🔌 What is brand positioning?

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👋🏾 What’s up besties!

Things are moving fast around here — I’m excited to share that StraightUp Original™ is now accepting advertising placements 🤯 Wanna get in front of a diverse audience of online biz owners? Hit reply and I’ll get you all the details you need.

Here’s what I’ve got for you this week :

• Positioning is everything 🏃🏾‍♀️

• Victoria Monet’s Playbook : Going deeper with a core audience 📓

• It looked like a Bentley ‘til a Bentley showed up! 🔥

• Vibin’ with Billie Eilish 🎵

Big thank you to HoneyBook and PodPitch for sponsoring today’s email!

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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.

🏃🏾‍♀️ GET IN POSITION 🏃🏾‍♀️

Everybody’s talking messaging and content lately, but important stuff like positioning gets pushed under the radar and we need to talk about it.

So if you’re positioning yourself right, the consequences will be great for you.

If you’re positioning yourself wrong, the consequences will suck. WOMP WOMP

Here’s an IRL example…

If your focus is on being the cheapest option (so folks will want to choose you), then automatically, you won’t be positioning yourself to appear as “the best”, only the cheapest.

If your focus is on appearing to be “the best”, then you wouldn’t be perceived to be the cheapest.

And when one doesn’t line up with the other? Folks are confused.

When folks get confused, they don’t buy. 

Clarity is important to your clients and customers. When they don’t have a sense of clarity about you, they don’t trust you.

I remember doing a brand assessment once for a really talented fashion designer. During our session, she explained that her target audience was a high-end, multi-six figure woman. As I completed my audit, the problem became clear. 

It wasn’t her product that was the problem.

It was that she wanted to target a customer who wasn’t gonna look twice at her website!

She was using a free Wix site, so when she gave out her info, she had to say that her website was ‘mycompany.wix.com’.

Ouch.

If you won’t even pay the $8-12 to buy the domain for your brand, why would a multi-six figure earner take the brand seriously?

Think about it.

After a lil’ more digging, I noticed that the site wasn’t designed well either. (Not to say that you must have your stuff professionally designed…but if your dream client is a high-end client, you gotta know what they’re used to seeing and hearing so you know how to…wait for it…position yourself.)

If you’re not positioned for your dream client, they’ll never see you to begin with, let alone consider your product. You gotta at least be in their neighborhood.

When you position yourself, you make it easier for your person to see you.

You’ll have to choose one angle and then build everything else around it so it adds up in your client’s mind. It simply has to make sense.

So, you wanna know who’s excelling at the positioning game right now?? 

Victoria Monet 👀

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📓 THE VICTORIA MONET PLAYBOOK 📓

She’s had a beautiful songwriting career. Her song credits — which include hits by Ariana Grande, Chloe x Halle, Brandy, Fifth Harmony, Kehlani, Lucky Daye and Jhene Aiko —  have amassed Billions of streams. With a capital B.

But her vision for herself included writing and producing her own music. And that transition can be Hard. Capital H.

So what’s a girl to do?? Position yourself.

Here’s how Victoria Monet did it:

In a time where music videos are becoming less impactful, Victoria decided to present herself as a showman, connecting herself to the artists of the past. You know, the Michaels, the Janets. 

The triple threats.

Victoria is all about showmanship, likely because of her training as a dancer. Which is awesome because her core audience..?

Dancers and performers.

I call them her core because they’re the ones pushing her message forward.

When she posts a tutorial video with frequent collaborator/choreographer Sean Bankhead, it’s the dancers who are sharing the class all over TikTok. It’s the dancers who are learning every 8-count from the video and posting them for the world to see.

See, the client experience matters. And yes, everyone can enjoy the content, but dancers can appreciate every single detail, from the hours that the intricate choreography took to plan to the days’ long rehearsals needed to execute.

She positioned herself as an icon in the minds of dancers, so they became her brand ambassadors, and next thing you know, 60-yr old grandmas are trying their hands at the choreo too!

Now, Victoria is a phenomenal artist…but she ain’t for everybody.

(No one is.)

She’s for someone who loves a nostalgia moment.

Someone who can appreciate the videos with the movie-level budget from the 2000’s.

Someone who can dig meme culture AND a good story.

We see that with the easter eggs in her On My Mama video — from Ciara and Soulja Boy references to Girbaud jeans and oversized white tees.

We see that with her Michael Jackson homage in the Alright video.

And we see that with her Sade remake on Jaguar II: Deluxe, Love is Stronger Than Pride.

Her dedication to the experience makes her memorable. It makes her sticky. And in this case, it also drives her marketing.

Putting on a show is one of Victoria’s super powers, so she uses that strength to market her brand. Every video is now a full on production because she knows all eyes are on her.

She wants to give you the whole package instead of a song here, a song there.

She’s even started releasing teasers and commercials for her videos and albums.

What has this woman not thought of??

The videos are at the center of her brand system. They are the selling point. And if we think of it like a flywheel, the videos are what drives the streams and therefore, the expansion of her brand.

Now, this didn’t happen immediately. She’s been releasing music for over a decade.

But she crossed over into the “wait, who is that?!” category with a viral clip of her live dance break to ‘Some Cut’. Then, Jaguar II came out and it was very well received.

But when the video for On My Mama came outttttttt?!!

Every 👏🏾 thing 👏🏾 changed. Talk about a quantum leap.

Victoria’s journey teaches us how showing up and being consistent will get you there.

As long as you keep swimming, one right decision will turn your resilience into an “overnight sensation”.

She didn’t stop there, though. She picked up on the keys to her success.

🔑 People gravitated towards her videos, so she built everything around them. 

🔑 She “launched” them on her social media channels.

🔑 She catered to her core base by teaching dance tutorials.

🔑 She ramped up her BTS (behind the scenes) content so her fans felt a deeper connection.

So what’s the play? We’ve got a few.

Find your strengths and put them on front street. 

Play them all the way up so they can work for you and attract your perfect-fit clients.

Concentrate on the core of your target audience and keep them happy. 

They’ll be the ones who start your movement and help it to expand to other groups.

Lean all the way into whatever your vehicle is. 

Once the data shows you what’s working, re-work your funnels so that all roads lead to the thing that moves the needle. That way, no matter which point someone enters your ecosystem, no matter what product is put in front of them, they will get your message.

Give them opportunities to go deeper with you.

Tell your stories. Provide BTS info that they can’t get anywhere else. And don’t concentrate on the numbers…think about the value that that small number will get.

Small numbers move the needle, you just can’t see it yet. Remember your impact is exponential. All it takes is one to get the ball rolling. Next thing ya know, TIME Magazine! might be naming you one of the most influential people of the year 😊

🔥 YOU’VE GOTTA SEE THIS 🔥

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

“It looked like a Bentley…’til a Bentley showed up!”

TLDR : Don’t stop being you.

Press play ▶️

pastormikejr

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🎵 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.

Be warned — Billie put crack in this one! 🤣

🪩 KEEP THE PARTY GOING 🪩

Need help bringing your whole self to your brand? Here’s how I can help!

If you’re working your ass off but the math still ain’t mathing in your biz, this is for you.

My ACT BRAND NEW Brand Audits are structured to find all the loopholes you’ve been missing and plug ‘em up! I’ll show you exactly what’s goin’ on with your brand so you can plan out your next steps with the advice of a Brand Strategist and Messaging Expert (yours truly!).

Click here for all the details.

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