This is a Reader Edition of The Voice Bureau Asks, in which we hand our readers the mic. We want to hear your 100-word take on 1 provocative brand challenge. Today’s question is . . .

Why do you want a tribe?

Tribes. As business owners and brand creators, we’re “supposed to” have them.

We’re supposed to nurture them, inspire them, empower them. We’re supposed to email them regularly.

We’re supposed to know what to do with them. (This last part has confounded many a smart and enterprising brand creator, so if this part is confusing for you, you’re not alone.)

Most of knowing what to do with your tribe comes with understanding why you even want one — and that’s exactly what we’d like to talk with you about today.

We’re asking this question because in our recent Reader Survey (which is still open for contributions, by the way), contributors have said that one of their Top 3 goals for 2013 is to grow their community, readership, or tribe.

So we want to know — why?

What do you think you’ll get by growing your tribe?

What are you hoping for?

What’s the result you’re aiming for?

In the comments, we’d love to hear:

Why do you want a tribe? Lay it out for us and we’ll talk back.

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Yesterday, I had the great fortune of experiencing up close the natural mystery and concerted power of a starling murmuration — for the very first time.

If you don’t know what a starling murmuration is (I didn’t either until yesterday) play the video below to see one in action. It’s quite incredible.

Watching this incredible feat of physics (and magic, I have to believe) got me thinking — of course — about branding and the way we orchestrate our online presences.

I want to create — and help The Voice Bureau‘s clients create — brands that are as consistent and powerful as a starling murmuration. Messaging forces of nature. Presentation prima/primo ballerinas/ballerinos.

And so I asked myself, What are the basic principles that allow us to do that?

Here are 5 principles I see in a starling murmuration that apply to branding our online businesses:

1. Brands, like starling murmurations, make an impression through consistent and coordinated flight patterns. The beauty of a starling murmuration, like the beauty of a brand, is in its harmonious and deliberate orchestration of elements.
2. It’s not necessary for your brand’s Right People to understand all of the nuances of your Why and How in order to buy in, to get on board, and to derive great value from what you do. Even scientists don’t fully understand the why’s and how’s behind the murmuration phenomena — it’s still one of the charming mysteries of the universe. And for a brand, a little mystery isn’t always a bad thing. Confessional posts revealing all the behind-the-scenes machinations of why you’re going where you’re going next? Not usually necessary, and definitely not right for every brand.
3. Like starling murmurations, great brands seem to come out of nowhere all the time. One day you’ve never heard of a certain business owner, and the next day it seems her name is on everyone’s lips. This is the Force of Nature Effect. People haven’t seen anything quite like it before, but as soon as they do, they’re utterly fascinated.
4. One starling alone does not a murmuration make, and neither do brands soar to visibility and influence without flightmates. The strength of starlings in flight is their ability to read each other and to depend on the subtle signals they send each other that say, Go this way. Now, go that way. As brand creators, we have the opportunity to partner with likeminded colleagues and collaborators who can fly with us, and to learn from mentors who can model for us.
5. Starlings can do what they do with such amazing power, grace, and synchronicity because their flightmates see, hear, and understand the suite of signals they send that make it possible. For online business owners, brand voice is the suite of signals that connects powerfully with our Right People — letting them know it’s time to go this way. Now, go that way.

In the comments, I’d love to hear:

Which of the 5 principles above speaks to you the most at this point in your business journey, and why? Can’t wait to chat with you in the Comments.

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Voice Notes is an every-Friday feature. We take you inside the online brand presence of a business owner we think you should know — through a dozen evocative sentence-starters.

Abby (Chief Voice Bureau Officer) says:

I’m up this week. Since the purpose of Voice Notes is to shine a spotlight on a brand creators/business owners with whom we’re closely involved, I thought I should take a moment to share a few items about myself, too.

Abby Kerr (That’s Me), Chief Voice Bureau Officer

I’m the Creative Director of The Voice Bureau, a digital copywriter for microbusinesses, and a brand voice development specialist.
Twitter: @AbbyKerr, Facebook: Abby Kerr Ink, Google+: Abby Kerr

My top 3-5 Voice Values are:

(#1) Excellence & Power, (#2) Depth, (#3) Clarity & Legacy. (Note: Discover your own Voice Values when you subscribe to The Voice Bureau’s Insider Stuff e-letter. Look for the sign-up box in the upper righthand corner of the site.)

