Synkd Blog
The Brand Entrepreneur

Brand: it’s in the way you speak.

For the people who know me personally, who have spoken with me in business and when networking, and as someone who is in the 49 per cent of Australians who were born overseas, I bring a strong, clipped northern english accent to the diversity table here in this beautiful far off corner of the world.

In many ways it defines me as much as it can hinder me.
As recently as this week I’ve had it pointed out to me in a meeting with a relative stranger that my pronunciation of a specific word was ‘wrong’ (from your perspective I countered) – ‘its ‘normal’ where I’m from’, I replied. The irony was not lost on me that said person was a Kiwi!

After consciously working to slow down my speech since arriving in Melbourne, I’ve been made more aware on these shores that my accent can be a divisive quality of my overall ‘personal brand’. I’m sticking with it though – it defines me and my uniqueness – ‘Be bold, be italic, but never be regular!’ If you want a unique point of difference just hear me speak! (Note: Its semi-scouse by the way, not Irish.)

Nevertheless, it was an important takeaway for me to constantly strive to improve my communication skills and relate more clearly to others – as well as practice compassion and understanding as part of the journey. ‘Just because you’re right, it doesn’t mean I’m wrong – you just haven’t seen life from my perspective!’ But this blog isn’t about me, its about building your brand.

How you deliver your message is especially relevant when it comes to building your ‘brand blueprint for business growth’ – both online and in print. How do I figure? The way you talk, your language, your accent – (oh yes. Aussies have them too), slang terms, colloquialisms, your tone and how you express your thoughts and feelings through oral and written word all reflect your unique brand.

If you design and build a new, engaging and customised, open-source website but you fill it with copy or words that are irrelevant, ill-thought out, grammatically incorrect and not focused on your ideal customer, you don’t have a new brand – you have your first brand and marketing lesson – and an expensive one at that. If your website copy is hard to comprehend, full of jargon and complex terms; time for a reality check – that’s your brand. If your copy outlines ‘what’ you do rather than ‘why’ you do it – that’s your brand. If you include acronyms and abstractions that detract and distract from your core message, ladies and gentlemen, that’s your brand. If your seasonal sales brochure puts online subscribers to sleep, that’s your brand. If you’re trying to be all things to all people, you got it – that’s your brand.

While ‘message’ and messaging are central components of your brand, message alone does not a great brand make.
How many times have you fallen for the sales copy for that holiday that didn’t quite live up to how the copy described it? That ‘disconnect’ is your brand. Time to get back ‘in sync’.

Get your brand ‘in sync’ with your ideal customer and think about what you’re really, truly saying with your brand. Could it be that you’re actually talking yourself out of your own brand success and business growth?

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I hope you learned something new, insightful or useful from this blog.

As The Brand Entrepreneur, I believe in helping businesses build a ‘brand blueprint’ for business growth. I do this through a series of workshops designed to help businesses realise and communicate their ‘Why?’ to resonate with ideal customers and make a difference in the world. Successful brands in the future care about customers, not branding. I believe that future is now. I’m passionate about creating brand stories & design assets that help brands get ‘in sync’ and connected to customers they care about.

BELIEVE – Brand New ‘Brand Entrepreneur’ Brand Workshops!

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