When you think of branding, your mind may gravitate straight to a logo. But I assure you, it’s much more than that. Nike isn’t just the swoosh. McDonald’s isn’t just the magical yellow M. There is much more that goes into creating that look and feel that you know and love.
“Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.” -JEFF BEZOS
You need to consider how your brand not only shows up visually, but also how it makes your audience feel.
Let me guess… have you ever felt this way?
✓ You’re exhausted by decision fatigue because your brand is unclear.
✓ You are fearful of being inauthentic online.
✓ You just don’t have the time to figure out the software to get the job done.
✓ You don’t have content working for you and inevitably not building trust or converting those sales.
I get it. Me too, I’ve totally been there. I’ve worked with a ton of people who felt the exact same way as you do now which is why I want you to be able to get your hands on a consistent brand that shows the world exactly who you truly are without having to deal with a big agency that treats you like a number, or with a freelancer that you just met online who doesn’t understand what it’s like to run their own business and face challenges like you and I do.
What does a good brand do?
1.) Builds brand recognition
2.) Builds trust with your audience
3.) Converts to sales
How do you build that know, like, and trust factor with your ideal audience?
Here are some elements to get you started.
CORE VALUES
Understanding who you are, what your mission, and core values are will help reduce decision fatigue in your business. Figuring out our identity can be difficult. I get it. I’ve been there too. A fun and easy exercise you can try to start brainstorming is by posting an Instagram sticker asking your audience to name 3 values/traits that they’d describe you as. It’s like describing your business as if it were your best friend. You may be surprised to see how you’re showing up versus what you think of yourself. By determining your core values, you will feel proud. This process will help you vet and showcase your value to the right people.
MOOD BOARD
Understand the overall tone and feeling behind your brand, so you can have a content bank to pull from. Develop content from the get-go that's specifically branded to your theme and aesthetic. Get intentional. What lifestyle, textures, patterns and colours are showing up consistently for you? Learn about what you’re gravitating towards and acknowledge your authentic vision. By determining your mood board, you’ll feel confident! You can take on the world knowing that you have a bank of resources to back you up while looking professional.
COLOUR PALETTE
Understand the underlying theme of your brand, so you can have your colours and the right emotional intention set from the beginning. You’ll want to have a range of colours: light, medium and dark so have options to play with. Be aware of colour associations between your choices for warm, cool, neutral and alternative colours. By determining your colour palette, you will feel loved! You will have developed the admiration and trust with your audience through your branded colour associations set in place.
FONT PAIRING
Understand which fonts to use for your headlines, subheads and body copy for your brand, so you can focus on creating value-packed content. Look for contrast and how it compliments one another. It should provide hierarchy when determining its use for a headline versus for body copy. Above all else, you want to ensure legibility. You will be delivering your message through your typography and you want to make sure that your audience is able to understand that, loud and clear. By determining your font pairing, you will feel relieved! You will have streamlined a system in your business that keeps on giving so that you can focus on creating goodies for your audience.
LOGO
Understand the way you're showing up. You logo and brand elements will ensure that your audience is perceiving you in the right light, so you can show up authentically. Whether it’s a minimalist, textual approach to a full on illustration icon, your logo is your stamp of approval. By determining your logo, you will feel empowered! You are staying in your own lane and making waves in your industry by being you and gaining loyalty because of it.
HIGHLIGHT ICONS
Understand how to clearly represent your Instagram stories so you can show up professionally. It’s all in the details. You can create icons through text or visuals. Ensure that you’re taking advantage of your brand colours to create consistency. By determining your highlight icons, you will feel delighted! You are gaining referrals left and right because you're showing showing up like you have it all together and have thought through the details.
SOCIAL TEMPLATES
Understand how to make the process of creating content a no-brainer, so you can spend your time engaging with your community. By having a template through a platform like Canva, you too can create your content in a weekend! Sounds pretty great, right? By determining your social templates, you will feel relieved! You're saving time and money on not hiring for additional marketing spend/content creation and can create the materials that you know best.
BRAND STYLE GUIDE
Understand the clarity of passing off the essentials to a growing team, so you can create new products and serve your audience better. This includes all your brand goodies, jam-packed with value in one smart hub. By determining your brand style guide, you will feel excited! You'll want to spread it like confetti. You will want to partner and share your brand identity with everyone you know and make your business a household name.
By showing up consistently and authentically to your brand vision, you are attracting the right audience and creating that trust in order to make those sales. Create assets and systems that work for you so you can get on with what you do best.
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Don’t put your branding off for another 6 months. Book a discovery call now to learn about the Brand Your Biz Kit which includes all these goodies and more. You’ll be fully equipped so you can DIY your branding in less than 24 hours!
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