5 Reasons Your Brand Isn’t Growing

1) You Haven’t Started

You’ve had this burning urge to do more but have yet to narrow down exactly what it is that you should be doing. You’ve been imagining the ideas that you have come to fruition month after month but haven’t taken the first step to get the ball rolling. What are you waiting on? I guarantee you that getting started was the most difficult part of my brand and business. Once I decided to move forward, everything else naturally fell into place and began to build organically. Now I’m not saying it was easy just because I started, but it was much easier than sitting around knowing I wasn’t maximizing my full potential. We don’t know where to start, we don’t have time to start, we start and then second guess ourselves ending up back at square one. In the time it’s going to take you to read this blog post, you could’ve already purchased a domain name or created a YouTube page. Staying where you are will never end in progress. Take a single step forward towards what it is you want to do and let the rest follow.

2) You Don’t Know Your Audience

You’re throwing out bait, yet no one is biting.  If you’re pitching to a room full of people and not a single person is interested in what you’re offering, you’re in the wrong room. You will attract the ideal client by acting as if you’re always talking to your ideal client. Think strategically about what you’re trying to accomplish and build communities around that. My audience is likely an educated millennial woman of color between the age of 18 and 35 who either works corporate or are striving to build independent businesses. If those aren’t all facts, it’s something my reader is striving to achieve. I know exactly who I’m talking to. If your product is providing tutoring services to students for standardized testing, then your audience are the parents of students who take standardized tests, not necessarily your Facebook friends from high school. Don’t talk into an empty room.

3) Your “Why” is Wrong

People who do things for the wrong reasons often don’t make it too far. Money is exciting, believe me… I know. But doing something you dread for cash will get old sooner than later. When it comes to longevity, the reason “why” you’re doing what you do should be genuine and built around something you’re either exceptionally good at, passionate about or preferably both. Passion will forever outlive the lifespan of a dollar bill.

4) You Don’t Believe in What You’re Doing

How you perceive yourself tells others how to perceive you. The reason why the term “fake it tie you make it” is so popular is because people believe what you believe about yourself. If you’re timid about your product, your expertise or your beliefs, your credibility dwindles. You don’t have to be an expert, you just have to be you. You have to trust what you’re doing and saying before anyone else will.

5) No One Knows What you Offer

You’re all over the place. When you’re marketing to what you believe to be your target audience, no one knows what you offer. One day it’s thrift store finds and the next it’s a hair tutorial. When people visit your social media channels they can’t decipher what your services are or what you’re passionate about. They don’t know if you plan parties, or just like to party. They can’t tell that you’re an expert in web design if all of your photos are selfies. Be upfront about what it is that you do and design your social media channels around portraying just that so your brand is clear.

If you’re having trouble determining the details of your brand or mapping the direction you’d wish it would go, I’ve created a Brand Beginnings Werkbook to walk you right through that. Within the upcoming weeks, I will be taking on one-on-one clients in need of brand development + blogging direction. I’m really excited to watch all of your ideas come to life!