The Branding Goals and Values of Your Video Business

Ok.

So by now, you know what you’re selling, to whom and where. You’ve made some great progress.

But there’s one last important centerpiece that’s missing in this 5-W’s game:

Who are you?

Like we’re not dealing with this existential question in our personal lives enough already, am I right?

Well, while we can’t help you figure out who you are as an individual (we’re not qualified to do that, sorry!), we are qualified to help you figure out who your branding is. This is what we’re going to do in this lesson.

Think of this as your new video business’ path to self-discovery.

We will help you figure out:

• What you sound like (your tone of voice)
• What you look like (your visual brand)

The important thing to remember throughout this process is that authenticity is the key to success when it comes to growing a loyal audience. To be consistently authentic in the long run, your brand has to have a little bit of you and your team (if you have one) in it. If you’re naturally a goofy jokester, incorporate that into your brand from the start. On the other hand, if you’re naturally not funny or punny, don’t go after that goofy tone because you will initially attract a certain type of audience only to eventually disappoint them because, because believe me, it’s hard to keep up something that doesn’t come naturally to you.  

Don’t base your brand on a trend either, because trends fade. Be true to yourself and your brand. Not only will it help you grow at a consistent pace, but it’s more fun too.

Let’s get started.

Your goals and values

Before we start figuring out how people will perceive your brand through sound and vision, let’s figure out how you perceive it. We’ll do that through jotting down the goals and values you envision for your businesses.

Brand Goals:

In part 3 of Ideation, you defined your “What”. Bring it over here.

My VOD will offer videos that {insert action} people to {insert VOD’s topic}.

We’ll use this to build your goals, which will help you understand where you’re hoping to take your business in a specific time frame. Answer the following three questions:

Where do you hope your video business to be in the next…

1. year?
2. 3 years?
3. 5 years?

These time frames are important because they keep things realistic. You will be investing a lot of money, time and patience into this, so you’d better be in it for the long haul. If you can’t figure out where you’d want your business to be at the 5-year mark, then maybe you should reassess.

These goals are not set in stone, and we guarantee you they will change as you go, but you must have somewhere to start.

Brand Values:

Your brand should be a visual and vocal representation of the company’s values.

These are the principles that are important to you and your team, and ultimately important to your target audience.   

• What is it you stand up for?

Often times, what your brand stands for is more about what it doesn’t stand for. So don’t forget to look there too. Jot it all down.

• What is it you want to tell or show the world?

This question is very specifically important for any business that sells content of any kind. Before you get started with producing anything, you need to know exactly what your message is to the world. In one sentence, describe what you want to say.

• How do you want your ideal audience to feel when they interact with your brand or consume your content?

Pull up the personas you created in part 3 of Ideation. How do you want them to feel? Consider everything they are, from their gender to their education, and list the emotions you wish they’ll get when they interact with your brand. Do you want them to feel inspired? Calm? Happy? Angry? List as many emotions as you can, but make sure every emotion you have written down is there with intention.

• Which other brands do you aspire to be like?

These could be competitors or any other brands you love and see yourself being. List a few, then describe the elements of those brands that you like and would like to adopt. Make sure you’re looking at more than one brand, otherwise you won’t end up being unique. Rather, combine different elements that make up your vision. A little bit of this, a little bit of that.

Bring it all together

Look at everything you’ve written for your brand goals and values and with a highlighter in hand (literally or virtually), mark every single adjective you come across. This is where you find your businesses values – in the adjectives you used to answer the questions above.  

As you look at the map of adjectives across the pages, you’ll start to see some patterns. If you’ve written an adjective more than once, highlight it every time. You will likely find a lot of overlaps and synonyms. Give repeated adjectives and adjectives with synonyms more weight.

Combine all of them in one document, and narrow them down to 4 or 6 (max 6) distinctive and genuine brand values that reflect your business’ core attitudes and principals. Make sure each value is unique in the list and not synonymous with one another.

If you’re not sure what that document of brand values should look like, here are 190 examples to look at for inspiration (but no cheating! Your values are your own).

Congratulations. You now have 4 to 6 brand values your brand will live by. You’re a step closer to figuring out who you are.

PS: if you have a fear of commitment, rest assured your brand values, tone and look are bound to evolve as you grow. But starting off with these values under your belt will at least guarantee you’re evolving in a logical and sensible direction in the future.