Believe it or not, your body actually doesn't want to store fat. And the secret to lasting weight loss does not come down to complicated calorie-counting and weight-loss gimmicks. Instead, it's about working with your body's natural hunger and sleep rhythms to curb cravings, burn fat and send your energy levels soaring. (In as little as 30 days, you can be a whole lot slimmer, way more energetic, and so much healthier just by following the simple, groundbreaking plan in The Thyroid Cure!)
Prevention's revolutionary Belly Melt Dietexplains the science behind why getting a good night's sleep will help you lose while you snooze and how eating the right foods at the right times can satisfy your body's need for fuel and taste. What's more: Certain flat belly foodscan actually help you sleep better and help you lose weight on their own. Research shows that our bodies' inner eat-and-sleep clocks have been thrown completely out of whack, thanks to cues we send it all day with the wrong foods—and too much artificial light at night. The result: You're caught in a "fat cycle": a constant flow of hunger hormones that makes your cravings all but impossible to resist. But if you tune into your body's natural eat and sleep schedules, you can actually—finally—say good-bye to your belly. Sounds good, right?
These wholesome foods are built into The Belly Melt Dietmeal plans and recipes, but you can also incorporate them into your diet in any way you like. Eat these foods to sleep better, lose more weight, and melt your belly fat. Here's how to get started!
Fish
Another day, another study about the benefits of eating fish—and for good reason. We know from animal studies that when your diet is deficient in omega-3s, the natural rhythms of your pineal gland—the pea-size gland in the center of your brain—are thrown off, leading to alterations in the production of melatonin, your sleep hormone. Animals with an omega-3 deficit don't sleep during their usual rest periods—they're up and spinning in their wheels the same way that humans with insomnia do.
A diet rich in omega-3s, on the other hand, can boost heart health, lower your risk of dementia, and improve your moors. As for weight loss, many omega-3 carriers are rich in protein. And study after study confirms: Protein makes you feel full. You even burn more calories digesting protein than you do when you eat fats or carbs. How to get your dose: If you aren't eating plenty of omega-rich foods—think sardines, salmon, halibut, walnuts, flax seeds, and dark leafy greens—you should be! If you aren't getting enough easily, you can take fish- or flax seed-oil supplement.
MORE: 9 Power Foods That Boost Immunity
Nuts
As if you needed another excuse to eat nuts, these fatty legumes are a great source of mood-boosting magnesium. Without enough magnesium in your body, the part of the brain that regulates melatonin is thrown off, disrupting your sleep. An uptick in magnesium is what tells animals it's time to hibernate—for us, not having enough of it may play a role in seasonal affective disorder (SAD), the depression—and carb-craving—condition brought on by the low light of winter.
A 2010 study by USDA researchers, published in Magnesium Research, found that magnesium supplementation can help people who have a hard time sleeping to doze peacefully through the night. One group of the 100 tossers and turners over age 51 was given 320 milligrams of magnesium a day, while the other group was given a look-alike placebo. After 7 weeks, those taking the magnesium were sleeping better, and, as a bonus, had lower levels of dangerous inflammation, a rogue reaction by the immune system that is implicated in heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and Alzheimer's disease.
How to get your dose: Foods rich in magnesium are also extremely weight loss friendly: protein-rich fish and nuts, lentils, soy and black beans, as well as fiber-rich grains like bran.
Milk
While the link between calcium and weight loss is still feeble (in some studies it promotes greater weight loss, in others it's a wash), it turns out that milk may really do a body good when it comes to belly fat. A 2010 study by researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham found that, among a group of more than 100 premenopausal women, fat was significantly reduced in those who consumed the most calcium-rich foods. In fact, for every 100 milligrams of calcium they consumed per day (that's 1/2 cup of soft-serve frozen yogurt), they lost an inch of intra-abdominal fat—that's the really bad stuff tucked in and around your internal organs that has been linked to higher rates of heart disease and cancer. Like magnesium, calcium can also help you sleep if you tend to be awakened by muscle soreness or cramps—the mineral, along with calcium, helps relax muscle nerves and fibers.
How to get your dose: Dairy works, but there are other ways to get your calcium in as well, such as sardines, fortified orange juice, tofu, and dark leafy greens like kale and spinach.
Tart Cherries
Around bedtime, munch on a few tart Montmorency cherries. These cherries are one of a number of plant-based sources of melatonin, the sleep hormone. (Bananas and corn have it, too.) While there's no evidence that they'll help you nod off, studies have found that foods like these can raise melatonin levels in the body. Not only does melatonin help you sleep, but it's a powerful antioxidant that can protect your cells from free radical damage, the kind that leads to cancer, Alzheimer's, and other diseases. That should help you sleep easy. How to get your dose: Eat them whole! If you're not a fan of cherries, drink the juice instead. In a recent study, people who drank 8 ounces of tart cherry juice in the morning and another 8 ounces in the evening for 2 weeks reported they slept more soundly.
MORE: The Best Supplements For Women
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Getting rid of menopause belly fat starts with avoiding the foods that encourage hormonal weight gain and replacing them with the list of belly-fat burning foods.
Post-menopausal belly fat. It's a problem for many women over 50. If you've reached this stage you've likely noticed that fat storage isn't what it used to be.
During and after menopause you'll find that pounds are more likely to cause a fat tummy and less likely to accumulate on your legs, hips, and butt.
Special Note:Prior to menopause, PCOS is the most common hormonal problem for women. If you've been diagnosed with PCOS, learn how PCOS creates a perfect storm of hormonal issues that encourage belly fat.
What causes belly fat after menopause?
As a woman ages, hormonal imbalances cause a shift in fat distribution (1). Fat is now easily stored in the belly.
This newly bulging belly comes with a significant health risk. Stomach fat is "metabolically active" which means that it more easily releases fatty acids into the bloodstream. This increased blood fat increases the risk of heart disease in women over 50 (2).
Hormones and menopausal weight gain
Estrogen is the hormone that most of us blame for post-menopausal belly fat.
Estrogen is produced by your ovaries and by your fat cells. When menopause puts the brakes on estrogen from your ovaries, your body looks to your fat cells to keep it supplied.
So, after menopause belly fat helps your body make the estrogen it wants.
But, in the big picture of menopausal weight gain, estrogen is only part of the story.
