4 Ways To Improve Your Branding & Amplify Your Business

I wanted to talk about 4 things your branding needs, and I am not even going to talk about a logo, y’all. Except for just then. There is so much more to branding than people realize, so I wanted to get into what you really need to be successful. If you are unsure of what branding is, go read this first. But then come back!

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A WHY STATEMENT & A MEASURABLE GOAL

Let’s start here – why are you in business? Why are you willing to put in the hustle? Why did you think this was a good idea in the first place? The thing I’ve come to realized with why statements, that is if I just keep asking “why” eventually we get to the very root of the whole business. Conversations tend to go like this:

“Why are you starting this business?”

“I love photography!”

“Why?”

“Because it’s fun to capture people’s favorite moments.”

“Why?”

“Because everything in life moves so fast and we forget to celebrate milestones.”

“WHY?”

“Because I want my clients to remember the best moments of their lives and have a source for joy, so that no matter what life throws at them, they’ve got beautiful and amazing memories to access and cherish. I want them to feel joy when they view their lives! I want them to remember each smile and glance and funny face that their kids made. I can see and capture the things that they don’t even realize are important right now.”

See what I mean? On first glance people always tend to think really logically about why they are going into business. For money. Because they like doing whatever it is on a purely surface level reason. For freedom. To be their own boss. Whatever. But what I’ve come to find in working with clients, is that usually there is a more meaningful response buried beneath there. There’s some small line that represents a mix of what they love to do, and why they love to do it, and what benefit their clients would get. That’s the why statement I want to know.

I hear you; you’re like “Okay… but what does that have to do with branding?” Well, let me tell you! Your branding is an overall attempt to build your brand and affect what people think about you. If I don’t know why you are in business in the first place, how can we ensure that other people understand that? And we want people to understand it! That is what will make them choose you over the next business to work with. This is what will make you stand out and connect with people.

Along with your why statement, we also need to have a concrete goal. I have a whole post about goals because that’s how vital they are to your branding success. Let’s just be real here: what’s the point? If you aren’t trying to accomplish something with your business, then why did you even start it in the first place? This correlates heavily with your why statement, but instead of just figuring out your purpose – I want you to also have a goal that you are trying to accomplish.

Having this goal is the only way to hold yourself accountable, build consistency, and grow your brand. Your branding will fall apart if it’s all meaningless and purposeless and based solely on ‘looking good.’ So figure out why you are doing this, and make a goal to get it done.

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A DEFINED TARGET

There is no shortage of blog posts on The Crown Fox that tells you – define your target. NOW! GO! DO IT. And even when you think it’s defined enough – niche down more! 

Your branding will be easier to create, more effective, and more successful if you know who the heck you want it to reach. “Everyone” is the wrong answer. “Women” is the wrong answer. I want specifics people. I’m not even perfect at this, but I know the value of it and am implementing ways to make myself have a more defined target client everyday. You should be too! When I reach out to photographers specifically, you know what kind of clients I get? Photographers. Guess what? I want photographer clients! I am going to figure out ways to reach them more specifically, and then I’ll get more clients that I actually WANT to work with. You can do this, too! You need to do this, too.

Once you have an idealized client – your absolute dream-best-case-scenario client, get in their head. What appeals to them? What do they like? What colors appeal to them, what styles appeal to them, what marketing strategies appeal to them? Then – DO those things. I don’t care if you hate being on Pinterest. I honestly don’t. If your target audience is on Pinterest – then you need to be there. You needed to be there yesterday. I feel kind of mean saying this – your business should definitely be things you love – but you wont be successful unless you find people to buy what you are putting out there! 

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AN AUTHENTIC VOICE & UNIQUE TRAIT

Here’s a really tricky thing to balance: how do you maintain professionalism with clients and also build authentic, transparent relationships with peers? Yikes! For me, there’s a line of professionalism that means I would never cuss in front of a client, I would never tell them about all the ~*DRAMA*~ in my life or in my business, and I would never show a sign of weakness when it comes to getting things done. My brand, as far as a client is concerned, is a well-oiled, I can do it all with a smile, and you will be happy machine. That being said – I’m still me. I still make jokes and try to become friends with my clients. I still ask them how their weekend was, and if their dog learned any new tricks, or if they had fun having house guests, or whatever it is that I have learned about them. Part of my brand is that I am friendly and approachable and down to be best friends basically upon meeting. No matter if it’s a client or a peer. 

