Marketing or Branding? One of the top questions and points of confusion for my clients is centered around marketing vs branding. What is the difference? What do I need? Which should I start out with? Lord knows if you google this question you will get a TON of answers, many of which are complex because […]

Today I’m going to let you in on a sneak peek into the early stages of the design process.

If nothing else, I sure do love transparency. The chance to learn and grow from being honest with ourselves and honest with others…

Why branding matters… If you’ve hung around my site or blog for any period of time, it’s no secret that I’m passionate about branding. It’s a place where science and art meet and both sides of my brain are happy.

What if you had a vision for your business that was so solid that it helped drive every decision you make (rather than the blind leading the blind and just doing what your competitors are doing without evaluating it against YOUR goals and vision?)

For many, the term “brand” is ambiguous and misunderstood, and therefore mistakenly used synonymously with “visual identity”… And that’s where it all starts and ends. But it’s also where the frustration begins… That visual identity ends up being all over the map, isn’t consistent, never “feels right,” definitely doesn’t bring in better (or the right type of) clients, doesn’t generate more revenue, and within a year or two, that well-meaning business owner is already looking for a change and is browsing the interwebs again. And the cycle repeats.

Don’t forget to serve. It takes intentionality to know what your clients need so that you can serve them well. The beautiful thing is this is what leads to a job well done, glowing reviews, and more clients coming your way because people are singing your praises! And yet it’s so completely authentic and allows your impact to be lasting and deep.

Using a logo as a starting place for building your brand is like trying to build a house, roof first. A roof is great. ESSENTIAL, even. But ya can’t start there. Any builder would find such a request laughable. The roof only makes sense in context of the entire structure – foundation, walls, etc…

Look, I get it. I don’t know of a single entrepreneur who didn’t start out DIY’ing everything. It’s in our blood. We want to save money, and more importantly, we can’t hack hiring someone to do what we feel we SHOULD be able to do ourselves.

Life is exciting and business is going well (congrats!). The fact that you’ve stumbled upon this post means that you might even be looking to elevate your brand with a new logo… Before you get too knee-deep in the never-ending Pinterest and Etsy searches, here are a few things to consider before purchasing or designing that new logo.