is neutral. It gives you a feeling of balance and calm. And then there are also some companies that have chosen a more colorful brand identity for their brands and their logos. Please feel free to pause the video at this point and really take your time and have a closer look at the different brands. And see for yourself how you feel about the brands when you look at their logos and the colors of their logos and of their whole branding. And leave a comment below, if you feel something different. I would love to know.

So now before you leave, because you think: "Oh my gosh, color psychology is so boring. It's not really important to consider for building your brand.". Please bear this in mind. A study called "Impact of color on marketing" by Satyendra Singh has found out, that people make up their minds within 90 seconds of their initial interactions with either people or products. And about 62 to 90% of the assessment is based on colors alone. So the clever use of colors can contribute to differentiating your products and services from your competitors' products and services. And you can also influence mood and feelings, positively or negatively, and therefore the attitude towards your products and services and your brand. And I assume that you want to influence the feelings and moods of people towards you and your brand in a positive way. And you agree with me that 62 to 90% is a lot and color is way too important to overlook it.

Let's have a look at this image. It focuses more on the meaning than the other image. And it has more descriptive words on it. Again, I want you to have a closer look and you can pause the video for a minute or so if you feel like you need to.

And then you're actually ready for the first exercise of this lesson. You can answer it and write everything down in your workbook. When you answer all of the questions in your free course workbook, then you'll have a beautiful collection and can kind of retrace how you develop your brand story in this course. So download the free course materials now, if you haven't already.

So exercise one. Think about your company and your brand, and how you feel about it, and how you want to be seen. Think about how this fits the color psychology and if you want to be seen like that. And if you're just starting out and in the process of choosing and deciding on your brand colors, all the better. Think about what you want people to feel when they see your visual elements and your colors and make a list. You can write everything down that comes to your mind. And we're going to refine that list later together in the following exercises and in the following lessons of this course. You don't have to commit to any one specific color at this point.

Now that you've come up with a list of completely different words that describe different aspects of what you're trying to achieve on your mission, and what your vision for the future of your brand is, that's perfectly fine, because you don't have to have only one color as your brand color.

You can of course have multiple colors as well, that can be different feelings like strength and confidence, or growth and creativity, or clarity and excitement. So let's talk about color combination. To show you what colors you can combine, we'll dive into color theory. Maybe you remember color theory from high school, and you've already heard about primary and secondary and complementary colors and so on. By the way, this is also going to help you in more aspects of your life. Like if you're trying to combine clothes together and you're trying to get a perfect looking outfit everyday. Just saying. So there's a concept behind it. And the best way to demonstrate it is with the color wheel.

This is the color wheel. So now let me show you how it's formed. Primary colors are the three colors that make all other colors. They're red, blue, and yellow. And these three colors can be used to create the next level of colors, called the secondary colors. When you mix two primary colors together, you get the secondary colors, orange, which is red mixed with yellow, purple, which is the result of the combination of red and blue, and green, which is the combination of yellow and blue. And then you can further mix those together and then you get the tertiary colors. And this is why the colors on the color wheel are located, where they are located, and why the order and the position of the colors in the color wheel is not coincidental. Okay. So now we know why the color wheel looks the way that it looks and you can't change the position of the colors in the color wheel. In case you've asked yourself: "Okay, why can't red be next to green?" Or something like that.

If you choose only one color for your brand, you can also use different tints and shades and tones of your color, which gives you a color palette where you still got a bit of variation of your color. This is called monochromatic colors. Here you can see an example of monochromatic colors, that I 've done with blue. You can always still use white space, of course, and shades of gray to balance things out with any color scheme.

And if you choose to use more than one color, though, there are four typical ways to do it. And those are adjacent colors, complementary colors, split complementary colors, and triangle, rectangle, and square colors.

Complementary color combinations make things stand out. Complementary colors or opposite colors. They're opposite of each other on the color wheel. Blue is the opposite of orange. Red is the opposite of green. And yellow is the opposite of purple. You could also say that blue is complimentary to orange and so on, but I'll keep it as simple as I can. They provide a kind of visual tension because they are so opposed to each other and the human eye likes this contrast and it likes to see a visual break. We'll cover logos in more detail in the next chapter. However, I want to show you the different color schemes on the example of logos. So you can get a better idea and understanding for color. Companies like HubSpot and Visa use complimentary colors, for example.

And if you want to use three colors instead of just two, using split complementary colors is a way to capitalize on the power of complementary colors, but add a third color to your palette. To use it, you'll choose one color as your base color and then the two colors adjacent to its opposite. For example, if we decided to choose green as our main color, we'd look across the color wheel for its complementary color, which is red, and then look at the two colors directly beside red, which are red-orange and red-purple. Now we have green, red-orange and red-purple for a perfect split complementary color scheme. That's exactly what 7 Eleven uses. A split complementary color scheme doesn't have quite the same level of tension that a complimentary color scheme does, but it's still visually exciting for the eye. And it also adds a level of variety to your color scheme that can be used in a very dynamic and meaningful way.

Adjacent colors sit next to each other on the color wheel. There are also called analogous colors and they are related. A kind of family of colors that creates pleasing and relaxed visuals. They aren't jarring, opposite, or clashing, and they also don't stand out from one another. Adjacent colors can create subtle and beautiful content. Take a look at these brands that use adjacent colors for their branding. Examples include MasterCard and PayPal.

And if you want even more, you can use triangle, rectangle and square colors. A triangle or a triad is a color combination of three colors that are evenly spaced around the color wheel. A rectangle or a tetrad is a color combination made of four colors that are made up of two complementary pairs. And a square is similar to a rectangle palette, but the two sets of complementary pairs are evenly spaced around the circle. These three combinations can be visually noisy, if not used carefully. The best application is to use one color as the dominant color and the others for highlighting your content. Have a look at these examples. The Unlock Academy teaches people who want to ignite their career how to code, without the hassle of traveling or high tuition fees and boring teachers. Check them out if you want to improve your website and learn other tech related things. They use a triangle color scheme for their branding, red, yellow, and green. Fanta uses a triad as well. And Slack uses four colors. That's it on colors.

Now, let's talk about logos. Your logo is an important element of your branding and it is essentially the face of your company. I know this is what you've probably been waiting for in a branding course, right? And your logo is definitely very, very important. It's the image that symbolizes your brand. Did you know that there's seven types of logos? Let's find out which one is best for your brand and allows you to tell your brand story in the best way.

Here we go.

Monogram logos or lettermarks are good for businesses with lengthy names because it is much easier to see and remember HBO than Home Box Office or IBM than International Business Machines. For a brand new company, this is typically not what I would go for. And I'm going to tell you why in a minute.

Let's have a look at the next type of logo. A wordmark or logotype is a font based logo focused on the business name. They work really well when a company has a succinct and distinct name. Those types of logos are really great when you're a new business and you need to get your name out there. So that's one possibility that I can recommend for your new brand.

Pictorial marks or logo symbols are graphic based logos. They're a bit tricky for new companies or those without a strong brand recognition, because you want to get your name out there and also take advantage of the message that your font conveys when you're new. So Apple and Twitter, they don't need to spell out Apple and Twitter next to their logos. They've got a strong brand recognition, right? They're already strong brands. As a new brand, you can always do a combination logo and drop the text later if you want to and if you want to include a pictorial mark in your logo.

Next. Abstract logo marks. Abstract logos are, as the name suggests, abstract. The Apple logo clearly is an apple and the Twitter logo clearly is a bird. It's not so clear what the Pepsi or Adidas logo is supposed to be though, right? They're still pictorial logos, but a special type that instead of using a recognizable image, uses an abstract, generic form. This allows you to create something truly unique to represent your brand. And it also has the advantage to make you independent from the cultural implications of a specific image. So you can absolutely go for that too. And then combine it with a wordmark.

The next logo type are mascot logos. They involve an illustrated character, your mascot. There are a great way you create your very own brand spokesperson. And they're often colorful, sometimes cartoonish, and most always fun. They're great if you want to appeal to families or children. Look at the Koolaid Man and Mr. Peanut.

The emblem. An emblem consists of font inside a symbol or an icon. Think badges, seals, and crests. They have a traditional appearance and depending on your brand story, these can be a good choice for you too.

And then the combination mark. Those are graphic based logos combined with a wordmark to reinforce your brand. The good thing about combination marks is that people will begin to associate your name with your pictorial mark or mascot right away . If you go for a combination mark then in the future, you may be able to rely exclusively on your logo symbol. And combination marks are also easier to trademark than a pictorial mark alone. Therefore, this is really an option that I can recommend for a new brand. The pictorial component in the Lacoste logo is clearly a crocodile, right? It's simplified, but you can see that it's supposed to be a crocodile. Whereas the ActiveCampaign logo combines the wordmark with a little bit more of an abstract image.

It's also important to mention that your logo and your colors are what makes people recognize your brand and they're the face of your brand. And therefore you don't want to change them frequently and use them to build trust and make people feel good about your brand.

If you need help with your logo design and your color choices, you can always reach out to our agency, Dragon Digital Marketing. We're happy to help you out.

I want to share with you the story behind the Dragon Digital Marketing colors and logo. And I hope that this helps you out to find yours as well. As you know, the opposite of green is red. Pink is a softer, less intense version of red and it creates a sense of compassion and unconditional love. Dragon Digital Marketing is all about helping small businesses. And I was going for a color that soothes rather than stimulates. Pink is a perfect color for caring, understanding, and nurturing customers. Pink is a sign of hope. It also shows empathy and sensitivity. I love pink because I'm girly too. And I try to use it not too much though and use it more as like an accent color, because I'm aware of the fact that if pink is used too much, it can be very draining or show a lack of power or even look immature. Overall pink can be a great counter option to the color red though. And then our second color is green. Green is a color of balance and harmony. And green is one of the most seen colors in nature and reflects growth. After all we're helping small businesses grow. Right. So now you know a little bit more about our brand story and I'm very confident that you'll be able to find yours as well. Also make sure to check out the further resources. They're going to help you out even more.

All right. Let's talk about typography. Typography can be intimidating, but it doesn't have to be. You only need to know a little to make a big difference and have your branding appear super professional and look beautiful and just well thought out and harmonic and coherent.