The thing is, if you are being really authentic to yourself – the line between client and peer is easy to navigate. You know how to talk to your teacher versus your friend, your boss versus your coworker, the guy who makes you coffee every morning versus the guy you never met and are sharing an elevator with. You do it everyday in “real” life, so doing it in your business should feel natural. You are being yourself no matter what, just only releasing what’s appropriate, when it is appropriate. 

Being authentic means not putting on airs, not mimicking someone else’s style or voice or content, and being true to who you are. If you are a really blunt person who speaks truth bombs all day everyday and makes witty commentary, then fine, roll with it. Trying to suddenly embody some perky, over-exclamation-mark-using person will come across so fake and make people less interested in you. 

In being yourself, you will also begin to see what makes you unique and stand out to others. For example, when I started my business, I had no intention of being the exact same Kaitlyn you would meet in real life. I planned to be the slightly better version of her that doesn’t joke about the fact that she could finish off an entire cake and bottle of wine in the matter of a few hours. BUT, I started to realize that people like these special, unique traits that you have. People like that I am funny in a kind of self-deprecating but sweet way. So consider that – you have something that is unique and draws people to you. Maybe it’s your delivery, your niceness, the fact that you remember every single person’s name and story, maybe it’s the way your dog is always part of your periscopes… whatever. Have something that makes you unique and memorable and incorporate that into your branding. People value authenticity, especially in this era of over consuming and overloading, so much. People would rather buy from and interact with REAL people rather than something that just seems mechanical and salesy all the time.

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A COHESIVE APPROACH & A SET OF GUIDELINES

I’m not trying to say one tip is more important than the others, or whatever, buuuuut I really think being cohesive is important. Like mandatory. What am I talking about? Okay, so you got your why statement, your goals, your target client, your authentic voice, your unique trait – but what do you do with all that stuff? You set up some parameters and you follow them.

Being cohesive means that every thing you are putting out into the world about your brand is serving a purpose – the same purpose – and building on each other. Working together. Towards a common purpose. So get your goal out, write it down, and then make sure everything you are doing leads to that goal.

And I mean everything. EVERY SINGLE PIECE of information you put out. Here’s what I don’t mean: I don’t mean that every piece of information needs to be selling something. Not at all! Really, seriously, do not do that. But every piece should serve a purpose. Even a tweet that is “random” and “funny” from top people in the game – is not so random or funny. It’s serving a purpose – it’s humanizing their brand, or building a relationship, or answering a question that showcases their authority.

So set up some guidelines for how you interact and appear. Visual guidelines: like what colors your branding uses, what fonts, when and how you use your logos, etc. Set up social media guidelines: how often do you post, what type of content do you post, etc. Set up blog content guidelines: what days do you post, where do you promote the posts, etc. Having a defined and repeatable path is so valuable and efficient. Also, it will help you build a more cohesive experience for anyone following your business.

You want a cohesive experience. Let’s talk about companies that are hella successful. Apple? You know what Apple does? It’s really, really cohesive. How they tweet matches how they announce new items matches how the items look matches everything else. Starbucks? How the inside of their shops look matches their packaging design matches their advertisements which matches their social media presence. Cohesive experiences are what make people LIKE you. Because they know what you are all about, what to expect, and that you are going to follow through every time.  Your branding needs to be cohesive. I’m not going to say above all things, because all of these tips are important but I am going to say – YOUR BRANDING NEEDS TO BE COHESIVE in a really loud voice so you understand. 

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So, now that I’ve officially yelled at you (JK!), I hope these tips clear up some vital things you should be fleshing out when it comes to your branding. Where do you struggle with branding? In understanding or in actual creating things? Let me know in the comments – I’d love to help in any way I can.

