At the end of the day, it’s just you and your brand. You and your brand sleep in the same bed at night, whether it’s been a great day, a mediocre one, or a really, really bad one. You gotta take it home with you. In fact, you are your brand.

When you look in the mirror, you should see a reflection of your brand. The brand you create should be a direct extension of you and reflect your values and standards. If these aren't the case then you and your brand need to have a talk.


But my brand isn’t me, it’s just what I do, right?

Well, what you do is you. If you build a brand, even if it’s not your “personal brand,” it still is personal.    But, both brands should be personal to you. They are interconnected, whether you realize it or not.

In fact, as you build your business brand, you are also building your personal brand. In our social media-driven world, it's more important than ever for leaders of a brand to build their own personal brands to give a face to the business brands. People today demand more personality and humanity from brands. So, your own self reflects on your business and vice versa, even if you don't want it to.

Really, all a brand is at the end of it all is the idea that other people have of you in their minds. It’s what your business represents. So, you should be able to stand behind what you want your brand to be one hundred percent.

If you feel that you and your business brand are separate entities, you will find it slip away from you. That's true with your personal brand, too For some people, it's really one in the same, but both are still connected.

Even if you're building a business you later plan to sell, you need to stay connected and in tune with both your business and personal brand. Otherwise, one or both are going to get away from you and rebuilding either one the way you want it to be may become out of reach. If it’s a good one, someone will be happy to take it over for you.


So, should my brand and I have a sit-down and chat?

If you feel that you and your brand are out of sync, then you are out of sync yourself. No matter the reason, you do need to step back and refocus. What are you all about? How can your brand become an extension of what causes and ideas are near and dear to you?

By asking yourself these questions, you’ll build a much stronger brand. You'll also become a much better person, by staying true to what you are and letting your brand become a vehicle for those things. While staying true to yourself sounds cliche, people don’t really follow that advice.

It’s even more rare that a brand is truly used as a vehicle of self-expression and to further ideas and causes. Yes, it happens. A lot of those brands are wildly successful, because they are authentic. People like authenticity, and people love when you take that authenticity far as you can possibly take it.

Those who are willing to make major sacrifices for their brands are the true Brand Heroes. Doubters will eat their words when they see your success if you never stop moving and taking your brand with you. Your brands, no matter how many you have, are like your vehicle. Built, driven, and maintained correctly, they can reliably put you on cruise control to whatever your destination might be

Remember, you are your brand. Have that conversation with yourself. Know that you and your brand are one in the same. Never give up on your brand and never give up on yourself. Only then will you and your brand truly be in tune and become a force for good and whatever change you want to make in the world.

~ Phoenix <3


Want to become a Brand Hero? But, not sure where or how to start? Contact the branding experts at Brand Shamans and we’ll show you how!

Looking for a partner in growing your brand and taking it to the next level? Check out our Brand Healing branding consultation packages.

Naming your brand is like naming a child. That brand name is how people will refer to what you do and sell. As your brand grows up, you want it to be a name to be proud of. You want to pick a brand name that will be linked with success, profitability, or hopefully both.

Your brand name is more important than any other part of branding. It's even more important than your actual products and services. A brand name is how the public recognizes you or your business. It’s what sets you apart from anyone else.

What’s in a Brand Name?

By having a catchy name, people will immediately recognize your brand. Picking a good brand name allows customers or clients to be able to connect with your business on an emotional level. How you choose your name is actually fairly open. Some might say that your brand name should have something directly to do with your product or service. But you can also choose a name based on how it makes people feel or how memorable it is.

Whatever name you pick, you want it to be unique. You don’t want a name that’s too similar to another well-known brand. That may confuse people. Confusing people is definitely not a good way to do business.

What you want to do is have a brand name people remember and that people instantly recognize. This is extremely important in advertising. It’s also important to building brand loyalty. If you have too generic a name, say “Bob’s Hobby Shop,” that won't get people very excited. It might work in a small town, perhaps. But, in today’s global economy, if you’re looking to expand your business beyond your local downtown, you need a brand name that's a lot catchier.

How Does a Good Brand Name Build Loyalty?

A good brand name will stick in consumers’ minds as an entity. You want your brand to be thought of as a real, tangible thing with its own spirit, values, and purpose. People can become extremely loyal to a brand. Just look at Coke. They are probably the best out there at brand building. The Coke brand is so well-known and easily recognized that they can cross-brand and put their name on just about anything. If you choose a highly marketable name and build your brand well enough, you can put your brand name on just about anything, too.