Personality typing? Why, yes. I’m:

Enneagram Social Type 4 (The Individualist) with a 3-Wing (this combo is called “The Aristocrat”). My Myers-Briggs type is INFJ (“The Protector” or “The Foreseer Developer”). I’m a Pisces with double Sagittarius.

One thing I know for sure about my Right People is:

They’re pretty damn self-aware. They don’t always immediately embrace what they perceive about themselves, but they’re learning to. They’re into making the full spectrum of their nature and personality work for them. They have a high degree of self-respect for their essential humanity, and other people’s, and they’re able to laugh at themselves. (That was several things, actually.)

The truest branding advice I’ve ever heard is:

Design your brand for the people you want to serve, not based on your own idiosyncratic taste.

If my clients only hold on to one piece of advice from me, I hope it’s:

You will inevitably change things about your business and your brand, so commit to the choice that’s the best decision for now — and go all in with it.

I can never get enough:

Water.

The one ‘essential’ I could totally live without is:

A hairbrush. I don’t own one. My curly hair texture doesn’t allow it.

My lifestyle, in 3 words:

Deliberate, curated, harmonious.

My brand is all about:

Identity work. Brand voice is about presenting your work and your personality as a thoughtful composition, one that serves your Right Person wherever she is in her journey. Content strategy is about serving your audience in a way that continuously moves them forward toward their own goals, so they can become more of who they want to be. Copywriting is about helping your site visitors feel witnessed, seen, and understood. It all comes back to identity — who we are, who we’re becoming, and who we want to be in our lives and work.

An unlikely source of creative inspiration for me is:

Again — water! I’m guessing it’s a Piscean thing (the fish). Nothing gets me creatively loosened like a shower, sitting by the ocean, or even a drive in the car past Mill Creek, which flows through the Walla Walla Valley where I live. Even washing the dishes by hand usually works!

On social media, I find I get most triggered when I see:

People being carelessly self-righteous.

The next big business challenge for me is:

Building out The Voice Bureau‘s Classroom. Little by little over the course of 2013, we’ll arrive at a full suite of digital guides, programs, and experiences that help entrepreneurs develop their brands online. Having come from a teaching background (I have my Master’s in Teaching and taught high school students in both traditional and alternative learning environments), moving toward being more of a ‘teaching brand’ has been my dream for a long time. Honestly, it’s a dream I backburnered for the past few years in favor of growing my clientele and working in my business. Now with the team I’ve added, I have more time than before to devote to creating our Classroom. And I’m so excited about that!

In the comments, we’d love to know:

Is there anything else you’d like to ask me about my work or my lifestyle? I’m all ears and look forward to chatting with you.

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Let’s face it:

Creating a brand identity, relaunching a brand, or keeping your brand looking, feeling, sounding, and behaving like its most excellent self is a worthy challenge for any business owner.

Especially for new-ish brand creators who haven’t had the benefit of market response, peer feedback, and industry push-and-pull.

Wouldn’t it be nice to pick a successful brand creator’s brain on a regular basis, and get some answers to the questions that nag you most about creating your brand?

That’s the purpose of The Voice Bureau Asks, our every-Wednesday blog feature.

Each week, right here, we ask 5 smart business owner/brand creators for their take on a provocative brand-related challenge.

We’ve already asked our contributors the best way to defuse a tense moment on social media.

We took the pulse on how to make sending a scary business email a little easier.

And last week we asked you, our readers, to tell us a bit about you and what you’re curious about this year as you grow your brand, your content strategy, and your marketing plan.

This week we’d like to turn The Voice Bureau Asks over to you.

In the comments, would you share with us:

What’s your big, bad branding question — the one that keeps you stirring your latte nervously? (You’re not supposed to stir lattes, are you?) It might be about creating your visual brand, using your own natural brand voice effectively, designing a content strategy, marketing with more empathy and acumen, writing your own copy, or working with a creative pro like a copywriter or a web designer. Lay it on us. We’re listening. And no question is off limits.

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