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8 Terms About Branding & What They Really Mean

If you are out there, trying to grow your business, and have no background in graphic design, advertising, or marketing, you might get a little confused with all the words thrown around. Heck, even if you have a background in graphic design, advertising, or marketing you still might get confused. It seems like everyone’s talking about your brand, identity, logo, collateral, content, and so on... but what do all the words even mean?! I’ll tell you, my friend… 

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BRAND

This is the most confusing one, so we are starting here. The easiest way I’ve figured out how to explain a brand to someone is: your brand is how people see you (or your company). For example, you might aim to create a business that promotes “a fit, healthy approach to life.” That would be what you hoped your brand was – but if people see you as “an unhealthy, extremist way of living that results in destructive habits” the people win, and you won’t be successful, because your brand isn’t what you intended.

There are countless elements that go into your brand and cause people to think and feel certain ways about you. By saying “brand” you encompass all of those things. I say that I work as a brand designer, because I want to help my clients think of, design, create, plan, strategize all of these different elements. 

If this is all confusing and overwhelming, just take this one thing away: your brand is NOT your logo. 

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BRANDING

Branding is the action of developing, creating, or designing elements and strategies, in an effort to affect your brand (affect how people perceive you) in a positive way (or in whatever way you want).

Again - your company has a brand – people have a general opinion and feeling about it. But the act of you trying to manipulate and influence that opinion is your branding.

So your branding can include a lot of other confusing words – like your strategy, your content, your approach to social media, your visuals (like a logo), etc. Think of the biggest companies you know – how did you form your opinion of them? Was it just one time you saw one thing about them? No. It was an overall branding experience.

An example I think of is McDonalds and their desperate attempts to act like they’re a healthy choice, as opposed to the fast food chain with greasy fries we all know it as. They didn’t just say “Hey! Folks! We offer salads now, so we are like… kind of healthy. You can totally eat here. It’s definitely real meat, promise!” We all know and have been raised thinking the brand of McDonalds as not even remotely healthy. It's so ingrained into our minds, so hard to change, that they are pumping all their energy and money into their branding, trying to change the public opinion. They have fit, healthy, happy looking people in their ads, they offer fruit and salads in their restaurants, they revamped their physical buildings to feel more light and airy, the signage is always about the newest salad, or a kid's menu with apple slices… these are all elements of their new branding. Whether or not their branding is actually successful is another story – because I, for one, can’t shake the idea that it’s mystery meat and a bad decision.

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VOICE

How you sound to others – in person, in emails, in blog posts, in tweets, on periscope, etc. You want this to be cohesive with the rest of your branding (yes, this is also a PART of your branding).  I, for example, try to always come across very nice and approachable, but I also try to make you laugh (or at least smile!) with a little bit of sarcasm or self-deprecating humor. This is because in real life, I’m generally a nice person, who tries to make people laugh. It was an easy voice to develop, because I’ve had 20-something years of practice.

For you personal brands, it might be just as easy to identify your voice – but make sure you are using a voice that will attract the right kind of people for your business. I know that with my clients, we end up being friends by the end of working together. That's what I strive for. So, I set the tone from day 1 that I am normal, nice, and friendly – but that I’ll also be transparently real and tell you funny stories. I want to make it clear that, if we were in the same city, I’d totes go out for cocktails with you. This helps my business overall. There are enough designers out there that I need to stand out as someone you (potential client that I specifically trying to appeal to) like, think is awesome, want to work with.

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IDENTITY

This is sometimes referred to as brand identity or visual identity. THIS is where the visuals are. This is your logo, your colors, your typography choices, etc. This is what people can actually see (not just feel, or think). Your identity is a part of your branding, but JUST a part. 

This is where a lot of people get stuck – because they think they just need an identity (worse yet, they just need a logo…) For me, a really weird gray area is explaining to clients that I am not going to just create a logo. There are so many different types of designers, and I’m not saying one is better than the other, just that they are all so different. It must be confusing to clients. Like do they want a graphic designer? A brand designer? An identity designer? I always start my conversations with potential clients by clearing up any confusion between what they actually want to accomplish and what I offer. If someone is insistent that they only need a logo, and seem closed off to the idea of developing branding for their business, I will turn away the client.