Brand recognition also creates more loyal customers, as they come to think of your brand as they would a friend. More loyal customers mean higher revenues, and more importantly, more repeat business. For any business, repeat customers means your brand is doing well. It’s been found that it takes five times as much money (or more in some industries) to gain a new customer than retaining an existing customer. That’s why brand loyalty is so important; you don’t have to work as hard to keep the cash flowing.

Choose the right brand name and you'll succeed. Even rebrand and pick a new brand name if you have to. Getting the brand name right is the most important thing you will ever do in your business.


Want to become a Brand Hero? But, not sure where or how to start? Hire the Brand Shamans and we’ll show you how!

Personal branding has become more important than ever. It matters in job hunting, freelancing, and building any sort of business – even a side-hustle! On the flip side, business brands are becoming more and more like people all the time. The social media accounts of brands you love – and brands you love to hate – have become their own personalities.

Sure, you still have celebrity endorsements. But, more and more, people want to connect with people who are directly connected to a brand. Giving faces and voices to the people that build the brand from within real people who are completely invested in what your brand stands for, makes your business more human than ever..

The power of interviews has long been known for building personal brands. Yet, many business brands – and even some people with successful personal brands – don't realize realize the true brand building value of doing an interview.  Not only is it essentially free exposure, but you put a face to your brand, which is invaluable in our socially super-charged world.

If you're trying to build your personal brand, building your reputation, and marketing your skills, doing an interview with a venue that has a decent audience can be invaluable. There are many kinds of interviews. They can be done on audio podcasts, in YouTube Videos or Facebook Live chats, or in text form on blogs. Whichever type works best for you is fine. They all are effective in their respective ways.

What an interview does is to bring new dimensions to your brand, both your own personal brand (as an author or designer, for example) and your business brand. Obviously, you want to find an interviewer that asks the right questions. But, even interviews with more general questions are fine, as long as you have good and engaging answers to give.

You may not think you're great at giving an interview, but you're probably better than you think. After all, the whole point of an interview is to put you on the spot. You're going to get some unexpected questions and how you answer them can go a long way towards giving people a good impression.

So, the best thing about doing an interview? You don't really have to do the research. That's all on the interviewer to do. You just have to answer some questions. Being prepared is good, knowing the interviewer and all that. But your main job is to just be you and answer questions as honestly as you can – within reason, of course. The smarter your answers, the better you and your brand will look, of course.

Think of an interview as a conversation about your brand. Try not to stress about what questions are going to be asked. The whole idea is to come out from behind your brand and put yourself out there. That can be very difficult to do. But the rewards are well worth it. Not only do you get yourself and your brand out in front of new people, but you also bring personality to your brand and give it a face. People like to relate to people, and the more your brand becomes like a person, the more people will want to interact with it.

So, if you have a chance to do an interview, don't delay. The sooner you do it, the sooner you give you personal brand - and the brands of your related businesses - a new chance to grow!


Want to become a Brand Hero? But, not sure where or how to start? Hire the Brand Shamans and we’ll show you how!

"You can observe a lot just by watching." - Yogi Berra

Oh, Yogi, of course, you can observe a lot just by watching!

The great Yogi Berra was an amazing baseball player and later a very good team manager and coach. He's also famous for saying a lot of things. Many of them, often known as "Yogi-isms" seem odd at face value, and many of which seem obvious. However, sometimes if you really think about these "Yogi-isms" you realize that there's more to it.


Observing Means Paying Attention to the Right Things

What Yogi Berra meant is that you can learn a lot from observations if you pay attention to the right things. In baseball, as well as football and other sports, there are little things to watch for to give you a competitive advantage. You may have heard of "stealing signs." Indeed, cracking the code to your opponent's coaching signals certainly helps. It's a big deal in American football, too.

Just by watching the social media pages, blogs, and other public channels of companies who are in a related field as you, or even your direct competition, you can learn a lot. Seeing how people engage with other brands can tell you what they might be doing right. In fact, you can also see what's not working, too, which is just as important. This is called competitor research. You can then adapt some of these things that are working for them to attract the same sort of brand engagement.