Your Body Shape and Hormones
The spots on your body where you carry your most stubborn fat are determined by predictable hormonal imbalances.
Pear-Shaped Figure
For natural "pear-shaped" women who gain weight easily in the thighs and hips, fat distribution is ruled by excessively high estrogen levels, which is a condition known as estrogen dominance.
Apple-Shaped Figure
For natural "apple-shaped" women who easily gain stomach fat, another hormone called cortisol may have a strong influence on her shape (3).
The Drop in Estrogen Changes a Woman's Shape
The natural drop in estrogen levels after menopause, cause natural pears to store more fat in the belly area and less in the lower body.
Both pears and apples easily gain stomach fat during and after menopause when high stress, inactivity, and poor eating habits are present.
While you can't turn back the hands of time on estrogen production, you can control some of the other hormonal imbalances that cause post-menopausal belly fat by reducing stress, getting adequate sleep, exercising, and most importantly changing the foods you eat.
How to Lose Menopausal Belly Fat with Diet
Getting rid of menopausal belly fat and correcting hormone imbalances involves three things:
avoiding foods that encourage fat storage
avoiding all-day grazing
eating foods that encourage fat burning
Foods to Avoid for Menopausal Belly Fat
1. Packaged Low-Calorie Diet Foods
Foods that are packaged and promoted as "diet foods" are often unhealthy, and rarely a helpful part of a weight loss diet. Diet foods reduce calories by doing one or more of the following:
Low in calories due to small portions. Yes, you're getting fewer calories, but the portion is not satisfying and could trigger cravings for more.
Low in calories due to artificial sweeteners. While there are differing opinions on artificial sweeteners, there is some evidence that they are inflammatory foods, which increases stress on the body. There are also those that theorize that artificial sweeteners boost cortisol levels, which in turn leads to belly fat. Additionally, low-calorie sweeteners have also been linked to insulin resistance, which is a common cause of weight gain (4)
Low in calories due to replacing fat with sugar. Fat gives food a satisfying flavor, so when it's removed from a food, something equally satisfying needs to take its place…enter sugar. Sugar has fewer calories per gram than fat, so it reduces the overall calorie count of the food, but the food is just as fattening…
2. Sugar and Refined Carbs
The refining process removes fiber from food. Without fiber, there is nothing to slow the absorption of sugar into your bloodstream.
This high blood sugar level must be cleared out quickly, which is why most of it is dumped into fat cells.
Belly Fat & All-Day Grazing
Do you grab snacks all day long to satisfy your hunger? If so, this practice could add belly fat.
A few years ago, many in the diet arena promoted five or six small meals throughout the day to reduce your weight. As it turns out, this advice may promote fat storage, not fat loss.
Think of movement in and out of your fat cells as the tide you observe when you visit the beach. A tide either moves in or moves out, never both at the same time.
The same thing happens in your body. You are either storing fat or removing it. The deciding factor has a lot to do with your eating schedule.
When you eat a meal, sugar enters your blood. That sugar causes insulin to be released. When insulin is high, fat is stored, and not burned (i.e. the tide is moving into your fat cells, not out).
When you fast, your blood sugar level, and therefore your insulin level is low, so fat is able to leave the fat cells. By fasting at night, you can create a 12-hour time-restricted eating pattern that speeds fat loss.
Menopausal Diet Plan
You can actively encourage belly fat burning by selecting better foods.
1. Vegetables
Naturally low in calories and high in nutrients and fiber, vegetables help to stabilize blood sugar levels, which eliminates the high insulin levels that promote fat storage.
2. Whole food fats
Foods, such as nuts, seeds, and avocados block fat storage by providing the right mix of healthy fats, protein, and fiber.
3. Chia seeds and flaxseeds
These weight loss foods lower blood sugar and encourage fat burning.
4. Cinnamon
This tasty seasoning improves insulin sensitivity, which lessens the belly fat storage caused by high cortisol levels.
5. Dark Chocolate
To keep your diet interesting, you can choose dark chocolate, which is lower in sugar than regular chocolate and keeps cortisol levels in check making it less likely for fat to build on at your waist.
The key to enjoying chocolate as a healthy treat is to choose the right type and don't overdo it.
Healthy dark chocolate contains 70% or higher cocoa content. Even though dark chocolate has health benefits, too much will ruin weight loss, so stick with a square or two as a small dessert.
6. What about alcohol?
According to the North American Menopausal Society, moderate drinking is acceptable.
"Midlife and older women who drink moderately have a lower risk of becoming obese than nondrinkers."
To stay in the moderate range, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAA) recommends that you drink "no more than seven drinks per week and no more than three drinks on any single day."
This is how the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAA) defines one standard drink (5):
5 fluid ounces (one glass) of wine (about 12% alcohol). Don't let your wine glass fool you—most hold much more than 5 ounces.
12 fluid ounces (usually one can or bottle) of regular beer (about 5% alcohol)
1.5 fluid ounces (one-shot) of distilled spirits (about 40% alcohol)
I recommend that members of my program abstain from alcohol initially. After a pattern of weight loss is established, they can experiment with adding alcohol back into their diet. I suggest starting with no more than 3 drinks a week as they monitor their weight to make sure it's still dropping
Bottom Line…It is possible to lose weight after menopause
If you're at the age of menopause, and you're finding it hard to control your growing belly, then you want to get your hormones working for you.
The foods I've listed above are a great starting point, but if you've struggled with putting a complete plan together to successfully fight menopausal belly fat, then I encourage you to look into our Freedom Weight Loss Coaching program.
The program is ideal for perimenopausal or menopausal women over 40 who want a sane approach for overall weight loss.
More articles on Women and Belly Fat:
Belly Fat in Women Over 50: Why it Happens | How to Lose It
Losing Weight Over 50-How To Get Thin Now That Life Has Changed
References:
(1) Davis, Susan Ruth, et al. "Understanding weight gain at menopause."Climacteric 15.5 (2012): 419-429.
(2) Hernandez-Ono, A., et al. "Association of visceral fat with coronary risk factors in a population-based sample of postmenopausal women."International journal of obesity 26.1 (2002): 33.
(3) Daubenmier, Jennifer, et al. "Mindfulness intervention for stress eating to reduce cortisol and abdominal fat among overweight and obese women: an exploratory randomized controlled study."Journal of obesity 2011 (2011). Save
(4) Nettleton, Jodi E., Raylene A. Reimer, and Jane Shearer. "Reshaping the gut microbiota: Impact of low calorie sweeteners and the link to insulin resistance?."Physiology & behavior 164 (2016): 488-493.