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COLLATERAL

Collateral pieces are additional, tangible, things you use in your business. Things like business cards, letterheads, thank you cards, price sheets, welcome pamphlets, etc. These are created from the parameters you’ve set while creating your identity, so they visually are cohesive. They are a part of your branding, too, but again, JUST a part.

I might be considered calculating, but for me, every single thing I put out has an ulterior motive for my business (with the exception of some random tweets, like about my cat, Priscilla. That’s just because I’m a cat lady). I say this to mention that even your collateral pieces, something as simple as a thank you card, should work somehow in your strategy to help you achieve your overall business goals.

So, it might just be a nice gesture to send a thank you card to a client. But really, it’s a nice way to remind them you are alive a month or so after a project is done. Y’know, in case they need additional work. If it’s a nicely designed thank you card, they might snap a pic for Instagram, or set it on their counter, and then someone else might see it and say, “Wow, this is beautiful. What is it for?” and then my old client might say “My amazing designer,” and then their friend might say, “Oh, I needed something designed for my business…” and voila. Catching my drift here? I thought so.

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STRATEGY

That last point is a nice lead in to strategy. Strategy is a really general sounding term, and in all honesty, it’s a huge umbrella term. There are a lot of strategies at play in running a business and creating good branding. This is also a part of your branding – JUST a part. Strategy is the plan, or method, to get you from point A to point B in your business. Super vague, I know.

You can’t develop a strong strategy until you develop some concrete goals. Once you know what the end game is, create a path to get there. Is your end game to launch a successful course? Cool. What steps do you need to take across your entire branding spectrum to get you there? What steps do you take to find potential buyers, what steps do you take to promote the course, what steps do you take to get other people to promote the course, what steps do you take to create the content? Map it all out. It sounds overwhelming – but going at it blind is way more overwhelming.

Areas where you should be strategic: blog posts, guest blog posts, opt-ins, the layout of your website, where you promote your opt-ins, what Facebook groups you join, who you do joint-ventures with, what you retweet… just to name a few. If you’re thinking right now, wait, wait, the internet isn’t my ‘deal’ I’m a brick-and-mortar business, so strategy isn’t a thing right? Wrong. What expos are you a part of, what other businesses promote you or have your business cards on display, what newspapers do you run print ads in, what local celebs/influencers/socialites talk about you…? All of this matters, if you want to be successful.

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CONTENT MARKETING

Content Marketing is creating valuable and strategic content that will attract your audience, and potentially lead to sales, customers, clients, subscribers, etc. This blog would be considered content marketing, because I am hopefully showcasing to readers that I am a valuable resource, prompting them to sign up for my email list or invest in my services or products.

This sounds like a super new idea, but it’s actually been around for a long time in traditional advertising. The most popular, and probably noted as one of the oldest, examples of content marketing is John Deere (yeah, the tractor). He put out a magazine about farming related things and how to be a successful farmer, back in the 1890's(!) that is still in publication today. Kind of like the original blog, right? 

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CAMPAIGN

A campaign is specifically promoting one thing within your business. You might have an overall branding strategy in play, to accomplish your overall BIG business goals. But a campaign would be a separate (though, cohesive) plan for a specific thing.

For example, I have overall goals for The Crown Fox and branding and strategy in place to accomplish those. But when I launch a course next year, I will create a separate campaign to promote that. You probably hear people call this “launch” or “launching” something – a book, a course, whatever. What they are really saying is that they are running a really intense campaign to promote the heck out of a new product or service. For Internet businesses a campaign might include doing webinars or periscopes leading up to a launch, or having friends or affiliates talk about your product on social media. It’s different from your overall branding, because it’s happening for a select time to push a select thing. 

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Hopefully this cleared up some confusion! What other terms have you going “huh”? I’d love to help you figure it out. If you're interested, I made a quick workbook that has a glossary, and some questions to help you with your brand. You can check it out by signing up below!

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