Defining your why gives you purpose, satisfaction, and motivation- both in business and in life. 

• Your why is what makes you interesting because it is your unique story.
• It helps you live with optimism and clarity.
• It helps you wake up everyday with determination and resolve.

Tell me about one of your favorite formative stories.

It can be from childhood or adulthood or it could be the origin story of your business. These stories are a guiding light to finding your unique value and honing in on why you are doing this.

Your core values shape your identity and the content you create. They’re the pillars of every message you deliver. Your brand identity—defined by the values that your company considers integral to its existence—is the source from which all other aspects of your brand will flow.

Every single one of your core values needs to be something your business cannot survive without.

No pressure. Here's a great activity to sort it out:

Now that you’ve got your “why” and your values pinned down, we can find your niche.

A niche is vital to strong branding because it guides your marketing and drives engagement with your specific audience which ultimately means more sales. You really only need 250 engaged customers for a sustainable business. That should take some pressure off.

You can have 25K followers but if only 150 are engaging and buying- it means you’re being too broad.

You can have 500 followers and if 250 of those quality followers are engaging and buying- you’ve found your niche and things will flow from there.

The first step is naming your perfect customer. Come up with three distinct characters that represent your ideal customer. Bring them to life, you should be able to picture them as a real human. The questions below will help you out.

A good example of a successful marketing niche on Instagram is @the.prickly.pear . It’s a succulent and cactus shop and that is what all of their content is based around: cacti, succulents, and cacti and succulent art, with a dash of distinctly stating their opinions.

This works because if you’re a customer who loves cacti and girly art and you share the values of the company, you’re going to follow this page and know exactly what you’re getting and you’ll probably spend money.

So let's hone in on the above information a little bit more...

Step one: look through your customer profiles above, what is one element that your three ideal customers all have in common? What would they talk about on a first date?

(i.e. they love vintage clothes)

Step two: Take that common element and get even more specific.

(love vintage clothes from the 60’s)

Step three: Narrow it down even further.

(i.e. love vintage leather jackets from the 60’s)

Do this with three to five of the  most distinct things that they share.

An example of a finished customer profile niche for the example above could be:

Women in their 40’s who make 100k per year, live in light airy spaces, have elementary aged kids, love plants, and collect vintage leather jackets from the 60’s.

There is your niche!  When you combine this with your brand values, you will have a compass that can guide your design, Instagram content, and marketing trends. This keeps you in the driver’s seat with branding consultants and designers. You want your brand to reflect your vision or it won’t stick.

For example, with the above example niche (Women in their 40’s who make 100k per year, live in light airy spaces, have elementary aged kids, love plants, and collect vintage leather jackets from the 60’s.  and a top value of “authenticity”:

• you know to tailor your logo to appear fresh and fun but still mature and polished to target the attention of that audience.
• Your Instagram/web content can feature a light and airy esthetic across the board.
• You can choose models that speak to that demographic and make them feel valued and seen.
• You can tailor your marketing to appeal to moms in their 40’s
• You can tailor your stock to flow with your market (responsive marketing!)
• You can drive sales through appealing to the values they share
• And maybe most importantly, you know that you and your customers are bonding over shared values and you don’t have to worry about getting in with the wrong crowd.