Branding is an elusive topic for a lot of professionals and entrepreneurs alike. There’s a lot to it and it can get quite complicated. However, the more simple you can make those complex plans, the more elegant they’ll be in design and function. Here are a few quick tips you’ll want to remember when thinking about your own branding:

• The Story You Tell: What is that story you tell about yourself, your company or your organization? Remember, if you don’t craft your own story, it will be done for you. Don’t believe me? Google yourself right now.
• How You Tell It: Once you know the story you want and need to tell, you need to think about how to tell it. What’s the tone and voice that goes with that story? And what are the channels we use to tell it? What kind of imagery goes with that? As we all know, a picture’s worth a thousand words. Shaping the story specifically for the audiences you want to reach is just half the fun.
• Is It Authentic? Finally, in everything you do with branding and business in general, you want to make sure your story is authentic. It’s one thing to say what you want your customers to hear and it’s another to deliver it. Do you have the back-end set up properly to support your claims? Are the systems in place, are people properly trained, do they have the tools they need to succeed and stay on message in the process? Culture is everything and it feeds right into this last main point.

A big part of branding is story telling but the bigger part behind that is backing that story up with actions. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said that your actions speak so loudly I cannot hear what you say. Actions, then, are the most important part of branding.

In branding, it’s all about actions. Does what you say match up with what you do? That’s branding.

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