What If You Were A Brand?
When I started working in marketing, I always thought how beautifully the marketing concepts can be integrated into personal development. I once thought this could also be a great subject for a book, but one day I walked into a bookstore only to find a shelf full of them. I have to admit I was a bit bummed to see how many had already been written. Even though I haven’t read any of those and gave up writing my own book about it, I still want to talk about it so I decided to write this blog post. Let’s take a look at how we can treat ourselves as a brand today to live a happier life.
CHANGING THE TARGET AUDIENCE
One of the first things to do when you’re establishing a brand is to decide who the target audience is going to be. In order to have a successful marketing strategy you have to make sure you’re aiming at the right audience. How can we adapt this to our lives? If you feel like your social environment is not moving you ahead, that they don’t get you, they don’t make you happy, you can always become a part of a new community. We don’t get to choose our family but we choose our friends, job, social circle. Being a part of one or more communities or clubs in our lives which are going to make us happier is something we can achieve. If you want more fun, hang out with people who like to have fun, if you want to be more social hang out with people who are more of that, if you want to be more successful spend more time with people who care about and work towards their goals. You don’t have to give up your current friends but you can always join new social clubs or seminars or courses and make new friends. Nowadays it’s possible to find friends from all over the world thanks to the internet. Isn’t it just great?
A NEW SLOGAN
In the same way that brands use their slogans to put a hook in the customer’s brain, you too can remind your view of the world or what you strive for in life, to yourself and the world with a mantra or an affirmation. Just make sure it’s a positive statement. Many people do this by putting it in their Instagram or Twitter profile but sometimes these are sad and negative things. When I see that I always think do they know how powerful words are? A reminder, you don’t have to use it for 5 years. You are not making a financial investment like a company. Change your slogan when it stops representing you and replace it with something you like more.
DESIGN
The brand logo, color palette and brand design are crucial to the brand appeal. Does your appearance reflect your brand? Are you happy with your personal style? Do you have a style and does it reflect you? Social media has made everyone immensely aware of how they look. This is mostly not a good thing because people are trying to meet standards that are not realistic. What I’m talking about is having a style that is a reflection of you. Without pressure from social media and magazines dressing in a style you like and looking in a way that makes you feel good and which is in harmony with your personality and identity can really make a huge impact on your confidence. You don’t have to break the bank in order to do this. To find your personal style start with saving photos of people whose style you admire. Then you can recreate this style with your own budget. We all have things we’re comfortable with and you don’t have to go beyond that. What you should aim at is just a more polished version if it. You can build your new style step by step. Have fun!
GET OUT THERE!
Even when you’re not selling anything, let people get to know you. Let people know who you are, what you’re good at, what your goals are, what you like. Just as brands trying to reach their target audience by putting out ads, creating content and using different communication channels, you can use networking to share your skills and talents with people. On social gatherings instead of being shy, get up and meet people, ask questions, make new connections. When you are talking about what you’re doing, don’t feel like it’s bragging, if you don’t tell, people can’t know and maybe a skill or talent you have will be useful for someone. Share fun things you are doing, your hobbies, your business interests on social media and encourage others to do so. Interact with people who share similar interests with you. Remember that if brands didn’t advertise their products nobody would know about them, and if you don’t show the world what you’re doing people can’t know about the great things you can offer the world.
Finally, when you treat yourself as a brand would, remember to view things from an affectionate place. You are already perfect the way you are. Still, to be happier if there’s modifications you can make, why not? After all, we have one life and we deserve to live it the way we want to.
Image Credit: Photo by Amanda Jones on Unsplash