(5) "What Is A Standard Drink?"National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 9 Oct. 2019, https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/what-standard-drink. Save
Dr. Becky Gillaspy, DC graduated Summa Cum Laude with research honors from Palmer College of Chiropractic in 1991.
Many foreign and domestic automobile companies assemble their vehicles in the U.S.A. Here's a list of 10 of those brands.
Ford
When you think of an automobile in America, Ford is the name that probably first comes to mind. Ford assembles its automobiles in plants around the world including eight in the U.S.
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General Motors
General Motors has plants and facilities all over the United States. The Detroit-Hamtramck plant is unique in that it assembles four vehicles for three brands on one assembly line. In addition to General Motors, Detroit was once the home to Hudson Motor Car Company. Hudson automobiles included the Nash Metropolitan, Hudson Hornet and Hudson Greater Eight.
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Fiat Chrysler
Fiat Chrysler is the manufacturer of Dodge, Jeep and Ram and has several plants in Michigan, Ohio and Illinois. Once complete, automobile transporters must carefully move the finished vehicles to dealerships all around the country. The two different types of automobile transporters a dealership may consider is an enclosed transport trailer and an open-air transport trailer.
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Honda
Although a Japanese company, Honda has built around 25 million cars in the U.S.A. since 1982. Honda operates around 12 facilities in the states including Ohio, Georgia and North Carolina.
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Toyota
Also a Japanese company, Toyota currently has around 137,000 employees in its American plants. Over 25 million automobiles have been built in America. The Georgetown, Kentucky plant is the largest vehicle assembly plant in Toyota's global production network.
CC0/Photoman/pixabay
Nissan
Nissan's regional headquarters for North America and Mexico is in Franklin, Tennessee. Nissan manufactures vehicles in Tennessee and Mississippi. Additionally, advanced technology development is located in the Nissan Research Center in Silicon Valley.
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Volkswagen
Volkswagen is the manufacturer of popular German automobiles. But did you know that the Chattanooga, Tennessee plant assembles the Passat and Atlas?
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Hyundai
Hyundai's Alabama plant topped Harbor Report's productivity survey for six years. It's a $1.7 billion state-of-the-art facility that employs over 3,000 people.
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Tesla
The Tesla factory in Fremont, California houses 5.3 million square feet of manufacturing and office space. There are over 10,00 employees, and Tesla is expected to create thousands of more jobs in the coming years.
CC0/Blomst/pixabay
Kia
Kia's facility in West Point, Georgia is home of the Sorento CUV and Optima midsize. More than 90 percent of the vehicles assembled in West Point are delivered to car dealerships in the United States.
Whether you are a designer who wants to become a brand strategist or an entrepreneur interested in brand building process—this is the ultimate guide to brand development strategy in 2021.
The 9-Step Brand Strategy Framework
Brand Purpose
Brand Vision
Brand Values
Target Audience
Market Research
Awareness Goals
Brand Personality
Brand Voice
Brand Tagline
There are 9 elements of a brand strategy grouped into 3 sections: Brand Core, Brand Positioning and Brand Persona.
In this article I will show you how to develop your, or your client's branding strategy like a pro.
This is a step-by-step guide to building brand strategy with absolute minimum theory and maximum practicality.
Developing a brand strategy can be a daunting task, but when you have a clear process and the right toolkit — it's fairly easy.
Learn how to run brand strategy workshops and build successful brands, the strategic way.
And I have to admit that some of my colleagues think I'm crazy for sharing my secret sauce.
They worry that I may cannibalize my business by showing "amateurs" how to do what I get paid money for.
PS. Learn how to sell brand strategy to your design clients in my other article.
While I don't think this guide will put me out of the branding game, I do hope it will put you on.
So if want to learn how to build strategic brands — you're in the right place.
This is my proven 9-step brand strategy process to help you build strong brands.
I filled the worksheets with dummy text, so that you know where the answers go.
However, before we dive into the worksheets and exercises, let's quickly remind ourselves what brand strategy actually is.
What is a brand strategy?
When it comes to this subject, Marty Neumeier is a true brand strategist—this is how he defines brand strategy:
"A plan for the systematic development of a brand in order to meet business objectives."— Marty Neumeier, Brand Gap
The goal of brand strategy is to shape the perceptions of a brand's audience so that ultimately we can influence them.
Therefore, the brand strategy sets out the plan for shaping those perceptions through different forms of expression both visual and verbal.
Brand strategy used to be reserved for global brands, but now more business owners have started to realize the importance of building a brand and the strategy behind it.
In this article, you'll learn how I became a brand strategist so that you can navigate your career in the right direction and raise your specialist profile.
Brand Strategy Worksheet
This is the main strategy worksheet that I use capture the insights from branding workshops that I run with my clients.
A one-pager that consist the final outcome of each of the 9 branding exercises.
Brand Strategy Worksheet
I've also prepared GIF animations that will help you understand the sequence of each exercise.
In this article, I talk to you as if you were my client, in order to maximize its practicality (from intro to outro).
*Full brand strategy workbook available only with premium guide purchase.
So that you can just read it out loud and run your first strategy session with ease.
Hope you'll enjoy the actionable tips in this guide.
Why Brand Strategy Is Important?
As a designer, you may wonder why you need strategy.
Let's distinguish two scenarios of approaching a new branding project — with and without strategy.
Meet Arek and John:
Arek is a good designer, but he's also a strategist and his clients think he's a genius.
John is a good designer, but he struggles with his clients who often tell him what to do.
Clients usually come to us, graphics designers, asking for a logo, brand identity or other brand design work.
Strategist vs. Designer — A new project*
*Click to see the full infographic.
As you can see in my animation, projects often fall flat without proper strategy.
This is because you need to take a step back and lay the foundation for your creative work to come.
Follow my steps for creating brand strategy to align yourself and client on the same vision.
The goal of this workshop is to engage your client in the process and define key brand strategy elements.
So that you can turn these findings into insights that will help you design something that is "on brand".
Your clients will love you, because they'll feel like the ideas come from them.
And you will get clarity for the creative phase - designing brand identity.
How To Run a Strategy Workshop
Below you will find my branding strategy templates, so you can use them to develop your own process and worksheets.
