How to Launch Your Brand with Velocity

Are you launching a brand new business?

If so, the last few months (or years) have probably included learning about your target audience, creating a business plan, deciding on your perfect offer, and making hundreds of other decisions for your business.

But, what about your brand?

What *emotions* should you audience feel when they encounter your business?

What guiding principles you will stand for *above all else*?

How will you infuse your *personality* into your business?

Why should your ideal clients *care* about what you have to sell?

These are the types of questions you answer when you dedicate the time now to building a *psychology-driven* brand.

You need a brand that’s true to your ideals, values, strengths, and beliefs. You need to connect with your ideal clients on an emotional level. This is what a psychology-driven brand strategy does for your business. It allows you to magnetically draw in clients happy to pay your worth.

Because you are not just launching a business… you are creating something so much larger than that. You need to identify the bigger reason you exist.

Why should your audience care about YOU instead of the thousands of other businesses out there offering something similar?

This is why we’re here! To help you get this right. To ensure you put your best foot forward. Because getting started the right way is crucial and sets the tone for the success of your business for years to come.

Why is it so important?

When I first jumped into online entrepreneurship, I made a mistake that cost me six months of brand-building. I limited my potential before I even got started.

Here’s what happened…

I decided to build a business around what I knew. Namely: being a military spouse with ambitious career goals. I built my entire brand around the brand name and website, the “Successful Military Wife.”

(Ha, groan.)

The problem with that misstep was that my value extends way beyond helping military spouses. It’s part of my identity, yes, but it unnecessarily limited my impact.

This kind of naming and brand faux pas can be avoided by establishing your branding the right way. As soon as I transitioned to my own name as my brand, things started falling into place. I started attracting more clients, making more money, and feeling aligned with my brand.

And that’s just one example of all of the decisions you make when you’re building a new brand. There are so many decisions you’ll be making in these early days:

… the brand name

… your first offer

… how you’ll explain your value

… if you’ll DIY everything, or hire help

… what your website will look & feel like

… and on & on.

Getting direction and help in your early brand-building stages is an awesome shortcut to getting the results you want, faster. This isn’t to say that you won’t make any mistakes. However, by finding brand-building mentors early on, you get to skip a lot of the mistakes *they* made.

Branding Words of Wisdom

Are you more of an audio/visual learner? Here are some of my favorite videos with advice specifically around launching with confidence and clarity *from the start*. Psstt… want to see the latest videos as they are released? Subscribe on Youtube:

Subscribe on YouTube

I’m OBSESSED with brand archetypes to infuse psychology into your brand strategy. Listen to learn why.

Naming. Is. Hard. Period. Here are some tip and tricks if you’re struggling to decide WHAT to name your business.

Listen in to learn my 5 favorite exercises to banish imposter syndrome F-O-R-E-V-E-R.

You’re an entrepreneur…this means you have tons of great ideas. Watch this video for tips on how to *focus* that genius.

Advice for Launching with Velocity

Time for some unsolicited advice. Because I believe in you and I believe in your brand. And I want you to rock this launch 😉

Focus on doing what you can, with what you have right now.

In the beginning, the chicken and the egg scenario happens a lot. You want to have a website, but you don’t have your products photographed yet. You want to create a bunch of new inventory, but you need capital you don’t have. Or with a service business, you need a portfolio but haven’t had clients yet. This is totally normal.

If you can’t put a site up yet, use social media for now. Or a simple landing page. If you need clients, work with some (carefully chosen) beta clients in return for feedback. If you can’t afford a designer (common!) use Canva.com or templates in the beginning. Remember there’s always a way forward with the resources at hand.

Take time to decide what need within your niche you solve.

If you’ve already decided to launch a business, this may seem like a simple question. You’ll be selling copywriting services, motivational speaking, fitness coaching… underwater basket-weaving classes. (?!) Now, dig a little deeper. Take time to decide what need within your niche that you are solving for people. Let’s use copywriting as an example. A potential client may be looking for someone to write a sales page for their website. What if they don’t realize that you, as a copywriter, provide this service? You need to define your offer so that this potential client actually understands that they are your ideal client and they need you.

