As a presenter, you probably spend quite a bit of time thinking about how to communicate with others. How to get your message out in a way that is relevant and relational. And how to make it stick with others. If so, you’re already well on your way to creating a powerful presentation brand. Because that’s what branding is about, telling your story to others in a way that they remember it.
On Wednesday, we talked about the importance of creating a strong presentation brand. If you missed that blog, check it out here. As you start to think about creating your brand, there are a few things you’ll want to keep in mind: your purpose, your audience, and your design. If these sound like things you already think about as a presenter, that makes a lot of sense. Because branding and presenting have a lot in common.
Your Purpose
You might have heard it called your “why” or your mission statement, but knowing your purpose is crucial to creating a strong brand. Grant Thornton recently published an article in which they said that 82% of companies they researched have sought to articulate why they exist and what they stand for in the last 12 months. Knowing and communicating your purpose is essential to both building and sustaining your business. That’s because it should be the driving force behind your decisions and interactions. Without knowing your purpose, you won’t know what to strive for or how to measure your success. If you haven’t already, set time aside to work out your purpose. It could be a personal statement, a professional statement, or even one that you use just for when you present.
Your Audience
The next thing to consider when creating your brand is for whom you are creating. In other words, who is your target audience? Tailor Brands shares an important but uncomfortable reminder when it comes to branding: your products/services won’t appeal to everyone. The same goes for your presentations. And that’s okay. They say, “Good branding means being able to communicate well with your target audience, so you can create an emotional connection with them—but to do that, you first have to know who they are.” Think about who needs your business or services. And then think about how to reach those people more specifically.
Your Design
Once you know your purpose and have figured out your target audience, it’s time to start creating your look. This involves things like branded colors, fonts, and logos. If you want to know what’s on trend, check out this research on Fortune 500 Company logos:
- Over 60% have both a word and an icon in the logo
- About 43% use two color logos
- Approximately 73% use sans serif fonts in their logo
- And 47% have logos which use all caps
You might also consider adding a graphic element to your logo, since the human brain can process images much faster than words. Also, Nuanced Media says that “research shows that the average user spends a length of about 10 seconds on a website before deciding if they are interested in sticking around or not. These initial 10 seconds are made entirely of visual first impressions, and will have an enormous impact on how the customer feels about your business and remembers your company in the future.” Check out the design of two popular speakers and notice how color and font and logos help to create their brands.
On Brené Brown’s website, you can see the use of a strong font and color scheme. Her marketing uses pictures to help communicate.
Austin Channing Brown’s website has a strong use of color, a creative logo which turns her initials into a a graphic, and a series of 3 descriptors that explain her purpose.
If you want to get serious about presenting and sharing your ideas, you need to get serious about creating your presentation brand. Figure out your purpose, your audience, and your design. Then communicate them strongly to the world.
Ready to take your presentations to the next level? We can help.