So there are basically three ways in which you can run this workshop:
Run a whiteboard session
Fill out the worksheets with pen
Fill out the worksheets on computer
I'd strongly encourage you to run a whiteboard session — that's certainly the best option.
Who develops brand strategy? — You, the strategic designer, consultant, or facilitator.
It can be anyone, as long as you follow the framework.
How long does it take? — You should book at least 3 hours, which gives you about 20 minutes for each of the 9 exercises.
Who should be in the room? — You can have multiple stakeholders or just one CEO / Founder as participants.
Where to run the strategy session? — I usually rent a Breather office with at least 2 whiteboards and a TV to display the guide.
Hand out the worksheets to all participants so that they can take notes for themselves.
You can optionally meet your client in basically any quiet environment.
Brand Strategy Worksheets—Download the PDF with premium guide.
If meeting your client in person is not an option, then you can run this workshop online using Skype or Zoom.
I've also done a combination of both, where I run a whiteboard session over a video call, while my client fills out the worksheets with a pen.
And finally, you can just use my PDF templates (available only with premium guide) on fill them out on computer — either online, or in person.
So as you can see, the options are limitless and you can't really have any excuses.
Tips For Facilitator & Participants
First, get consensus from leadership — Brief the CEO or primary stakeholders on what's going to happen during the workshop.
Enroll them on being a "partner" in the process and explain what you are going to do and why it is important.
Give them a short overview of the brand strategy framework (see Intro) and what you're going to be able to accomplish together.
Here are the three principals that provide the foundation for what makes the workshop powerful.
Live —Get all decisions makers in the room or on a video conference call
Visual — Document everything in a visual way where everyone can see it.
Fun — Make them feel comfortable to share ideas without reservation.
It's also important to ask participants to not veto, contradict or counter any suggestion a team member makes.
And as a facilitator, you need to:
Control the agenda.
Remain empathetic.
Be encouraging.
Note: From now on, use this article as your script.
This is what you say as a facilitator — just repeat after me, memorize it, or at least try to remember key concepts.
So that you can run your strategy sessions with ease.
Let's get started.
Intro
So first, let me give you a quick overview of what we're going to accomplish today.
The brand strategy framework is divided into 3 sections:
Brand Core
Brand Positioning
Brand Persona
As you can see on the GIF below.
Brand Strategy Framework — sections.
Firstly, we're going to clarify your brand internally.
So, we're going to start with your brand core, which includes your brand purpose, your brand vision, and your brand values.
Secondly, we're going to position your brand in the market.
So then we're going to develop your brand positioning, which includes your target audience, your market analysis and your awareness goals.
And thirdly, we're going to define your brand persona.
In the last section, we're going to create a human brand persona, which includes your brand personality, your brand voice and your brand tagline.
So to sum up, we're going to run 9 branding exercises in 3 different section.
I'm going to draw each exercise on the whiteboard, but you can take notes for yourself by using the worksheets provided.
For some exercises I've included additional resources at the end that will help us complete these exercises.
But for other exercises we might want to quickly search the internet to help us fill in the gaps.
Brand Strategy Workshop — Research
However, you know your business well, and we're all creative people, so that we can complete this workshop with what we already know.
And later on, we can also expand on that by using actual data and performing deeper research.
Now, we're going to set timer for each exercise, and it's important to do it fast rather than being super accurate — speed is more important than accuracy.
Don't worry about being perfect in your answers, because it's also going to change and evolve.
Let's jump right into the first section — defining the core of your brand.
Section 1: Brand Core
And this is the part of strategy that 99% skip over.
Now, it might not seem overly important early on, but having this foundation in place as the core of your brand, makes all the difference when you begin to grow and expand.
Let's start with your brand core, which includes your purpose, your vision, and your core values.
There are 3 elements in this section of our brand strategy and each plays an essential role in providing clarity for the internal brand.
Brand Core section.
Knowing these three elements and being crystal clear on each of them, builds confidence for the existence and direction your brand takes.
And this is because the expectations that consumers have of brands today are lot different than they had 20 years ago.
Now customers want to engage with genuine and authentic brands.
So in order to build a genuine and authentic brand, you need to know what you stand for, and then you communicate that well to the outside world.
You see, customers want the brands they do business with to have a strong core, so that they're about something more than just selling them stuff.
Marty Neumeier — The Brand Gap
So building up the brand from the inside out, one that has a strong core, is really important.
Brand building strategy always starts with defining the internal brand first.
And when your brand knows who it is, knows where it's going and knows why it's here, customers can feel that authenticity and will stick around because of it.
And not only customers, but it will also unite your team internally and will help you make meaningful decisions that are "on brand".
Now, I'm going to draw each exercise on the whiteboard, but you can take notes for yourself by using the worksheets provided.
Ok, so without further ado let's jump right into the first exercise — which is finding the purpose behind what you do.
Exercise 1: Brand Purpose
Firstly, we're going to find the purpose behind what you do.
What's the greater good behind your work?
Here you need to know why you're in business and talk about it to rally your team and foster connection with your audience.
Brand Purpose exercise.
Let's start off by quickly explaining what brand purpose actually is and why you need it.
Brand purpose is a higher order reason for a brand to exist, other than just making a profit.
But why do we need to do that?
Because once we align your brand with some cause, you will have an uncanny ability to attract a cultlike following.
Our goal is to give people a purpose, a cause to champion, or a reason to believe so that they feel inspired to come to work or to buy from us.
So it will both: unite your team internally and also externally foster a deeper connection with your audience.
Brands that have committed to purposeful endeavors report:
Increased market share
Higher ROI
Faster growth
Higher sales
In fact, more and more customers are now happy to pay a premium for ethical and purpose driven brands.
Let me give you an example here: Tesla believes in clean, sustainable energy and saving our planet.
Brand Purpose Example — Tesla
So here, we need to identify that greater good and there are different causes that help either people, animals or the planet.
Ok so how do we find your brand purpose?
Here, we're going to use the Golden Circle concept developed by Simon Sinek, the author of the bestselling book "Start with WHY"
Draw three concentric circles and label the outside circle "what", the middle circle "how", and the inner circle "why".
First, In the outer circle (which is your WHATs
WHAT — List all the products you sell, the services you offer, or the jobs you perform.