Typography is the style or appearance of text. There are serif fonts and sans serif fonts. Serifs are little strokes attached to the main part of the letter. They're common in print media and other traditional contexts. And sans serif fonts don't have serifs. They look more clean and modern. In contrast to print publications where serif fonts are easier to read, on computer screens sans serif fonts are easier to read, which is why they're so common in digital media. And then there are also display fonts, which come in many different styles, like script, or black letter, or all caps, or just plain fancy. They're best for small amounts of text, like just one word, like a header or a title, that you want to make stand out. They're decorative and you don't want to write blocks of text on your website or anywhere else in a display font.

Like colors, fonts have something to say beyond the words on the page. The font you choose can make you be seen as casual or neutral or exotic or as graphic.

It's important to think about your brand and pick a font that fits. Take advantage of font styles and designs. For example, fashion labels tend to use clean, elegant fonts that feel high-end, while legal or government agencies almost always stick to traditional, heavier text that feels secure. You can see that in the fourth and fifth example on this slide. What about the first three examples on the slide though? The fonts don't really fit to the brands and tell a whole other story. You see what I mean, right? Since your colors already create contrast in your design, you also don't necessarily have to choose more than one font. Remember that you can always repeat the same font with different font sizes and font weights or styles, like italic et cetera, as shown in these examples, using Cardo on the left as an example for a serif font, and Aileron on the right as an example for a sans serif font.

However, if you feel like you want to create even more contrast in your typography as well, you can use two fonts, but really limit yourself to two. Not more. You want to keep your design flat and lean and just clean. That's the state of the art right now.

When it comes to creating contrast with fonts, it's like with colors, opposites attract. You can pair a sans serif font with a serif font, or a short font with a tall font, or a more decorative font with a very simple one. You can also use a monospace font too of course. And if you don't want as much contrast, you can of course also pair two sans serif fonts or two serif fonts, if you want to go for that look, as well. Actually, everything is possible. Design is an art. If your colors are super subtle and like your whole branding is in like black and white or shades of gray, why not create contrast with your fonts? Especially if you're in a text heavy industry maybe. It all depends on your brand story. I got some examples for you on this slide. The first example is a sans serif font for the heading, Lato, paired with a serif font for the body, Merryweather. The second example, in the upper right corner, that's what I'm talking about right now, is a monospace font for the heading, which is Space Mono, and a sans serif font for the body text, which is Roboto. In the bottom left, you can see two serif fonts, Bree Serif for the heading and Lora for the body. And then the bottom right example uses Amaranth for the heading and Titillium Web for the body. And those are both sans serif fonts. If you like any of those combinations from these examples, please feel free to use it for your brand. And if you don't like any of them, if you watch the video till the end, I'm going to share some really cool tools with you guys, that help you a lot with picking your colors and choosing your fonts and also pairing your fonts. And they're all free as well. So watch till the end. And if you feel like you need help with anything, just reach out to your agency, Dragon Digital Marketing, we're happy to help.

One last thing that I want to talk about real quick is be mindful of your images. Images are more than just decoration. They are the hook that draws viewers in and make a strong impression. Like the thumbnail of a video is what makes you watch the video more than the video title, doesn't it? The right images help you to connect with your audience and support you in telling your brand story. A picture says more than a thousand words. Have you ever heard the saying? It's true. With coherent images that support a pleasant look and feel, you can make a good impression before a person has even read the first word. Stock websites offer you high quality images and a lot of them are free as well. So definitely check out the links underneath this video. And if you're watching on YouTube, head over to my website. The link is in the description. And then check out all of the links and mentions underneath this video, too.

Also check out Canva. Canva is a free graphics design tool. And it is utterly amazing because with Canva you can easily design your own graphics as a beginner with no experience with their easy drag and drop editor. And they also got many, many templates too, that you can just modify and then use for yourself. Everybody can be their own graphic designer with Canva. See for yourself and check it out. The link is down below.

Also, you can always make a brand mood board that will help you to decide. This way you can see how everything looks like at one glance. You can also use Canva to design your brand mood board. You can also use it to design pretty much everything, right, your infographics. Just go and check it out. You can also survey your friends and family and use their feedback to further tweak your branding. And of course you can also always reach out to our agency, Dragon Digital Marketing. We're happy to help you out as well with your entire branding.

I hope that you've enjoyed this lesson and I'm happy to hear your feedback. So don't be shy. You can at least tweet Hi to me on Twitter. And the next video is going to be a recap of what you've learned so far. I know this was a lot right now in this video.

I appreciate you watching till the end. Thank you. And I hope to see you again in the next lesson.

Hi there. This is Monique. I hope you're doing well and feeling great. Welcome to lesson four of the Brand Story online course by Dragon Digital Marketing. This lesson is a recap of what you've learned so far, and it will help you to internalize the content of the last lessons.

Before we get started, I want to thank you for subscribing to my channel and clicking on the bell. Now you'll get notified when I post new videos and go live to help you out with your marketing. I'm excited to have you in my community.

This course comes with free course materials that you can download on my website. The link is also in the video description, if you're watching on YouTube. I want to encourage you to head over to my website and download the course materials because this way you get the most out of this course. When you got the course summary and the workbook with all of the exercises, you don't have to take notes while you're watching the lessons.

Now, it's recap time.

Branding is important because it is what makes a memorable impression on your audience and it allows people to know what to expect from your company. With a brand, you know what you get and you associate different characteristics and feelings with a brand. People can identify with brands, they don't identify with companies, and you want people to identify with your brand.

A brand has 3 main elements. There is a brand strategy behind it. And it's got verbal elements and visual elements. We haven't talked about the verbal elements and the brand strategy yet. We've talked about the visual elements in the last lesson. In this graphic, you can see everything that you'll learn in the course.

It all starts with your visual elements: your brand logo, your brand colors, your images, and your brand typography. They are the face of your company and should be chosen carefully.

A logo that's pixelated, distorted, or too small to read could give viewers the wrong impression. Keep a master copy that's sharp, high quality, and big enough for any project.

Fonts tell a story beyond the words on the page. Choose a font that fits your brand story.

Making a mood board can help you to choose images that go well together. An image says more than a thousand words and people see your images before they even read the first word on a page. Make sure your images are high-quality, professional, and give your brand the look and feel that you want, and send off the right vibes.

And then your brand color palette. Fun fact: Did you know that the human eye can distinguish between 7 million colors? Amazing, right? What's amazing too, is that people make up their minds within 90 seconds of their initial interactions with your brand. And about 62 to 90% of the assessment is based on color alone. You want to use your colors strategically in your branding and don't miss those vital few seconds during which your prospective customers are making their ultimate decision about whether to engage with your product or service, or not. Ask yourself if your brand colors mirror the theme of what you want to sell.

As the owner of your brand, you know what your brand represents. However, your perception is only one part of your brand story. Your brand story consists of four things. What your brand says about itself, what your brand does in the world, what others believe and say about your brand, and how others interact with your brand. Your brand story must also be perceived this way by the public in order for it to achieve the intended effect.

I want to share a quote with you that I've stumbled upon. "The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you." by BB King. Kudos to you for wanting to learn, for wanting to improve and to grow your small business and build a brand.

In the next lesson, you'll learn how to develop your brand strategy. The next three lessons are going to be about your brand strategy, actually. That's how important your strategy, of how to communicate your brand story, is, so you get that reputation. We'll develop your brand positioning statement together, and we'll talk about brand personality, brand value, and your unique sales proposition or USP, and your unique value proposition or UVP.

If you need any help with your digital marketing and branding, check out our agency, Dragon Digital Marketing. We're happy to help you out.

I hope to see you again in my next video. Thank you so much for watching and subscribing.

Hi there. This is Monique. I hope you're doing well. Welcome to lesson five of the Brand Story online course by Dragon Digital Marketing. In this lesson, we'll talk about brand strategy and more specifically we'll cover three topics about your branding strategy. That's buyer personas, your brand identity, and brand value.

Before we get started, I want to thank you for subscribing to my channel and clicking on the bell. Now you'll get notified when I post new videos and go live to help you out with your marketing. I'm so excited to have you in my community.

This course comes with free course materials that you can download on my website. You can also find the link in the video description, if you're watching on YouTube. And I want to encourage you to head over to my website and download the free course materials, because this way you get the most out of this course.

I want to start with a quote from Tony Hsieh, the CEO of zappos.com, "A great brand is a story that never stops unfolding.". In other words, "A great brand is a story that's never completely told.". This quote is from Scott Bedbury. He's a branding consultant and he's worked with the big brands like Nike and Starbucks.

Now, let's talk about your brand strategy, that's going to guide you and help you to tell your brand story. Building a brand is a long term goal. This means that you need a plan of action that's designed to make you achieve your long term goal and contains all of the steps that you need to take. The more detailed you are in your branding strategy, the easier it will be to succeed when you execute your brand strategy. You can look at it as like a compass that guides you on your way of building a brand for your small business.

Your brand strategy should include the answers to those six questions. What does your brand stand for? What does your brand promise? What personality does your brand convey? What is your brand's goal? How does your brand define longterm success? And Who are your brand's customers? Please go ahead and answer all of these questions for yourself. If you've already downloaded the free course workbook, then you can answer the questions directly in your workbook, which allows you to really track the development process of your brand and you've got it all in one handy document.

See how all of these questions revolve around and have to do with your target audience, your future customers? So first and foremost, we have to define your ideal customer and figure out what type of person he and or she is. You got to know who to target because you want to make your brand resonate with a specific group of people that have certain things in common.

This is where a buyer persona comes into play. What is a buyer persona? A buyer persona is a semi-fictional character that you create to represent a prospect or a customer who might consider doing business with you. It's helpful to create a narrative with a real name and an image to help humanize your customers and prospects. You can create a buyer persona by collecting all the information that you have about your existing customers, and also draw some conclusions that make sense. You don't want to use the information of just one customer as a buyer persona for all of them. That'd be too real. And you also don't want to make everything up and just assume things. That'd be too fictional. Buyer personas are semi-fictional representations of your ideal customers and they are predominantly based on data and research.

