Shownotes
Welcome back to Branded: your comprehensive guide to creative branding.
In today's episode, Sara and Larry dive deep into the essence of brand building by breaking down the eight core components essential for crafting a strong, cohesive brand. With Sara’s expertise from her branding summits and Larry’s experience in market analysis, they provide listeners with a roadmap to understanding and implementing effective branding strategies. This episode, while focusing on the highlights, promises a series of upcoming deep dives into each component, offering valuable insights and practical exercises to help you define and enhance your brand. Key takeaways: 1. Understanding Brand Definition: Sara emphasizes the importance of starting with a clear brand definition. Filling in the simple "I am ___ that ___ for ___" helps in identifying who you are, what you offer, and who your target audience is. Getting this right lays a crucial foundation for all other branding efforts. 2. The Role of Brand Values: Both hosts discuss the importance of brand values and how they align with personal values, especially for solopreneurs. Larry points out that these values guide the future of the company and are essential for crafting mission statements and maintaining a cohesive brand message. 3. Crafting a Brand Promise: They discuss the concept of the brand promise, noting that while specific outcomes can't always be guaranteed, the experience and quality of service can be. This promise is about ensuring clients and customers know what to expect when they engage with your brand. 4. Establishing Brand Identity: Sara introduces the importance of visual elements in branding, such as logos, colors, fonts, and overall design consistency. In a few weeks, a special guest, Danielle, a graphic designer, will join to discuss this in detail, emphasizing the need for a cohesive visual identity across all platforms. 5. Positioning Your Brand in the Market: Larry sheds light on the importance of understanding your market position through consumer perception and competitor analysis. He underlines that their strategic approach plays a pivotal role in identifying gaps and opportunities in a crowded marketplace. The episode continues to explore other components, such as brand differentiation—identifying what makes your brand unique in a competitive market, and the importance of market research to place your brand effectively. Moreover, Sara stresses the importance of a consistent brand message, which ensures that everything from your website to social media communicates the core values and promises of your brand. Finally, they discuss how brand experience is influenced by consumer interactions and how sometimes, despite the brand's best efforts, external factors can shape consumer perceptions. This episode is packed with actionable advice and serves as an essential guide for anyone looking to solidify their brand's foundation. Listen to find out: * The essential eight components to build a strong brand foundation * Practical exercises to define your brand clearly * Insights into maintaining consistency across different platforms * How to differentiate and position your brand in a competitive market * Real-world examples and personal anecdotes from the hosts that illustrate key points [embed]https://youtu.be/GBHQ4B2l3WE[/embed]Transcripts
What is happening, everybody? I'm Larry Roberts. And I'm Sara Lohse, and this is Branded, your comprehensive guide to creative branded. And on this episode of the podcast, we're gonna be taking a look at 8 different components to building a brand.
Sara Lohse [:Yeah. I think we should touch on what all 8 of these are, but I really wanna dive deep into them. So keep coming back, and we're gonna have episodes
Larry Roberts [:that really dives deep into what these are, how you can use them, how you can create them, and I think it's gonna be a lot of fun. I mean, this is amazing because this is kind of a takeaway, not even kind of. It is a takeaway from the branding summit that you recently put on yourself. So I think this is great to be able to take something that you speak on regularly
Sara Lohse [:and apply this to our audience? Yeah. So my branding summits are things that I sit down 1 on 1 with companies or individuals and just really dive into these different components and help them figure out where they stand and what they want their brand to be so that they can create their brand stories. They can create their services, and they can create their mission and vision. And have everything be super cohesive. So I think it's a lot of fun. I'm also a nerd about all of this stuff, so I hope I don't bore everybody with
Larry Roberts [:geeking out on this for a little bit, but I'm excited. Are you kidding me? I know I'm not gonna be bored. I'll put it that way. Branding is something that I love And III know everybody listening to the podcast right now is very interested in or love branding as well. So I don't think anybody's going to be bored. So -- I have found my people. Most definitely. I think we've all found our people here on branded. And if you haven't subscribed to the show yet, do us a favor. Go ahead and smash that subscribe button. So we can help you develop your brand through each and every 1 of our episodes. So with that, Sarah, what's the first component? Of building a brand? I mean, what is that very first step that we need to take when we're trying to lay that foundation?
