In this episode, host Tracie Patterson welcomes Kristin Lawton from the District Brand Bar, an expert in marketing and branding strategies. The discussion centers around the importance of creating solid business foundations to achieve a cohesive brand identity while allowing for evolution and flexibility. Kristin shares actionable advice on defining voice, choosing visuals, and maintaining consistency to build trust and familiarity with your audience. They also explore strategies for brand cohesion across various platforms and methods for leveraging AI tools like ChatGPT to define brand elements. The session aims to empower business owners, especially those transitioning from corporate roles or managing multiple passions, to navigate the online space effectively and hit their revenue goals.

00:00 Introduction to Branding and Business Foundations

01:05 Meet Kristin Lawton: Branding Expert

01:36 Balancing Business Foundations and Evolution

02:15 Creating a Cohesive Brand Identity

05:35 Defining Your Brand Voice and Personality

07:59 Using AI to Enhance Your Brand

10:25 Consistency Across Platforms

14:06 Personalizing Your Brand Elements

19:31 Evolving Your Brand Without Losing Identity

23:14 Finding Your Brand's Through Line

23:31 Streamlining and Simplifying Your Marketing

24:00 Understanding Your Audience's Journey

24:26 Consistency and Cohesiveness in Marketing

24:52 Illustrating Cohesive Marketing with Examples

27:33 The Importance of Visual Connection

28:34 Branding vs. Brand: Clarifying the Difference

29:37 Building Familiarity and Trust

31:10 The Role of Consistency in Branding

36:45 Avoiding Branding Overwhelm

39:22 Connecting with Kristin for Brand Audits

41:03 Final Thoughts and Gratitude

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CREDITS

Music ColourfulSounds

Podcast Editor Maia McLachlan

So there's never any shame here and let's go beyond these flash words and these Instagram moments and get you out of spinning your wheels and into more money. That actually feels good to make. Let's listen in.

And that is people who are like, they're going all in on their business. They're trying really hard, but they almost ended up like, as you say, like spinning their wheels or like throwing spaghetti at the wall because they haven't actually built these foundations for their business. And, and, and I think this is where a lot of that, Kind of online confusion comes in, right?

or becoming a coach about a certain thing, and then the rest evolves. So how do you define like that line?

Right. So that way they can kind of put up some walls of protection around influence and, you know, accidentally like starting to look like these other people and getting like real far away from themselves is almost just creating it like Like you, like you as an individual, until you start to get your sea legs, until you start to know what your offers look like or who you're paying clients are versus like, you know, your ideal audience versus your paying clients can be very different

be? It's like, It's like,

pick words that would actually come out of your mouth, you know, pick colors that you want to wear or that you like being around. What are like some other things that, that are kind of beyond Canva that people think about with brand?

And I think and that's where, you know, the, the whole like faceless accounts and that type of thing, like you're not really setting yourself apart and you're not giving people a place to feel grounded either. Cause I think it's about you feeling, having those foundations to where like you can go off and build your business in a way that feels good and natural and authentic to you and your brand.

And yeah, you know, like I, I have a cocktail themed business, so for me, it's fairly easy to say, okay, well, all of my emojis that I use are all the cocktail ones, right?

Um, I use

always use the bourbon glass. That's mine. I'm

you, I always use cheers, you know, at the end of

Does it feel the same? Does it seem like it's all my business? And sort of making sure that you have that like cohesiveness around your brand And that it feels very like unique to you as well

across

And I think there's just, when you have all those, it just starts clicking when I. Finally, like really like honed my brand. and I, you know, it combined with sort of some like a brand photo shoot and, and launching a lead magnet, but it all worked together, everything sort of staying the same tune. I was getting so many compliments about my brand that I, they were, I would, people were seeing me all the time. The same people. That had been on my list and the, you know, if I was doing consistent social media, but now they're saying, I see you pop up all the time and it's not that I wasn't popping up before.

It's that I'm, I'm popping up with that same look and feel with that same message, with that same, just brands feel that they're remembering

it was actually kind of a funny moment when I realized that the colors that were for my company were actually the same ones that were in my closet.

natural and how it should be, honestly. Like ones You like

wearing.

