Every day, billions of blog posts, emails, tweets, status updates, snaps and pictures are generated and shared. Your potential reach and impact to help tell your story is unfathomably (and equally) large. If you’re not taking part in this digital conversation, you’re missing out, seriously.

Often, companies and individuals don’t pay attention to their brand or don’t make it a priority. However, by not creating and cultivating a brand, you’re depriving your company and yourself of the highest potential you can reach.

True branding is so much more than just a logo, and great branding creates loyal customers and passionate employees.

INTRODUCING BODDHI BRANDING

Founded by a friendship forged in wine, coffee, sarcasm and GIFs, BODDHI Branding was created with a vision of authentically and creatively constructing stories to help your brand grow.

Great branding isn’t rocket science, but it does take time — time that we know you don’t have. You’re working full-time, running a business, making product, studying data points and trends and dealing with life in general. Let us do the heavy lifting and help construct your stories so that you can focus on what you do best. We do the research, we come up with the ideas and we tell your story.

In everything we do, we operate by four core values keeping brand awareness and understanding at the forefront: 1) be vulnerable, 2) respect all, 3) thoughtful criticism, and 4) happiness rules.

We specialize in corporate branding, employer branding and personal branding all aimed at increasing brand awareness through effective storytelling.

WHAT does your brand say about your company and is a consistent story being told both visually and contextually?

It’s the details that matter — consistency is key. The entire expression of your brand needs to tell an authentic and consistent story to effectively reinforce your message.

Color palettes, iconography, typography and voice are all incredibly important and often-overlooked areas of your corporate brand. Something as seemingly simple as color is an integral part of brand identity. The consistent use of color palettes both reinforces brand cohesiveness and also communicates a specific feeling and emotion to your audience.

What type of photography is used in your brand — original or stock? Photography should be simple, honest and straightforward. It should evoke each brand’s mission, vision, values and purpose. It should never detract from the message or content, but instead reinforce it. Great corporate branding ensures you have consistent brand expression, through all touch points, across all external and internal audiences and platforms.

WHY do your current employees want to stay with you and why should future employees come to work for you?

In today’s technology-driven world, companies that do not have a digital presence will not be successful. Consumers are doing a lot more research before they buy, relying on review sites like Yelp and Google to make informed purchase decisions. The shift in the way consumers make purchasing decisions can also be seen in the way job seekers conduct their own research and choose which companies they want to work for.

The job search has historically been very company-centric. Traditionally, companies have used techniques like classified ads, career fairs and brochures to attract talent. Today, the landscape has shifted; it is now a candidate market and the power has exchanged hands.

A candidate-centric approach is how many companies are now looking at their talent acquisition strategies. Companies at the forefront of this shift are using LinkedIn, Glassdoor and various other social media outlets to help tell their story, nurture candidates on their journeys and find their next employees. Going digital with talent acquisition and treating prospective employees as you would treat prospective customers is essential to remain competitive in today’s labor market.

WHO is your authentic self and what value do you have that you are willing to exchange for other people’s time?

We live in an increasingly transparent world, with access to people like we’ve never had before. Social media removes many of the access barriers we’ve traditionally dealt with in previous years. Right now, you can take to Twitter and @mention almost anyone.

That great idea you wanted to share, or that important business connection you’ve wanted to make may have taken months of work to initiate in the past, can now be accomplished in near-real time through a tweet, post, video or GIF. Social media has been woven into the fabric of modern life — it just so happens to be the best place to build your personal brand.

Just as a business uses branding to create a unique name or image for a product or service, an individual can use branding to position themselves as a thought leader to propel their career. The trick is getting people to pay attention to your content and elevate your brand above the digital noise.

LET US HELP YOUR BRAND GROW

Whoever you are and whatever you do, you need to create great stories in order to grow — we can help! We’re a different agency. We’re not simply consultants — we’ve created and nurtured national brands and campaigns. For additional information, please visit BODDHIbranding.com or get connected online at Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn, @BODDHIbranding.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Chris Skaggs is the co-founder of BODDHI Branding, a creative agency with a vision to authentically and creatively construct stories to help your brand grow. Digital and social media, branding, recruitment and content strategy are all functions Chris has developed building teams, processes and strategies from the ground-up. Dedicated to giving back Chris also co-founded Leighton’s Gift, a non-profit with a mission of turning a tragedy into something positive. He also serves on the boards of a variety of different organizations. A natural storyteller, Chris’ work and experiences have been featured on CNN, Marketing Sherpa, Thrive Global, CBS Radio, Recruiter.com and Glassdoor. Get connected online, @chrislskaggs.