Are you a huge fan of RuPaul’s Drag Race fan? My husband and I watch it voraciously.
We get really into it. Like analyzing who’s doing what and trying to predict who will win. We figure we have lip-syncs-for-your-life down to a science.
Also, those goils are damn good at branding. While a drag queen is developing a personal brand, their tips below will work for your business or corporate brand as well!
Binge-Worthy Branding
What brand development strategies can you take from a binge-watch of RuPaul? Here are things we can learn from a fabulous drag queen to build a brand.
Brand Consistency
The queens that win Rupaul’s Drag Race are the ones that are the most consistent throughout the series. Was anyone surprised when Sharon Needles won Season 4 after she had won four of the challenges? Of course not! She was a consistently remarkable queen.
While Sharon has a strong brand position being a darker and edgier queen, she was able to use that brand position to create a strong foundation for every decision she made.
Being consistent in your brand and in your business lets your clients know what to expect from you. Removing that risk makes it easier to spend money with you. You wouldn’t keep going back to a restaurant that only sometimes serves a great meal.
Consistency can come in the form of customer service, or in visuals and messaging. One of my favourite examples is Coca-Cola. One of the most consistent brands of all time. Would you trust a Coca-Cola can if the bottle was the wrong shade of red?
Versatility for Growth
Consistency and versatility come up a lot in branding and design, and they seem like they are completely opposite concepts. Versatility comes from knowing how to use your brand correctly but in creative ways.
Longevity in business comes from being versatile. It’s knowing when to adapt to the times or when to innovate on processes and procedures.
It’s important to know who your target market is, but you might have opportunities to market to secondary or tertiary markets. It can be as simple as changing up photography, messaging or how it’s being disseminated to your clients that can create that versatility.
If you’re local to Alberta, ATB Financial is actually a great example of versatility meeting with consistency. Historically, ATB Financial’s natural market was older people living in rural areas. For decades ATB was the only bank that would serve small communities, and these small are older in age because young adults move to cities for education and career opportunities.
In the last decade, they have really shifted their marketing to younger, urban entrepreneurs. Especially looking at the photography they are using, it depicts an entirely different group of people than who they have historically worked with.
Depending on how you bank with them (personally, commercially, investing, corporately, etc) will change your experience but it’s always true to ATB’s values and vision.
In terms of Drag Queens, we know RuPaul is looking for the entire package. Someone who can act, dance, be beautiful and be hilarious.
This versatility has allowed RuPaul himself to be the first drag queen to achieve mainstream success. He presents well being interviewed, he is hilarious as a drag queen, and a talented musical performer. RuPaul has written books and produced multiple television shows as well!
Vulnerability & Authenticity
No one likes the drag queens that never let their guard down and keep the others at arm’s length. Being vulnerable lets people see your human side and allows for truly meaningful connections.
We are inundated with marketing from so many sources and there are dozens of options for any given industry, so you really have to reach people on a human relationship-based level to ensure their long-term loyalty.
Being authentic while you’re developing your brand identity is also valuable to you as a business owner. We all want to work with people that we like. If you are pretending to be something you’re not, you won’t attract people that you like to work with!
Another one of our favourite queens, Latrice Royale, has been very open about her incarceration. While on the surface one might think that this information would have hurt her chances it was actually an opportunity to challenge stigmas and build bridges.
Customer Surprises
Surprises can be a great marketing strategy and season 6 winner Bianca Del Rio is so good at surprises! She walked in and had her brand – the bitchy, hilarious reading queen – she owned it. She rarely wavered from it when she was performing, but her moments of kindness really endeared her to the audience.
Customers love to know that you are engaged in your business and that your marketing isn’t just on auto-pilot. Throwing in the occasional surprise for your customers can go a long way, especially if you are the owner and aren’t involved in the day-to-day operations of the business.
You can get a lot of loyalty with surprises whether that’s sending thank you cards, offering discounts, or adding a special personal touch to a project. Surprises can also come in the form of giveaways or flash sales. Think about what would really wow your target audience.
Ready to Glam Up Your Brand?
While personal brands are a different beast than business or corporate brands, it doesn’t mean that there isn’t a lot to learn from the drag queens who do it well!
So shantay, I hope you can incorporate some of these ideas into your business and branding!
If you can’t love yourself, how the hell you going to love somebody else? If you don’t love your brand, that’s where we can help–book your consultation call today!