I was a consultant as well. So, you know, you had to have this certain persona with this kind of suit, with these kinds of shoes, with this kind of, you know, facade, right. To, to be taken. Serious. I mean, even down to the kind of luggage that you carried, right. It had to be like these kind of brands and this kind of, well, and, and especially as a female and a younger one, you know, you just, you weren't legitimate otherwise.

Does that say like, like what doesn't annoy me versus what like me?

10% of our stuff,

basis. Right. I think it's very good idea if you if you go in your closet and like a couple colors stand out pick those colors because you know you're not going to get tired of seeing them.

I don't think it matters what. Color theory says, I do think that, you know, I think it should match your personality and sort of your brand personality. Mine is very fun and I like a lot of color and bright and I'm an engaging person and, you know, I, am definitely more social. And so I think if I had this very like calm, muted, like neutral

color tones, right?

like it very soft and relaxing.

Like it's just not me. It would feel weird, right? It would not feel right to my brand. And people would be like, that's weird, right?

It's not like

on brand and it's like, how do you do it? So I have an easy trick for just like making sure that you're always on brand. And it's basically, so there's like five brand elements, right? So there's like, um, your messaging, your colors, your sort of overall look and feel of like using, maybe graphic elements or photos or the way you use your photos or the way you edit your photos.

Or if you use like. You know, lots of lines like those sort of like imagery piece. there's like the words that you use. And then sort of really just like your content pillars, like the things that you're always going to talk about. Uh, and that sort of has your key messaging in there. And if you just, you know, Make sure that there's like three out of every five and you can decide what those brand elements are for you, right?

But let's just

say it's just text.

Because you can have whatever time

So sometimes it can feel, funner and, and lighter to look at like the branding. Elements, you know, of, of the business, but it can also be a place where people lose themselves and, and has to learn, you know, or they just kind of like hide in because, because someone told them they had to have the perfect Instagram in order to do something.

It's like you have like and gamble and then you have all these different brands underneath it. And, and it's like, how, how do you do things that make you feel legit, make you feel excited, make you feel like I can stand up, I'm cohesive, people are recognizing me without feeling like there's so much to do or where do I even start, how do I not get trapped?

You know, does, does that make sense? It's kind of that,

You should look at your foundations first, right? Because it could be that you just haven't sort of become consistent and cohesive with a strong brand first before, you know, so you haven't given it a chance to work. Sometimes these strategies, right? If you're putting yourself out in front of a lot of new audiences, it takes them, right?

Like seven times to, to do it. See you to like, remember you to engage with you and they need that sort of consistent, like punch in the face of your brands. but that doesn't mean it doesn't evolve. Things change for sure, right? Mine has changed a lot. I think, but you're not, but I think the idea is that you're not drastically changing things every week, right?

You're not changing up new colors.

Things evolve.

Where are you putting yourself out there to be known? And then how are you moving those, your audience to the next step of the like, and then how are you moving them to trust and where are you selling them? I like to really simplify it, like pick two or three of those options and then really hone those so that. You know, you're showing up consistently and cohesively on those marketing channels where people are getting to know you. Choose two, right? Choose three. You don't have to be everywhere at once.

That cohesively, if say like right now we're doing voice, right? Cause it's a podcast. But then, you know, there will be like some reels and some static posts to promote this episode of you and me. So what does that look like if we're going from like, you know, this platform to this platform, but also what is auditory?

One is visual. Like.

You're going to have your sort of main logo around like the cocktails, coffees and conversation. your captions are going to talk about the conversation that we had over cocktails. And here is the topic that we covered. and you know, maybe the call to actions are all going to be very similar throughout, you know, the podcast.

it's a perfect meta illustration. So it, it's, it, this, this cohesiveness, you know, even though we're moving from an auditory to a visual platform, it's still because, because brand versus branding includes like all of those pieces that, that is the wordy bits and it is the visuals and you know, then you get to have that through line all the way.

That's Then, then it all kind of comes in. And I, and I think a lot of it that hopefully people have heard, but we can be a bit more explicit about is how we keep distinguishing between branding versus brand, right? Cause branding are kind of those elements and then the brand is that overarch.

