Let’s elevate your small business today…
Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room. It’s the overall impression of your business and how your ideal clients experience working with you.
As business owners, having strong branding in place is the key to showing up professionally. So whether your goals this year are to attract more customers, expand services or raise your prices, here are 3 steps you can take to make your brand stand out from the crowd.
1. Is your storytelling consistent?
If you have a clear message in place, you may just feel like you are saying the same thing over and over again. Good. That’s what we want!!
One of the worst things you can do as a business owner is to confuse your audience. So when it comes to the words you use when you share content (emails, website verbiage, social media captions,) make sure they share the same story.
How? Identify 3 “brand essence words” and keep them in mind. I encourage my brand photography clients to do this exercise before their photoshoot, so we know the consistent story they want to convey to ideal clients. My brand essence words are “Positive – Empowering – Beautiful” and therefore these words shape all the messaging I put into marketing channels for my own business.
2. Conduct a brand audit.
To be able to elevate your brand, you first need a clear picture of what it looks like today. Do your website, social media, and marketing pieces look the same? If not, chances are you need a visual refresh.
How? Review your brand colors, logo and fonts and keep your brand essence words close at hand. Then pull up your major client touchpoints and review them all together. For example, in my business this would be my website, instagram page, client welcome post card, email signature and google business profile.
Do your online pages and physical marketing materials look the same? Being easily identifiable is a great indicator that you have a strategic brand.
3. Connect and celebrate!
We don’t just want to show up on brand…we want to own it, live it and SHINE it!
How? I’ve seen how pulling together your brand elements into one place gives my clients fierce pride in their business and all they’ve accomplished. So I’ve actually created a Brand Book for small business owners! This is a fully customizable canva template so you can get clear on who you are, who you serve, and what makes you unique. It’s a showcase of “your words” (content) and “your look” (visual aesthetics) so you can be clear, cohesive and CONSISTENT moving forward in your marketing.
Create your own Brand Guide here
and you’ll have a digital map for you and your team to stay on brand. Better yet, get it printed (instructions included) and have the perfect showpiece to display, share, and ELEVATE your brand!