Why is a buyer persona important for you? You need the right kind of awareness and engagement for your brand. When you know exactly who to go after, you can be laser focused and more efficient, it also helps you to humanize your brand and speak to your ideal customers like a normal human would. Buyer personas, help you with lead nurturing. They also help you in your conversations, and in your emails, with your copywriting, and with your overall messaging to build trust.

To create your buyer persona, you can use my free template. The link is down below. Please go ahead and grab my free template because it includes everything that you need to consider for your buyer personas.

What if you don't have any customers yet? Well, you can survey your target audience and share your survey, for example, on social media or with your email list. You know, just get creative. People like it when they see that there's someone who cares about them and their needs and wants to get to know them and their struggles and their pain points, both professionally and personally, and is human and sees them as a human being as well. There are a couple of free survey tools you can use, and you can also just make a Google Form. You can consider offering an incentive for people to complete your survey, or your poll, or your questionnaire, whatever it is that you want to create. And the same also goes for when you do have customers, but you don't know anything about them other than their name, email address and their billing information, right. It's time for you to dive deeper and actually get to know your customers and become more customer-centered and more human.

So download my buyer persona template now. It's free. The link is down below and it's really important.

Now, let's talk about brand identity. What is your brand identity? Your brand identity is made up of what your brand says, what your values are, how you communicate and tell your brand story, and what you want people to feel when they interact with your brand. Essentially your brand identity is the personality of your business and a promise to your customers.

Here's a common misconception about brand identity. Your brand identity is not the visible elements of your brand, like your design, your logo, your colors, your font, or your images. Just as the way you look is not equal to your identity. Your visual elements allow people to get an impression of you, and you can use them to express your identity, to tell a story, non-verbally, of who you are and what you stand for. Your brand identity is also distinct from your brand image. Brand image is the impression of your brand held by a person. Just like your image is the impression that others have of you.

Let's talk about value. The word is ubiquitous and marketing. Everybody is always like value, you need to provide value, be valuable, create value, offer something valuable. If this is coming out of your ears, you're not alone. And you're also not alone, if you're not sure what it actually means, what value actually is, and how you can create and provide it. So I want to bring you clarity of how you can be seen as valuable and what you can offer your target audience to be perceived as valuable, so you get attention and are able to trigger interest and desire. I'm also going to show you how this results in your brand increasing your business value financially.

Value is the regard that something is held to deserve, the importance, worth, or usefulness of something. It's also principles or standards of behavior, and one's judgment of what is important in life. And the verb to value means to consider someone or something to be important or beneficial, or have a high opinion of that.

So what is your brand value? Your brand value results from your brand equity and your brand equity is the value of your brand based on how important your customers consider your brand. Your brand value is the financial amount your brand is worth that results from the value that you create in your customer's heads, meaning how much they value your brand.

Why is brand value important? In a nutshell, you get brand equity by positioning yourself as different in a way that makes people have a higher opinion of you than they have of your competitors, which means by being seen as something valuable, which then results in your brand value, which means that you can charge more and make more money and increase your revenue, which then again, increases your business value.

In a blue ocean industry, you need a blue ocean strategy. And in a red ocean industry, you need a red ocean strategy. If you've never heard of blue ocean versus red ocean before, here's what I mean. In a blue ocean, hardly anyone is there. It's a new market and you got little to no competition . Sounds amazing, but therefore you got other challenges because this also means that there's no demand there yet. And you got to create and capture the demand, which is, well, challenging. Plus when you succeed, it attracts more people and then it becomes a red ocean over time. If you haven't created a whole new market with your product or service, chances are, you are in a red ocean. A red ocean is a bloody ocean with many competitors that also wants some of that market share and they provide similar solutions to yours. So to stand out and to be successful, you gotta differentiate your products and services and build a brand that embodies your unique value and communicates it through your brand story. That's the blue ocean red ocean analogy. There's actually a whole book about it. I'mma link it down below, so you can go and check it out if you're interested in learning more about that.

I want to share another quote with you from Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google: "Brands are the solution, not the problem. Brands are how you sort out the cesspool. Brand affinity is clearly hardwired. It is so fundamental to human existence that it's not going away. It must have a genetic component." He said that in the context of SEO, as far as I'm concerned, however, it shows the importance of brands in a general context of raising awareness and getting visibility and being seen in today's world.

And last but not least, I want to talk about why so many brands fail. Why do many branding strategies fail? Many brands fail because many people do not realize exactly what a brand is and what it means to have one and to build one. They only have a vague idea. They never take the time to fully understand the concept or even realize that there is more to it than just a logo. They find an appealing image, slap a catchy phrase onto it and expect great results. Or even worse, they expect great results overnight. However, you are taking the time to fully understand the concept and you are putting in the effort and you're motivated to learn because you are taking this course and you comprehend what it means to build a brand. You are on the right track and you're already so so so much farther ahead than a lot of other people who are trying to achieve the same thing and build their brands.

If you keep on watching the videos of this course and follow the steps and actually make it work for yourself and your brand, put in the work, ask questions if anything is not clear to you, and keep at it, be consistent, then you can do it. We can do it.

Please consider sharing this course. It would make me really, really happy. And check out the resources underneath this video on my website, because there are some useful goodies for you to grab there for free.

Thank you so much for watching and I hope to see you again in my next video.

Hi there. This is Monique. I hope you're doing well. Welcome to lesson six of the brand story course by Dragon Digital Marketing. In this lesson, we'll talk about your brand strategy and specifically about brand personality and your unique value proposition. This is the strategy part two.

Before we get started I want to thank you for subscribing to my channel and clicking on the bell. Now you'll get notified when I post new videos and go live to help you with your marketing. I'm so excited to have you in my community.

This course comes with free course materials that you can download on my website. You can also find the link in the video description if you're watching on YouTube. And I want to encourage you to head over to my website and download the free course materials, because this way you can get the most out of this course .

This lesson is going to be the most practical one so far. So you want to go ahead and download your free course workbook along with the other course materials so that you can follow along better. We'll do seven exercises in this lesson together and doing them in your workbook will allow you to beautifully document and keep track of your journey to your brand story all in one document.

Now, without any further ado, let's start with your brand personality. Brand personality is a set of human characteristics that are attributed to a brand name.

And why do you need a brand personality? And why is it important? Well, because like people, brands without personalities are just plain boring. It is important for you to accurately define your brand personality. So it resonates with the people you want to attract. Your brand should aim to get a positive emotional response from your target audience. Your brand personality is something to which your tribe can relate. And an effective brand increases its brand equity by having a consistent set of traits that the group of people you're targeting enjoys.

So brand personality is another framework that helps you to shape the way people feel about your product, service or mission. And this is why it's important.

I will show you two brand personality frameworks in this lesson. One is the five dimensions of brand personality by Jennifer Aaker. And the other one is the 12 brand archetypes by Carl Jung.

Let's start with the five dimensions. Customers are more likely to purchase a brand if its personality is similar to their own. There are five main types of brand personalities with common traits: excitement, sincerity, ruggedness, competence, and sophistication. The excited brand personality is drawing, spirited, imaginative, up to date, carefree, and youthful. The sincere brand personality is more down to earth, honest, wholesome, cheerful, kind, thoughtful, and has an orientation towards family values. The rugged personality is outdoorsy, tough, and masculine, western, also kind of rough, and athletic. The competent brand personality is reliable, and intelligent, successful, hardworking, accomplished, and influential, and highlights leadership. And the sophisticated brand personality is a little bit more upper class, and charming, glamorous, feminine, and elegant, and prestigious, and sometimes even pretentious. So those are the five brand personality dimensions by Jennifer Aaker.

Another way to personify your brand is to choose an archetype. This model defines 12 archetypes that represent different groupings of characteristics, aspirations, values, and attitudes. The question to ask yourself is: "Which one of these identities will your dream client relate to the most?" Let's have a look. The first one is the hero. The hero is a warrior, he's courageous, he's determined and competitive, aggressive and assertive, he's a rescuer, he's a savior, a soldier, a winner, he's also a team player. That's like the hero archetype. The second one is the regular guy or gal. They're kind of like the person next door, they're realists, they're authentic. It's also known as the everyman brand archetype. The innocent brand archetype is all about having a simple solution and associated with goodness and morality and simplicity and just straightforward values. The caregiver archetype is a helper and supporter or a saint or a parent. They're just a giver, they're selfless, and this is also the perfect archetype to choose if you're a nonprofit. The creator archetype is an artist, an inventor, an innovator, a writer, or a musician, or just a dreamer, and is all about self expression. The explorer is a seeker, wanderer, they're all about freedom, they want new experiences all the time, they want to experience new things all the time, they like checking out new places all the time, they like novelty, they're also outdoorsy and kind of rugged. The rebel is like an outlaw, is all about liberation. The rebel just doesn't like rules. The lover is sensual, and loving, and exotic, seductive, affectionate, they can also be like a parent or a friend or a spouse, and they're also intimate and enthusiastic, and they can also be sexy. The ruler is a leader, a boss, a role model, or an aristocrat, an administrator, somebody that's commanding, somebody who likes a sense of control, somebody who likes power and status, and also likes to be organized and to be efficient. The jester is just humorous and positive, excited, they are a comedian right, they're a joker, they're all about fun, they're a trickster, they're funny, they're like a clown. The sage is an expert, a teacher, or a guru, they can be a researcher, or a thinker. The sage brand archetype is perfect if you just give expert info to your customers, and if you provide answers. And the magician is mystical. This is great if you got a secret recipe or a secret formula that you want to protect and keep secret, or if you're like a catalyst, or a visionary, a shaman, it can almost go into the fantasy direction, or you can be a healer, you can be spiritual. This is also a great archetype if you're really transforming your customers.

Now I want you to think about those two frameworks and think of real people. If your brand was a real person, how would they look like, who would they be? Child or adult, because your brand can also target children or teens.

And this is how I imagine people with the hero and excitement personality. You know, athletes, they're spirited, they're competitive. Brand examples are Nike and Adidas. This is how I imagine the personified versions basically of Nike and Adidas and any brand with that kind of brand personality. Here is how I imagine the everyday regular guy or girl. They don't like it fancy and be pretentious. They don't care about status and prestige too much. You know, they like furniture from Ikea and they sympathize with Volkswagen cars.

