By Rolling Stone Culture Council
Lifestyle brands have become popular with celebrities, influencers and entrepreneurs alike, with platforms like Instagram or Facebook serving as their ideal place for sharing small snippets of their lives. Whether they’re centered around everyday life or an aspirational dream, these lifestyles form the basis for marketing a business’s products or services.
But to make a lifestyle brand work, entrepreneurs need to develop a strategy with all the right components in place. To that end, 12 Rolling Stone Culture Council members share the ingredients entrepreneurs will need to craft a true lifestyle brand that will help them connect with their ideal audience.
When building a lifestyle brand, entrepreneurs need to be authentic because only by marching to the beat of your own drum and staying true to who you are and what your values are can you create something that is real and that will resonate with others. What makes you “you” is so powerful and so important. Don’t look at anyone else. We all have our own path and story, and bringing yours to the table is key to making it work and being a success. – Justine Murphy, mymuybueno
A lifestyle brand needs to be an extension of your own values and beliefs. You need to live the lifestyle to be successful at selling it. Said differently, you need to be your brand, and your story needs to be credible. People will know immediately if you’re faking it! – Brad Canario, Auxly
A lifestyle brand means you’re literally part and parcel of someone’s everyday life where they use your products consistently and repeatedly until they become an essential necessity. The brand would have to think of the “stickiness” of their products so there’s a constant consuming factor, and make sure there are features and elements to draw the user to use the brand frequently. – Royston G King, Royston G King Group & Companies
A lifestyle brand is about taking something with a meaningful purpose and creating something else that will impact the world for the greater good and improve the lives of many. Entrepreneurs on a journey to build an authentic lifestyle brand should take their passion and what they genuinely believe in and transform it into reality. No profit in mind; just community. Without this people-first mindset, it will fall short. – Mike Weinberger, Unity Rd.
To build a lifestyle brand, entrepreneurs need an understanding of their target audience — encompassing exactly what that target really wants and needs — coupled with an idea that solves something that’s currently a real pain point for them. – Cate Rubenstein
The Rolling Stone Culture Council is an invitation-only community for Influencers, Innovators and Creatives. Do I qualify?
If an entrepreneur is interested in building a true lifestyle brand, one of the most important and integral aspects is the story. This narrative should be told in a way that will resonate with target audiences, be it through storytelling, through visuals or through yourself. – Kristin Marquet, Marquet Media, LLC
To build a meaningful and compelling lifestyle brand, you need to focus on the content you are putting out. Making an investment in high-quality digital content is necessary to build a lifestyle brand online. Doing this will make things more professional and allow people to take your brand seriously. – Christian Anderson (Trust’N), Lost Boy Entertainment LLC
It’s all very well and good to take photos of your healthy food and amazing vacations, but what do you stand for? What relatable trait in you can your followers strive to foster in themselves? Nail that down, define your brand based on that answer and you’re on your way. – Victoria Kennedy, Marisa Johnson
To build a lifestyle brand, entrepreneurs need to think ahead about what’s valuable symbolically, and not have users or consumers think of the lifestyle as a buyable asset. Aspirational marketing is more about personal goals than it is about attainable products. – Jacob Mathison, Mathison Projects Inc.
Be intentional and look for clear lanes of opportunity that set your brand and voice apart from the current market. Let consumers know you understand and appreciate their individual needs with your content, demonstrating how and why your brand will benefit them. Allow yourself to be dynamic and flexible, listening and engaging with your community as it grows. – Michael Klein, Sunset Amusements
If you’re building a lifestyle brand, you need a robust library of custom, on-brand, professional photography. A brand photoshoot with a unique creative direction will ensure that all your assets stand out across platforms. From your website to your social media, you’ll be able to quickly communicate your lifestyle brand’s vibe and attract your ideal customers. – Dan Serard, Cannabis Creative Group
Short-form video content is king, so if you don’t have the time or knowledge to deliver consistent, engaging media, hire a video editor or have a UGC (user-generated content) creator on retainer who can do the work for you. – Kathy Schenfelt, MISSMANAGED
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