Today we’re talking about DIYing your branding and how to know if you’ve nailed it, or… failed it. I’m diving into EVERYTHING you need to know to DIY your branding in a way that not only looks good but makes sense for your brand, your vision and mission, and your overall goals for your creative business. I want to help you remove the self-doubt and give you some practical steps to connect your brand strategy, brand identity and marketing in a way that feels good to you, attracts your dream clients and reflects who you are as a brand and individual.
Today we’re talking about DIYing your branding and how to know if you’ve nailed it, or… failed it.
I’m diving into EVERYTHING you need to know to DIY your branding in a way that not only looks good but makes sense for your brand, your vision and mission, and your overall goals for your creative business.
I want to help you remove the self-doubt and give you some practical steps to connect your brand strategy, brand identity and marketing in a way that feels good to you, attracts your dream clients and reflects who you are as a brand and individual.
So whether you’re new to DIYing or have been at it a while - if you’re ready to learn how to take your branding to the next level *a la DIY style* this is where we do it.
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Elements of Design – Click here for the 8 design fundamentals mentioned in this episode!
Ready to join the creative branding lab for artists and makers who are ready to grow their audience, attract new customers, and get business-building opportunities on repeat? Check out The Next Level Creative™ today!
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When you are DIYing your brand, how do you know that you are doing it right? For those of you who are DIYing your brand, some questions pop up along the way, right? Am I doing this right? Is this going to work? What if it is not good enough? So I want to give you some tools and tips that you can use along the way to help reassure you that you are doing it right, that it is good enough, and that it is going to work.
Let's dive in and let me tell you these tools and tricks.
So I'm going to tell you tools tips and tricks for each step of the branding process. So we're going to talk about before you start during the brand strategy process, the brand identity process, and the brand marketing process. So let's talk about all of those.
First things first, before you start, you want to set some goals.
This means that you will have something to measure success by, so that when these questions pop up Oh, am I doing this right? Is it going to work? Et cetera, instead of worrying about that, you will know that it is because you have Say I want to increase my brand awareness. For example, I want more people to know about me.
Then say you're like three months down the line, you can measure that. And you can say, okay, I know. that it is. So therefore I know that it has worked. So you have set a goal and you'll know that your branding has worked. So before you start, set some goals.
You also want to talk to your audience. So you want to get a baseline for where your brand is at right now.
So that will help you see if the work that you do during the branding process improves things and moves things forward. So you'll know that. What you're doing is the right thing and it is working. So right now your audience says they feel a certain type of way. Then you will ask them again, three months, six months down the line after you've done the work, and see what they think about it and see what has happened and see the difference that it makes.
And then you will see. Whether your work has made a difference and whether it has worked. You also want to find your community. It doesn't matter if it's one person, a few friends, or a whole group of peers. It helps to have people to talk to throughout this process. Whether it's for family, friends, etc.
Feedback, advice, accountability, shared experiences, or just a pep talk. You are going to be so thankful to have these people by your side throughout this process who have been through this too. So I recommend either gathering a bunch of people that, or yeah, some colleagues, or maybe you just have one other artist friend.
Or you want to join a community of artists or people doing branding, whatever it is, find some people who have done this before or are currently doing it so that you can be alongside them and have people on your side who you can go to for feedback or advice or help as you were going through this process.
And if you need that quick plug The Next Level Creative™ is a perfect place to do that. I will invite you to check that out. The link is in the show notes as my. Branding lab for artists and creatives specifically designed for artists and creatives who want to work on their brand So if you would like to check that out, please go to the show notes and have a look at that But let's dive into the next stage.
So Brand strategy, when you are ready to dive into that, some tools and tips that you can use to make sure that you are doing things right during that process. Number one is to do research. You can do both qualitative and quantitative research that informs your strategy. So that means qualitative research interviews gathering stories and talking to people.
And quantitative research is getting data. Might be information about your audience or yeah, statistics, things like that, like going, getting the stats from like your Instagram audience, like things like that, gathering information rather than just guessing that way you'll be more confident.
So say as you're going through your brand strategy and you're figuring out what do I know about your audience. Instead of guessing that information. You can go to your analytics and find out what is my audience made up of. What is their age? What is their gender makeup?
