🔌 How to build a memorable brand

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👋🏾 Hey Friends, let’s talk about how to brand yourself!

• The importance of building a memorable brand 🔑 

• How Doechii gets branding right 📓

• The Tiny Desk performance that lit up the internet 🔥 

• Tyler + Doechii = Genius at its finest 🎵

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📣 THE MANIFESTO 📣

These are the House Rules! Get into it.
And when you’re ready…memorize it so you know its real!

I AM A STRAIGHT UP ORIGINAL™.

I am unapologetic in my beliefs and obedient to my gifts.

I do everything with intention because I am passionate about my assignment.

I cannot stand cookie cutter…I value MY story. 

And I do not ask permission.

I control my own narrative.

🔑 MAJOR KEYS 🔑 

Building a memorable brand is the cheat code to shifting the momentum in your brand.

When folks remember you, they start looking for you 👀

Our girl Doechii is the perfect example of how to stand out by building a memorable brand.

When the majority of us first heard Doechii, it was probably from her platinum single, “What It Is”, featuring Kodak Black, or maybe “Persuasive”, which had a great run on TikTok.

Great songs that fit right in the pop-r&b pocket. Perfect for that TikTok vid but maybe not the most memorable. With this year’s project, Alligator Bites Never Heal, she set out to show the world who she really is and what she really represents.

This was the moment she started to carve a lane so you couldn’t forget her, even if she wasn’t exactly your cup of tea. 

That type of bravery and authenticity is always rewarded. 

Leaning into you gives you the opportunity to play up everything that only you have. So if someone comes through your ecosystem, they walk away with you and your message.  

Whether they choose to act on it or not, they know who you are.

Doechii shows us how leaning all the way into you pays off, big time.

Here’s how…

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📓 THE DOECHII PLAYBOOK 📓

1) Know YOU so you can do YOU.
Jaylah Ji’mya Hickmon, bka Doechii, sings and raps…like really REALLY well. She can shift her voice into crazy, different voices. And her foundation is boom bap rap. That there is a toolbox that can make a whole lot shake. 

Most people like us who are building their own businesses don’t have a locked in view of who they truly are and the strengths that they can leverage to win. 

Turns out, a lot of folks just want to do what they’ve seen someone else do already. You know, “success leaves clues” and all that.

Well, somehow, that tends to put us on the fast track to the back of line, waiting years for your turn in the spotlight, only to impersonate the next guy. 

Having a firm grip on your differences is the only way for you actually “do it different”. 

It’s the only way for YOU to be seen. 

It’s the only way for you to win by being YOU. 

NOTE: I’m pulling my OG UnBox Your Voice™ talk out the archive to help you get a jumpstart on this. Click here to take the free training.

2) Get sticky.
It’s surprising to me how many people miss this. 

If you want to be remembered, you have to give folks something to remember. 

You have to connect the dots for them. 

An easy way to do this is to name everything. Find naming conventions and stick to them. 

For example. Doechii is from Tampa, Florida, so she calls herself the Swamp Princess. Her latest project is called Alligator Bites Never Heal. In her brand shoot for the project, she holds an albino alligator while sitting in a swath of earth tones. Her song titles include BULL FROG, BOILED PEANUTS, CATFISH and FIREFLIES (yes, in all caps). 

And it goes on and on and on. 

The best at this never stop. They keep finding angles to dig that rabbit hole deeper and deeper, so if you go through it, it never ends. 

You’re in their trap.

An unforgettable spiral into their world. And you see how I never mentioned a website or brand identity?

Those things come after the theme is set, not before. They’re simply assets that further tell the story that your customers will never forget. So if you’re stressed over what your logo will look like or what colors you wanna use, you’ve already lost the plot.

The YOU of it all is important.

The message is important.

Everything else is not. Everything else is just a means to an end.

3) Co-signs are your friend.
One thing Doechii has been exceptional at is the quality of her co-signs. 

A co-sign is the equivalent of a JV webinar in our world. Getting in front of someone else’s audience can catapult you into a different tier if you let it. (Just look at how Shaboozey coupled his talent and his proximity to Beyonce to body the Billboard charts all year.)

In the past 4 years, Doechii has toured with Doja Cat, the epitome of I do what I wanna do rap, collabed with Sza and Tyler, The Creator, who create art from inside their own worlds, and opened for Beyonce, the Alien Superstar herself. 

Exceptional artists with the same type of messaging as Doechii. All artists with raw, unfiltered, talent. 

She even got a loud co-sign from a socially quiet giant, Kendrick Lamar, who called her “the hardest out” after her Alligator release. 

This creative genius is a branding icon, okay?! Pay. Attention.

🔥 YOU’VE GOTTA SEE THIS 🔥

A clip that made the rounds this week that you must take with you on your journey.

In case you missed Doechii’s Tiny Desk performance that took the internet by storm this week…Tap in below!

TLDR : Make your weakness your strength.

🎵 ISSA VIBE 🎵

If you’re gonna be coming up with dope ass ideas and strategies, you’re gonna need some dope ass music to inspire you! Here’s a tune that I’ve got on replay this week.

A Tyler + Doechii collab that was years in the making 👇🏾

🪩 KEEP THE PARTY GOING 🪩

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