3 Ways Pinterest is Surprisingly Useful for Brand Clarity
Brand clarity is super important, also for small creative businesses, so you can set yourself apart as a business. Pinterest is a surprisingly useful resource to help you get clarity in your business. Not sure how to use Pinterest for brand clarity? Read on.
As a creative entrepreneur with a multi-passionate personality, clarity of any kind is a double-edged sword for me. Either I’m super clear and focused, or going in all directions.
But clarity is essential in business, so how to get this clarity if you don’t have it?
Of the many things I’ve tried to get clarity in my own creative business, Pinterest surprised me as being a useful tool. On the surface, Pinterest seems overwhelming to me. If you just look at the pins on your feed, it easily becomes overwhelming. Unless you know what to look for.
3 ways to use Pinterest for brand clarity
There are 3 ways I use Pinterest strategically for business and brand inspiration, clarity, and research.
I tend to get easily overwhelmed on Pinterest, but if I know what I’m searching for, it’s an awesome resource.
1. Check out other brands, but know what to look for
As you go through your Pinterest feed, notice the brands that stand out to you. What makes you notice them? What makes you click on their pin? What do they sell?
Let’s say you’re a coach, and you struggle with getting business clarity around what kind of coaching you want to do. What kind of products or services do you want to sell etc? Type in “Life coach” in the search bar and see who comes up. What pins do you like and don’t like? Why?
Clarity doesn’t usually come as a big Eureka moment where suddenly everything is crystal clear.
Clarity is a process that comes from a number of factors, most of them involving some kind of engagement. So these small notes you make are useful on your journey to your own business clarity.
Top tip: create a secret board with all your brand inspiration
Note: you never want to copy someone else’s brand. Get inspired by all means, but we don’t copy. You’ll only be able to do you anyway. This is your journey to get clarity.
“Branding is the process of brand building”
2. Look for a web design style you like
I have found Pinterest to be a great source of information for website design inspiration. Way better than Google. Pinterest being a visual platform, design is the name of the game.
What you do, is search for businesses in any niche. It doesn’t have to be your own. It’s actually best if it’s a different category, than the one you operate in. Notice what website design you are drawn to. What makes you read a whole blog post to the end and what makes you click away from other posts? Be curious.
You can check out website design layout, style, color, fonts, photos, tone of voice, freebie offers, and so on.
Top tip: create a secret board with all your business inspiration.
3. Doing some awesome long-tail keyword research
Pinterest is a search and discovery platform, and the Pinterest search bar is a powerful tool for your business. Use this search bar as you use Google. Type in a search term or word and see what suggestions Pinterest gives you.
Using the example of “life coach” again. Try and type that in and see all the combinations come up. Click on each one and see what kind of pins come up. Click on the pins and check out the blog posts.
Doing this research takes a little time but is hugely informational and great learning. You can set aside a couple of hours and dive into some serious Pinterest research. Just remember to take notes and stick to the reason you’re doing it: to get business clarity.
Getting brand clarity is a process
The purpose of brand clarity is to know why you’re in business. and how you can offer something really different, from other similar businesses to yours.
There is no point in being the same as everyone else. That only means you’ll have to compete on price.
Getting brand clarity is quite a difficult process, and it’s not something you do in an afternoon.
Basically, you want to build a business that doesn’t have any competition because the customers you help can’t get that specific help anywhere else.
Pinterest is just a tool to help you figure out what you like and don’t like, what kind of style excites you, and what things you don’t want to do.
Knowing what we don’t like, is a powerful step to knowing what we do like.
Last tip for using Pinterest for brand clarity…
Set a timer!
Go mad and have fun, but be clear about your intention, and what you want to get out of your Pinterest research.
It’s easy to lose hours and only end up overstimulated when let lose on Pinterest. Done it many times!
If you found this post useful, I’d love for you to get my emails too. That’s a place I share most of what is going on in front and behind the scenes. .)
