Welcome to our monthly feature The PR Desk! Written by PR professional Heather Travis, it guides bloggers on the ins and outs of navigating the world of PR agencies and brands. This month, Heather shares her insights into being your brand.
We’ve all heard it before: you are your brand. But all too often we can fall into the trap of not actually being our brand. If you are your brand, how can you not be your brand? Simple: by not remaining true to yourself and your esprit de corps, you risk changing and evolving your brand without purpose or meaning. Simply put, you devalue your brand by muddying the waters.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying your brand can’t evolve or change in time. It totally can.You just need to be purposeful about it, rather than leaving the reader wondering or the brand rep questioning your fit as they scroll through your Instagram feed.
You need to be your brand. Every word and image shared in your social media creates a brand picture for the rest of the world. What is it they're seeing? Does this image match your bio? Does it match what you tell brands you are in your media kit? Would your mom call bullshit on some of your content stories?
If you asked your readers to list out five of your brand personality traits, ideally their list would match yours. Do you have such a list? I find it’s helpful to write these down and check back to them when you're making decisions about brands to work with or new content themes to create.
Reader surveys are a great way to check in with your readers and see what content is resonating with them and what areas of your brand they gravitate to. It’s also an opportunity to see if there's anything that isn’t working. Your readers are your biggest brand allies, so why not give them the opportunity to help it grow and evolve?
Sometimes it’s a simple evolution/solution, like creating a second Instagram account just for personal photos. And sometimes it’s a bigger evolution with a full blog redesign and content focused on ‘where you’re headed now.’ No matter how big or small, changes in your brand happen — what you need to ensure is that you're the one in control of your brand’s destiny.
More Reading
- PR Desk: A Guide to the Essentials of a Good Pitch
- PR Desk: Five Things to Do Before You Pitch
- PR Desk: Establishing a Relationship with PR Agencies
- PR Desk: How To Find the Right PR Contact
Need Help With Your Branding?
Heather will be running a session at FBC2016 on Key Messaging For Bloggers - How To Get Your Message out to Readers, Brands and PR Agencies. Brittany Stager will be running a session on Visual Branding for You and Your Blog. You'll learn everything you need to know about getting your personality and message out to the people you want to reach!
Heather Travis @heathertravis is a PR professional and lover of all things creative. She has extensive experience developing and implementing integrated public relations and marketing programs for agricultural brands, producers and processors, as well as high end sporting goods. She’s a DIY junkie with a mean power tool addiction, and can often be found painting, refinishing, and scouring both junk yards and antique markets for her next fix … err, piece of content for her blog heatherinheels.com. Find Heather on Twitter @heathertravis and Instagram @heathertravis.
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