Where are they from? Even if you have a YouTube channel, it will tell you what other people they follow and check out. And that kind of stuff is really useful information that will give you guaranteed answers or informed answers rather than just guessing. So then, you're doing it right.
Okay. Number two is to listen to your gut throughout the brain strategy process because it is a personal and intimate process. In the brain strategy process, you are asking yourself a lot of deep questions. And so you will feel it when something resonates or lights up with you. You and I, when I'm doing brand strategy with people, I like it, I see it within them.
I can see them perk up and their voice lifts and gets higher and louder and more confident and they start smiling and you can feel it. You can see it in yourself. You will feel it when things feel right. seem right or when they don't. So do that. I describe brand strategy as like the Marie Kondo process or the life-changing magic of the tidying-up process.
If you've heard of that so do that process as you are going through the brand strategy process, pick up something you've just done, whether it's an idea you had or a thought you put down, or maybe you were writing your mission or something, pick it up Maybe physically, but maybe just like with your brain, pick it up, think about it, look at it.
And see if it sparks joy, or sparks something in you. Some kind of if it moves you if it sparks something in you, it's probably right, or it's probably on the right track. If it doesn't, maybe not. So listen to your gut within this process. And then number three, within brand strategy, is to get feedback.
Working in isolation during this process is a surefire way to feel unsure. Whether it is another creative that you trust, a coach, a customer or two, or your whole audience, Share parts of your strategy for feedback. So maybe you have just worked on the part, like the part about your audience, like maybe grab, a dream client and show it to them and say Hey, do you feel like this represents you?
Does this feel like you if you saw this, does it feel like it talks about you or not? Show them the things you've written about your personality and whether they resonate like this brand. Would this resonate with you? Talk to people, talk to your audience, talk to a trusted friend, talk to a coach, talk to people who you trust and see what they think, and make sure you are getting feedback as you go through the process, it's really helpful.
Okay.
Now let's talk about brand identity.
And if you want feedback, it's also a great benefit of The Next Level Creative™ because not only is the community there to give you feedback and to have a look but your target audience might be in that community, which is awesome. But also I, as a branding expert, as a brand coach, and in there giving you feedback.
One-on-one custom feedback on everything that you create during the branding process. So whether you are working on your brand strategy on your brand identity, on your marketing, whatever it is, you can share it with me and I will have a look at it and give you my expert opinion on your brand. It's a really valuable tool and a huge part of the benefit of The Next Level Creative™
So if you are worried about whether you are, Doing your branding right. And you want a branding expert, like in your back pocket, literally on your phone at the touch of a button, then Do you want to join The Next Level Creative™ so that you can share everything you're doing with me? And I will gladly have a look at everything and give you my expert opinion.
So Again, the links are in the show notes. Anywho, let's talk about brand identity. So number one with this one is you want to get familiar with design fundamentals. So I know that you are an amazing artist. I am guessing An amazing creative, but some very specific Okay design fundamentals will help you with making everything you create within your brand, look just that little bit more professional and you will feel more confident in everything you make.
So I have a full article about. These eight design fundamentals. So I will link that in the show notes as well. That will teach you about all of these, but this will give you more confidence, as I said, and designing a well-constructed brand that, is good enough because these principles are what like I, as a design-trained creative, this is what I learned.
This is what every designer does. Every professional designer uses these eight design fundamental principles. And it's what is behind every professional design of these eight fundamentals. So you want to learn these eight things and it will help you when you get familiar with them and when you start using them in all of your designs.
Learn these. Number two is to use your brand strategy. So if you are using your brand strategy throughout this identity process, you will be doing it right. That's how you know that you are doing your brand design process if you're following your brand strategy throughout it. If you are just designing, willy-nilly with no thought behind it, then you're not doing it right.
But if you are using your brand strategy, then you are doing what professional brand designers do. You are doing it intentionally, strategically with a brand strategy in mind, so what do you want to do at the very least? What I want you to do first is take the keywords that you decided about what your brand's personality needs to be and what it needs to not be, and use those words to guide you at every step.
Say, for example, you decided that in your brand strategy process, you decided that your brand needs to be bright and bold and playful, and it needs to not be cold and corporate and minimal, right? What you want to do is you want to use those keywords for what it should be to help you search for inspiration and all the stuff that you're going to put on your mood board.
