23 Linsi Brownson talks branding
Who is Linsi Brownson
Linsi Brownson, creative director for SparkCollaborative.com, really impressed me with her knowledge of branding and overall messaging. She has been an entrepreneur for ten years and the last three years has been spent running her current business. She has a clear and concise message as to what she is offering. She is able to convey this to her customers through an interactive initial approach during her intitial strategy session. She invites her clients to play “branding games”. This is a great way to get all the necessary information to establish a core foundation by learning everything she needs to know by motivating her clients to have fun and become an active participant in the branding process. She focuses on the branding process to help develop small business positioning.
One of the first things Linsi likes to do is to do with her clients is to tap into the creative levels. Her very first meeting Linsi has is to play “branding games”. She spends the first five to 15 minutes in various categories to get all the answers she needs. Some of the questions are geared toward the client and their background with regard to the skills they bring to the table and some of the questions are geared toward defining their target audience. This type of fun atmosphere makes it less scary for people and it helps their clients switch over to their right brain that helps promote creativity.
Linsi works with small businesses and solo-preneurs. Most of the branding process early on is more developmental. Linsi focuses on personality branding and she finds that by doing so, she identifies a lot of human elements that helps her clients to connect with their target audience on a personal level. Figuring out the message of the company and where they want to go begins with this enjoyable and energetic process to help create a story that people can identify with.
After the target audience has been defined, a story is established. This is when Linsi translates their story into visual elements. Linsi focuses on graphics first like banners, print media, website graphics, business cards and letter head in order to establish a cohesive message across the board. The third phase is where Linsi turns her focus to the web development and drills down on specific calls-to-action.
We think that hyper-niching is such a great way to go because you only have a finite amount of time to get your message across. – Linsi Brownson
Linsi is really focused on making sure her client’s understand what their brand means to their target audience. She dives deep into the branding process in phase one of her analysis with her clients. She really wants her clients to understand that the various components are still structured around the foundation element which is:
- why are you here?
- what are you doing?
- who are you doing it for?
It can be scary for many people to drill down on your niche because many people just starting their business feel like they are going to be missing business. While most businesses have multiple targets they can and are willing to engage with, the message can get lost in translation. If you are going to interact with this type of person, you really need to know very specific things about them and what they are looking for in order to make that connection.
One of the things that makes hyper-niching less scary is that especially now that people are spending so much time online, your world has infinitely grown to who you can address. When you focus on one type of person, there isn’t just one person. It’s very important to understand that you are not limiting your audience at all by focusing on what specific. You are instead focusing your efforts on millions of people that are not going to not just like what you are offering. They will love it, need it and crave it and tell people about it.
Linsi Brownson – 3 Personalities You Need to Identify Early on in Your Business
The first personality is yourself. Understand who you are and what you believe in. Really think about what you want out of your business and life because this is what is going to propel your business forward.
The second personality is your business personality. While this is a similar personality to you, has a lot in common with you and is a good friend of yours. While this is similar to your personal self, especially for solpreneurs, you really need to understand the difference between the two. You have to understand where your personal stops and business starts on social media and where do you make room for overlap.
The third aspect is your audience personality. You should first identify your audience by finding the attributes of an human example as your perfect customer. Who are they, who their parents are, who their children are, what do they do, etc. By diving into this character, you will be able to answer questions while you are building your marketing campaigns by asking what your persona would do? The psychology behind this and digging deep as to who this person is, really helps to identify early on whether or not a concept you are developing is going to work.
If you want to learn more about or connect with Linsi Brownson, check out the links below:
Spark Collaborative Website
Linsi Brownson’s Spark Collaborative on Facebook
Send Linsi a Tweet – @linsibrownson
Connect with Linsi Brownson on LinkedIn
Join Linsi on Google Plus
Linsi on Pinterest
Visit Linsi on Instagram
This was a fun interview and you should listen to the whole show, but if you are pressed for time, here are some of the highlights of my interview with Linsi Brownson:
- Who is Linsi Brownson? (2:30 Mark)
- What sparks creativity? (5:00 Mark)
- Linsi’s definition of “Branding”. (8:37 mark)
- How to effectively identify your target audience? (16:13 mark)
- What did Linsi do in order to turn her failure around? (20:11 Mark)
- Should you have multiple Twitter and Facebook accounts? (22:50 mark)
- How did Linsi set up her small business? (32:30 mark)
- What was Linsi’s break away moment? (36:42 Mark)
- Lins offers some great advice. (35:29 Mark)
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About Jaime Jay
Meet Jaime Jay – a man who wears many hats, and wears them all admirably. He's a master connector, an entrepreneur extraordinaire, and a published author who knows how to get things done.
Before he found his way to the business world, Jaime served his country as a brave paratrooper in the U.S. Army. But that's just the beginning of his many accomplishments.
He's the founder of the renowned Bottleneck Distant Assistant Services firm, and his book "Quit Repeating Yourself" has become a must-read for entrepreneurs everywhere.
When he's not busy building his empire, you can find him on his beloved Harley Davidson, cruising through the countryside and taking in the invigorating effects of Uitwaaien – a Dutch practice that involves facing the wind to boost health and relieve stress.
He enjoys spending his free time outside building stuff with his wife, Nikita the dog and their two kittens (for now at least) Tommy and Tater.
He is ‘over-the-moon’ happily married to his wonderful wife Sara, his amazing daughter, Jessica, who is serving our country as a United States Army soldier. Jaime and Sara are the proud grand parents of two beautiful little girls.
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