I really want you to personify your brand. Your brand personality should fit into your target audience. This is also what's going to help you to find your brand voice and brand language later on.

Here's how I imagine the innocent personality. Brand examples are Dove and The Body Shop. The caregiver personality. This is great if your business is a nonprofit and you're trying to build a brand for your nonprofit organization, and of course you can also use this type of brand personality if you're a profit business. So examples are Pampers and Unicef. Lego and Adobe, they're creators right, they're for hands on people. Jeep and Jack Wolfskin appeal to explorers and the rugged personality. Harley Davidson and Diesel are brands that appeal to the rugged personality as well and also the rebel and the outlaw brand personality right, they're for people who don't like rules. Victoria's Secret and Häagen-Dazs ice cream, they're sexy, right, they're sensual, they're the lover types. This is sophistication, the ruler type, successful, sophisticated people. They like Rolex and Mercedes, and Rolex and Mercedes appeal to them because of their brand strategy. It's no coincidence.

So really take your time and think about this for your brand. Just like you've personified your ideal customer and your buyer persona. Now you're personifying your brand.

This is the jester personality, Old Spice and M&Ms, they're always so funny. This is how I imagine the sage, the competent expert type, Wikipedia and Google. In my imagination, they'd be like a little bit of every person on this slide. And last but not least the magician type. Disney is pure magic and Dyson is kind of visionary too. They got a unique system transforming, changing the traditional way of vacuum cleaning your floors, or blow drying your hair, or humidifying your rooms.

Also make sure your personality is unique and different from your competitors. If, for example, you have an outdoor apparel company and want it to resonate with consumers, the natural inclination is to create a brand personality that is rugged, right. However it is possible that your competitor already has positioned itself as the rugged outdoor apparel brand. Instead, you can position yourself uniquely in the mind of the customer by adopting a brand personality of sophistication for example. This differentiates your brand as an upscale, high-end option to outdoor apparel, which attracts a specific type of consumer, and you don't have to compete on price or any other feature, because the benefit is unclear to your customers. You showcase that you have different values and will automatically attract people who may not even be attracted to your competitor then.

I told you this is going to be a super interactive and practical episode, and we're going to do a lot of exercises together. So here's the first exercise. Choose a brand personality for your brand. Give your brand a brand identity and write down your brand story. I really want you to think of a person. Personify your brand. And write everything down that comes to your mind. Who is your brand, basically, who is your brand as a person? And this also then represents the types of people that are attracted to your brand and that you want to attract with your brand. Take your time for this exercise, really take it seriously. And then when you're done, you can move on to the next exercise.

Look at the list of words you've made in lesson three, when you've evaluated different colors, and now link this to your brand personality, brand identity, and brand story. Remember how the different colors represent different things and stand for different things. So now I want you to compare the list that you made, link it together, create the whole picture, create the full picture, match your colors and the attributes that represent your brand, or yourself if you have a personal brand, and link that to your brand personality and identity and story. Again, take your time, pause the video if you need to. I mean, you're going to need to pause the video. Take it seriously. Really try to get the most out of this course. And if you have any questions or need any help, you can always reach out to the Dragon Digital Marketing team. All right, let's move on with the video.

It's like this, your brand personality is a qualitative value-add that your brand gains, in addition to its functional benefits. Speaking of value-add, let's talk about your value proposition.

What is a unique value proposition? A unique value proposition tells prospects why they should do business with you rather than your competitors and makes the benefits of your products and services clear from the outset. It's a statement that clearly tells your potential customers how they will benefit from your offer, how your products and services will address their needs and solve their problems, and what makes your offer different from the competition. Your UVP is a form of brand messaging that helps you make your customers fall in love with your brand. It's one of the most important elements of your overall marketing messaging. Unfortunately though, many businesses either bury their UVP in buzzwords or trite or meaningless slogans, or they don't even bother highlighting it on their website and in their marketing campaigns, or they don't even figure out what it is at all. Your unique proposition should appear prominently on your landing pages, on your website, on your homepage, and in every marketing campaign.

All right. So to work out your UVP, you got to put yourself in your customer's shoes. First of all, think about your products and services from your customer's point of view. Then note what is really important to your customers and find out why your customers would buy products and services from you and not from others. Your customers' interest is focused on what your product and or service can do for them, how it can help them, how you can make their life easier or how you can get rid of a certain discomfort. Try to identify the pain points and resolve them.

Here are some examples for pain points. Every type of personality has different fears and different pain points. For the lover. it's blending in with the crowd, not getting noticed, feeling left out, unloved, or unwanted. For the explorer, it's conforming to society and becoming trapped, and feeling empty with no goals to work towards. For the sage it's being incorrect, deceived or outsmarted, or even worse, not being trusted. When your brand is all about sharing expert knowledge, those are your worst fears. For the jester personality, it's others finding them unfunny or even disrespectful or feeling bored and rigid. For the ruler, it's diminished control and influence, chaos, and others witnessing and sharing any vulnerabilities that they have. The magician type is fearful of his or her creations and new methodologies failing and or resulting in negative outcomes. The caregiver's pain point is hurt, selfishness, forcefulness and aggressors. For the innocent, it's anything negative, dishonest, corrupt, or mean. For the regular guy or girl, it's feeling left out, hurting or offending others unintentionally, or getting hurt themselves. For the hero, it's losing and being seen as weak and susceptible. For a creator, it is not standing out, losing vision, focus, and their creativity. Worst case, right, for a creator. And then last but not least, for the rebel, it's being forgotten and unnoticed, failing to achieve any desired effect and losing their status.

Those are screenshots that I've taken from landing pages of Canva. And when you read just the headline and the sub-headline in both of these examples, they really, really made sure that their messaging appeals to their target audience, which is creators, right. So the first example is "Make a custom logo instantly with Canva's logo maker. Create it with Canv a Pro and stand out." That's exactly what artists and creators want. They want to create amazing work. They don't want it to take long. They want it instantly, and they want to stand out. Next example. "Canva, your secret weapon for stunning design. Design anything in minutes with thousands of beautiful templates and images. Try Canva Pro for free for 30 days. Cancel anytime." If you want to check out Canva and try it out, there's a link below and you can try it for free.

I have another example for you. Active Campaign. They're an email marketing and marketing automation tool for small businesses and in particular small businesses that are in ecommerce, SAAS. blogging, or higher education. Now look at this landing page. It targets higher education businesses like colleges and universities. They have the sage personality. They want to save time on behind the scenes work and focus on teaching and student engagement. And they want to have a good scoring system. So, if you read the headline and the subheadline . " How does marketing automation help colleges and universities? When you need to track students and alumni, it's tricky to coordinate the details across departments. Marketing automation takes care of the behind-the-scenes so that you can give each person the attention they deserve." Also notice how they use simple language. A value proposition or a value statement is not a set of technical jargon words or a recital of your qualifications, or a licensing status, or claims relating to your character, a slogan or a company tagline. It's really highlighting the benefits and the results of your work and what you do. If you want to learn more about how you can save time with marketing automation, you can check out Active Campaign, I'll leave a link down below.

Time for another exercise. Exercise three. Write down the emotions you feel when you think of your brand, and of course, you also want to feel others, when they think of your brand. And put a star behind the ones that you feel really portray the essence of your brand. Your brand needs a human touch to connect with your readers and customers and build rapport and to sell to them. The core of your unique value proposition needs to resonate and harmonize with your prospective customers. So please, go ahead and pay particular attention to specific emotions you feel portray the essence of your brand and put a star next to those. Again, you can pause the video, download the free course workbook if you haven't already, and then you can move on to the next exercise.

Now I want you to think about what emotions and beliefs stay from the beginning to the end at the core of your brand principles, and especially think of the ones that grow stronger over time with ongoing experiences. And think of correlations and how your emotions and beliefs connect and complement and feed into one another. Put a star next to the most important ones that you feel are the most important. As you can see, you're now refining your list, that you've just made in exercise three. And again, you can pause the video, get your workbook, and really, really put your thoughts into this because you want to get the most out of this course, right?

Now I want you to think about how your emotions and beliefs motivate you and help guide your actions and decisions and get you to achieve your results and reach your goals. List the emotions and beliefs that fit these parameters. This begins to construct your moral theme and belief system, right, your values, your value proposition, that you will share with your target market. You're getting closer and closer to your UVP.

All right. Now think about how do you embody your moral theme? Write down specific examples and results. The key word here is results. Speak to the results you create, not the process. This is so crucial right here. Tell your audience how the world is going to be a better place for them. Talk only about the benefits and what's in it for them. Do not talk about what you do and the process. Value is not what you do. It's not features and processes. Okay. It's about highlighting an outcome that the person that you want to target regards highly.

All right. Good job. And thank you for following along until now. You know what the great news is? You are now ready to write your own unique value proposition. Write out your UVP as a simple, relatable and resonating statement. Remember, this should sound nothing like a corporate mission statement or anything like that. This is exactly what you want to distance yourself from. No technical or jargon words, no recital of your qualifications, no claims relating to your character, no slogan or tagline, and don't get too product focused or service focused. Your goal is to connect with your audience on a human level. What does your personality want in life?

I will embed a video I want you to watch underneath this video on my website. So if you're watching on YouTube, please head over to my website. The link is down below in the video description, so you can watch it and you don't want to miss this. It's by the amazing one and only Lisa Nichols, and it's a snippet of a recording of a life coaching of hers. She really got some priceless tips that help you to cut straight to the results and not be like "we sell African themed t-shirts" or "we plan events", but really talk about the value and the results right away, and be like, "we create unforgettable memories" or "we empower people to recognize the strength of their heritage". So watch the video, if you're still struggling to formulate your values and the outcome and the results. It's really going to help you. And if you feel like you need any more help, you can always reach out to our agency, Dragon Digital Marketing. We're happy to help you out.

Thank you so much for watching and I hope to see you again in my next video.