You also want to put, those words alongside everything that you are designing. So I copy and paste them into my design files and the words for what it should not be. So that as you are designing, you are constantly checking like, okay, Does this feel bold and playful and fun? Does it not feel cold and stark and corporate?
Good. If it's not aligned with those, then you need to change it. You need to make sure that it is following and working towards the personality and the feeling that you decided in your brand strategy. Otherwise, it's not working. So you need to use that part, those parts of your brand strategy and the design process, and then you will be doing it right.
And you know that it's going to work. To convey that feeling and that message and that personality. You can also use other parts of your brand strategy for your audience. So get in the mindset of your ideal person and look at your brand and say would they love it as you're designing, Does this speak to that person?
Yes. No. Okay. I need to change things. Great. Okay. Use other parts of your brand strategy too, but at the very least use those keywords about your personality and that will help you make sure you are designing the right thing. And last but not least for brand identity, you can involve your audience in the process.
They love this. It makes it very engaging and exciting for your audience. Everybody loves to see a rebrand. But also You, because your brand needs to attract the right audience, share it with those dream people. You can get their help making decisions and make sure that they love it. So that they, so that you know that it is attracting the right people and it is going to work to attract them in the future so that when you launch it, you know that those dream people love it, right?
So find either. One or a group of, or your entire audience, if you want to, if you know that some of your dream people are in your entire audience, then you can share it with all of them. So involve your audience in the process.
Okay.
Let's talk about brand growth or marketing your business and how to make sure that you are doing this right, or get some tips and tricks to help you feel like you're doing this right. And that, it's going to work. Number one is to choose strategies that feel genuine and good to you because the only right way in my opinion to grow your brand is the way that is right to you or the way that's right for you.
So choose strategies that play to your strengths your interests and your passions. So if you are a great speaker who loves to edit videos, maybe YouTube or TikTok or something is the way to go. You want to the only way that you know that it's going to be right is to choose something that is right for you.
So that's what I recommend doing to ensure that you choose something that is the right method for you.
Number two is to know your audience well. The more that you know, your audience, the better you can choose marketing strategies platforms content types, and topics that are going to reach and resonate with them. The more informed you are, then the more confident you can be that you are doing the right things and that it's going to work.
So say, for example, that your audience creatives who love, like art and crafts and they're spending their time on Instagram and Pinterest and TikTok and so you know that's where they are going to be, then that's how you know that those are the platforms you need to be on then that's smart, right?
And that is You're going to be way more confident because you know that information about your audience. So that's better than if you had no idea about who they were where they were hanging out what they were doing and what types of content they liked. Know your audience. Know what they like, know where they're hanging out, know what magazines they read, what blogs they read, what newsletters they subscribe to, what other people they are watching, and know everything about them.
The more you know, the more informed you are going to be and the more confident you can be that what you are creating is going to work.
And number three is to have an experimental approach to your marketing, because marketing is all about experimenting and trying new things, seeing how it works, seeing how it performs, iterating on that, and then trying again. It's why like on TikTok, you will see people try a bunch of things, hit on something that works, and then do that for ages until it like dries up.
And then they'll try something else, and then they'll do that until it You know, we want to do things that will work, but not everything is going to work and not like straight away. So you have to be okay with that. And you have to be willing to try things and experiment until they do. So don't be disheartened if things don't work straight away, especially when it comes to marketing.
Like things are changing all the time. That's fine. That's just how it rolls. You just have to try things, give it a go, and keep going. You're doing great. Don't stop. Don't give up. Just keep trying. Keep giving it a go. And you will see progress.
So those are some tips as you work through the branding process to help you feel more confident that you are doing it right. that it is going to work and that it is good enough. I hope that one or some or all of those are helpful for you. And that as you are going through the branding process, whether you are just starting or about to start, or you're doing the brand strategy, you're doing your brand design, you are marketing your brand, these are helpful for you throughout that process.
As I mentioned, If you are looking for more tips like this, feedback on your work, and support as you go through the process, that's exactly what my mastermind, The Next Level Creative™ is all about and I would love to have you in there. It is a, it's a branding lab for creatives designed to help you, make your brand.
Grow your audience, attract new customers, and get brand-building opportunities on repeat. So if you are interested or you wanna check it out, you can sign up and have a look at thenextlevelcreative.com and the link is in the show notes. But other than that, I hope you have a great week. As always, keep creating and I will see you in the next one. Bye!