Next, in the middle circle, let's list your HOWs
HOW — all the values, actions and guiding principles that make you stand out.
Whether you call it differentiating value proposition, propriety services or unique selling proposition.
Basically anything that explains how you're different or better.
And finally, let's state your WHY, so here we need to define what your brand stands for.
Simon Sinek — Start With Why
Why you do what you do, and when I say WHY I don't mean to make money—that's a result.
By WHY I mean:
WHY — Why does your company exist? What's your purpose, cause or belief?
And here, you can basically link what you do to one of the causes that help people, animals or the planet.
Check out the list of common causes to support and select one that makes the most sense for your brand.
Brand Purpose — Causes To Support
Now once we've done that, we need to list a few examples of contribution and impact.
So first:
CONTRIBUTION — Think about specific stories of when you've felt most proud to do your work.
Again, this is not about money or other metrics, but it's about what you have given, not what you've received.
So here, we're looking for specific contribution you made to the lives of others.
At the contribution starts with an action verb, because our ultimate aim is to make your purpose actionable.
Look at the list of action verbs and pick at least 3 that capture the essence of your contribution best.
Brand Purpose — Action Verbs.
And finally let's talk about the impact, which is the result of that contribution.
IMPACT — What did the contributions of your organization allow others to do or to be?
So think about how people's lives were different after they interacted with your brand.
What were those individuals able to do or become as a result of your contribution?
Let's come up with 3 impact statements.
And once we've done that, now let's draft your purpose statement.
Purpose Statement Template.
Spend a few minutes combining your contribution with your impact to draft your purpose statement.
You may actually need to try a few times to find something that ultimately feels right.
Now, let's put your Purpose statement in the main Strategy Worksheet
We're going to do the same with there outcome of each exercise — put it into the main strategy worksheet.
So that we're going to end up with 1 page strategy sheet, which makes it easy to share with your team and start acting upon it.
Ok, so once we've found your brand purpose, now let's look into the future and define your vision.
Exercise 2: Brand Vision
Exercise 3: Brand Values
Section 2: Brand Positioning
Since you've defined your brand internally, now let's position your brand externally—in the marketplace.
In the 2nd section, we're going to develop your positioning strategy, which includes your target audience, your market analysis and your awareness goals.
And the importance of each element of positioning can't be underestimated, because each one give us a clear understanding of your competitive edge.
Brand Strategy — Brand Positioning section
Equipped with this knowledge, we can shine a light on potential opportunities that your brand can take advantage of.
So when you have a clear understanding of your audience, their problems and needs, but also the players in your space, then you can just
adjust whatever you're doing to be more appealing.
And these adjustments don't necessarily need to impact business operations.
It might simply be in the way you present what your brand does.
Because look, positioning is all about perception.
So the way we present your brand makes all the difference in how your brandwill be remembered.
Now, you don't have to be pioneer, or have some original products.
Yes, positioning starts with a product or service, but positioning it's not what you do to a product.
Positioning is what you do to the mind of the customer, so positioning happens in the minds of the target audience.
Al Ries — Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind
So we need to occupy a distinctive place in the mind of your customer.
Even if you deliver similar product or service, you can still position yourself differently.
And just to give you and example — Let's think of 3 luxury car brands.
Perhaps you think of brands likeMercedes, BMW and Volvo.
Now let's do the opposite — Let's think of affordable car brands.
Perhaps you think of Hyundai, Ford and Toyota?
Whichever brand comes to your mind, this brand was able to take a specific position in your mind.
And this is basically the simples way of how positioning work.
However, different customers can position brands differently, based on their lifestyle and experiences.
Certain audience could say e.g. that Lexus Is an affordable car and wouldn't even consider buying a Ford or Toyota.
That's why we need to start with getting to know your audience first, so that we can understand and resonate with them.
So let's jump right into the first exercise in the positioning section of our strategy, or the 4th exercise overall — which is your Target Audience.
Exercise 4: Target Audience
Now, we need to get to know your target audience in order to resonate with them.
So, what's your primary customer?
And we have to understand your audience well, so that you can address their problems and needs with relevant solutions.
So we need to uncover the details about their lives and explore the personal side of their lives and what makes them tick.
We also have to understand the challenges they face, when those challenges come about and the state of mind they're in as they face them.
And we do this to uncover the emotions they go through, so that we can connect with them on a human level through those emotions.
Donald Miller —Building A StoryBrand
Ok, so the first exercise in this section is creating your general customer profile.
Here, we need to understand the circumstances of their lives — from their day-to-day activities to lifestyle, preferences, and behavioral patterns.
Essentially what we need to do here is to get to know them better, and on many levels.
Draw 2 by 2 grid and label the cells as following: Goals, Problems, Feelings and Desires. Next draw a circle in the middle.
Here's the thing: speed is more important than accuracy — and this will change and we will adjust it later and dig deeper..
Don't worry too much about whether it's right exactly, because it's also going to change.
So who are the most common customers, man or women?
The first thing we're going to do is to pick a name for the most common customer.
And then let's come up with some basic demographics. Let's just give him or her a simple label e.g. "Stay at home mom in her early 30's".
First, let's talk about their Goals.
What objectives and goals they have as it relates to your offering?
What kind of strategic aspirations or hopes they might have?
List here as many goals as you can in 5 minutes.
And we're going for quantity over quality, because later we can eliminate those less important facts and focus on what actually matters.
So secondly, let's talk about their problems.
What are the problems your customers face before they can get what they want?
What are their pain-points and core challenges?
And thirdly, let's talk about how these problems impact your customer emotionally.
What do they fear because of those problems?
What emotions & feelings that they go through?
And finally, let's talk about their desires.
What'd be the desirable experience?
Imagine what would be the best case scenario.
What would be the opposite of these problems and fears?
Once we've done that, now let's circle the most important findings in order to describe our target audience in 1 or 2 short sentences.
And then we put this outcome in the main Strategy Worksheet.
Now, since we've created the overall target audience profile, now let's analyze your marketplace to find your differentiator and write your positioning statement.
Exercise 5: Market Research
Exercise 6: Awareness Goals
Section 3: Brand Persona
Now, since you've defined your brand internally and positioned your brand externally, now let's also create a brand persona.
In the 3rd section, we're going to develop your brand persona, which includes your brand personality, tone of voice, and tagline.
Here, we're going to focus on making a human connection with your audience.
