Building a brand isn’t easy. It requires lots of time and sacrifice, hard lessons and failures, and most importantly, being honest about what it is you’re building and why you’re building it.
We had to answer each of these questions when building PLANOLY. Sometimes those answers changed, and we changed as a result. We were constantly evaluating our company and adapting to the changes in our industry and our lives. For us, we never wanted to build a business just for the sake of having a business. Money wasn’t our focus; we wanted to solve real problems and add value to the small business community.
As a mom, wife, and small business owner with an emerging jewelry line in New York City, I needed a social media tool to help simplify my life. PLANOLY was born out of that need. But it quickly became clear to me that other mompreneurs needed this tool. So did other small business owners struggling to juggle family life while chasing down their dreams. We knew that PLANOLY was something that people needed. But how did we reach them? And how could we build a brand and a tool that spoke directly to the audience we wanted (and needed) to reach?
During a recent digital summit where PLANOLY partnered with Madewell and Create & Cultivate, I discussed Instagram growth strategies and also touched on those core brand building questions. Today, I want to expand on them a bit more and really explore why they matter and how they’ll help shape your brand.