Work and talk with real, live, human beings.

Try beta testing some of your ideas before you sell them full price. See if you can get a few fellow entrepreneurs to participate. Rather than depending on you, yourself, and, well… you…call in reinforcements! Use the beta tests, interviews, and surveys to make the decisions I spoke of above. You’ll prove to prospective clients how much you care. Added bonus, you’ll be networking with other like minded entrepreneurs. All while finalizing major decisions about your brand. This will be a great first step towards building credibility with your audience.

Decide: How will your brand make people feel?

Do you know which archetype you identify with most? Many people don’t – even when they have been running their business for years. To get started defining your brand archetype – take my Brand Personality Quiz. Once you know your brand archetype, your options are limitless. And don’t forget to check out my information pages and blogs dedicated to each archetype.

Bootstrap with self-education, courses, and group programs.

There are TONS of amazing resources out there to help you successfully launch your brand. A simple Google search will provide you with the tools you need to teach yourself. Take e-courses on sites like Skillshare or from your favorite entrepreneurs. Read books and articles. Or best yet, find group programs. Many experts (myself included) offer courses to teach material offered to 1-1 clients in a live group environment. These days, there’s SO much life-saving material out there on the web. Whether it’s free or a small investment, it’ll be worth your time researching to find the best fit for you.

Be YOU to find your people.

As you’re beginning to establish your business, it’s *especially* important to focus on building trust. People don’t know you yet. You haven’t built a reputation. It’s crucial that you share with your audience who you are, what you do, why you’re exceptional, and how you can help them. You business will thrive on your ability to create strong, emotional connections with your audience.

Collect proof points & credibility clues.

Challenge yourself to write a list of 100 reasons why someone should hire you. Think about your past jobs, education, and people you’ve helped. Also, think about all of the benefits and life changes your future client gets from working with you. Consider all the ways they save time and money. Think about all the pain/frustration you alleviate for them. When you’re done with this exercise, you’ll have a master list of all the reasons someone would be crazy not to hire you! You can use this list to help write your website and as a shot of confidence whenever you need it.

Find a cohort of entrepreneurs.

Focus on finding your people! Find inspirational stories of those who are farther ahead of you. Be intentional about the messages you consume. Be intentional about the people you surround yourself with. If your goal is to create a 7-figure business, find others that have. If you want to build a media empire through a blog, find successful bloggers and others with the same dream. Don’t limit your success by refusing to invest in relationships.

Start before you're ready and stay in motion.

Get the ball rolling. The great thing about launching your own brand is that it’s easy to go back and make edits down the road, if you choose to. Maybe after you’ve been at it for a year or two, you’ll decide you want a professionally designed logo. Or maybe you’ll decide you only want to use certain types of photos in your published content. Great news – this is all editable – brought to you by the gods of WordPress (or whatever platform you’re using).

Just remember, when you’re launching a new brand, constantly find yourself in action. Figure out where you fit, test your theories, interview potential ideal clients, network, learn and above all….work with clients! You’ve got this.

Launch with Velocity Articles

Still craving more knowledge? Here are a few can’t miss articles we’ve published on building your dream brand from the start.

Want step-by-step mentorship as you grow?

Then Brand New Brand is your answer.

Learn more about Brand New Brand

Or, do you want free brand training?

Have you checked out our FREE 5-day training? The Define Your Brand Mini Class is the perfect first step to defining the CORE of your brand. This mini class will introduce you to our psychology-driven methods of brand building and kick start defining the basics of your brand with true personality.

Enroll in the Define Your Brand Mini Class

More Free Resources – Curated Especially for YOU

“Official” Bio

3rd Person Style

Kaye Putnam is a psychology-driven brand strategist for entrepreneurs. Through work with hundreds of clients from Fortune 50’s to entrepreneurs, she developed the In Demand Brand method. She believes in pursuing big audacious dreams and that entrepreneurship is the key to freedom.

She works with students in her Brand New Brand incubation program and with clients 1-on-1. When she’s not transforming brand strategy and websites, she’s exploring the world with her husband and two little ones. They love eating their way across their home of Naples, Italy.

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