Sara Lohse [:Yeah. The first component of a brand is the most base. It is the brand definition, and that is exactly what it sounds like. What is your brand? What do you do? Who are you? And is despite that being so simple, it's 1 that people might not necessarily have put much thought into.
Larry Roberts [:Is that like, have what is your definition? Can you define your brand? Yeah. Basically asking, what does my product or service do, and how does it do it? And Who does it do it for? So many times when people are setting up their business or setting up their perceived brand, they failed to ask those simple questions. And if I remember right, that's the first component of establishing your brand. Right? Yeah. It's that brand definition. And
Sara Lohse [:I turn into, like, a second grade teacher when I talk about this stuff, and I love fill in the blanks. So if you're listening and you have, paper and a pen. Just write down what your definition is. It is I am blank. That blank for blank. So I am a description of who you are. Are you a coach, a consultant, a marketing professional, whatever it is that you are, that blank. That does what? What do you do? How are you helping your clients? How are you helping other businesses or other individuals? And then for blank, who are you helping? Who is your target audience? Who do you wanna work with? So your brand definition is just who you are, what you offer, and who you're offering it for. So if we go through that exercise
Larry Roberts [:and start answering the those questions right out of the gate, that's gonna give us that clarity to go through and continue to build on the 7 remaining components of our brand as well. And I I mean, when we talk about there's 8 of them, just most of the time, if you even go that far, people take it to this first step. You know? They say, okay. I've got a company that does this, and I do it for them, and I do it this way. What would be the second step? I mean, where do we even take it from there? Because even in my little lizard brain, I'm going, okay. Well, I've got a brand now. Yeah. That is like I said, that is the most basic. And we really dive deep from there. So the next 1 is the brand values,
Sara Lohse [:and that 1 is 1 that I personally think is the most important because your brand values is what your company or your brand represents. What are the things that you value this ties in later because once I go through these 8 steps with people, I then dive into mission and vision statements. So your values are going to lead into that mission statement, and I think it's so important for a brand to be mission driven. Because it's what is that old song? It's if you don't stand for something to fall for anything. But if you don't, Is that does that not fit here? I don't know. That must have must be a country song because it don't resonate with me. It's gonna be stuck in my head for the rest of the day. But what are the things that you value? And when you sit down and really think about it, that's going to guide the future of your company?
Larry Roberts [:Well, I I think a lot of times when we're talking about our brand, the value can be defined in a multitude of ways. You know? It could be the value of the brand. It could be our unique value proposition, or it can be the ethical values that are implied as being part of our brand. Do we need to take all of those into consideration right out of the gate and If so because, I mean, I've I've heard of value statements. I've heard of mission statements. Is there a difference between the And then do we just need to convey that message in each of those individually, or that's where it starts to get confusing? And I think a lot of people overlook defining
Sara Lohse [:those components of their brand. Yeah. I think the first thing to do is to stop overthinking. And just look at these components. Start looking at them kind of in a vacuum. Look at them 1 at a time, and then go back and look at them altogether. So with brand values, you just wanna think about what are those ideals that you represent. And if you are like me, like a solopreneur, I personally am my brand. So my values are going to be the same as my company values. I'm going to basically just give my values to my company. And those are things like kindness. Like, I I value kindness and positivity. And I do show that in my brand. When I talk about working with clients, I talk about I don't know what your face is for. But when I talk about working with clients, I talk about working with people, who want to spread a positive message. And that is something that I align with because that's where my values are. You you seem to disagree?
Larry Roberts [:No. Just the whole kindness thing. Because, I mean, our interactions sometimes aren't aren't necessarily the kindest. I'm just
Sara Lohse [:You see, you are a 1 of my best good pals, as you would say, and we've already established that I show affection through gentle bullying. So you're welcome. Thanks, Sarah. You're welcome. You should feel so honored to be insulted by me on a daily basis.
Larry Roberts [:So insult my intelligence just a little bit further and give us bullet point number 3.
