Branding Graphic Design Business

As a Graphic Designer, ‘Brand’ reaches far beyond personal branding style or your company branding appearance in the market.   What we are talking about here is how your customers see you and your company from a value standpoint.   This is where you need to look in the mirror and ask yourself the hard questions about customer perception and being true to who you are and what you stand for in your business and to commit to providing value to your customers and to your community.

This is where you draw the line, become polarizing and attract your dream customers to you and turn off people who are not your dream clients.

Track Time: See Workshop Session >>

Workshop Session: Time To Get To Work>>

Answer these questions, write the answers down in bullet point or go as long as you need to. (positive stuff only, no negativity here)

• How would you describe yourself as a person, to your friends, your family and your community?
• How would you describe yourself as a business person, to your current customers and your dream customers?
• What are the things you say about yourself to friends and family that you do not say to your customers or potential clients? 
  Hint: You are looking for things you desire and are passionate about personally that you do not mention in your business.
• If your family or friends were asked to describe who you are, what do you think they would say about you?
• If your customers were asked to describe who you are as Graphic Designer or business owner, what do you think they would say about you?
• What are the key differences you see about how your family and friends would describe you, versus your customers?  Hint: You are looking for qualities that your friends and family love about you and who you are, that are not coming across to your customers. Stay out of the negative, only list positive stuff.
• Are there any things that you are passionate about that your friends, family or customers do not know about or would not mention if they were asked to describe you?
• Ask yourself, how can I take what I am passionate about, that my friends and family would mention about me, and tie that somehow to my business?  Hint: What you are looking for are ways to connect with your customers and potential dream customers in areas you are passionate about, so that you attract customers who relate with who you are and what you are interested in and push those away from you that do not share the same interests or passions. 

At this point, just identify and list the items and do not worry about how you are going to use them in your business yet.  List as many things as you can here.

Workshop Session: Building Your Brand>>

Ok, so now that you identified how people see you, how you see yourself and have outlined what you are passionate about, it is time to put these into action.

Why does that matter and what does it have to do with being an amazing Graphic Designer, or building a business?

When it comes to business, opposites do not attract.  Your dream customers need to relate to who you are and what you and your business stands for.   If they don’t resonate with you, but a competitor does, who is more likely to be working with that customer, even though you are an amazing designer? 

Look at your brand as more than a visual representation of who you are or how your business is perceived in the market.   Decide what you like, what you are passionate about, what you like talking about or major things you stand for. Capitalize on those key points to help you build your brand, to attract customers to your business, who resonate with you. Build a business working with your dream customers you also want to be around you and your business.  Once you have attracted their attention, give them massive value in return and keep them coming back for more.

Hint: Be smart about your brand and what you are deciding out of your passions to add into your business.   Remember, what you decide as a passion or belief to share, must be common with the passions and beliefs of the people you are trying to attract to your business.

Time to roll up your sleeves…

In the two circles on this page, list out all of the things you are interested in, desires, passions etc, that you identified on the previous exercise.   In the other circle, list out all of the things your dream customers are passionate about, even list the things they like that you don’t, that is ok, you need to completely understand your customer, their desire and their needs.

Workshop Session: Building Your Brand>>

Ok, now that you have listed out all of the desires you and your dream customers have, organize them, put all of the common ones into the area where both circles overlap.  This is where your brand can live and thrive, where your customers will connect with you.

Disclosure: I am an independent ClickFunnels Affiliate, not an employee. I receive referral payments from ClickFunnels. The opinions expressed here are my own and are not official statements of ClickFunnels or its parent company, Etison LLC.