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Taking your brand from amateur to pro takes strategy, creative skill, and intention. Knowing where you are right now and how to move into your full potential is key to your business growth.

And if you’re not a designer by trade, it can feel hard to tell what needs upgrading. (Do I start with a logo? New website graphics? A color palette? Does any of it matter?)

Yes, it matters. A lot more than most people realize.

Your branding has the potential to be your best salesperson. 

Big brands know this fact and invest piles of money to understand the intricacies on a deeper level. As an entrepreneur, you may not know where to start, what matters most, what needs to change first, or even who to reach out to for help. 

How do you attract the best clients?
How do you keep people engaged on your website? 
How do you convert them with design?  

If you’re making 6-7 figures in business, but your graphics and website aren’t reflecting the quality you know you provide, then this is for you. 

You have ONE chance to nail a first impression (online you’ve got 7 seconds to grab their attention).

People stalk you on your site and your social platforms before they ever contact you. Potential clients are making snap judgements about you and the value you provide before you even connect.

No pressure, right?

The brain processes an image 60,000 times faster than text.

Which means?

Start using biology to your advantage. You’re leaving money on the table by not capitalizing on how the brain and eyes can work in your favor.

What if it could make them stick around instead of leave?

What if it was the difference between them becoming raving fans and long-term customers?

You can effortlessly increase your prices when your brand quality screams value and people are sucked in to learning more about you. They’ll already know they want to work with you because you look like the expert you are (aka badass extraordinaire). 

If your current designs are cheaply thrown together with a wing and a prayer, they’re unfortunately going to be perceived that way too.

First impressions are hard to reverse.

What most entrepreneurs have been told is that they can worry about all the branding stuff “later.” Just get something up there, done is better than perfect, don’t get caught up in the details.

Right?

Which is a fine strategy when you’re new and have no idea what you’re doing.

But now you’re a seasoned pro with a list of clients and business that runs like a well-oiled machine.

Your brand is no longer sufficient as just a cool logo and a color scheme.

This is your positioning, who you are, being set apart, deserving that freedom, and getting paid what you’re worth.

This is how you’re known in the online space and your higher self shining through.

Shouldn’t it represent you accurately?

If you…

• Want to attract more quality clients and more money

• Feel like your designs and website are cheap looking and embarrassing

• Want a look that reflects who you really are

Then I have good news for you.

High-level custom branding and strategy has the power to help you fix these problems.

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What do you need to do to look like a top tier brand?

Below is my 7-step process that I use with all my clients. Dive in and put it to work on your branding. If you’d like my help, get in touch.

1. Commit to your next level. 

   Are you ready to be seen as the expert you are? Are you ready to look like a million dollars and take your business higher than it’s ever gone?

   This is a big step for some, and you may not be ready. Fear and doubts, not to mention imposter syndrome can easily show up here. There’s a ton of excuses to not have your brand look this good or put it out into the world yet. 

   When you commit to showing up as the best version of YOU – even the future version of you that you’ve been visualizing for so long – this is where it starts to take real shape. 

   Decide it’s time to grow, not hide or stay small because it’s more comfortable. Choose to elevate yourself to the level you deserve. 

2. Gather your team of experts.

   You already know delegating is a huge part of being a boss. This is no different. 

   It takes multiple people to do this right and to make you stand out in the right way. Here’s a quick list of the bare minimum team needed to take you to the top:

• Brand Strategist / Designer

• Copywriter

• Web Developer

• Photographer

Sounds overwhelming?

You can always skip the next steps and contact me directly as I’ve got all the above pre-assembled for you, ready to dive in.

3. Brand Strategy & Clarity

There are 3 V’s in Branding: Vision, Voice and Visuals.

• The vision is your plans, goals, where you’re going and what you want.

• Your voice is your message, what you sound like, and ultimately your copy.

• Visuals are what everything looks like – the tangible part of the brand you create. 

All three must be in sync in order to get the results you’re after, but the VISION dictates the other two.

Which means you need to be really clear on what you want your brand to do for you before you do anything else. Form follows function. If you’re not clear on how you want your brand to operate, the end product won’t work for you. 