Yeah.

And it's like, no, it's like, let's actually take the time to go back and define them so that we can all be on the same page and make sure that we're going back to like source material. Right. So I take little, um, jargon busting moments to, to make sure that,

Wait, do I have to do that right now? And, and, and, Oh, do I have to, you know, get, get color schemes and make mood boards and charts and, and, uh, and if that's something that sends you to it down a spiral, then let's just like, like, just give yourself grace. And, and give that a reframe and just think about it as familiarity,

Right. You know, it's like, you see them over and over again. You start to feel comfortable with them. You know who they are, at least to like, you know, give them a nod or a wave as they pass. Right. It's, it's like, you know, it's not stranger danger. It's like, Oh, okay. Yeah. It's safe to interact. So let's start dipping our toe in interaction.

And that is, is what we are doing with, with the, these pieces is where we're just bridging that gap where we're not seeing each other, walking our dogs because we're online. Right. So instead we're just, you know, we're scrolling through the streets of, of a stream, you know, and we're just trying to create familiarity.

And I just think when you, are showing like you don't want to miss one of those times where they're scrolling and they don't see you, right? When you're walking down the street and they're on their phones and so they don't see you. And I think When you sort of jump around with that sort of different feel of a brand and you haven't really like gotten nailed it yet. to where you are really consistent, like you, you have to work harder to get their attention and that's why things may not be working for you.

Yeah. And they'll know to, to like, look up and to see you at that point. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And, and it just kind of gives, gives that, that nod moment and. You know, everything, everything that we do in our business, it has to serve the essence of the business, the bottom line, the mission, the purpose, right? So whether you're a nonprofit or a for profit business, you have, you have, you have a purpose.

And, and so like, as Kristin's talking about all of this, we, we brought that connection back to this familiarity is so that way people feel like that they can connect to you. They can do something with you. Right. And what are you wanting them to do? You know, for most of us, it's, we're wanting them to buy from us.

You know, we're wanting them to, to have that

Like it has an actual bottom dollar purpose. You know, it is there for revenue and it is there for,

part of the whole like business and sales aspect is like, I'm always telling people that if it, if it doesn't directly line that, like come back and that's, that's where, you know, that you can either edit it out for now.

You know, and look at it as like a nice tab later. Right. or like you need, you know, that like, you just don't need it yet. Right.

It's how they're consistently going to see you and how they're going to connect personally with you. And I think that. When you have it, it also makes marketing your brand so much more effortless because everything's sort of in place. It eliminates decision fatigue. You're not going into Canva and saying, you know, Oh, what colors am I using today?

Right. You know, your offer might not be broken. It may be, it is, maybe it's not. Your messaging might not even be broken. It may just be the fact that, that people aren't seeing it. The same,

and, and let it and let it play out a bit longer, right?

Maybe the experimenting has been a bit too frequent, right? So people can't even recognize that it's still you, you know, it'd be like, like finding your favorite yogurt shop. And then the next week it has a whole other sign and it's like, wait, is this the same yogurt? It's in the same place. I see this in employees, but.

I don't know, is this the same shop or not?

And they don't even know whether they want to go in to taste the yogurt to find out.

Exactly.

You know, and, and anytime people aren't sure about that stuff, well then they just have that opportunity to get distracted and move on. Right. It adds that extra layer of friction, which basically just means more work for them. And so they have to be super motivated to go for it. So a lot of times

What's something that they can do with you to figure that out?

I recommend starting with just one or two a week and Tuesdays are my favorite day because it's the brand polish day. And it's where we make sure that your brand is refreshed and up to date and not sort of like back in, you know, two years ago, because again, we have to actually. Keep our brand up to date as well.

So thank you very much for being here again and hanging out with us through, um, all, all the fun conversations that we have. Um, cause it, yeah, good, good. And yeah, cause branding is something that I theoretically understand. I mean, I, I, one of my degrees is in marketing, but because of my just personality and lack of wanting to be out there, it's just something that I just stare and go.

Okay.