It's a Brand - Not An Outfit

Elana Natker, MS, RD Past Chair

Can I be honest? I’m tired of hearing about people’s BRAND, as if it’s something external and bigger than them. In my mind I hear Moira Rose’s voice from Schitt’s Creek saying, “My brahhnnndd …”

Don’t get me wrong: I fully agree that dietitians in business for themselves should have a brand, which should reflect your expertise and values, and that it needs nurturing and protecting. But rather than talk about how to represent your brand, as is the topic of this newsletter, I’d rather talk about the importance of identifying your brand and sticking to it. In my little corner of the dietitian world, I work with food companies and associations on their communications efforts. Often I recommend aligning with dietitians to help get the messages out, given that we are the credentialed nutrition experts, knowledgeable both in the science of food and in consumer behavior and what resonates with them.

Staying on top of who is an expert is what can be difficult. I can’t tell you how many people change their “brand” based on what’s going on in their environment. Just got engaged? Suddenly you’re all about keeping healthy during the stress of planning a wedding. Two years later and your posts are all about healthy pregnancy. Then it’s all about nutrition in childhood, then adolescence … and so on.

It’s not just life stage. I’ve seen dietitians who brand themselves as experts in various diseases due to diagnoses in themselves or family members. I’m not saying you should never reassess your brand and decide if it’s working for you. But if you find yourself changing your brand often, maybe it’s time to do some introspection and figure out – what is it you really want to be known for? What is it that makes you, YOU? And why should people want to work with you and follow you?

Your brand should be your “why,” as Simon Sinek in the famous YouTube video explains. It shouldn’t be your latest interest or what you’ve been reading up on recently. Don’t make your brand out to be like a fad diet – popular one day, then fizzled out the next. Make it enduring, that can be enhanced and refined, but never fundamentally changed.

Elana Natker, MS, RD, is the owner of Sage Leaf Communications, a nutrition communications agency, which is still going strong from her home office in Muscat, Oman. There, she is able to find some equilibrium by stopping work and taking laps around the house when she needs a break.