Binge-Worthy Podcast Brand
Danielle Marchese is a personal branding expert and host of The Brand Theory Podcast. She joins Leverage Your Podcast to discuss the pieces that make up the branding puzzle and what to consider and do to create a binge-worthy podcast brand.
Branding as the DNA of Your Business
Danielle describes branding as the DNA of one’s business. It’s all the physical features like your logo, colors, fonts etc. combined with your personality.
You can’t really have one without the other.
Branding is, essentially, choosing and making choices – everyday – in every area of your life in authentic alignment with who you are.
It isn’t necessarily about making business decisions based on the latest trends or on what other people are doing, it’s about what we want to try out for ourselves.
The Beginnings of Danielle’s Branding
When starting her business, Danielle chose her colors based on what was trendy at the time. Same for her personality, she based that off of her brand which, in turn, was based on what was popular back then.
She was trying to fit in to simply attract clients as fast as possible. But she was struggling to do several things, including creating content, because she didn’t really like the color, messaging and all the other elements of her branding DNA.
The Relationship Between Branding and Marketing
For Danielle, you can’t really have branding without marketing, and vice versa.
It’s about starting with our branding, using that as the foundation of our business, and creating our marketing strategy around that.
“You can’t really have branding without marketing, and vice versa.”
This way, not only we’ll have a branding strategy that’s authentic to us but we’ll have a marketing strategy that feels the same way – and that is aligned with who we are, with our personality, business values, and brand, as possible.
Branding for Podcasts
When it comes to launching podcasting, as well as other things such as a new program or starting on a new social media platform, Danielle suggests starting from a deep-dive into what’s currently going on in your brand.
What’s going on in the business right now?
How are people perceiving you, and how do you want to be perceived?
What message are people getting from you, and what message would you like people to be getting from you?
Ask yourselves these kinds of questions and make sure that everything is as aligned as it could be. If not, make adjustments where necessary.
And it’s ok for the podcast to be slightly different from what we typically opt for or do in our business, branding-wise. Let’s say you work with corporate clients and would like for your podcast to teach people how to get into the corporate world. This type of show wouldn’t necessarily target corporate people, rather those who would like to enter the corporate world.
Hence, some of the choices you’d make would probably be slightly different compared to the ones you usually do in regards to your corporate clients.
Creating Binge-Worthy Content
As a content creator, you should aim at creating content your audience can’t have enough of.
Inject it with your personality, add a little sprinkle of personal anecdotes and don’t be afraid to just start. As you improve and grow, people are going to notice and are going to appreciate your growth and will become loyal consumers of your content also because of it.
Don’t obsess over trends, focus on what’s more natural and aligned with your personality and brand, instead. Leave some room for experimenting but stay true to your brand.
Your Branding Handbook
One of the things Danielle recommends every entrepreneur does is the creation of what she refers to as a Branding Handbook.
This is a resource that includes the various colors, fonts, and everything else that make sense for you to piece together your branding puzzle.
Your Branding Handbook shouldn’t limit itself to those more tangible elements, though. Thinking about what you’d like your customers to experience is part of it all too.
Mood boards are a valuable resource that can help you better define the sensorial and experiential side of your brand.
Aligning Your Podcasting Elements
If you’re in podcasting, then you’ve probably have created or have been planning the creation of various branding elements such as the title, the show description, the intro, the outro, and the artwork.
Refer to your branding handbook whenever you feel like and think about your personality and the experience you’d like for others to go through as they find and consume your show.
Ideally, your personality, your brand and your podcast should be as aligned and in sync as possible.
Sometimes, however, that’s easier said than done.
Don’t Be Afraid of Rebranding
If you feel as if you’ve reached a certain level of growth compared to when you started podcasting and would like to change something, you can think about rebranding.
Danielle, for instance, has been considering a re-recording of her intro for The Brand Theory Podcast because she sounds nervous in the current one.
“It was too much for me,” she said. “I sound a little too subtle, I feel as if it should be more energized and I should talk how I’m talking now.”
Sometimes, people may get nervous about rebranding anything because they don’t want to stray from what they have done in the foundation and that’s how people know them.
If you’re feeling growth, however, you may reach a point where your current brand and podcast aren’t a match with your current “status”. I have rebranded myself, I have changed format and rebranded my podcast 2-3 times over the years.
When you’re rebranding, you don’t want to rush into it. Instead, you’d want to think about any decisions that you need to make differently or any mistakes you have seen others made. Take time to reflect on the growth or change – and to appreciate how you have grown and evolved as a podcast host.
Instagram and How to Choose Your Topic(s)
As she discussed her Instagram approach, Danielle shared some advice that you can apply to your own content strategy, whether it focuses on Instagram, on your podcast or on something else.
If you’re unsure about what to cover, Danielle recommends picking 2-3 topics you could talk to a stranger about – for her, that’s TV, traveling, and coffee (as well as a series of reels of stuff she gets her mom into).
Adding a little bit more of personality and personal tidbits to your content can help inject more of your brand into your content and it will make it stand out and resonate with people more.
About Danielle
Danielle, a brand strategist, and consultant, has been helping brands carve our their own unique corner of the internet since 2017 by helping them curate a one-of-a-kind, authentic, knock-out brand their audiences become obsessed with. She is also the creator of The Brand Rescue, a revolutionary course that teaches you how to turn your brand into one that is “binge-worthy” by adapting simple story-telling principles into your everyday marketing. She is also the host of The Brand Theory podcast where she shares tips and tricks on how to continuously grow your brand visibility online. Danielle’s mission is to inspire as many people as possible to live “on brand;” consciously and unapologetically making choices from a place of alignment and authenticity.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danielle_marchese/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-marchese-9863b7223/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@danielle_marchese
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