The Importance of Cultivating a Brand

     A couple of years back, I worked as a fashion and editorial model. I used to travel to a lot of big cities like Atlanta, Nashville, and New York to do editorial shoots and runway shows. I worked with a variety of different designers and companies that all had their own vision in mind. As I'm sure you know, there are thousands of girls biting at the bit to get jobs in cities like New York, and a lot of them are willing to do things they may not otherwise do, but they will do it for that opportunity. Models are treated as disposable, so if you say no to something, there is always another girl just waiting to take your place. However, I wasn't someone willing to say yes to everything. I had many designers who wanted me to do shoots in settings or clothing that I found inappropriate. As I was underage at the time, my mom came with me on many of my jobs, so not only was I uncomfortable with some of these situations, so was my mom. When these situations arose, we started using our new favorite line: "that's not the brand I am trying to cultivate." You may be asking yourself why I said all of this. The reason is because branding is key. I put jobs on the line because I didn't want to be portrayed in a manner that I didn't feel represented who I was or wanted to be professionally. I didn't want to be perceived as these different things, so I said no even if it may have hurt me in the short run. In the long run, however, these choices helped me to market myself in the manner that I found most appropriate and eventually led to me working with brands I may not have been able to if I would have made different decisions early on.
     Cultivating a brand image is one of the most important aspects of marketing your business, or even yourself. It's important that your consumer not only is able to distinguish your product from a competitor's, but also that the message that your customers are receiving is the message that you are intending to send across. It's crucial when making marketing, management, and product decisions the ensure that the choices you make align with that of the brand you are trying to cultivate. It's always important to ask yourself if the decision in question aligns with your company's values and mission. Sometimes it may be easy to choose an option that seems to be more beneficial in the short run, but if it doesn't align with your intended image, then it can be more harmful in the long run. It's important to decide what your company's values are and what image you are trying to portray because this will help guide you in the right decisions to make down the road. You know the old phrase "stand for nothing and fall for everything." Well, if you don't have specific values for your company starting out, then you may make decisions that are harmful to your future image. When starting a business, it's so important to define your goals and values before making any decisions. After your intended brand image has been determined, make sure to question decisions and make sure they the are communicating the intended message to your consumer. Consumers become familiar with your product and logo through the brand that you build, so it's important to ensure that the actions and choices you make help you create the image and reputation that you intended.