Sara Lohse [:I would never, but I will give you the bullet point. The third component is your brand promise. And this 1 can get a little tricky because with all the regulations, especially in certain industries, you can't really promise anything. You can't guarantee anything. But you can guarantee something in regards to your brand. So what you're promising your prospects, your customers, your clients, whoever it is, is something that you guarantee that they're going to experience when they work with you. So I'm not going to ever guarantee results. I'm not going to ever guarantee that you'll get x number of downloads on a podcast. But I can guarantee that I'll treat you with respect, or I can guarantee that you'll have a positive experience when you work with me. So the it gets a little bit away from the actual product that you're offering and more about the experience of what your
Larry Roberts [:offering to people when they work with you, at least in my opinion. That's the way that I look at it. Yeah. And I think it goes back your the the value proposition as well. You know? What were your values that you imparted in your brand? And all of that comes into play when you're making these brand promises. Like I said, you can't guarantee performance. You can guarantee a road map that if followed can lead to certain performance metrics, but we're not executing based on our brand. We're executing our values and our brand mission, but we can't actually execute the final product. So being able to make these promises doesn't necessarily have to equate to x but it does have to equate to your values, your authenticity, and your commitment
Sara Lohse [:to providing the best experience or the best brand or the best product or the best effort out there. Yeah. And then there's also you can take it a step forward, and maybe there's also you can take it a step forward, and maybe there's is where you offer, like, a money back guarantee. So I promise that you will be satisfied or else I'll give you your money back. So brand promises can have a few different levels to them. But it's just overall, if you work with me, I promise this.
Larry Roberts [:Very cool. What is number 4? This is brand identity.
Sara Lohse [:And this one's cool because we actually in a couple weeks, we're gonna have a guest on the show named Danielle, and she is going to be she's a graphic designer, so she's gonna be talking all about brand identity. But this is exactly what it sounds like is the look of your brand. This is the logo, the colors, the fonts, the symbols, the images. When you have all these different visual elements, of your brand and all these different places that you're putting it, like your website and social media, your marketing collateral. It's so important to have them be cohesive.
Larry Roberts [:That's something that she's gonna be talking about on the show soon, and I'm really excited for that. That's 1 of the biggest gaps that I see in so many different brands that are out there. And especially in the podcast space because I I do a lot of podcast audits where I look at people's shows and I look at all aspects of their show to try figure out where things aren't going quite as well as we would like them to go. And that's the biggest gap that I see is that consistency. Is being able to recognize their promise or for their podcast, their unique listening, which is their value proposition for that show. To have that transcend everywhere that the show exists. So with a brand, it's the exact same way. How is your brand represented not just in your logo, not just in your graphics, but how is it represented when you're on podcasts? How is it represented in your marketing? How is it presented when you're at networking events? How is it presented online? So all of these questions come into play. And that consistency is absolutely critical to bringing it all together and making sure that it's 1 recognizable
Sara Lohse [:brand in and of itself. I wanna call out a podcast that I actually think does this really well. It is the Queen's podcast, and they they're local to us so I've been able to meet them at several different events. And they are all over social media, and the amount of times I see a post on social media, and I wanna send it to them because I'm like, oh my god. This is so you guys. And then I realized this thing that they posted it. Because they even though not everything that they post is even branded, it's just so on brand. The messaging, the feel, the emotion, everything. Yeah. They do such a great job of it. And I swear that happens, like, every other day that I'm like, oh, Katie would love this. Katie posted this. It happens constantly. So just shout out to them for doing such a great job with keeping all of their social media so on brand. That's awesome. Yep. I love it. Alright. Are you ready for the next 1? I'm ready. This 1 will be your favorite, I think. You're as in Larry.
Larry Roberts [:K. You. K. Me? I'm listening. Yes. You you you. I'm looking right at the camera. I'm I'm I'm ready. Hit me with it.
Sara Lohse [:Brand differentiation. This is what you always talk about. This is your UVP. Your unique value proposition, your unique selling proposition. What is it that you offer that is different or better than
Larry Roberts [:everybody else. Yeah. And and I do love that. About 100 percent, you know, in the podcast space, I referred to it as your ULP or your unique listening proposition. Know, there's only so many industries that are out there, and there are competitors in each and every 1 of them. But each of them, even within the same industry or niche or market, They all have their unique approach to attracting clients and customers. Walmart has their way of doing it. Target does it a little bit different. If you look in the fast food place, Mickey D's has got it 1 way. Chick fil A got it another. But it's all in the same market and the same industry and the same niche. So what can we do in learning from these massive brands that are super successful? What can we learn from them to help us position our brands in a way that really stands out in a I'm sure a crowded marketplace.
