Nicole Monay is the founder of Brandifi, which was launched to help small businesses and corporations with creative branding solutions. The firm offers services such as creating tailor-made logos and packaging, web content development, brand identification, and personalized coaching.
Monay talked with rolling out about her firm and offers tips to people looking to create their own brand.
What is Brandifi?
With Brandifi, I noticed a lot of business owners [would] go to a graphic designer and say, “make me a logo.” Just because you have a logo doesn’t mean you will make money, so at Brandifi we notice that you want this logo, and you’re saying that you want it to look like this and want these colors, but you’re forgetting you’re already sold. That’s why you made your business, you sold yourself. You have an audience that you need to sell to, and we need to figure out who they are, and then let’s develop the brand based on what they want to see from you. We’re doing it in a different aspect of not just making you a logo and website, but figuring out how to identify your brand and creating a brand based on that.
How important is branding?
When it comes to branding, the first thing I always recommend is taking the I out of everything. Let’s think about it, I’m sure when they started Macy’s, the person did not say, “I want this, I like red. It’s my favorite color.” Macy’s wouldn’t be where it is right now. At the end of the day, when you have a business, you’re a salesperson. I always tell my clients this, imagine [going] door-to-door trying to sell a product, and when you open that door, you’re like, “oh, and I love these colors.” They don’t care about your name, business, or your favorite child. You need to dive in and say, “this product is going to help you with this and I see that you have a problem with this.” You have to put you in it. You need to identify that brand and your audiences, see the problem areas that they are having and develop your brand on how you’re going to help them.
What advice do you give that person looking to start their own brand?
I would say figure out what your spirit is needing to do within this world first, because it’s always good to admire people, but you never want to say, “I want to be that, I want to do this,” because then it only puts you down mentally. You’re just as good as anyone else in this world. I feel like there’s no one above anyone else. We’re all humans at the end of the day, just living life, so figure out why your spirit is here on this Earth. Get motivated by that and make it happen.