Hi there. This is Monique. I hope you're doing well. Welcome to lesson seven of the Brand Story course by Dragon Digital Marketing. In this lesson, we'll talk about your brand strategy and specifically your unique selling proposition and your brand positioning statement. This is the brand strategy part three.

Before we get started, I want to thank you for subscribing to my channel and clicking on the bell. Now you'll get notified when I post new videos and go live to help you with your marketing. I'm really excited to have you and my community.

This course comes with free course materials that you can download on my website. The link is right here. You can also find the link in the video description, if you 're watching on YouTube. I want to encourage you to head over to my website and download the free course materials, because this way you get the most out of this course. We'll do a lot of exercises together in this lesson.

And if you've got your course summary, you don't have to take any notes and you can just watch the videos in peace. And if you got your course workbook, you can do the exercises in your workbook and keep track of your journey to your brand story all in one handy document.

Now, without any further ado, let's talk about your unique sales proposition.

Competition is natural in business. And especially today, when you're doing business fully or partially online, you have even more competitors all around the world. Customers are overwhelmed with options and they want to quickly understand what makes your brand different from others. And for your customers to know what makes you different, you have to figure it out for yourself first because you are the one who has to communicate it to them, so they know it too.

Knowing the right way to position yourself and your products and your services can mean the difference between standing out and blending in. A strong unique selling proposition can help you to attract new customers and retain existing customers and reduced churn. That's why it's crucial for all entrepreneurs to understand how to identify a unique selling proposition, also called a unique sales proposition or sometimes a unique selling point, or a USP.

Some people think that your USP and your UVP are the same thing. And I'll talk about that and add clarity later in this video. Your USP helps guide your branding and marketing decisions. And this is what it actually is.

What is a unique selling proposition?

A unique selling proposition is the one thing that makes your business better than the competition. It's a specific benefit or advantage or result that makes your business stand out when compared to other businesses in your market. Forming a USP helps you to focus your entire branding strategy. It influences your branding and your messaging and your copywriting and other marketing decisions. At its core, a USP should quickly answer a potential customer's most immediate question when they encounter your brand. Do you know what that question is? Here's what it is. What makes you different from the competition? That's one of the first questions people ask themselves when they see a new brand.

Your USP is all about differentiation. In comparison to your UVP, your unique value proposition, which we talked about in the last lesson, lesson six, which is all about value. Your UVP answers the question: Why is what you offer valuable? Why should I care? Why is it useful or important or beneficial to me?

And your USP answers the question: What makes you different from the rest? What makes you different from the competition?

Because you're not the only one that offers something valuable. Again, UVP is about value and USP is about differentiation. Offering something valuable is just the basis. It's just a prerequisite for you to even start a business and build a brand in the first place. If what you want to do in the world is not valuable to anyone, well, you have a disadvantage. The next step after making sure that you have something valuable, is making sure that you're different, you're rare, you're special to the point where you're non substitutable and others can't copy you.

There's actually a model that perfectly describes this. Have a look. This is the VRIN framework. VRIN stands for valuable, rare, inimitable, and non-substitutable. Basically, you ask yourself the question: Is your resource or capability valuable, rare, inimitable, and non-substitutable? When the answer to all of those four questions is yes, then you have a sustained competitive advantage. If one of the answers is no, for example, if what you offer is valuable and it's rare, but it is easy to imitate for others, your competitive advantage would only be temporary and you would only have a temporary competitive advantage. This is how it works. So your goal is to sustain, meaning to maintain, your competitive advantage for as long as you can, and to stay ahead for as long as you can.

I want to give you an example. I've chosen Uber for this example. So you're asking the four questions. The first question is: To what extent is what you offer valuable? Now, what Uber offers is super valuable to a lot of people, right,

so the value is high. Second question: To what extent is it rare, meaning hard to find or how easily accessible is it? It is pretty rare. Of course there's Lyft and there's other competitors in that market. But Uber has definitely come up with a new business model that's special. The third question: To what extent is it difficult to copy? Now, it is not very difficult to copy. Others can imitate it, right? So that's more on the lower end of the spectrum. And then the fourth question: To what extent is it not attainable through other ways or a substitute not readily available?

There are a number of other ways. You can take a cab, you can take a taxi, you can take the train or the bus or the tram or the subway or your own car if you have one, technically, you could also even walk or ride your bike, right?

There are many substitutes for Uber and the substitutes are also readily and easily available and you can also achieve the same results with them, meaning getting from A to B. So that characteristic is low. The USP of Uber is that it's not like the traditional taxi business, which believes in owning taxis and employing taxi drivers, rather it connects the passenger to a taxi driver and takes a share of the fare.

For some businesses, identifying and USP and becoming VRIN will be easier than for others. And that's okay. Your goal should be to get there as closely as possible. In the long run you'll never be able to sustain a competitive advantage forever anyways. Business is an infinite game where when you look at the bigger picture, there is only ahead and behind. There is no winner like in a finite game. You can still build an insanely successful brand by being valuable and rare and just hard to imitate or hard to substitute, or maybe it's very costly to do so. Uber is still a super successful brand, right, and there are also other chocolates in the meantime that just melt in your mouth and not in your hands. And M&Ms is still a super successful brand.

See this framework as what it is. It's a framework. I just want to give you a frame to work with when you think about your USP. If you have downloaded the free course materials, you'll find a bonus exercise and a VRIN template in your course workbook that you can use to do this exercise for yourself for your own brand and see how VRIN you are. So download the free course materials now, if you haven't already.

Uber is an example for a service. And now I want to give you two more examples of unique selling propositions. One for a product and one for another service.

This is a company called Muse. They have a meditation headband and it's a wearable device. It comes with an app and it allows you to read your meditation results and track the progress and it works by translating your brainwaves into the guiding sounds of water. It basically interprets your mental activity while you meditate. And this is their USP. "Muse is the first tool in the world that can give you accurate, real time feedback on what's happening in your brain while you meditate. It provides motivational challenges and rewards to encourage you to book a regular practice." Now, this headband is valuable to people who meditate, it's rare and it's unique for sure.

Next example is FedEx. Their USP used to be their slogan at the same time. Now they have a separate slogan, which is: The world on time. The USP is: When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight. In a few words, FedEx gives its customers the guarantee that it will deliver their packages safely and on time. The USP delivers not one, but two benefits. The security of knowing that the package will be delivered as promised and the ability to save time by getting it there overnight.

I think this makes it clear what your unique selling proposition is not. It's not specific marketing offers like 20% off, or free shipping, or 24/7 customer service, or having a strong return policy, or the header copy of your home page.

If you offer any of these things, that's great and it can be convincing and effective. However, it's not unique on its own. And those things are also really easy to copy for your competitors as well. Those are not things that you can defend. A USP is a statement you choose to embody and differentiate your products and services and your brand from your competitors. And remember, just like for you UVP, don't be generic or use jargon or recite your qualifications, be personable and address the benefits. Show how you'll solve your customer's problem differently and fill in the gaps that others are missing. And also remember that you don't have to please everyone. You should know who you target by now. And you've got your buyer personas and you've narrowed down your audience, which helps a lot with the brainstorming.

You can also always go back and rewatch the previous lessons. There's nothing wrong with that. Repetition helps. You also weren't born being able to walk, right? You learned it by repeatedly going back and trying and tweaking and realizing what you may have missed and learning. And it's completely normal. This course is not a speed training. You can rewatch the lessons as many times as you need to. And you can also reach out to our agency, Dragon Digital Marketing, anytime when you have a question.

To recap again real quick. Why is your unique selling proposition important? Customers are overwhelmed with options and they want to quickly understand what makes your brand different from others. Your USP can mean the difference between standing out and blending in. A strong USP can help you attract and retain customers and reduce churn. Forming a USP helps you to focus your entire branding strategy and influences your messaging, copywriting,

and other marketing decisions. The point of a USP is to give someone a specific and compelling reason to buy from you rather than someone else. Most USP's are vague and they don't translate why someone should want to choose a brand or product or service over another because they lack clarity. I'll teach you how to get yours right in this lesson. Your USP can be crafted for individual products and services or a sub-brand that you create. You need to know the reason why someone would choose that specific thing you offer.

The following exercises will help you to get your USP right. And we'll do it together step by step.

First, I want you to make a list again, and then we'll refine your list later.

Exercise one. List the challenges your product, service, company or brand can help your potential customers overcome.

Exercise two. List the objections your product, service, or brand could potentially face from prospective clients. List the objections you could potentially get. Take your time, pause the video, get your free course materials. They will help you out.

Exercise three: Put a star behind the top three challenges you help overcome, and the top three objections you need to overcome. Okay. So take a look at your two lists that you've just made and pick the top three of each. All right. Now you have refined your list. Now I want you to connect the dots. Okay.

Exercise four: Identify, if any of the problems you solve and the challenges you help overcome help you overcome any of the objections? And if so, how? As you can see this course is really actionable and you can pat yourself on the shoulder for having made it this far. Also thank you for sharing this course. I really appreciate it if you share this course with a friend and spread the word. It really means a lot to me.

Exercise five: By looking at your target market, what do you feel appeals most to your ideal customer? Write down the ways like professional, useful or emotional, that it appeals to him or her.

Exercise six: How do you differ from your competitors? What makes you different? What is your only factor? And how can you make your target market feel they're special or exclusive? Okay, now you're ready. You got all you need to put it all in one sentence and write out your unique selling proposition.

Exercise seven. Write out your USP as a simple, relatable and resonating statement. Practice writing in one sentence, why someone should buy from you and not from anybody else.

And here's a pro tip. Try to include a powerful prime benefit and power words or enabler words like free, new, proven, easy, secrets, more, yes, if, imagine, and so on. That makes your USP more powerful. Amazing. Now you got your unique selling proposition. Congratulations.

Let's talk about your brand positioning statement, shall we? What is your brand positioning statement? Your brand positioning statement explains what your brand does, who you target and the benefits of your brand in a short, concise statement. Your brand positioning statement is generally more of an internal document. Your positioning statement is a brief description of your product or service and target market and how your product or service fills a particular need of your target market. It's meant to be used as an internal tool to align your marketing efforts with your brand and your unique value proposition and your unique selling proposition.