Sara Lohse [:Yeah. And you said unique listening proposition, and that's something that every podcast needs to have, and every podcast needs to be able to express it in every episode, in their description, and all that. What's ours?
Larry Roberts [:Man, ours it it's interesting. And I hate that you even called it out, and I see a little smirk, and I don't necessarily appreciate it. But the thing that ours we bring so much different to a difference to the table because, you know, you've got a male and a female. Right? You have an old dude. You have a young lady. So we've got generational gaps there. We have different perspectives from the the gender side of things. So both of us have very, very unique experiences in our lives. You're college educated. I am not. I have a lot more life experience than you do. You're working on it, but your life experience is completely different. So our unique listing proposition is that while we're both talking about branding and we both established ourselves with very, very unique brands, We've done it from 2 totally different perspectives. So that's the unique listing proposition that you get with Branded, is you get perspectives from all different walks of life right here on the show. Couldn't have said it better myself.
Sara Lohse [:You're just trying to make me feel old again. So -- I would I would have you focus a little bit more on the age difference. But other than that, I could have said it better myself. But that's exactly it. That's kind of what makes us different is because we each are very unique from each other, and we are able to give 2 different perspectives, and we're we bring in other people to give there. So that is something that is unique, I think. So That is our brand differentiation for sure. Moving on to the next component, it's gonna be market position. And this is my least favorite because this is the 1 that gets really into, like, market research. And I'm not a market research person. But, Brent, your market position is consumer perception compared to your competition. So that is when it gets real deep into that research because you need to know not only what your consumers think about you, but what do they think about other people compared to you? Or how do you compare in terms of price, in terms quality. Are you the Walmart, or are you the target? Like, which are you elite, or are you the budget friendly? So this is all looked at based on different types of market research on who your consumers are, who your competition is. And even just talking about it, it makes my head hurt.
Larry Roberts [:Well, see, I'm a little more strategic in my approach, so I kinda dig that side things. I like knowing what everybody else is doing so I can find weaknesses or little chinks in the armor so that I can get in there and I can maybe focus on doing that 1 thing that they don't do quite so well, and I can do it better. And I can help myself stand out in that regard. III think I I look at businesses kinda like a fight, you know, over my 50 plus years in 1 of my lifetimes. I to, like, to kinda competitively kickbox. And I like to know who I was fighting. I like to do a little research on what gym they came from, who their coaches were, and their fighting style so that I knew what I could focus on in training and being prepared for that competition. And it's the thing in business. So, really, it's the same thing in anything we do. The more information we have about our market placement or our market strategy the better we are at being successful at what we're doing. So from that side of things, once again, there's our unique listing proposition in action right there. I love knowing what my competition is doing. I love sitting on their websites going, alright. What products and services are they offering? What price point are they at? Oh, they do that? Oh, I could do that better. Oh, I bet I could charge this a little bit more and increase my profit margins just a bit on that particular good or service. So that's the kind of stuff that excites me. It's what I do in the evenings. What I'm sitting here is I surf the Internet, and I look at my competitors. And try to figure out exactly how I can place myself to be the most successful with my business and my brand.
Sara Lohse [:See, it's not that I don't like knowing. But if someone would just tell me instead of me having to do the research, that would be ideal. Just, like, by the way, this is what your competition is doing. This is how much they're charging, and here's how you could do it differently.
Larry Roberts [:Thank you. I will do that right now. That's why you hire a coach or a consultant.
Sara Lohse [:We'll talk after.
Larry Roberts [:Oh, some good boys.
Sara Lohse [:I won't pay it, but thank you. That's fair enough. So the next 1 is another 1 of my favorites because it is all about what or what I do is all about it, and it is brand message. So your brand message is what you need to say and how you're gonna say it. And it's just all those things that you want your audience to understand. So everything that you put out, whether it's the copy on your website, the posts you make on social media, and the ads you have, any type of marketing content, it all should be an alignment with what it is you're trying to get your audience to understand or to know about you.
Larry Roberts [:I was reading my website so I could have a response. Well, I had to see what you wrote for my vision. So
Sara Lohse [:Can we please keep this in?