Beyond just taking cues from your competition, you can learn a lot by observing your own brand engagement, as well. You can glean valuable insights into what you may or may not be doing correctly just by how people interact with you (or don't). If people aren't interacting, you may want to consider how to increase brand engagement. The best question to ask yourself is "how can I offer more value?"


Watching Your Own Brand Engagement Closely Can Give You Clues About What to Do Next

Watching how people interact with your brand should give you an idea if something should work or not work. Obviously, if something you post on your blog or website is getting more views than usual or more likes on social media, then you're doing something right.

Also, it also doesn't hurt to hint at things that you're trying. It's a sort of passive market research. Social media, in particular, is a great place to test out ideas before you commit to them. But, what if your brand is consistently getting no real engagement? What is there to watch, then?

You just have to watch the right things. If your website and/or blog is getting page views, that's something. If people are liking your page, that's something. Engagement isn't always super obvious. But, it's watching the less obvious things that can give you the most important information.

For example, say you have a blog post that consistently gets views when you share it on social media. You may also have a post that gets a lot of search traffic on its own. Obviously, people are attracted to that post. Creating social media content around that post, taking quotes from it, and making attractive images out of them, is one strategy. Sometimes, you can just reshare popular content that doesn't compete with your brand, but complements your brand's values. Use a variety of strategies to attract engagement to your website and social media. Then, focus on the ones that bring the most engagement, and of course, any that bring you sales and new customers.

The knowledge and insights you need to take your brand in the right direction are likely there already for you to see. You just have to take a step back and observe. Sometimes, it's what's not being done by others, or done as well as you could do it, that you end up seeing.

The key to increase your brand engagement and jump-start your business may even already be right in front of you! Need help with creating engaging content or doing competitor research? Hire the social media, content marketing, and branding specialists at Brand Shamans and we’ll show you how!

"Dream big, dream clearly, put it in writing, and watch it happen!" - Lyn Lomasi

Dream big.

Everyone knows what it means to dream big. You want to have a grand vision for your brand, and dream big for your future. Something needs to be worth doing in order to bother investing in building a brand, after all! The bigger your dream, the easier it is to build around, as well.

Dream clearly.

What does it mean to dream clearly? When you have dreams, you need to not only have a grand idea, but a clear vision of that idea. You need to know exactly what you're trying to accomplish with your brand. If you're just guessing, so will everyone else who interacts with your brand. You need to have a clear idea of the steps it will take to bring your brand's dreams to life.

What's the biggest step in helping yourself dream big, dream clearly, and take your brand to the next level?

Put it in writing.

We all know what a business plan is. But, you have to have a branding plan, as well. A branding plan should exist to keep yourself and anyone else who works for your brand in sync. If you put it in writing, define your brand's goals clearly, and have a specific vision for the future, it helps keep yourself, your brand, and anyone you work with on the same page. A plan also acts as a starting point whenever you're looking to do something dealing with your brand.

When building your brand, there needs to be a unified vision. Putting that in writing is a constant reminder of what exactly that is. Also, you want to put in writing key issues surrounding what your brand is trying to accomplish. You also want to have some clear strategies and tactics defined for both yourself and anyone who works for your brand.

Watch it happen!

No, your dreams won't come true overnight. Your brand and business can take many months and sometimes even years to establish itself. But, if you allow yourself to dream big and put it in writing, you've already made something happen. Yes, words on a page are only a beginning, but they are a strong beginning.

Sometimes you'll find that you have ideas that conflict with your vision. That's OK. The idea is to have the plan so that when you stray off course, you know where to come back to when it's time to regroup. While your brand may take time to mature, as long as you stick to a solid plan built around a big and clear vision, you've at the very least set your brand on the right track!

Dream big, put it in writing, and watch your brand and business grow!

Want to become a Brand Hero? But, not sure where or how to start? Hire the Brand Shamans and we’ll show you how!

The vibes your brand puts out there are important to your company's success and image. Is your brand representing its true purpose? Does what your brand puts out there truly align with what you envisioned for the company? Do you know your brand's true purpose or does it even have one yet?

Every Brand Needs A Purpose

Does your brand have a purpose? It should! Each brand's purpose is what helps people connect. If there's nothing behind it except a product, people will have a hard time understanding why they want or need it. Does your brand help people in some way? Does it have a unique meaning behind it? Make sure there is a purpose for doing whatever it is your brand or product does.