Unlike your UVP and USP, it doesn't highlight your uniqueness and strengths. It just describes where you position yourself. You don't need to convince anyone with your positioning statement. It's just for you. It's still important for you to have and to be clear about though, because it will be your guide to ensure that all your branded content is consistent, and thus, it's an important part of your branding strategy. It's part of your brand story journey to develop it and to have a deeper look at your industry and the history of your industry, and look where you stand now and position yourself in that context. To create the statement, you need to think about where you have come from and where you are now and where you want to go. Then you work out how to get there. Thinking about your buyer personas, your target audience, and their reason why your brand will deliver on its promise.

Here are four essentials that you need to think about to establish your rock solid brand positioning. Number one. Your audience. Who is your ideal customer? What are his or her pain points? Remember when we talked about the different personalities and pain points? Your buyer personas will also help you with this. Number two. Your market. What is your market category? And how does your brand better relate to your audience in comparison to your competition? Number three. Your brand promise. Think back to your audience's pain points and then ask yourself, how does your brand solve those problems and help to overcome those challenges? In the eyes of your audience, what are the greatest benefits your brand offers? And number four. Your evidence. What undeniable evidence can you offer to show that your brand delivers on its promise? Again, it's not a public facing tagline or slogan. We'll talk about that in the verbal elements lesson.

Now exercise eight. Write out your brand positioning statement. Write it all down and edit and revise. And then you will have your brand positioning statement.

I hope this video helped you out. If I was able to give you some valuable information, like it and share it. And if you feel like you need any help, you can reach out to our agency, Dragon Digital Marketing. We're happy to help you out. Thank you for watching and most of all, thank you for subscribing and I hope to see you again in my next video. Take care.

Hi there, this is Monique. Welcome to lesson eight of the Brand Story course by Dragon Digital Marketing. In this lesson, we'll talk about the verbal elements of branding and we'll discuss your brand name, your brand voice, your brand language, and your brand tone.

Before we get started, I want to thank you for subscribing to my channel and clicking on the bell. Now you'll get notified when I post new videos and go live to help you with your marketing. I'm really excited to have you in my community.

This free course also comes with free course materials that you can download and then you get the most out of this course. The link to my website is right here. And you can also find the link in the video description, if you're watching on YouTube. Please head over to my website and download the free course materials now, because you'll get a summary and a workbook, and we'll do a lot of exercises together in this lesson, and if you got your summary, you don't have to take any notes, and if you got your course workbook, you can do the exercises in your workbook and keep track of your journey to your brand story all in one document.

Now without any further ado, let's get started and talk about your brand name.

According to the World Bank, there are about 300 million companies in the world today around the globe. This is one company for every 26 people. And you want to make yours stand out. Your brand name is often the first thing that people will hear. And it's also one of the first touch points with your brand. So let's start here.

What is a brand name? A brand name is the name of a particular product or service under which it is sold and that the company that makes it gives to it to evoke identification.

And why is it important to have a name for your brand? Yeah, it's pretty obvious, but I still want to mention it. It's important because it is what makes a memorable impression. And it also allows your customers and your clients to know what to expect from your company. It's pretty obvious why you can't have a brand that doesn't have a brand name.

Naming a brand requires a certain amount of research. It shouldn't just relate to your product or service, but carry a deeper contextual association with it. It needs to be unique. You need to be able to visually express it. You need to choose a name that is easy to pronounce and it needs to identify with your overarching message of your business, your brand story, and it needs to be easily remembered. When people see your brand, it should be quickly recognized and trigger a positive emotional response. Also check that your brand name is available as a domain and that it's trademarkable. When coming up with your brand name, you also have to think about how it translates into other languages. And if it translates well, or if it changes the meaning. Here's an example of a Swedish toilet paper brand that doesn't translate well into English.

It all comes down to six things that your brand name should be. It should be meaningful, distinctive, accessible, protectable, future-proof and visual.

Meaningful means that it should communicate your brand essence, conjure an image and cultivate a positive emotional connection.

Distinctive means that it should be unique, memorable, and stand out from your competitors.

Accessible means that people can easily interpret it, say it, spell it or Google it. Even if you have an unusual or bizarre name, it must be understandable.

Protectable means that you can trademark it and you can get the domain and own it, both legally and in the general conscience.

Future-proof means that it can grow with your company and maintain relevance and it can be adapted for different products and services and brand extensions.

And if you want to expand internationally, it should also translate well.

And visual means that you can translate and communicate it through your design, including your icons, your logos and your colors.

Here are the eight main types of brand names: founder, descriptive, acronym, lexical, geographical, evocative, invented, and combination. Let's go through them all.

If a brand is named after the founder, this is also called an eponymous brand name. If you have a unique name, you don't have to spend any time thinking about coming up with a brand name. Also, chances are that the URL is available too. And when you go and tell people, it's also easy to remember because it's your own name. Examples are Gucci, Ben and Jerry's, Boeing, Tesla, Jordan, Ralph Lauren, Disney, Burberry, Adidas, even McDonald 's.

Descriptive brand names are brand names that work by telling you exactly what the company does. These names can be the nature of the business. Examples are The Container Store, Dragon Digital Marketing, American Airlines, and The Home Depot. American Airlines is an American airline. The Container Store is a store that sells containers. And Dragon Digital Marketing is a digital marketing company. And The Home Depot sells stuff that you can put in your home.

Acronymic brand names are acronyms like BP for British Petroleum, or GE for General Electric, or CVS for Convenience Value and Service, or KFC for Kentucky Fried Chicken, or IBM for International Business Machines. You get the idea.

The next type are lexical brand names. So lexical brand names, they can be real words like Sharp or Slack or Virgin, but it's hard to find any real words left in the dictionary. Then it can also be a real word in another language. Like Samsung means three stars in Korean, or Hulu is Chinese for bowl that is used to store precious things, or Lego means play well in Danish.

And then there's composite brand names, like Evernote, which is ever and note, or Rayban or Facebook. You get the idea.

Then there's geographical brand names, like the Arizona Beverage Company and Southwest Airlines.

Some brand names are evocative or suggestive or associative and metaphorical. They reflect imagery and meaning back to the brand. Like Red Bull stands for power. The Amazon is the largest river and Amazon got the world's largest selection of items. They literally got everything from A to Z. Sirius is the name of the brightest star and on Sirius XM you can listen to the brightest stars. Or another example is Nike, which is the goddess of victory.

Then there's invented brand names that are fabricated or just really abstract. They have no internal meaning. It's just the sound of the words, the phonetics, that makes it a good name for a brand. Like Kleenex sounds like clean or Xerox sounds like a powerful machine or Rolex sounds very luxurious, right.

And then of course there's combination names. Like for example, Facebook is a composite of face and book, but it's also suggestive. It suggests that it's a platform where you can see many faces and meet many people, right. Pinterest is invented, but it's also suggestive, right. It suggests that you can pin your interests and find pictures that interest you. And ActiveCampaign is lexical and descriptive and suggestive too. Check them out if you're interested in saving time and automating your marketing, and you're looking for a great small business email marketing tool and send out your email campaigns.

You need to define your why and identify your brand's vision and incorporate your purpose into your brand name. Make it stand for a big idea and translate it into an emotional appeal. This is where the story part comes in. In the next lesson we'll talk about storytelling and how to appeal to human emotions. That's what the best brands do. And they master it perfectly. Nike stands for winning. GoPro is about heroism. Apple is about simplicity and usability. Google comes from the math term googol, which is a 1 with 100 zeros. And the big mission of Google is to organize the world's information. Think about what your big idea is and I'll help you to refine it.

I want to share this quote from Ken Ott with you. Your brand name is almost always the first thing people will hear. It has the opportunity to represent the heart, purpose and personality of the brand. When crafted this way, it becomes a conversation starter that can lead to the reason behind why your business exists.

And that deep connection is much more likely to lead to a customer.

You can also use a brand name generator tool to generate your brand name. Check out the links underneath this video on my website. I've linked to a number of useful resources for you. There you can also find the links to a few brand name generator tools that you can use and more resources. And of course also download the free course materials there.

Did you get your workbook? Because here comes the first exercise. Think about a name for your brand. You can also overthink the name of your brand that you already have. If you have a feeling that it could be necessary or beneficial to overthink it.

Let's talk about your brand voice. What is a brand voice? Brand voice is the personality and emotion you show in your brand's communication. It's about the uniformity of the words and language you use and the image that you want to invoke with your brand personality and overall brand marketing. Your brand voice isn't just audio. It also comes through in your emails and on social media, for example. It 's the voice of your brand personality. Just like your voice is the voice of your personality. You have your own vocabulary, values, and tone.

Which words would you use to describe your company? If this is a hard question to answer, you need to work on developing your brand voice.

Why is having a strong brand voice important? The most enduring companies have a strong personality and a clear sense of purpose. Their message is delivered consistently everywhere they have a presence with an established brand voice. Developing your brand recognition requires consistency and repetition. If your personality or messaging appear to change frequently, it's harder for your audience to know exactly what you're all about. And as a result, your efforts are likely to fall flat and lose out on a better branded option. Whether or not they can match your product or service quality. Bottom line. It plays an important role in making sure that your message cuts through the noise, and makes a lasting impression on potential customers.

I have a five bullet to do list for you with things you need to know before you can find your brand voice.

Get clear on your brand heart. Your brand heart is an articulation of your core beliefs, specifically, your purpose, which is why you exist, your vision, which is what future you want to help create, your mission, which is how you want to create that future, and your values, meaning who you are and how you work.

Secondly, you need to have verified, research based, and detailed buyer personas. Your buyer personas help you to identify who these people are that you want to attract. They're so, so important. We've talked about this in more detail in lesson five, and you can also go back and rewatch that video that helps you with creating your buyer personas. You can also download my free template to create your buyer personas if you haven't already.

Number three is you need to do a competitive analysis. You don't want to sound the same as your competition, so it's important to know what you're competing with and how to differentiate.

The fourth thing that I want you to do is to quiz your team and really quiz anyone who has a say, and is a stakeholder of your brand.

The fifth thing that you need to do before you can find your brand voice is to review your existing content. This will help you to find your brand voice as well.