Ask yourself these questions to find brand clarity:

• What words would you use to describe your business? What personality do you want to portray? (Use adjectives like trustworthy, exciting, high-end, approachable, etc)

• Who is the client? What do they want? (Pull out your ideal client profile. The more specific you are, the better)

• What is the main thing (call to action) you want them to take: 
  – On your website? 
  – On your social media platforms?
  – Via email?  

• What is the main thing you want them to buy from you?

4. Creating your brand identity (the fun part)

Now that you’ve gotten clear on your vision, you can start to nail down what it looks like by creating your overall brand identity.

This will become a set of guidelines you’ll use going forward so everything stays consistent, cohesive, and looks “on brand” (making you recognizable and memorable).

This is where the creative process comes into play and you decide on elements like:

• The overall look and feel of your designs
• Your colors (primary, secondary, tertiary)
• Your fonts
• Your logo
• Your textures / patterns / illustrations
• The imagery style / photography style

This is a great time to think about color psychology – how they trigger emotions, and what they say about your brand. Whoever you hire to help you should have a basic understanding of this science in order to make it work for you. 

At the end of this process, a set of brand guidelines and standards should be compiled for you. This ensures that you and anyone else on your team can use the same colors, fonts, and other elements in a way that keeps your brand consistent. 

5. Map out your website and social platforms.

Website mapping is called a framework, or a wireframe. And it’s not as complicated as it sounds.

It’s basically a blueprint for how your website will be built and shows the developer how to make it all connect. There are some key components to consider – like not overwhelming your reader with too much copy, strategically placed calls to action and eye-catching photos – but the basics can easily be sketched on paper.

All you need to do is think about what pages you need, what each communicates, and how people are meant to flow from one to the other. It also helps you plan what copy and images belong in what place, which will save you time and money down the road.

Prioritize what the viewer needs to know and in what order of importance, and use that to guide how you lay out your content.

For social media, think about what platforms you use the most. What needs a header graphic, and what does that image need to include? Refer to your brand strategy and vision and think about how your client uses each platform.

It’s unwise to simply create a single header image in four or five different sizes and call it a day. 

Consider each platform’s function and brainstorm how you can use it in the best way possible. This can go beyond header images too. How do you plan to implement your branding on each and every post while still remaining cohesive and engaging?  

You may want to look at a week’s or month’s worth of content and create a template set. 

6. Get your copy written + photos in motion

Remember the rest of that team you assembled? Now that you’ve gotten the nuts and bolts of your brand strategy in place, it’s a great time to start working on the copy you need and get an incredible photoshoot done.

It should be really easy to knock these out thanks to the branding work you did in the previous steps. You know what copy goes where, you know what kind of photos you’re looking to take, and you know how much of everything you actually need.  

You also know the vibe you’re communicating and the color palette you’ve decided on, which all influence your photo direction, locations, and the outfits you wear in your shoot.

PHOTO TIP: Your photographer needs to understand your images are for online purposes. Be sure to have them include several wide-angle shots with empty space for text. Mix in solid backgrounds (or very simplified) with whatever else you’re including to give your designer room to add text. DO NOT hire them if they plan to “photoshop it” later. It never looks right.

7. Putting everything together.

The best part is seeing it all come together. Your brand is coming to life!

However, don’t check out of the process quite yet. You did your due diligence when you hired your team, but you’re still the decision maker and they need your input in order to do the very best job.

Make sure you’re on the same page with each person on your team so there’s no surprises later. Over-communication is never a bad thing and it’ll make it easier on you later.

A few things to make sure of:

• Your website is responsive (meaning it can switch from desktop to mobile devices without looking weird or like it doesn’t fit the screen)

• Different browsers are tested with web and social platforms. Online interface changes constantly, so it never hurts to be double check. 

• Your links to other pages and calls to action buttons are working and accurate. 

• You’re able to make quick changes on the back end of things so you don’t have to hire someone for every little typo or image swap. 

• Your images are all high-resolution and RGB formatted

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Use this list to prevent worst-case scenarios from happening in your branding process.

Always keep in mind, if you wouldn’t hire the cheapest electrician or plumber to fix your house, don’t do the same for your business branding.  

What’s next?

If you’re sick of looking at your sub-par website, knowing your branding is less than it could be. 

If you’re tired of feeling less valuable because your look just doesn’t excite you anymore. 

If you’re ready to be first in line instead of second-best.

Then it would make sense for us to chat and see how I can help.

Click here to schedule a call and start the process.