Today we welcome to the show Danielle Miller, author, speaker and brand strategist at danielleMmiller.com
Whether you call her a brand strategist, or a brand evangelist, one thing is certainly true – She is your hostess with the mostess whose job is to help you shine as brightly as you want.
Danielle sees branding differently and she is on a mission to change the paradigm of branding for women.
In her book – Smarty Pants Branding; The bottom line guide for Woman entrepreneurs to getting recognized, being remembered and making more money in business
Danielle presents a no-nonsense, practical and witty guide on branding that goes way beyond taglines and logos.
It’s clear throughout the book that Danielle wants to help you discover the crucial building blocks in crafting a brand that truly represents who you are and how you show up.
Please welcome Danielle M. Miller to the show.
PERSONAL BRANDING
Danielle wasn’t always a branding coach. In fact she spent much of the first part of her career as a special education teacher.
Eventually, she became frustrated with the lack of ability to fully utilize her Alchemist archetype, she went on a journey of self-discovery to uncover her true hidden passion.
Danielle shares her story on the steps she took to create a brand new version of herself. One that fully aligns with her archetype.
SMARTY PANTS BRANDING BOOK –
I had to put on my “big girl panties” as we dove into the content of her book, Smarty Pants Branding (affiliate link). The book is short read yet packed full of knowledge and actionable information you can implement today.
For me, there was a singular thread weaving throughout the book. This thread’s theme centered on three words; Brand, Branding, and Marketing.
Three simple words so easily interchanged and yet so often misused. Yes it’s true they are intertwined but they are also three separate and distinct things.
Your Brand is at the core of everything you do. It’s your archetype. It’s knowing your mission, your message and your core values. It’s understanding how you want to use your brand to impact the lives of others.
Branding is the manifestation of your brand in the world. It’s what people see such as the clothing and colors you wear. If you’ll remember back to show 14 with Toi Sweeney, your clothing is the packaging for your brand, it’s what the rest of the world sees.
Marketing, on the other hand, is you telling the world you are out there and ready to roll. You do this through the channels you use to put your branding out into the world.
It could be a book, social media, a website or a podcast. In the age of the internet, your marketing is always “on” for the world to see whether you make a consciences effort to define it or not.
The Importance of Putting Yourself “Out There”
Danielle and I discuss in detail the importance of putting yourself “out there” and how scary doing so can be. It requires you to be vulnerable, visible and more than a little uncomfortable.
But as Danielle said during our chat you need to ask yourself the following question to determine which is better for you in the long run.
“Do you want to continue down the path you are currently on or is the pain associated with this path so great that if you continue to head down it you will later regret not becoming the best person you can be”?
If you find yourself get stuck in this exact place, Danielle tells us to remember our gifts and our talents because they are meant to be shared with the world so we can enrich other people's lives.
And yes, each and every one of us has gifts to share whether we realize it yet or not. It all starts with your brand, understanding your archetype and knowing who you are. If you start from here everything else will fall into place.
ARCHETYPE QUIZ
Through her own research, Danielle developed a Brand Archetype quiz. This quiz narrows the hundreds of possible archetypes down to twelve.
The quiz is free. You take it right from her website. HINT: It’s the big button at the top of the page. Once you’ve completed the quiz you’ll know your leading archetype. Me, I’m the Creator.
If you want to know more than just what your archetype is, you can provide your email address in exchange for a .pdf file which explains in details the specifics of your archetype.
WRAP
If you are interested din learning more or perhaps taking the quiz yourself, here are the best ways for you to get in touch with Danielle.
Website: Danielle M Miller
Twitter: @daniellemmiller
Danielle leaves us with these final thoughts about our personal brands.
“You need to show up as who you are, anything less is doing a disservice to yourself and to the people you can serve, help and empower with the natural gifts that you have inside you.”