I understand that it is tempting to just skip this and not take those five bullets seriously. And you may think about not actually doing it. The success of your brand is up to you. I just want to remind you that there's one company for every 26 people on the planet, and you really want to do everything possible that you can do, and that's in your power to make your brand a success if you really want it. Everything you learn in this course can only work for you if you put the work in. If you need any help, you can always reach out to your agency, Dragon Digital Marketing. We're happy to help you make your dream work. You know the saying, dreams don't work unless you do.

And this is how you find your brain voice. Actually, your brain voice already exists. You just have to identify, articulate and share it with the world. But how do you uncover it? And where do you start? This is what these seven questions help you with.

Question number one. How do you want people who interact with your brand to feel? This is a helpful big picture question to identify the emotional branding experience you're trying to deliver. Your brand voice is an effective tool to cultivate that. Think of what your product or service does for people and how it solves people's problems and enhances their lives. Your voice should reflect and reinforce that. For example, if you're a security company that wants to be perceived as a trusted protector, you want your brand voice to be confident and reassuring because you want people to feel confident and reassured.

Question number two. What adjectives would you use to describe your brand? I suggest choosing three to five adjectives. For example, if you have a toy brand, you might describe yourself as playful, silly, and adventurous. This is a helpful way to encapsulate your brand voice attributes. It's also a good question to ask a larger group, so involve your whole team and make it a team exercise in your next meeting. Oftentimes you'll see similar descriptions or themes that arise in the answers.

Question three. What does your competition sound like and how can you differentiate? If everyone in your industry sounds the same, or is trying to choose a certain trend or persona, you have a great opportunity to stand out.

Question four. What is another brand with a voice you love? This may be someone in your field or a totally different industry. You shouldn't copy them of course, but consider how and why their voice resonates with you. What can you learn from them and how can you evoke a similar emotion?

Question number five. If your brand was a celebrity, who would it be? You don't have to pick just one person. Just think about people who embody your brand.

Question six. How do you want to talk about yourself? Think of the way you describe what you do, the language you use and the way that you want to talk about yourself and your business. What type of vocabulary do you use? What types of phrases do you always repeat? These can help you to define and to refine your brand voice as well.

Question number seven. Who do you not want to be? And what do you want to avoid? Knowing who you are not is just as helpful as knowing who you are. Are there any buzzwords you hate and phrases that you want to avoid? Taking the opposite approach can ensure you stay true to yourself.

So I want you to take your time and get clear on your brand heart and articulate your core beliefs verbally with words. You can do that by answering these questions. You can pause the video and then come back later. So take your time.

Then I want you to answer the seven questions that we've just talked about.

Exercise number four is a we're this, but we're not that exercise. I want you to find a couple of example sentences. Find at least three examples that are like this. We're authoritative, but we're not too serious. We're funny, but we're not sarcastic. We're friendly, but we're not sappy. Now you have a number of words that describe your brand. I want you to pick three that describe your brand best.

I want to show you an example. Innocent drinks. They're funny, they're natural and they're friendly. Have a look at their brand voice and the language that they use. You can pause the video for a minute and read the text. So you get a feeling of the humorous brain voice, and hopefully you'll be able to take away something for your own brand.

Now look at Denny's. Their brand voice is funny too. I think it's an amazing idea that they've come up with virtual backgrounds that you can use for online meetings that look like you're at Denny's.

Now Fenty Beauty. Their brand voice is super casual. This is their brand voice and the language they use to communicate with their target audience.

KPMG, the big four accounting firm, and the Boston Consulting Group, and Moody's, the rating agency, they use an entirely different language and have a different brand voice, right. You get the idea.

I hope that by now you have found three adjectives that describe your brand best. If not, no problem. Here's a chart from SproutSocial. It shows you the top seven behaviors that consumers want from brands. So you can pick a characteristic from here as well, if you see one that fits and that's how you want to be seen.

Then you can create a brand voice chart. Here are two great examples from CoSchedule. Shoutout to them. This is how yours should look like too, for your brand voice characteristics and the traits that you want your brand to have. I think going with three is a good number. You can do more, but I recommend no more than five.

With a brand voice chart you can better show how your brand is, and more concretely, it is crucial for your content marketing. Your brand voice chart will help you when you're creating content and when you're writing your copy. You can also send it out to a writer. If you ever want to hire a freelance writer or an agency to write for you, they'll know how to write for you when you show them your chart and they'll be happy and you'll be happy and your readers will be happy too. Everybody will be happy.

Your brand voice chart is really an essential reference tool that ensures that your content, your texts and your visuals, are consistently using the same voice.

So exercise five is to pick three adjectives that describe your brand best. And then exercise six is to create your brand voice chart.

Now let's move on to your brand language. Brand language is the body of words, phrases, and terms that you use to describe your purpose or in reference to your products.

This is why your brand language is important. You can use your brand language in your marketing to help your customers connect specific words or ideas to your products and services.

In the next exercise, I want you to define words and phrases and terms that you like and ones that you don't like. You can make a table that looks like this and contrast words you like with words you don't like.

Let's have a look at the first line, the contrast in the first row of the table. This is an example of Skype by the way. Skype likes the words free, whole world, share and calls. And they don't like the words telephony, peer to peer, bill, and VoIP.

The next example is from myself. Here at Dragon Digital Marketing, we want to keep it simple and we like to always say, use, to, buy, get, show, and job instead of utilize, in order to, purchase, obtain, illustrate and occupation, for example, right. We like to keep it simple.

What kind of language do you want to use? Do you want to be cool and casual and urban like Fenty Beauty and use words like drip, y'all, cop, or lil. You need to be clear about this because you need to commit to it and be consistent with it for a very long time.

This is what your brand tone is and what the difference is. Just like you. You have a voice. You can choose which language to speak with your voice and which tone to speak with your voice. It's like with us humans. The tone of a voice, the tone that you speak with, is the emotional inflection applied to your voice.

Have a look at these videos. I think this makes it very clear. You always have the same voice, but you can change your tone of voice depending on whether you speak to a baby or with a friend or with your boss or when you're angry or when you're speaking to a stranger. Same with your brand. In general, the better your brand voice fits and suits to your brand personality and brand strategy as a whole, the better it will resonate with your target audience.

It's also super important to do your research and create buyer personas that are as accurate as possible. Because the last thing that you want is to turn off your target audience with your brand. You can use my free buyer persona template, and you can download it on my website for free. The link is down below.

I have four more things for you to consider.

First of all be human, be personal, be customer centered, right, be inbound.

The second thing that I want you to consider is word of mouth is powerful and you want to make every interaction a person has with your brand noteworthy and special and positive enough that they mention it, be it online or with their friends.

You want to think of branded hashtags you can use and encourage people to use. That way you can see how people use your brand and learn from that and interact with your tribe and be even closer to them. And it also gives you user generated content, meaning content that you don't have to create, but your users do by posting their own pictures and their own videos. And it increases your visibility and presence online as well.

And the fourth thing is, brand your content, have your logo on all of your infographics and graphics in general, and in your videos. Have a watermark on things, in your presentations. When you give someone a tip, mention your brand everywhere, right, because you want it to stick.

I appreciate you for watching my video till the end. I hope I was able to help you out with your branding. Thank you for subscribing, and I'll see you in the next lesson.

Hi there. This is Monique. Welcome to lesson nine of the Brand Story course by Dragon Digital Marketing. In this lesson, we'll talk about storytelling and building a story brand and of course your brand story.

You'll learn how to create your authentic brand story with all the knowledge that you now have about branding. Before we get started, I want to thank you for subscribing to my channel and clicking on the bell. Now you'll get notified when I post new videos and go live to help you with your marketing. I'm really excited to have you in my community.

This free course also comes with free course materials that you can download on my website. And then you get the most out of this course. You can also find the link in the video description, if you're watching on YouTube. So please head over to my website and download the free course materials now. So without any further ado, let's get started and talk about storytelling.

I want to start off with a quote from Seth Godin. "Story is how humans navigate the world. It is our oldest technology and our most important one."

Storytelling really is a buzzword and has been for the past few years and rightfully so. We, as humans, are social and emotional by nature and we are more drawn to stories than to hard facts. And many brands that have been leveraging storytelling and realized the power of stories were really able to boost their success. Think Disney or Coca-Cola and what strong connection they have with their audience. How does a brand story develop authenticity ? And how does a brand story create that trusting feeling that customers crave? This is exactly what I'll teach you in this lesson.

In your brand story, you tell the series of events that have led you to found your company, and you explain why it drives your mission today. This is important because just like in your favorite books and movies, your brand story will make your audience remember who you are and develop empathy for you, and they'll know what to expect from you and be able to relate to you, identify with you and ultimately care about you.

I want to share this amazing video by the Interaction Design Foundation with you. I've also linked to it and embedded the video underneath this video on my website. So you can watch it again if you want to. And it's also included in the course playlist on YouTube.

"We humans have always been obsessed with communicating. It's how we turn ideas into the glue that binds us together into tribes and societies. In oral traditions, an idea spreads from person to person. Everyone briefly owns it, modifies it, and can choose to pass it through social networks or let it die.

It's survival of the fittest and only the most compelling ideas thrive. But the last hundred years of the broadcast era changed all that. Here, audiences became consumers of ideas, not participants in spreading them. Brands and causes with access to broadcast could guarantee attention. It became survival of the richest.

Now that the broadcast era is ending, what will come next? With audiences again in charge of what ideas they seek, skip and pass along, we are entering a time that looks like a digitally empowered version of the oral tradition. The digitoral era. Here, it's survival of the fittest again. And what kind of ideas survive in any oral tradition? Stories.

It's time we all became storytellers again. But how? It starts by thinking of your brand itself as a story. Every communication you create is another chapter in an unfolding epic, starring you and your audience. On the surface of any story, you'll find characters, settings, conflict. None of these things are placed there by chance.

Every visible element of a well told story is there to illustrate a core truth about the world. A moral of the story. Morals are themselves expressions of values that the storyteller wants to share. Different values create vastly different worlds and story surfaces. Joseph Campbell, who studied stories across cultures and millennia, discovered the most universally successful stories or myths call audiences to higher human values like community, justice, truth, and self-expression. Campbell also uncovered the hero's journey, a formula for iconic storytelling that has always worked. We still see it everywhere and it provides huge insights for a story-based brand.

