IT’S NOT JUST A PRETTY PICTURE: WHAT BRANDING REALLY IS
I can remember the moment, some 10 years ago, playing in Canva and putting together what I thought was the quintessential logo that would define Clear Eyes from now to eternity. It meant something to me; it was pretty; it made me happy.
Notice all those “me’s” in there?
A few years later, I was doing some work with Tamara Lee Studios (Empire Images at the time) and she designed a new logo that reflected what my CLIENTS (she was one of them) would relate to. Did you ever notice that my logo looks like an angry scribble?? Yeah, that’s cause that’s how most of my clients feel about money and taxes ;) It works right?
Now having been around the block, I can see how making a pretty picture for ME isn’t branding. I sat down with Meaghan Johnson from Millson + Main Creative to get the real skinny on this vast world of Branding.
Q. What is Branding?
A. It’s the perception of your business by the public - their expectations of working with you, memories and relationships interacting with you. How you make them feel - calm and taken care of? A fun experience…
It's the cohesion of everything from design, colors, fonts, how you “talk”, how customers interact with you, your values, internal training, all of your marketing touch points.. and of course design work.
And nailing down who your audience is is also a major part. Knowing and serving a specific audience will completely shift how your brand presents itself.
Take your business…Your customers are creatives, women, generally younger, and such, and your brand and website are completely reflective of that. Compare Clear Eyes to say the accountant on the corner of the highway in our town. He targets all the male tradesmen - very different vibe and experience, one I don’t resonate with.
Q. Why is Branding important?
A. For us and many of my clients, we’re solopreneurs, and whether we like it or not, we are the “face” of our businesses. Some embrace it, some don’t want any part of it… my chaos is very much part of my brand whether I like it or not. But it gives a good idea of who’s behind the business, which really your major differentiator from your competitors.
Sharing the human side of a small business is important. Your customers want to support the person behind the business. Putting your face on it gives it a heart.
Your branding adds personality back into the business; it shows that you’re not just a corporate machine.
Customers are more likely to buy from someone that shares their values. Whether it's giving back, sustainability, family, or whatever, sharing, and demonstrating your values is important.
Q. What’s your process to put together brand for your clients?
A. The first step is to go through the deep dive of the Brand Workbook questions. It goes through SOOO many things to help me understand:
you,
your values,
why you started your business,
what’s important to you,
what it looks like to buy from you,
what’s your process for working with clients
Your competition
Brands you aspire to be like (and what exactly you love about those brands)
Your ideal clients
Your home and personal decor
Your goals, what you’re looking to achieve
…all of it.
I personally don’t want to see Pinterest boards, or your favorite colors because I’ll subconsciously design the same or similar things… but I want to learn about YOU and your business and use that to create the visuals.
So many times after I deliver a branding package I get the feedback that “this is not at all what I thought I wanted or expected, but it's perfect!!!” There’s rarely revisions, if so they’re minor.
After the deep dive part I disappear for a few weeks, absorbing and drafting things to get “the look”. Once I have a good direction I build out all the things: logos, typography, colors, and do mock ups on all different types of resources (signage, clothing, merchandise, business cards). There’s a lot of tweaks in the background to make sure that whatever we’re creating will work in the real world and anything you want to put your logo on.
Q. What about copywriting or creating a brands “voice”?
A. I don’t necessarily do copywriting, there are amazing people that specialize in just that, but learning yours on a basic level is definitely part of your overall brand.
Most clients I work with have been around for a few years, so I can use what they’ve already got on their website, social media, in our calls, how they fill the workbook and how they’ve been showing up to date and kind of hold a mirror up to that.
Every client brings their own personality. They’re usually the only person in their business (or have a very small team) so their personality comes through naturally. If you’re a small biz, your business “voice” should be a reflection of you - we’re not manufacturing your brand out of thin air, if you're pretending to be something else it’s going to make marketing so much harder than it already is.
I heard a couple weeks ago “You can’t see the label from inside the jar”… and that is like the perfect way to describe what I do: I’m just going to look at what’s existing and tell you what it is. We’re putting a mirror up to you and just reflecting what you already are. We’re not making up what your brand SHOULD be.
Q. What’s your go-to tech?
A. For the heavy lifting I use Adobe suite/Illustrator, but I want all my clients to be able to take what I do and then roll with it on their own if they want to. I couldn’t even afford my own designer so I don't expect others to be calling me every time they need something.
I love Canva and will often do some templates for clients in there. Also, using Canva on your phone is so underrated! So many people don’t even have a computer…
You just have to remember that when you use Canva templates, make sure you’re tweaking them to align to your brand guidelines - fonts, logos, colors, etc. They have great templates but if you’re just using the same as everyone else, what was the point in investing in your branding, yknow?
For Websites, I love Showit; it gives you so much design freedom, but if you don’t have the design foundations, it can get overwhelming and chaotic. For a bit more structure, SquareSpace is great for DIY.
Flodesk is my go-to email service provider, but I am looking into Substack lately…
Q. Anything Else?
A. I feel like I stretch the definition of branding so much, because my ADHD gets me interested in so many different things…marketing, email sequences, funnels, sales pages, lead magnets… I can be overwhelming - hahaha.
Overwhelming or not, this girl knows her stuff. And speaking from experience, I can tell you that it's incredibly valuable to have someone as insightful and in-tuned as Meaghan help you realize what you’ve got going for you and help shine a light on what’s working.
If you want to learn more about Millson + Main, check out their website, or for a true insight into Meaghan, follow her on Instagram…You’re Welcome.
