Recently I attended the Connect conference at the Cucalorus film festival in Wilmington, NC. It was a week filled with amazing films from filmmakers around the world put on by some of the most talented people in Wilmington.

Cucalorus never disappoints with its daring films and outlandishly fun events, I enjoy attending every year. Being a conference focused on business and technology, I met some truly inspiring people and gained a great deal of insight. Not only did we learn about crowdfunding for motion pictures, we also discovered more about industrial design, innovations from small start-ups, the life mottos of Steve Jobs and many more interesting topics.

One my favorite sessions was about Employment Branding. It was a session dedicated to businesses that want to brand themselves well for future employees. I thought this was pretty insightful because it can be applied to all of us in our daily lives. We can use these tactics not only in employment branding but in branding ourselves and our companies to potential clients.

Here are my TOP 3 TAKEAWAYS for branding your company.

1. KNOW YOURSELF – Take the time to review your company’s values and culture. Do leadership interviews with people on your team to see what they believe your company’s values are. At the end of the day your company is your team. If you want to expand the research, then do full-on employee surveys. And don’t forget to assess the data once you’ve compiled it, because data that sits around won’t benefit you or anyone else.
2. BUILD YOUR BRAND – The first step in building your brand is to define your audience. Then figure out what your key message is that you want your audience to take away from your company. The third step is to know your company’s EVP (Employee Value Proposition). This is one of the most valuable aspects of your company you should know, especially when you are looking to hire new business or employees. Then it’s time to get the ball rolling – get your employees involved and start collaborating on creative concepts and ways to show the world what your team and your brand has to offer!
3. TELL YOUR STORY – The third step of building your brand is actually getting your brand out into the world for people to see, which can be done through traditional and social media outlets. Make sure your brand is displayed in outlets that your audience uses, this comes into play if you’ve effectively defined your audience. There are many ways to tell your story such as through photography, video and copywriting. If you chose to do all three, make sure they are cohesive with one another’s style and your overall brand.

I think the most important lesson from these three steps is to really know your brand values and what your team stands for. Include your team in the process, because you’re only as strong as your team. Build a brand that you are confident in and happy to flaunt.

Remember, if you don’t define your brand, somebody else will.

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