An unlikely hero, a powerless outsider, muddles through a broken world. She wants to live out her higher values, but feels powerless to do so. Then she meets a mentor who tells her so much more is possible. He gives her a magic gift and calls her to a dangerous adventure of self discovery. On this adventure, she confronts the evil source of the world's brokenness and seizes a treasure with which she comes back to heal society. Audience is thrilled to hear this story again and again. Brands can use this formula to become storytelling masters too. How? Start with the hero.

This hero doesn't start out as the insider, the one with the power. She is an outsider to your brand. So she's not you. The hero of your story is your audience. So if you're not the hero, who are you? The mentor. You are the character that reveals more is possible. You work to connect audiences to their deeper values.

You teach a core truth, a moral of the story that provides hope to heal a broken world. Stop talking about how great you are and start telling stories about how great your audience can be. And give them a magic gift. Something that makes the adventure you are offering seem likely to succeed. A great brand gift has taken good story brands and made them cultural icons.

Any brand can become a story brand by finding its relevance and its values, its consistency by building every communication around its moral, it finds resonance in its unique voice as mentor rather than hero, and its differentiator in its gift. But that's the easy part.

In the transparent world of the digitoral era, mythic success will take something more, a commitment to live the higher values you espouse. Those that don't, will lose credibility and their stories with it. Brands brave enough to live their values will reach iconic status and light up the digital landscape. They will tell the stories and create the myths that will win the story wars."

To write and tell a compelling brand story, you need to be very clear on who you want your story to resonate with and who you want it to appeal to. This means that you have to know exactly who your ideal customer is and have created detailed buyer personas. And then you tailor your messaging to them and use the words they use.

A buyer persona is a semi fictional representation of your ideal customer. And it's based on research and educated guesses that you make to make your marketing stronger and to effectively segment your target audience.

You can download my free buyer persona template to create outstanding buyer personas for your brand. And you can use it as a basis and reference for your brand story.

Your brand story needs at least two characters. The hero or heroine, which is your buyer persona, your customer. And a guide or a mentor, which is your brand, it's you. So your customer is the hero of your brand story and your brand is the mentor in your brand story.

So instead of bragging about how great you are in your marketing messaging and telling people how many years of experience you have, how many awards you've won, which great companies or people you work with before and how much money you make, focus on emphasizing how you can help your customers, talk about the benefits, advantages and values for them, show empathy, and talk about how you make them a winner.

This is the approach you should take. Your brand can become a story brand when you find your relevance in your brand values, stay consistent by building all of your communication around your morals and resonate with your audience through your unique brand voice as a mentor, rather than hero, and you use your gift as a differentiator to build your UVP and USP on and by committing to your higher values, so you gain credibility and are able to keep it over time. The power of stories is that they create trust. And your brand story must be driven through your brand personality.

Look at this quote from Susan Gunelius: "Brand stories are not marketing materials. They're not ads, and they're not sales pitches. Brand stories should be told with the brand persona and the writer's personality at center stage. Boring stories won't attract and retain readers, but stories brimming with personality can."

In his book "The hero with a thousand faces", Joseph Campbell describes a cycle called "The Hero's Journey". Every great story follows these steps. Think about your favorite books and movies like Harry Potter, The Hunger Games or The Lord Of The Rings. You'll see in a minute how all of the great stories follow the hero's journey.

The journey begins in the hero's ordinary world but the quest passes through an unfamiliar, special world. And along the way, there are some key events. We start at the status quo and then at one o'clock, call to adventure. The hero or heroine receives a message or an invitation or a challenge. You can choose whatever you want. It's your brand story.

And then at two o'clock, assistance. Your hero needs some help from you.

Three o'clock is the departure stage. Your hero or heroine crosses the threshold from his or her comfort zone, the normal, regular degular point where he or she is at their safe home, to the special world.

Now it's time to take action. It's time to get out of the comfort zone. It's time to go on an adventure and get something greater and reach a higher level.

Four o'clock, trial. The hero realizes it's hard work and he or she needs to solve riddles and slay monsters and escape traps. It's super important that you as the guide and the mentor, don't leave your customer alone facing these challenges. If you're a SAAS company and sell a complicated software or you sell an otherwise complicated product, onboarding is crucial. You as the guide have to make sure that your customers actually can be heroes. They need demos and webinars and tutorials and Q and A sessions and support groups.

Then five o'clock, approach. It's time to face the hero's worst fear. Remember the pain points and the worst fears of the different brand personality types from lesson six.

Six o'clock, crisis. This is the hero's or heroine's darkest hour where he or she faces death and possibly even dies. You don't want to lose your customers and you want to prevent any churn.

Seven o'clock, treasure. It's time to get the treasure, your gift, your unique differentiator, your product or service. It gives your hero power or special recognition and it helps him or her to overcome the challenges and the frustrations.

Eight o'clock, result. Now the result varies from story to story. Maybe the monsters bow down now or they still chase your hero. Either way, your hero or heroine got the treasure now and they flee from this special world with it and return to the ordinary world at nine o'clock after all the adventure.

10 o'clock, new life. The quest has changed the hero. He's outgrown his old life.

11 o'clock, resolution. All the angled plot lines get straightened out and then 12 o'clock, we're at the status quo again, but upgraded to a new level. Nothing is quite the same once you're a hero.

It changes your life and it upgrades it to a new level if you've overcome the struggle of going through dozens of books at a library to get information and now you can just Google it. Or it used to be so hard to keep up with friends and family and now you have Facebook and other social media. Networking and advanceing your career is so much easier and no longer a hassle, thanks to LinkedIn. Or you've overcome leaky diapers, thanks to Pampers. And the struggle of removing stains from your kids' clothes, thanks to Tide. Or at the problem of cakey, streaky foundation that isn't even your exact match is gone, thanks to Fenty Beauty and their amazing shade range. Or if your problem is that you want to wear something more exclusive and stand out and you can do that, thanks to Louis Vuitton.

I'll link the book "The hero with a thousand faces" down below, if you want to check it out and learn even more about the Hero's Journey in more detail.

This is how you start with your brand story and how you can structure it. Every story has a beginning, a middle and an end. In the beginning, you explain the problem that you set out to solve. The middle part is all about the solution and you describe how you solve your customer's problem. And then in the end, it's about success and you want to get excited about the success that you produce.

Let's take TOMS for example.

There are people in need who can't afford shoes. With every pair of shoes we sell, we improve lives and help a person in need to give them a pair of shoes. You should buy our shoes if you want to help people in need so they don't have to walk barefoot without shoes.

And as you can read here now they've become even more generous and give away even more than a pair of shoes for every pair of shoes that they sell, and they're really in business to improve lives. They even have a COVID-19 global giving fund to help less fortunate people during this pandemic.

Your brand story is the framework for your business' life. Your brand story shouldn't create a trap but serve as a catalyst. The great thing about stories is that they live on. Real stories keep on connecting with people. You can keep your brand story alive by continuing to impress your customers and give them the best customer experience possible. Your brand story will build a foundation of trust, but your customer's personal experience will cement that trust and to something that lasts.

Let's do an exercise together. Think about the 12 steps of the Hero's Journey and write out your brand story and what happens at each step. Focus especially on three steps. The three most important ones that you must have and can't skip is the problem that your customer has at the status quo and that you help your customers to overcome. The second step is the solution, meaning the treasure and how it's unique and helps him or her to overcome all of the difficulties. And the third thing, of course, is the success. And that's where you paint a picture of the new and better life that your customers have with your unique product or service.

It will take you a while to craft it and put it all together and figure out how you can tell this story with your content marketing and your social media marketing and all of your marketing communication. And that's okay.

In the next exercises, I want you to think even bigger and this will make your brand story even greater because boring stories don't catch on and you want yours to be spectacular and truly inspiring. Now imagine how great it would be to contribute something even bigger to the world and inspire people and thus make yourself and your brand even more attractive. Consider a contribution you could make to the world and then clarify it so you can communicate it to everyone you meet.

Exercise two. How is your product or service making the world a better place?

Exercise three. What is your vision for the future of your business and how do you feel you can contribute more to build a better world?

And exercise four. Can you see yourself making a difference in the world over your lifetime? And if so, what are your goals?

I want to share a quote with you from John Wall. He's the host of the Marketing Over Coffee Podcast together with Christopher Penn. "When you look back upon the obstacles you've overcome, you don't want to be ashamed of how you've treated other people."

This is a beautiful mantra and affirmation to motivate and inspire you to be your best self and to create an amazing brand story. Check out the Marketing Over Coffee Podcast and you can also check out the Dragon Digital Marketing Podcast, in case you didn't know that we have a podcast too. Also check out the other resources that I've linked to underneath this video as well, if you haven't already.

Summing up. Here's the conclusion.

Relationships are the lifeblood of brands and they are built on shared beliefs. Your brand must not brag about itself and tell people how great it is and that it is so much greater than everybody else. Your customer is the hero of your story, not you. You are the guide or the mentor. Have a story, live by the moral of your brand story and let all of your actions and your marketing campaigns be guided by your beliefs and why you do what you do, meaning your mission and your vision.

Your brand heart, remember? This is how you make your brand personable and allow for people to identify with your brand. Create a brand personality that is in sync with your customer persona. Everybody who shares your core beliefs and your goals and values will be attracted to your brand.

No matter how diverse your audience is. This is what everybody has in common independent from demographics, education, ethnicity, income, family situation, gender, and other things. We are all one. We are all human.

Hey there. Thank you for taking the Dragon Digital Marketing Brand Story course. I hope your brand will be a huge success and I wish you all the best. This is the last lesson, but stay tuned for bonus lessons. You can reach out to me anytime with your feedback and suggestions for bonus lessons that you may have. And please share this course. It means a lot to me and it does help a lot. Your share really makes a difference. Consider subscribing to the newsletter and check me out on social as well. Also don’t forget to claim your course certificate. Thank you so much for watching. I appreciate you. And I hope to see again you in future courses and future videos.