Human Branding: Merging Who You Are With Who You Serve

You’re human. Your audience is human. Connect like a human, then.

‘Branding’ is somewhat of an iceberg. At the top, you can easily observe the high level elements like logos, messaging and product. However, towards the bottom of the iceberg you meet the base that forms the top. And that base is filled with complexities such as storytelling, beliefs, leaders, desires, and more.

In branding you have to merge visually identifying what you do and who you serve, with who you are and your unique preferences and beliefs. This is not easy- and takes more than a mathematical approach. When done correctly, you get something that not only serves your customers, but feels like it represents you well. Like the colors, words, imagery and visuals feel like it’s straight from your brain.

Allowing people to be connected to who you are, what you do and how that relates to them. Visually and through emotions.

Why does it matter?

For simplicity’s sake: it’s because you’re human. 

We are a connection based species, with a strong sense of self-identity and a pull to find communities that we fit into. With branding, that doesn’t change at all. In fact, it only becomes more crucial we recognize our natural desire for these things and to build around it. 

Humans connect to brands that connect to them. And we connect naturally through aligned beliefs, visual signals that identify with us, and behaviors align with those sets of beliefs. 

With businesses, you can look at it through having a mission that aligns with your audience, a product that serves them, and a vision that connects to a person’s innate sense of purpose in identity. We like being a part of something that contributes, that feels like more than the surface. 

How Can You Do This? 

Human Branding Formula

Follow these prompts and document them. You’ll find columns that are filled to the brim with richness to pull into your branding, and find that other columns are empty and need work.

The goal is to pull out who you are, at its core. And then pull out who you serve, and their desires and needs. See where you meet those well and where you can fix it up.

Creating a perfect merge of who you are, and who you serve to create a brand that lasts. 

Origins
Ask yourself:

• Who am I? How has this story formed this business today?
• Where do I come from? What is the story that formed me?
• Why did I start this business- and not something else as a result of my background?

Axis
Ask yourself:

• What is my unique offer- the axis that my business sits upon?
• What ‘tension’ does this create? 
• Why would someone buy from me, and not someone else?

Beliefs
Ask yourself:

• What do I believe in?
• What do I want others to believe about me?

Behavior
Ask yourself:

• What behaviors do I do that carry out my beliefs?
• What behaviors does this brand always do?
• What does it never do?

Signals
Ask yourself:

• What do people see, hear, feel or experience and think, ‘oh, thats you!’?
• How do I signal to others what I do and what I believe in?

Outsiders
Ask yourself:

• What brands don’t align with my beliefs, process or values?
• What people/customers wouldn’t align with my beliefs, process or values?

Future
Ask yourself:

• What are your immediate future plans? Next 12 months?
• What is your ideal future? Dream, make it big, get connected to why you even started. 

When you do this well…

You not only create something that someone wants to buy into, or be serviced by- you create a movement around you. 

Think of brands like Nike & Apple. Boiled down to simplicity, one sells shoes and the other sells phones. It’s a basic product business. But they stand for something more.

Nike believes everyone is an athlete, encouraging you to just get out there- to just do it. Through set behaviors, and signals they show this to others and you buy into not just their products but what they mean to others.

Apple thinks differently, they innovate. They’re always creating something new, and showcasing it once a year. They push the needle, and have always done that from the beginning with Steve Jobs. You aren’t buying a laptop, you’re buying a MacBook. 

And these companies see great success as a result of connecting to human desires and our innate nature. You can do that too. 

*Human Branding is our new framework we’ve created here at brandch after over 5 years of research and testing, inspired by branding techniques that are standard: we wanted to create something that works for our clients and businesses. A formula that genuinely works. You can get in touch to begin your Human Branding process.