Create Your Brand Strategy and Start an Online Business

Hey Friend!

Are you wanting to start an online business but don’t know where to begin? Are you struggling to figure out what a brand map is and don’t know what to do about it? Or are you trying to devise a clear action plan for your business? If this is you, you don’t want to miss this blog. In today’s blog, I show you how to develop the 5-tiers of your brand map and get absolute clarity on your brand. I use examples and illustrations from a live coaching call with Mary Cox to display the real-world application. 

You will also see me using the words podcast and online business interchangeably. This is because I believe having a podcast is an essential part of starting your online business, and they are both parts of your overall brand strategy.

Get Unstuck and Start Your Online Business With a Clear Brand Strategy

One of the most common reasons I see people give up on their dream business is a lack of clarity. They start with the tug, the Holy Spirit nudge, and get excited to begin; but then they look up and are like, what am I doing? How is it going to work? I don’t know what to call it. Maybe it’s easier not to do it. Then they give up and get discouraged. When, in fact, it’s not the idea that was the issue. Instead, we get in our own way. 

So often, the pieces we think are missing, like the brand, clarity, message, title, and tagline, are already inside us. We just don’t know how to bring them out in a way that makes sense. We need help to organize them in a way that brings peace and confidence.

The Importance of a Clear Brand Strategy When Starting Your Online Business

When we are confused, the messaging doesn’t land, and the idea isn’t successful. Having absolute clarity from the get-go is vital for your future success.

To have clarity before you begin, you need to know: 

• What is my brand?
• What is my podcast going to look like? 
• What is my business going to become?

Answering these questions in detail will give you the best start in your new online business. 

If this sounds overwhelming and you don’t know where to start, I recommend my course Clarify Your Calling. In this course, we start from scratch to create your online business in a box plan. I’ve taken the framework I took hundreds of coaching clients through and made a course that helps you discover the answers to these three questions and create your brand map in great detail. 

I also have a free clarity workshop which can help you narrow in on what you are meant to do and get clear on your calling.

Start Your Brand Strategy by Defining Your Ideal Listener

The first step to creating your brand strategy is to define who is your ideal listener. This will underpin every other part of your brand. There are many ways to work through the process of figuring out who you serve, but it is helpful to have a list to follow to ensure you don’t miss a part. 

1. Start with the general topic or pain point; you want to dig deeper as you get more pieces of your listener.
2. Decide how old they are and what stage of life they are in.
3. What gender are they? While you can talk to both men and women, it will make your messaging easier if you choose. Men will still listen to a podcast targeted at women if it helps them; same with women. I talk to women in my podcast, but I still have men listen and buy my courses. 
4. Re-clarify that pain point using the information from points 2 and 3

You want to think about who you are better equipped to serve. Knowing this will make it easier and less stressful in the long run. We care so much about these questions and going into depth around our avatar because they create the foundation we use to develop the rest of our messaging. 
Everything from the copy to the title is centered around talking to this one person and their primary pain point. This process is called niching down.

Creating the Perfect Name for Your Online Business

Once you know who you are talking to and what problem you solve for them, it’s time to come up with a title for your business and podcast. It’s important that your show’s name reflects who you serve or how you serve them. It’s also great if it has meaning for you and your listener; this might mean it tells a story or a heartfelt connection. You want a name that will make you unique. 

It’s crucial to ensure that the name resonates with where your listener is, not where you want them to be. 

Next, Create the Tagline for Your Online Business

Next, we are going to craft our tagline. While it can be easier to name your show before creating the tagline, you don’t have to do it in this order. If you are struggling with the name, feel free to start with the tagline, which can help give you more clarity around the name.

What Is a Tagline?

A tagline is the promise of your brand. It’s the result you provide to your listener if they engage with your content. A tagline consists of two pieces, what your listener wants most and how you give it to them. You don’t want to try and cover everything, just what it all boils down to. We want to leave the details of what that looks like to our content pillars.

Brainstorming Your Tagline

If you find yourself getting stuck, a great tip I like to use with my coaching students is to write out all the words you associate with your avatar. This list will give you the basis for the language to use in your podcast name, tagline, description, and copy. 

Brainstorming ideas is one of the best ways to develop these pieces. Don’t be afraid to write down many taglines before you come up with one you love.

Description of Your Podcast or Online Business

In your description, you want to hook your listener in and make them need to listen to your show. A great way to do this is to include the pain points you brainstormed at the start, the solution to the problem, and a bit of the story or personality of the show. I also love to add a bit of tough love to inspire my listener to feel heard and take action.

Pillars for Your Brand Strategy

Finally, the content pillars are the practical component of your brand. They are where you outline the things you will focus on to achieve the desired outcome for your listener. Not having too many pillars is vital as it can confuse your listener and become too broad for your niche. I recommend around three pillars is a good number. 

Also, you don’t need to get too caught up in what you name them; content pillars don’t tend to be shared. They’re just buckets for your content. It’s also helpful to have some flexibility and freedom in your content pillars, so it’s okay to be more general here.  

The goal is for your content to fit into one of these buckets. If it doesn’t, you need to have a long hard think about if it actually is in line with your brand promise (tagline), or else you skip that idea. 

Keen to Start Your Own Online Business?

If this has motivated and inspired you to start mapping out your own podcast and online business, check out my online course, Podcast Pro University. In this course, I teach you everything you need to know to start your own evergreen, organic podcasting funnel for your new online business. 

So that’s how you create a mapped-out brand strategy. I hope this has helped you understand the different components of your brand map and shown you the importance of knowing your ideal listener intimately. Don’t be afraid to niche down and speak directly to one person; this is how you resonate with your audience and grow your show. 

Do you have a clear action plan for your business? Did it help? Which of these areas do you find the most difficult to plan out? Let us know in the comments below. We love to hear from you!

I pray this blesses you!

Xo,

Stef

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Before you go, be sure to watch the free workshop!

This free workshop is for you if you want to grow an online business in less time.

It will teach you how to explode your audience without the social media hustle, make consistent sales using a podcast, and plan, record, and launch a podcast with ease!

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