Brand Strategy — Brand Persona section
Because you see, back in the 80s and 90s consumers didn't have much to say.
There was no social media, so brands communicated with one-way broadcast messages in the form of advertisements.
And if the consumer didn't feel a connection or had a complaint, they basically had no voice.
Things are a bit different now.
Now, word of mouth, which is leveraged by social media, means that the consumers do have a voice.
So now, they expect that the brand their chose have a human side as well.
People expect brands to have a personality, so that they actually feel like they're engaging with a person, when they're really engaging with the brand.
Carol Pearson — The Hero & The Outlaw
So in this section our aim is to make that human connection with our audience.
Because brand development strategy cannot be fully defined without create a human brand persona.
And the way we gonna do that, is by identifying your brand personality, and then projecting the right voice.
And finally nailing it down with a memorable tagline.
So that we can create a brand persona, a real character that they can trust and feel connected to.
Ok, so without further ado let's jump right into the first exercise in this section, or the 7th exercise overall — your brand personality.
Exercise 7: Brand Personality
In the seventh exercise we're going to define the personality of your brand.
If your brand was a person who'd it be?
Here we're going to give your brand a human side by defining its personality in order to build relationship with your customers.
And the the way we're going to do that is by selecting an archetypal mix.
Brand Personality exercise.
Archetypes were a concept introduced by Carl Jung, who believed that they were models of people, behaviors, or personalities.
Archetypes, he suggested, were inborn tendencies that play a role in influencing human behavior.
Archetypes are widely used in books and movies so in branding.
For example: Yoda is the Sage in Star Wars.
Indiana Jones is the Explorer, or Maximus is the Hero in the Gladiator.
So our goal is to assume one core archetype and alternatively one secondary for differentiation.
But before we do the exercise, we actually need to fly quickly through all of them, to help you understand what they are all about.
So the Archetype Framework identifies 12 personalities divided into 4 sections that group them based on common desires.
Draw the archetype wheel while shortly explaining what they stand for.
The first core desire, exploring spirituality, is common for:
The Innocent
The Sage
The Explorer
They all have yearning for paradise.
They want to be connected with the Earth on a journey to know more about themselves and others.
The second core desire, leaving legacy, is common for:
The Outlaw
The Magician
The Hero
They all want to leave a mark on the World.
They want to make an impact, so something meaningful and be remembered.
The third core desire, connecting to others, is common for:
The Lover
The Jester
The Everyman
They're all about having meaningful relationships with other people.
Whether is romance and love, mother love, or just belonging — They want to be around people.
The fourth core desire, providing structure, is common for:
The Caregiver
The Ruler
The Creator
They all want to provide structure to the World.
They desire to build something that wasn't there before, in their own name or in the name of others.
So now, as you can see, I've also included some of the famous brands on that wheel - just to give you an example, so that you can relate.
Now, the challenge is to define the right archetypal mix, because often what happens is, I see brands try to cherry pick some characteristic from different archetypes.
But the problem is that by doing so, you will end up diluting your focus and therefore confusing your customers.
So the key and the trick is to keep you archetypal mix refined and focused.
You might end up with 70% of the core archetype and then 30% of the secondary archetype for differentiation.
Look at the archetypal wheel and identify the core desire of your audience.
And based on that let's think about what role your brand plays in their lives.
For example: If they desire power, it doesn't necessary mean that your brand should chose the Ruler archetype.
Because if your brand is providing them with some kind of education, to help them get that power, then they're likely will be drawn to the Sage personality that demonstrates wisdom and knowledge.
So based on the research you've done so far, let's now take all this into consideration.
Look at the wheel thinking about
What archetype would define your brand personality best?
Let's just simply mark it on the wheel and decide on the percentage ratio.
Once we have that, then with your archetypal mix in mind, answer the two questions about what you (as a brand) love and hate.
Brand Attitude Statement.
This will allow you to form your brand attitude and express your personality in simple messaging.
Ok, so once we've done that, then translate that attitude together with your archetypal mix to the main Strategy Worksheet.
Now, since you've defined your personality, now let's add to that by projecting a compelling voice for your brand.
Exercise 8: Brand Voice
Exercise 9: Brand Tagline
PS. I've also released a case study video tutorial of this exercise on my YouTube channel.
Outro
Thank you for participating in this workshop.
Thank all participants for their time and input.
We've gone through many exercises and this is going to help us design relevant concepts.
So that ultimately we can build a successful brand that your customers will love.
Brand Strategy Framework
This is how the worksheets should look like at the end of this workshop.
Collect all the notes or take pictures — don't forget to record everything.
Conclusions
I hope you enjoyed my tutorial of how to develop a brand strategy.
Graphic designers (like John) are good at making beautiful things—I know I used to be one.
But running workshops and building a brand strategy will bring tremendous value to your clients and to your design practice as well.
Feel safe and strong about your process and as a result attract powerful clients.
You will be able to charge money for thinking, rather than having clients forcing their ideas onto you.
With a proven strategy framework, you clients will see you as a competent, strategic designer rather than just hands to do the design work.
And most importantly, you will level up as a designer, charge premium fees and run projects effortlessly.
This is what I help my clients to do, and if you want level up and become a strategist I suggest you do it too.
Use this guide to run brand strategy workshops with your clients prior to doing any type of design work.
Need more information?—Check out my YouTube video where I present you with brand strategy examples.
PS. Also check out my Brand Story Framework and Brand Naming Framework.
What's next?—Check out my tutorial on how to translate brand strategy into visual design.
For creatives — Buy the premium guide and level up!
If you're a designer, check out my premium brand strategy kit and level up in 2020.
With the purchase of my premium guide, you will get all brand strategy resources that you need to successfully run discovery sessions with your clients:
12 Training video tutorials
Brand strategy template PDF
Real client session recording (brand strategy case study)
Filled out worksheets (brand strategy example)
Facilitator's guide with tips and examples
Additional resources for each branding exercise
Fillable PDF templates to use on computer
Print-ready PDFs to fill out with pen
Strategy delivery document (Strategy Brief)
Brand strategy presentation document and more
Don't be just a designer (like John), level up and become a strategist.
Buy my premium Strategy Guide and level up today!
Brand Strategy — Guide to discovery session
If you have any questions, just shoot me an email or leave a comment below.
For brands — Hire me to run the strategy workshop for you.
