Nowadays, consumer expectations of brands are much different from those they had 20 years ago. With Millennials moving a step up into the primary consumers, they are more intentional about the brands they engage with. Aligning with brands that they find are trustworthy and relatable, being about something more than just selling them stuff is the goal.

As passionate entrepreneurs and business owners who love what you do, you put your heart into serving your clients and building businesses that are bigger than you. This is what we like to call heart-centered branding! 

But what does it mean to build a heart-centered brand, and how can we make a profit doing it? First things first, let’s define a “heart-centered brand.” 

What is a “heart-centered brand”?

This term was first introduced by Simon Sinek. Through his work, he realized that the majority of brands know what they do and how they do it, but very few of them know WHY they do it. Quite often, they don’t know or haven’t really thought genuinely about it.

Heart-centered brands can come in all sizes, across industries. Though the heart is indeed the organ traditionally associated with love, what makes your brand heart-centered, is that it exists as an expression of what you mean to people. It’s all about having core values people trust, a purpose that lights you up, and a story that resonates!

A heart-centered brand is one follows what’s inside of it, starting with the WHY. Why do you do what you do, why do you create and sell the products or services you offer? Why does your brand exist? 

When you start with the WHY from the get-go, you create something unique to you with a soul and a function of high value. Once you truly understand your brand’s role and the transformation you want to make in peoples’ lives, you’ll build products and services that help you achieve your WHY. You genuinely live and breathe that product or service and feel like you are here to be of service to your customers that specifically need the gifts you have to share. 

One of your most essential skills, as a Heart-Centered Brand, is that you possess the ability to meet your customers at a heart level, and take them through a journey that ignites their soul, almost immediately. 

Your brand is about creating a long-lasting, loyal relationship with people, not just a customer base. This puts your brand miles ahead of other brands as they struggle to understand why visitors don’t turn into buyers.

Building A Heart-Centered Brand

You’ve learned that to build a genuinely heart-centered brand, you need to know why you’re doing it, and then communicate that clearly to the outside world. The stability and strength of a heart-centered brand lie in building upon five foundational pillars – what we call the Five P’s. What are these pillars, you ask? They include aligning your Purpose with the People you want to serve and solving their Problems with your Products to create Profits. 

With these five elements working harmoniously, achieving happiness and success with your brand is all but guaranteed. Let’s take a quick look at each of them.

• PURPOSE: There’s no such thing as a heart-centered brand that doesn’t understand its purpose. The purpose is the heart of your brand: the reason it exists in the first place. Every heart-centered brand starts with a powerful purpose translated into an equally powerful story. 
• PEOPLE: Without people to serve, your brand can’t exist so, you want to get clear on who they are, specifically. The people that you decide to serve are what we call in branding, your target market, or your target audience. These are the people who need your gift and will happily pay you for it if presented and approached the right way.
• PROBLEMS: Problems are pretty straight forward. They are the primary, unmet needs of your customers. People aren’t looking to buy your actual products or services, per se; what they buy is a solution to a problem they want to be solved. Get to know the people you want to serve, identify THEIR problems, and find out what they would spend money on to solve their problems.
• PRODUCTS: Products or services are your solutions to your customers’ problems. They are what your customers will spend their money on to meet their needs or reach their goal. You’ve got to create products or services that align your mission with those you are serving.
• PROFITS: The meaning of a heart-centered brand doesn’t involve working for free. Let’s be real, heart-centered, or not, you are running a profit-making business, and you need to create profits to succeed. Anything else is a hobby. For your brand to be successful, you have to actually sell products or services that can turn a profit. 

Having clarity on what these five pillars are in your current brand will give you a solid foundation designed for success. Merely leaving one or two of these out, you’ll end up with an unstable or weak brand and will not be able to fully support you or serve others effectively.

This is the era of doing work that matters, so most small business owners and entrepreneurs we meet are on this track: they genuinely care about and passionately believe in their product and know that it adds value to the world. 

If you haven’t already employed this model as part of your strategy, remember that as a brand owner with your heart in the right place, you can reach many lives in positive ways.

Attracting the right kind of attention provides your brand with a unique advantage over the other brands that scream me, me, me. Your heightened awareness of how you want to make people feel when they buy from you means that your brand has limitless potential when it comes to making your dream brand experience so darned inviting. And, your Achilles’ heel?… not setting enough clear boundaries. 

Remember to ask for what you need and don’t get trapped into trying to compete with others. Elevate your brand and price accordingly. It may seem scary at first, but if you really want to add to peoples’ lives, you must stand up and be heard.

Final Thoughts

There’s no need to call your business a heart-centered brand if that’s not your style. Either way, it all starts with YOU, and you NEED to be clear about what your brand does, who your customers are, and why you’re THE clear choice! Otherwise, no one will want to buy what you’re offering.  If you don’t tell people they should pay attention to what you say, why would they?!

Let us reiterate: for you to make the impact you seek, you have to fully step into your power and own it!  Make your brand STIR people’s hearts, INSPIRE them, SPARK heartfelt conversations, and EARN their trust.

It’s not wrong to go after what you want, to have big goals, to state your needs, or to be ambitious. It is also not unethical to make money or put your brand out there. In fact, if you don’t do these things, your brand will fail. You are only as powerful as you allow yourself to be, so stop playing small! There are people out there who need you NOW!

At Brand & Press, we know our clients as people we serve, not just our clients. Our why is that we want to help our clients find a life of freedom through their brands. We value the relationships we create, always keep their interests close to our hearts, and make every effort to help them find the best solutions for their brand’s needs (even if they don’t end up choosing us). We strive to help our clients get to the core of their brand and uncover their strengths, struggles, opportunities, and challenges. Then we can work together with them to find and implement solutions. 

We want to help you find your WHY, build out all of the systems you need to achieve your WHY, and bring your vision to life. Contact us today to get started!