Larry Roberts [:I want to, but I don't think it's probably smart. But okay. Here we go. No. You're exactly right. And, you know, I was just looking on my website to refresh my memory as to what my vision statement was that you wrote for me, as a matter of fact, and it's really moving forward in an era of business that's based on the authenticity of personal brands. And being able to clarify that and define that and and answer that question, it makes all the difference in the world. I did a really great job on that. You did a pretty good job. Yeah. I mean, I would hire you again, honestly.
Sara Lohse [:Thank you.
Larry Roberts [:Where are we at? Number 7?
Sara Lohse [:I think we're at number 8. This is the final 1. This is the brand experience. This 1 is interesting. Because this 1, you don't have full control over. And you also don't have control over your market position at all times and everything, but this is 1 especially that you do not have control over because your brand experience is how consumers interact with you and with your services. So you can control how they interact with you. If you have employees, you can at least regulate standards for them to put in place to interact with customers, but there's more within that. And There's 1 example that I always give. If you're in a fender bender when you're driving home from work and the car that hits you is a U Haul moving truck, that's going to put a bad taste in your mouth. When you see U Haul. Does that have anything to do with the U Haul brand? No. But it's a bad experience that you had with U Haul. It probably wasn't even driven by someone that works for U Haul, but it's just our minds make those connections. So your brand experience can be really hard to control
Larry Roberts [:because your brand is not always places only that you are at. Like, it does exist away from you. I'm honestly so glad you shared the U Haul story because I was sitting here. I already had my counter on point ready to go until you gave me that U Haul example because, I mean, I'm a big fan of extreme ownership. I mean, it sits here. The book sits here right here on my desk. All of the time because I personally believe that we're responsible for our brand 24 7. But that example of the U Haul rack was completely beyond the scope of anything that I had siddered. So I love the fact that you shared that story. And, really, you you kinda put me in my place a little bit when it comes to extreme ownership. But still along those lines, it's up to us to convey as much responsibility for our brand as possible. But, man, I'm really I'm I'm blown away by the U Haul story, and I'm gonna have to process that a little bit before I have a a really, really good counter.
Sara Lohse [:Well, just send me an email whenever you're ready. But, no, I think it's something that people don't always think about. And we have so many interactions with brands that they don't even know about, and that's why customer service reps are so undervalued because they have to deal with calls from angry customers that might not even have anything to do with the brand itself. And just
Larry Roberts [:the U Haul 1 is a perfect example of that. And there's even -- I already said that. We could stop stroking the ego a little bit there.
Sara Lohse [:Never. But I always remember that 1 time, I don't know if you've been you probably don't want me to share this story, but I'm going to. Oh, god. You were very angry in line at the drive through of a Whataburger, and I have every time I think of Whataburger now, I think of that situation. So not that it's I'm not that it has had a huge effect on what I do, but that's still a like, something I relate to that brand that has nothing to do with it. It was you being angry in a drive through line.
Larry Roberts [:Dude, it wouldn't move. It's not my fault. I got my poop before he did. All I wanted to do was go home, and he would not move. But, hey, I wanna justify my stance at Whataburger because just yesterday, right around 12:30 central time here in Lewisville, Texas. Somebody drove through the wall of that exact same water burger. So I don't know if they got mad, it drove through the wall, but at least I could come back and say, I didn't go that far. But, yeah, maybe it's that Wattenberg. I don't know.
Sara Lohse [:But, I mean, even now, anytime, like, 1 of us gets angry, the other 1 says, like, don't go full Whataburger. And it's it's like the new like going postal. But these are things that people can start to relate to a brand that has nothing to do with the brand itself and is completely out of control of that brand, which is the full point I'm trying to And we got there eventually, but it was a little bit of a crooked road.
Larry Roberts [:But you did it using a story that really you know, that drove everything home. Like, the U Haul story, the Burger's story. I mean, I think that's our motto for the podcast going forward. Never go full water burger.
Sara Lohse [:Never. Well, that is all 8, and I'm really excited to dig into these. I wanna I wanna hear from other people what they have thought about for their own brands if they've looked at any of these. But in next episodes, we're going to dive in and talk about how we have built our own brands using these different components. So thank you so much for listening, and we'll be back next
Larry Roberts [:Thanks, everybody. Really appreciate it. If you got some value out of this episode, even just beyond not knowing full water burger, make sure you smash that simple subscribe button so we can continue to bring you these amazing episodes of Brandon each and every week. Until then, we will see you on the next episode.