Your Brand's Purpose Needs To Be Obvious

Not only does your brand need a purpose, but it needs to be very obvious. For instance, if your brand's purpose is to spread the word about a specific cause, that should be evident in everything you do. Logos, blog posts, social media posts, ads, product labels, shipping packages, and anything else put out there by your brand needs to reflect that purpose.

For instance, our store, Intent-sive Nature shows even within the name that we are very intensive about the intent we put out there and we LOVE Mama Nature! Our products are very intent and nature oriented, from healing jewelry to branding with a spiritual twist. Everything we do is about our main intention to help people find their true selves (in both business and personal ways) and help them heal themselves and their businesses through the power of true self aka nature.

What Vibes Is Your Brand Representing?

Are you sending out mixed messages or vibes? Does your brand truly represent what you want it to? Listen to your audience. Watch their reactions to what you do. Does it really reflect that purpose? If your brand is about healing, like ours, do all things put out by your brand reflect healing? Make sure that nothing puts out vibes that are the opposite of what you intended. If you've mistakenly done this, no worries! You can still fix it! That's what the Brand Shamans are for! We help heal brands.

If your brand needs help discovering its inner spirituality or purpose, let us know! We can help!

LAST UPDATED 7/23/2022 by Lyn Lomasi

Many brands, communities, and other entities often forget about the connection that needs to happen with their audience and members. This connection is what keeps them interested and also is what keeps your brand or community authentic and focused on what it's all about. We call this brand or community spirituality. If you think about it, your brand or community is an entity that you and your audience or members are dedicated to. There is a spiritual bond. If not, there should be! We help you bring everything into focus surrounding the spirituality (or inner connection) of your brand or community. Once this happens, the rest falls into place quickly.

We Study Your Business And Help You Heal It From The Inside Out!

We'd love to know more about you, your business, and your goals. Drop us an email via the contact form (below) to give us an idea of who you are and what you need and we'll get back to you. If you don't have time to give us a life story, a few lines is fine. We'd love to explore your website for the rest! As a complementary test run, we'll even interview you for FREE to introduce you to our audience and publish the results on one of our popular channels (also FREE). This is one of the very first steps in helping heal your business, brand, or community and it's FREE, so you have nothing to lose.

Is This A Religious Service?

It's whatever you want or need it to be. We base our services on what you would like your brand to be and represent. Brand spirituality refers to your brand as an entity with its own spirit and in itself is not a faith-based service. This is a journey of discovery! You may be familiar with self-discovery. This is the same thing, but for your brand. Though, if you would like a certain faith implemented into your brand, we can help you with that, too! We are spiritual in nature with the owner being a shamanistic healer, though our services are not based on any religions, faiths, or spiritual practices (unless requested). We are open to helping you implement any beliefs or non-beliefs if that is your business' destiny.

Analysis Of Your Brand Helps Discover Its Inner Spirit

Is your brand really doing all it can for you? Is it representing the values and ideals you want it to? What message is it sending? Is it one you agree with? Are you connected with your audience and staff? For a small fee, we can analyze your brand (this includes your website, social media accounts, and more). Brand refers to your product, book, you (if you are an artist, author, actor, etc), or anything else that needs branding. The analysis will be personalized based on your brand's needs.

Your Brand Needs A Customized All-Inclusive Community Building & Engagement Plan

Once one of our Brand Healing Specialists (aka Brand Shamans) has done an analysis, we can outline what we feel will work best for you based on that research. This step is FREE and is where you will gain your FREE insight that is needed in order for us to take action. Actions may include things like email discussions on what your brand means to you, interactions via social media and/or your online community, content marketing that matches your brand, and more! This custom brand healing plan can help you find your brand's inner spirit and begin the healing process on your company's life path.

Why You Need To Take Action!

Once you have your analysis, it's in your hands to take action by having us kick your brand or community's spirituality (voice) into high gear. If there's not enough interaction going on around your community or brand, it's not connected properly. Let the Brand Shamans work together as a team with you and your audience to find your brand's inner spirit and strengths.

Watch Your Brand Or Community's Spirituality & Positive Interactions Improve!

When the connection has been found, watch how your brand or community's spirituality and positive interactions improve! Many companies and communities forget the connection part when it comes to engaging with their audience and members. We help you bring everything and everyone together to find a common ground and purpose surrounding your community or brand. Once this happens, the rest falls into place quickly.

Take Action Now! Get A Head Start On Your Brand's Healing Process Today!