How to Tell People What You Do in Just 5 Minutes
This post is Day 6 of the 28 Day Blogging Breakthrough Challenge. You can chat about the challenge on social media using the hashtag #BloggingBreakthrough. Click here to view all of the challenge prompts.
If there’s one question I know we all hate answering it’s this: “so what do you do?” We pause and think. What’s the right thing to say?
I’ve been asked this question many times over the past few years. And if like me, you stumble across the words and can’t think of how to answer, then today’s post is for you.
The #BloggingBreakthrough challenge is all about getting a breakthrough with your blog, right? Part of that means you’ve got to be recognised and remembered.
How you answer this question makes all the difference. I was so sick of my response being “I work in marketing and I’m a blogger.” That sounds so boring, right? I mean, how many people work in marketing? And how many people are bloggers?
You want to be different. You want to be the only one that a person will remember when they ask you this question. So you need a good answer. You get that by creating a brand statement.
HOLLY, I'M LOST - WHAT EVEN IS A BRAND STATEMENT?
I first learnt about brand statements during my Masters course in Journalism, two years ago. For every brand we created, we had to create a brand statement for it. This was so we knew exactly what each brand embodied. It was so if someone said, "OK, tell me about [insert brand name here]”, we knew exactly what to say to blow them away.
Let’s say you answer “so, what do you do?” with “I’m a marketer and blogger.” Boring, right? Or you could answer it like this:
"By day, I market one of the top sixth form College’s in the country through online content, email marketing and social media strategies. By night, I write for my online community about building a fulfilling online presence, reaching your dreams and getting to where you want to be. I also use what I learn on a daily basis as content ideas to teach my audience. It seems that people know what sort of thing they want to do in life but they don’t believe they can get there. That’s what A Branch of Holly is for."
Which one do you think is the better answer?
Which one would be remembered the most?
A brand statement is 3-4 sentences of brief information that helps people understand about you, what you do, why you do it, why it’s important and how passionate you are about it. Plus, why what you do is different to the hundreds of other people out there who do what you do.
Difficult, right?
That’s what I thought when I came to write my own brand statement.
I don’t want the word “brand” to scare you. Think of your brand as your blog - you embody your blog, therefore you are your blog and your brand.
RIGHT, I'M IN - SO HOW DO I MAKE ONE?
There are a few things you need to think about when it comes to writing your brand statement. It’s best to get a piece of paper and write down as many notes as you can.
Who Are You Blogging For?
This means the people that you create content for. The people you talk to on a daily basis. The people you’re targeting. You’ve got to dig deep. People who want to get healthy - too broad. People who love beauty - too broad. People who are getting married - too broad. See what I mean? Find a common theme. Look at who you interact with most on social media and the people who comment regularly on your blog. What do they have in common?
Why Is This Important?
Why do you want to target this group of people? Why do you want to write about the topics you’re writing about? Why beauty and not food? Why blogging tips and not fashion? Why lifestyle and nothing else? Go back to the beginning and remember why you started this journey in the first place.
What Do You Blog About?
So why do people come to your blog? What do you give them? It’s not really about categories here - you’ve got to go deeper. I mentioned on the first day of this challenge that you’ve got to know your main message. Media Marmalade is known for fashion. The Nectar Collective is known for blogging and business advice.
What about yours?
What Makes You Different?
This is always the hardest question of all. There are thousands upon thousands of bloggers out there. How do you stand out?
Draw upon your personal experience. Say you’re a beauty blogger - what can you give your audience that other beauty bloggers can’t? What do your lifestyle posts do that other bloggers posts don’t do? What makes your blogging tips different from anyone else’s?
I guarantee there will be something. Even if you don’t know it or believe it yet, there will be.
ALRIGHT, I’VE GOT MY ANSWERS - SO WHAT NEXT?
The last thing to do is put it altogether. Just put your answers from each of the questions into a paragraph. You can even mix them around and put them in different orders so you’ve got 3 or 4 brand statements to choose from.
All you need is four sentences and you can be remembered.
Are you ready? To give you a bit more motivation, here’s an example from one of my brand statements:
I help bloggers and online beginners believe in themselves and get to where they want to be, because this was exactly what I was lacking when I first started out.
I want others to feel relaxed, confident and comfortable in what they do for a living and what they blog about, so I offer motivational posts and I always create content based on my own personal experiences to help my readers and allow them to put their trust in me.
Today's Task
Go through the four questions listed above and jot down some answers. Then go ahead and mix and match to put some different brand statements together.
The comments are yours, friend. Are you gonna' have a go? Leave me your brand statement or tweet it to me. I can’t wait to see what you come up with!