#ICYMI brands r breakin records [🐝U]

Most people think branding is about logos, fonts, & a coordinated color pallet

WRONG

That’s barely scratching the surface.
It’s the tip of the tip of the iceberg.

The real question is:
What makes people pay attention, buy in, & stick with you for years?

#ICYMI (In Case You Missed It) …

This past week, 2 very different people in different industries broke records by leveraging their brand

& they did it in completely different ways

… starting where you are now

On Wednesday August 12, Taylor broke YouTube & the internet (& a record) with 1.3 million live viewers …

Yes, she crashed YouTube with her first podcast appearance, on a male-centric sports-themed podcast

Then hundreds of companies jumped on the promotional bandwagon (with surprising speed) to meme / mimic her countdown
- coffee
- airlines
- pet stores
- Zoos
- marketing agencies

Landmarks lit it up for the new era too …
→ the Empire State Building
→ Kansas City’s Union Station

Those are all the kinds of “partners” you’d expect to ride the Taylor wave.

But the ripple effect went much further into non-Swiftie & anti-Swiftie areas
→ male-centric sports accounts (like the Circuit of The Americas racetrack in Texas)
→ & sports teams (like the Cleveland Browns)
→ social media accounts with users that usually poke fun or throw hate her way (like X)

& here’s the kicker:
Taylor didn’t buy ads
She didn’t pay influencers

It was all organic
Built off the back of her brand … 20+ years in the making

Love her, hate her, or indifferent, Taylor Swift’s built the most recognizable brand in music, maybe the world.

But it didn’t start that way.

It started with one-on-one connections:
→ hours outside venues meeting fans
→ endless engagement on MySpace
→ building a community brick by brick being herself

These days she’s not even active on social media.
Comments off
DMs closed

It doesn’t matter.
Because her brand transcends platforms

Tayloe shows us what happens when 20+ years of connection & trust explodes into a cultural wildfire … without a single ad

Just 4 days later …

August 16, it was Alex Hormozi shows us the other side of branding:
How strategy, money, & scale breaks records too.

Alex Hormozi held a live book launch (#3 in his $100M series) on Money Models.

He went into planning - meticulously - to break the Guinness Record for non-fiction book sales in a 24-hour period.

Prince Harryheld the record, selling 1.43 million copies of his autobiography.

& speaking of Harry, Alex’s live launch not only be the non-fiction record, he made it into the top 5 all-time to knock one of the Harry Potter books out of the spot!

During Alex’s live book launch on YouTube, he sold almost 2x Harry’s record.

Over 2,750,000 books during the livestream
x $30 per book

He’s basically turned a $100M Money Models book launch into a $100M day!

That was JUST during the livestream!
The 24-hour window’s not over (at the time of writing this)

What he did was very different than Taylor Swift.

Alex spent over $4 million on ads
He enlisted hundreds of affiliate partners to help promote
His team created offers “so good people feel stupid saying no”

2 launches
2 different industries
2 very different people (& brands)

Both with similar results
record-breaking attention (& sales)

Why?

Because people buy into THEM, not just their products.

Branding isn’t about the logo, a color pallet, or fonts.
Those help, they’re the tip of the tip of the iceberg.

Real branding is about authenticity.
It’s about consistency.
& consistency doesn’t mean staying the same forever.

Taylor Swift started in country, now she releases pop & Americana/folk albums
Fans don’t care

Alex Hormozi started out clean shaven with short hair, now he looks like a Lumberjack
His business following exploded.

They’re both playing the long game.

They’re leveraging their brand & audience
& they’re doing it in very different ways.

But the thing that’s the same …
It’s about being authentic.
Be Yourself.

You get to decide how much (& what) you share.
It can be superficial/general information, or you can do a deep dive.

Either way works as long as you do it consistently … authentically … ethically.

Honestly, as a solopreneur or freelancer, being uniquely you is your “Unique Selling Proposition”

I’m not re-inventing the marketing wheel.

I’m me.
Unapologetically.
In baseball caps
Usually in the “middle of nowhere” surrounded by trees & wildlife

How you can start building your brand today
(without a 20-year career or $4M ad budget)

1 - Clarify your “thing”
→ Taylor = storytelling (& sharing life experience) through music
→ Alex = simplifying business growth
→ What’s your “one thing” you want to be known for?

2 - Share behind-the-scenes, not just the polished results
→ Swifties got to know Taylor because she spent hours hanging out
→ Alex shares his wins & failures from flat broke (more than once) to over $250,000,000 a year business
→ Your audience doesn’t just want the highlight reel … share your journey

3 - Engage 1:1 with 5 people every day
→ Thoughtful comments on posts in your space
→ Respond to new followers & questions without a sales pitch
→ Think like Taylor by building fans 1 at a time
→ Think like Alex by re-investing into & leveraging you to grow faster

Bottom Line:
Star small.
Stay consistent.
Be authentic.

Taylor didn’t have orange-lit skyscrapers when she started.
Hormozi didn’t have a $100M day out of nowhere.

Branding isn’t built overnight.
But you do build it bit by bit every day you show up.
Taylor & Alex just remind us: the long game wins.

The only question is:
Are you going to start playing yours today?

Want help with your brand?

Mike Kim breaks it down into 3 pillars in his book, You Are the Brand
- Visual (what people see)
- Verbal (what you say)
- Value (what you stand for & share with your community)

Help with communicating your brand with a team of people…

Ready to get your team on the same page?

When workplace comms are clear and concise, you cut out:

• Endless back-and-forths

• Confusion and misalignment

• Time-consuming follow-ups

Get — or give — the workbook that shows you how to be more succinct.

Download now

Make it a great “authentic brand-building“ week!
EG

PS:
Want access to some of the content that created Alex’s record-breaking sales?

I’ve landed a spot for an on-site all-day workshop at Alex Hormozi’s Acquisition.com Headquarters in Vegas.

& I’m getting some extra freebies from the book launch

ALL of which I’m planning to share with you, for free, to anyone interested & subscribed to the newsletter.

So hit reply & let me know so I can share as they come in because it’s not going out to everyone.

PPS:
📣 Tell me what you want to read about … here

📈 Want to talk about better branding by being yourself?
Find a time that fits your schedule.