If you're a CEO or Founder, book me to run the workshop for you and let's build your brand fast in 2020.
And don't forget to check out the preview of this strategy workshop on my YouTube channel.
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"A plan for the systematic development of a brand in order to meet business objectives."— Marty Neumeier, Brand Gap.
An effective brand strategy helps you build a strong brand. It defines your brand on many level: what you stand for, who are you for and how you're going to connect with your audience. Without a solid brand strategy, you have no objective way to measure whether your brand is moving in the right direction to help you achieve your business objectives.
Slate helps you create beautiful, intelligent, responsive API documentation.
The example above was created with Slate. Check it out at slatedocs.github.io/slate.
Features
Clean, intuitive design — With Slate, the description of your API is on the left side of your documentation, and all the code examples are on the right side. Inspired by Stripe's and PayPal's API docs. Slate is responsive, so it looks great on tablets, phones, and even in print.
Everything on a single page — Gone are the days when your users had to search through a million pages to find what they wanted. Slate puts the entire documentation on a single page. We haven't sacrificed linkability, though. As you scroll, your browser's hash will update to the nearest header, so linking to a particular point in the documentation is still natural and easy.
Slate is just Markdown — When you write docs with Slate, you're just writing Markdown, which makes it simple to edit and understand. Everything is written in Markdown — even the code samples are just Markdown code blocks.
Write code samples in multiple languages — If your API has bindings in multiple programming languages, you can easily put in tabs to switch between them. In your document, you'll distinguish different languages by specifying the language name at the top of each code block, just like with GitHub Flavored Markdown.
Out-of-the-box syntax highlighting for over 100 languages, no configuration required.
Automatic, smoothly scrolling table of contents on the far left of the page. As you scroll, it displays your current position in the document. It's fast, too. We're using Slate at TripIt to build documentation for our new API, where our table of contents has over 180 entries. We've made sure that the performance remains excellent, even for larger documents.
Let your users update your documentation for you — By default, your Slate-generated documentation is hosted in a public GitHub repository. Not only does this mean you get free hosting for your docs with GitHub Pages, but it also makes it simple for other developers to make pull requests to your docs if they find typos or other problems. Of course, if you don't want to use GitHub, you're also welcome to host your docs elsewhere.
RTL Support Full right-to-left layout for RTL languages such as Arabic, Persian (Farsi), Hebrew etc.
Getting started with Slate is super easy! Simply press the green "use this template" button above and follow the instructions below. Or, if you'd like to check out what Slate is capable of, take a look at the sample docs.
Getting Started with Slate
To get started with Slate, please check out the Getting Started section in our wiki.
We support running Slate in three different ways:
Natively
Using Vagrant
Using Docker
Companies Using Slate
NASA
Sony
Best Buy
Travis-CI
Greenhouse
WooCommerce
Dwolla
Clearbit
Coinbase
Parrot Drones
You can view more in the list on the wiki.
Questions? Need Help? Found a bug?
If you've got questions about setup, deploying, special feature implementation in your fork, or just want to chat with the developer, please feel free to start a thread in our Discussions tab!
Found a bug with upstream Slate? Go ahead and submit an issue. And, of course, feel free to submit pull requests with bug fixes or changes to the dev branch.
Contributors
Slate was built by Robert Lord while at TripIt. The project is now maintained by Matthew Peveler and Mike Ralphson.
Thanks to the following people who have submitted major pull requests:
@chrissrogers
@bootstraponline
@realityking
@cvkef
Also, thanks to Sauce Labs for sponsoring the development of the responsive styles.
"To be able to flesh out a character for over eight or so years has been really amazing." – Sophie Turner on Playing Sansa Stark
One of the most compelling characters on Game of Thrones is Sansa Stark, played by English actress Sophie Turner. Turner, who also appears as Jean Grey in the recent X-Men films, has grown up with the character and has seen her career take off because of her portrayal of the young royal. Speaking with W, Turner reveals how she was introduced to acting, what she has learned from playing Sansa, and what she hopes to do with her career next.
Turner was introduced to acting at a very young age and fell in love with it. She says, "My mom putting me into a one hour acting group on a Saturday because she wanted some time to herself. She sent me off with all of my friends and we all did this acting class and we all ended up loving it, just completely falling in love. It ended up being kind of like our church. We were so dedicated to it. It was like a haven for me."
Turner looks at playing Sansa as a rare opportunity to progress within a character over a long period of time. She reveals, "It has been such a blessing. Normally you play a character for a month or so, and then you are done with it, but to be able to flesh out a character for over eight or so years has been really amazing. She's a project that I really feel is part of me now. Everything that happens to her affects me. I have kind of been living through two people for the past eight years."
Later, Turner admits she has been surprised as everyone else to see her character's career path. She explains, "I guess in the beginning, Sansa was quite a damsel in distress. I never saw her storyline going in the direction it has, but now that I've got a taste for playing someone that was an underdog and now is really coming into her own being a strong, powerful female character, I've really got a taste for it. That's what I look for now… But you know what, there is no shame in playing someone who needs help."
In addition to that, Turner sees having a long-term role on Game of Thrones as a chance to be bolder with her other acting choices. She says, "This year my New Year's resolution was to push myself and not be afraid and to make bold choices in my acting and my project choices."
Today we'll be taking a quick look at how to create an Instagram post template in Adobe Photoshop!
Whether it's for a hot sale your site is having, you're announcing a huge giveaway, or maybe you just want to wish your followers a happy holiday, having a blank Instagram post template that's ready to be filled in and customized with only a few clicks is a must for any booming Instagram account!
Today we'll be recreating an Instagram template that's found on Placeit!
If you're looking to edit a post similar to our final product without Photoshop, then head over to Placeit. You can get creative with the editable Instagram post templates and get professional results in just a few clicks. After the tutorial, we'll walk through ten cool Instagram post templates like the one below:
Placeit lets you customize cool Instagram post templates like this one without any software.
Do you prefer watching Instagram Photoshop tutorials to reading them? Then follow along with us over on our Envato Tuts+ YouTube channel:
What You Will Need
You'll need the following resources to follow along with this Photoshop tutorial for Instagram posts:
A Model
Butler Font
Template for Instagram Post
Find more resources on Envato Elements and Placeit!
