BY KIM HANNA
This week we’re talking about building your own unique brand with Julie Cottineau of BrandTwist, a brand consultancy that helps entrepreneurs and corporations build stronger and more profitable brands.
Julie is also the creator of Brand School by BrandTwist, an online master class that helps small business owners and entrepreneurs develop more focused and distinctive brands.
Julie was previously the VP of brands at Virgin, and before that, she held executive positions at Interbrand and Grey Worldwide. She's also the author of the incredible book, Twist: How Fresh Perspectives Build Breakthrough Brands.
What is “brand” at its most basic level?
Before diving into the topic of branding, we asked Julie how she defines brand. She says, “a brand is a story...and that story should have who you want to talk to. You want to tell the story too. What conflict are you overcoming? And then, importantly, what's your twist? Great books, movies, every kind of story, podcast that we listen to, they always have something different, something unique, and a Twist.”
...and that is why her book is titled Twist. A twist is your unique point of difference. How do you stand out? When thinking about your own brand, think about what makes it unique.
Others may define brand as how people would describe you, or maybe your reputation. What does brand mean to you?
Personal brands vs corporate brands
Julie has worked extensively with both personal and corporate brands. And they actually have a lot in common! The biggest similarity is that at the end of the day, both personal and corporate brands have a story that they want to tell.
The main difference, however, is how people approach them. While corporate brands always seem to have a plan with clear goals and accomplishments, personal brands are looked at based on personality. Julie explains that a personal brand is not just your personality, but a more curated version of your personality.
“You probably don't put up the pictures where you look your absolute worst or where you're doing absolutely nothing for the weekend, right? You tend to put pictures on social media and comments that help people understand what you're about and present yourself in the light that you want to be presented in.”
Julie emphasizes that whether it is a personal brand or a corporate brand, keep company values at the core of everything.
Social media & personal brands
Since personal brands are based on your personality, social media platforms have been life-changing for personal brands around the world. For those starting out, you can simply create an Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn account for free.
“It's made us all professional branders with free tools at our fingertips,” says Julie.
This might sound easy at first, but the challenging part is to remain consistent because most people engage in more than one channel. Think about your own brand for a second. Does it have the same look and feel on LinkedIn as it does on Instagram? Do viewers get the same message?
Brand consistency
What are some things that people should keep in mind when they're defining their personal brand in terms of making sure that they're able to show up consistently?
To maintain a consistent overall look and feel of your brand, Julie’s biggest tip is to “own a color!” The color that Julie uses is purple. But she makes it meaningful. “Purple is a twist of red and blue. My business and my approach to branding is about looking at different things from different places and twisting them together.” Julie stays consistent with her brand by incorporating purple into her book, website, and even clothing.
What color do you think of when you look at Christine Gritmon, Inc? Hopefully, you think red!
Another way to stay consistent is with a consistent tone of voice. “We defined our tone of voice and we made sure that whether we were writing a piece of copy or we were hiring somebody to do it, they had tone of voice guidelines,” said Julie. Figure out your tone of voice and then set guidelines in place for yourself and other people that might be helping you such as a ghostwriter or social media person.
Finding your “Twist”
With Julie being the author of Twist, we had to ask her, “how do you find your twist? Here’s her answer:
Start looking outside of your category to brands that you admire and you learn from them.
Pay attention to the storytelling of people that you admire and then twist those lessons into your own brand.
Try new things. Julie spends one day a week where she does something she’s never done before. She calls it Twisting Tuesdays. That might be taking her dog to a new park or watching a documentary and Netflix on a subject she knows little about. Making time in her calendar to experience something new helps her stay inspired.
Work with Julie
Julie is the creator of Brand School, an online master class that is great for solopreneurs, nonprofits, or just anybody who feels like their brand is getting a little bit stale and wants to learn! It’s an eight-week program starting on October 8th, 2020, on Thursdays from 12:30 to 2:00 Eastern time.
Brand School will help you figure out who to target, your brand promise, and how to raise your prices when you get clear on your story. This semester, Brand School will focus on COVID and the specific challenges of how to market and how to be sensitive during these times. You’ll go through an interview process where you'll get a 30 minute Brand Booster session where you get immediate feedback on your brand. To get started, email julie@brandtwist or go to brandtwist.com and click on Brand Booster session.
Thank you so much to Julie Cottineau of Brand Twist for her incredible insight on building your unique brand! To watch our Let’s Talk About Brand show, join us live on Facebook every Friday at 12 pm.