Whether you’re creating content, launching a product, or marketing yourself, branding has a huge impact on perception, but more importantly, it also a huge impact on potential profitability. For Full Sail Entertainment Business master’s graduate, Hall of Fame inductee, and accomplished brand strategist Phil Pallen, focusing on the right aspects of a brand’s development can lead to a big return. In a recent presentation at Full Sail's Hall of Fame Week, Phil shared his tips and best practices for building a million-dollar brand.

Crystal Clear Goals & Problem Solving

“Branding is not just about looking pretty,” says Phil. “Branding is a business tool that helps us manifest and materialize business goals.” According to Phil, a million-dollar brand doesn’t start with pretty logos and engaging colors, but instead, with defining a clear goal, which helps direct decision-making and builds confidence in your brand.

In defining a brand and creating clear goals, it’s also important to identify what problem your brand or business is solving. If you’re not solving a problem and working to elicit an emotional response from your audience, your brand is unlikely to grow and become successful.

Continuous Effort

For Phil and his team at the Phil Pallen Collective, success isn’t a place a brand comes to and stops. To generate business and make money, you and your brand have to be willing to innovate, pivot, and learn from mistakes. “You don’t arrive at success, you keep going,” says. Phil. “We are always thinking, ‘What are we not doing? What’s coming next? What do we need to do to stay on top of things?’”

Know Your Audience

Speaking the language of your audience or customer is the best way to invoke an emotional response and achieve genuine buy-in. Finding out who your audience is, what they love, and why they love it will allow you to build something that resonates with them. “I think [it’s important] when you confidently stand and operate in a place of certainty about who you serve and how you’re able to serve them,” says Phil. “In that confident stance, I think you also attract secondary and tertiary audiences.”

Determine Your Offering

Building a million-dollar brand also obviously means generating income. For the Phil Pallen Collective, breaking down tiers of monthly income allows their clients to see what types of goods and services they can offer based on the return they are looking to receive. For example, small income generators like SMS marketing, paid workshops, or Patreon subscriptions are accessible to your target audience for sums of less than $100, making for a less consequential decision for the buyer or client and an opportunity to nurture brand loyalty.

Larger income-generating tiers with goods or services costing more should reflect the same type of value to your customer. If something costs more than $1,000, you should feel confident that the service or good reflects the price tag.

Brand the Experience

No matter the level where your customers or clients exist, the entirety of your brand should feel cohesive. Whether it’s the packaging for a product, a free resource online, or a social media post, your brand should be woven through every touchpoint and easily identifiable as yours. “It has a compounding effect. All of these little details add up to this experience we’re talking about,” says Phil. “Your brand needs to work for you.”

Looking for more pro advice? Head to Phil’s website for additional resources and watch the full panel below to get more insights from the successful brand strategist and Hall of Fame inductee.