1. What Are Instagram's Post Size Dimensions?
Step 1
Create aNew Documentin1080 x 1080 pixelsat72 DPI/Resolution.That's the optimal size for an Instagram post; however, if your image is larger, that will work as well!
Just make sure your canvas is a1:1 (Square)ratio! Otherwise, Instagram will crop your post.
Step 2
Drop and center your promo or subject image onto the middle of the canvas.
2. How to Create Borders in Photoshop
Step 1
Select theRectangle Tool,setting the top toolbar's settings to what you see below.
Rectangle Tool Settings
Shape
Fill: None
Stroke: White5pxSolid
Height: 988 px(may vary)
Width: 988 px(may vary)
Step 2
Create your square border and move it to the middle of the canvas. Make sure there is an equal amount of space on all four sides.
Step 3
Select theLine Tool, once againsetting the top toolbar's settings to what you see below.
Line Tool Settings
Shape
Fill: White
Stroke: None
Weight: 5 px
Step 4
Using theLine Tool, create a horizontal 75 pxline.
Create a second vertical line, connecting the two lines to make a corner-line shape.
Movethe corner shape10 pxfrom the edge of the white border.
Groupthe two lines.
Step 5
Duplicatethe corner group.
Align the two corners so that the new duplicated group is inside the original.
Shorten both the duplicated lines, located inside of the duplicated group, from 75 px to 25 px to create a shorter corner shape.
Move the duplicated group10 pxfrom the original corner group.
Step 6
Groupboth corner shapes into a new group.
Duplicate the new group four times, placing the groups around the four corners of the border.
Use Right-Click > Flip Horizontal andFlip Verticalto flip the corner shapes.
3. How to Create an Editable Instagram Post Template
Step 1
Create aNew Layerabove your subject/promo image, but below your border groups.
Select theRectangle Tool,setting the top toolbar's settings to what you see below.
Rectangle Tool Settings
Shape
Fill: Dark Blue #003f46
Stroke: None
Width: 988 px(may vary)
Height: 269 px (may vary)
Place the dark blue rectangle at the bottom of your border.
Step 2
Create a second rectangle with theRectangle Tool.
Rectangle Tool Settings
Shape
Fill: Orange #ed6726
Stroke: None
Width: 987 px(may vary)
Height: 62 px (may vary)
Clip the orange rectangle into the dark blue rectangle, bringing the orange rectangle down to the bottom edge of the blue rectangle.
Step 3
Using the Butler Font, type what you want your viewer to see first. In this case, it's "Flash Sale!"
Make the text centered towards the top of the dark blue rectangle and very large! I've set my text to white and 86.7 pt.
Step 4
Next, place your secondary information right below your first line of information. In this case, it's "15% off all tops and hats".
I used the Georgia font at a size of53.42 pt.
Step 5
Finally, add your least important information. By least important, I mean least eye-catching! In this case, we want to catch them with "Sale!" then tell them what the sale is and then finally give them the code for the sale. In this case, it's "Code: Summertime."
I placed the text right in the middle of the orange rectangle, using the same Georgiafont at a size of39.35 pt
We've Done It!
And there you have it! You made it to the end of this Instagram Photoshop tutorial. You now have a fully customizable Instagram post template, ready to use whenever you need it, whatever you need it for. All you need is a few clicks to change out the words, colors, font, or even the border's thickness and stroke type! Who doesn't love a polka-dot border, after all?
Awesome Instagram Post Templates for 2021 From Placeit
If you need even more inspiration for your next Instagram post template, check out Placeit! There you can find creative templates that are all customizable online. There's no need for any software, and the results are amazing. Check out some of my favorite cool Instagram post templates from Placeit below:
1. Instagram Story Template for a Men's T-Shirt Sale
Here's a really modern Instagram post template PNG. It has a nice use of color and two image placeholders. Add your text to promote your latest collection or sale.
2. Instagram Post Generator for a Special Streetwear Sale Online
Text and abstract graphics decorate this cool Instagram post template. The textured look of the image adds some gritty authenticity to this design. There's no doubt that after you customize this template for an Instagram post, your followers will be left impressed.
3. Cool Instagram Post Generator for a Giveaway
Chic, stylish, and minimal, this template generator keeps your image front and center. Upload your professional photos to quickly customize the layout to suit your brand. Like the other cool Instagram post templates in this list, this one is fully customizable.
4. Modern Instagram Post Maker for Quotes
Do you like to give your followers motivation? Then check out this Instagram post maker. By default, it features an uplifting message over a field of flowers. You can edit the text, font, colors, and a lot more. This level of customization is like using multiple editable Instagram post templates.
5. Instagram Post Template for Cool Fashion Brands
Sometimes your followers will only engage for a few seconds as they scroll through their feeds. That's why the clear messaging offered in this Instagram post template PNG is so important. Give your followers a nice image and a short and sweet call to action.
6. Healthy Lifestyle Social Media Post Template
Eye-catching colors never hurt anybody. This health-oriented Instagram post template is perfect for you if you run a lifestyle blog or social page. You can edit the fonts and background image. You can even upload your brand's logo!
7. Fashionable Instagram Post Maker for Clothing Brands
There are only so many ways you can say "coming soon", but there are many more ways to say it creatively. This fun Instagram post template PNG makes lets you make your announcement by using cool pinks, purples, and blues on a garage scene. And yes, you can customize the colors if they don't fit your brand.
8. Instagram Post Template With an Urban Style to Share New Items
Are you looking for something trendy? Then you'll want this anti-design template. It rewrites the design rules yet still looks well-designed. You can add up to two images to share your news with. This template for an Instagram post also supports adding your logo and more text.
9. Trendy Instagram Post Generator With a Colorful Anti Design Layout
Let's wrap up our list of editable Instagram post templates with this modern option from Placeit. It has abstract decorative elements as well as an excellent use of colors. All of this is done to help frame your image without looking overcrowded. Try it if you like bold and cool Instagram post templates that are on trend in 2021.
Conclusion
The steps in this Photoshop tutorial for Instagram were just the start. As always, keep experimenting with different techniques and practicing, and don't forget to post your version below, along with any questions, comments, or critiques!
The Instagram platform is always evolving, and so do the trends that you'll find are popular and effective. Stay up-to-date with our blog post on Instagram trends in 2020. It'll help you learn what works for Instagram users and your followers this year. It's a great source of inspiration and planning!
You can also learn more techniques with the following photo manipulation tutorials:
