Ep 228: Building Trust Through Authentic Branding

What does it take to create a brand that is memorable and stands out?

In this episode, I’ll take you on a journey through the creation of my personal and business brand. We’ll delve into the significance of developing a brand that truly mirrors your identity and the profound impact it can have on your business success. By exploring the nuances of personal style and the essence of authenticity, this episode is filled with actionable insights and inspiration to help you build a brand that not only stands out but also resonates deeply with your audience.

We’ll also discuss practical strategies for maintaining consistency across all brand touchpoints, ensuring that your brand message is clear and cohesive. Whether you're just starting out or looking to refine your existing brand, these tips will help you create a lasting impression and build trust with your audience.

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Transcript: 

Welcome. Welcome. How are you? I hope you guys are doing amazing. Today we're going to talk all about branding. Now I know you love everything about branding because many of you have seen the professional branding training that I do, where I teach you how to create a professional brand in three simple steps using Canva.

If you have not seen that, You can either go to the show notes and watch it from there, or you can head over to Instagram and you can DM me the word Canva. We'll send you the training. Plus you guys, we give to you 30 social media graphics that I actually teach you how to rebrand. During the training. And plus, let me just give you a heads up.

If you don't see him during the training, which you can download them during the training. If you don't see those, then check your email, check your spam. We automatically send that to you so you can get your 30 graphics and get those updated.

So back to today's podcast, which is about branding, but mostly about personal branding.

I talk about that in the Canva training as well, that I want you to have a personal brand identity, but today I'm going to explain to you what that really is. So in 2000, when I started my business, I picked a logo and it was literally two fonts. And that was it.

I kept the same logo for, gosh, more than eight years. Actually in eight years in 2008, I actually hired a branding person, but I even kept the logo past that. One thing I want to emphasize to you guys is that brands are built for you with identity. So that means that you have to keep your brand around for a long time, keeping a brand around the logo and all that builds trust.

And that is so essential in today's marketplace. In 2008, I hired my first branding designer. I'm explaining this to you guys so that you can have a background on branding and about getting the brand right for you. So this is a backstory. The branding that this particular beautiful young woman did for me was a brand that she loved.

It actually wasn't a brand for me, and I'm sure that she interviewed me probably for the brand. but she created a brand that was trendy, that was something that was fun for her. She thought it was so fun to design a brand for somebody who owned a wedding magazine, and probably it was. When the brand came, it was like, uh, it really wasn't my brand style.

But I told myself, okay, this girl's young, she's the same age as the brides that would be looking at the magazine. I want to make sure that it really is attractive to her, so it'll be attractive to those clients. And so I just gave up on making the brand reflective of me. So I didn't even tell her, you know, those aren't even really my colors.

I don't love that. I just went with it. And I have to tell you, this is the first key thing that I want you to hear. When you just go with what somebody else picks for you, that's the wrong move.When you go to creating a brand for your client, that's also the wrong move.

You want to pick a brand that is reflective of you. So, fast forward to 2013. I hired somebody to help me with, branding and not to create a brand to help me understand. better at that point. I was not doing branding for my clients yet, but I really knew that there was something to it that I wasn't really understanding.

So I took this branding course. She was actually a fabric designer. So she helped people who were in the textiles business, design prints for fabrics. So I really got a different approach to branding We started out the branding process first by going to our closets.

She said, go in your closet and find all of the favorite clothes that you have, the things that you put on that make you feel like a million bucks. And now we all have something like that or something maybe from the past that we could pull out and we could say, yeah, that's it. Then she said, go around your house and find the things that you just love and figure out why you love that item so much.

So much and why it really speaks to you. We went on to think about decades of celebrities that we were attracted to. What era did you like at style wise or, you know, and she was talking about celebrity style. What era were you attracted to? She even talked about travel and trips and what you would be most attracted to.

So we did this whole really deep dive into our own personality. Out of that, We began to see then what we really liked, which is interesting you guys, because today when I go shopping, I don't buy trends and y'all know the scarf thing that I have. There's nothing about a scarf that is trendy, but it is trendy for me.

It's my style. And so it's always been my style, particularly since 2013. I mean, I, I've worn scarves for years, but since that time that I did that style, Style Deep Dive, and I saw that all of my favorite pictures of myself, all of the favorite styles I was attracted to, which are like the fifties, which makes sense with the scarf.

They all were people who were wearing scarves or all the pictures. I loved it when I was wearing a scarf. So that's kind of the brand building beginning. That's personal branding. Okay. That's different than having a logo in your fonts and your colors, which of course we teach, but I actually want you to design that brand based on your personal brand identity.

So if you do that, you will have a brand that actually fits your closet,That already fits what you would really wear to a photo shoot today. When I have photo shoots, I don't have to go shopping. Sure. I do go shopping sometimes, but I don't have to because everything in my closet fits me.

if we go back to the celebrity eras, the decades that I was most drawn to it again was the fifties. Most of the colors at that point were, We're very basic straight colors like plain black. I don't have a lot of patterns. You guys sometimes are surprised that I love to dress up.

You know, I love to dress up because during that period of time, the thing that I'm most attracted to people dressed up, nobody wore blue jeans. I rarely wear blue jeans. So that is the way that you kind of decide your authentic color. Style is what really speaks to you around your house. What are the things that you love the most from that place?

You begin to build a brand identity. So again, to recap, I had my original brand in 2000, then 2008, I did a brand. Then I hired yet another branding designer. I would say that was about six years ago. So I did know then what brand I was attracted to. Basically, but I have to tell you one more time. I hired somebody.

It was, she was also very expensive. I really trusted her as a valued expert and I had her create a brand. And once again, it just wasn't quite right. But you guys know what you say to yourself. You're like, ah, yeah, but they're the expert or I don't want to rock the boat and complain. Yeah. I don't want to be too nitpicky with her.

So I kind of let it go. And it wasn't until I thought, why am I not doing my brand myself? That I finally created a brand. That is my brand today. So that's why I'm so passionate about helping you guys create a brand. I've been doing branding for 25 years. I had been doing it with my magazine. I just didn't really understand what personal brand identity was.

And I love it when you can create an authentic brand. Now what is the value of an authentic brand? First of all, there's no work in coming to work. I literally show up like this. People are always surprised at the way I look. you guys who are watching my walk and talks,

I get messages from clients or DMS. And people are saying like, I can't believe how you look when you go on your walk. I'm like, that's me. That's how I look. So nobody has to look like me. But the point is, It is me the way I show up. Are you showing up as you? And by the way, I do want to emphasize as the best you.

I think there was this big trend where it was so kind of in vogue to say that you work from home and have a laptop lifestyle and that you could, you know, show up with a messy hair and warm up pants and yoga pants and your hair up in a top knot on your like we're professionals. If we want to be paid as professionals, be respected as professionals, then we have to act like a professional.

So I would question whether that sort of messy hair, yoga pant, laptop lifestyle, working from bed really works for you. Maybe it does, but for most of the women that I work with, they agree. They want to have a professional brand. They want to be respected. They want to be well paid. All of that happens when you show up in an office setting, which is part of your personal brand in an office.

prepared to come to work as a professional. So when I finally changed my brand, you guys. I have to tell you from a business point of view and I stepped into my own identity and then what the way that I was showing up and the way that my brand reflected literally was exactly the same. So one of the things that you guys don't know about me that I've never told that's part of my brand are those flowers back there.

If you have looked at my brand very closely, For many years, it has had a flower in somewhere in it, maybe subtly, but there's been a flower in it. And if you were to come to my home, I have a flower garden and I have, flowers all over my yard that I've actually taken from other people's yards. So I, I dig up flowers from friends or loved ones and I put them in my own yard.

And so those, the flower garden means a lot to me. In fact, I get choked up thinking about this. I have flowers, bulbs that come up every year for my great grandmother's garden. Can you imagine that? Ah, so anyway, that's part of my brand. That means a lot to me. That's actually important to me. That's part of, you know, what you would expect if you came to my house.

There's always flowers in my house. You guys didn't know that. Also, on the other side of my office, there's two big flower pictures. That is what I am most attracted to. So it's so important. In some way, those flowers speak to my brand. And by the way, you guys expect it. That's part of what you expect to see when I come on camera is you expect to see those flowers back there.

So how does your brand today reflect you? If we think about doing that sort of exercise where you take that deep dive and you look at, Celebrities that you're most drawn to and you decide, well, what is it about those people that I'm drawn to? If you think about, you know, the way that you currently dress in your best future successful coach outfit, the way that you currently dress, who is it most like?

I mean, who are you most? I don't know. Who do you resonate with the best? Maybe that's what I should say. That is what personal brand identity is. And the beautiful thing is we can do that with Canva. I mean, first we have to explore and figure out what your brand actually is, but you can do it in Canva.

And one of the advantages that I have is that because I've been doing branding for, uh, you know, in my wedding business, my family magazine, I actually did graphic design for all those years for all of Really hundreds and thousands of advertising pieces.

I did branding. So I know the subtleties of taking the colors that you love and the brand that you love, even if it's relaxed, even if it's comfortable, we can take that brand and we can elevate it with just a few small shifts. And then the brand is really you. Now, one of the advantages to have A brand that is really you is that first of all, people know what to expect from you.

I was meeting with a new coach and I had met with her one other time. She comes into my coaching program and she guest coaches occasionally. So she really didn't know me. She knew me from one of their coaching experience. And when she got on this last week, she was apologizing about her schedule that the schedule had gotten confused and she was sorry.

And she said, I'm sorry, you guys didn't have the right time. And I said, well, actually I did have the right time. And she said, well, of course you did. Now, the reason why she said that is because Not because she knows me deeply, but it's because of my brand. She sees all of this. This is not made up. This is just me.

And as your business coach, you would want me to be organized. And what she sees is somebody who is organized and polished and put together. And again, I'm not bragging on myself. I'm interpreting my brand to you. You want to hire a coach. Who looks like they can be trusted to actually do what it is they say they're going to do.

Okay, so in your brand. What does your client want from you? Your client actually might want to work with somebody who is really comfortable and relaxed and easy. You guys are trying to get things done with me. You're hiring me because it's like I need to get done the thing that I haven't been able to do and I need somebody with authority to tell me what to do.

So my brand reflects that. This is the beautiful part about branding is you will attract the people. I don't attract people who don't want to do the work. The people that come and work with me, they're like, yep, Debbie knows what she's doing and I want to work with her cause she's going to tell me what to do.

That's what we want to have reflect in your brand. So, you know, sometimes people will say, Oh, your office. And yeah, I have the luxury guys of having a beautiful office. I've worked at home for my whole entire life, not just 25 years for myself, but even when I worked for companies before I was a sales rep, so I always worked at home.

So I had the luxury of having, you know, a beautiful office space, but in whatever space you have without spending any money. If you have found things around your house that really reflect you and your brand that you're most drawn to, that you love the most, put those in your office space and then you begin to create a brand that is a personal extension of you.

That's how people say, Hey, your office is you. Yep. That's how you make your office shoe. So you will show up in a way where you can talk as yourself. Nothing has to be scripted. I just show up as myself again because I am the brand of the business. So that will help you establish authority. It will help people trust you.

It's unsaid trust. Like you just see it and you just know it. So I want to inspire women. I want people of any age and particularly the women that are closer to my age to be inspired, which is why I talk about my age. It's why I talk about being a grandmother. It's why I talk about the troubles that you have with technology, because I know only women around my age identify with that.

So you can show up just as you are right in this stage in your life. And that is your personal brand. So stop worrying about what others think. Stop worrying about trying to get a brand that is reflective of what somebody else wants or what is trendy, you know, in the marketplace, pick a brand that is you.

One last thing I'll mention to you guys about picking a brand that is you. The beautiful part is. Your future successful self who has had an incredibly successful career and you've created all kinds of assets for your business, which is workbooks and presentation slides and social media graphics and websites and all kinds of stuff.

When you have a brand that is truly you. You won't change your brand. I don't change my brand. The only thing that changes is I'll decide, okay, out of our six colors, what we're going to do is the school, the life coach business building school is going to be focused on these two colors and my, new micro courses that I'm about to release.

They're going to be focused on these colors with this style. Right. My social media needs to reflect this. My podcast that you guys are listening to even has an intentional color selection and a design selection based on what podcast listeners would be attracted to. None of that has to do with me changing my brand.

It has to do with me utilizing the brand that I already have. So it's all in the same color palette. So it gives you an opportunity to really change and evolve. But what's beautiful about it is all the same graphics from four years ago. I could do a training today that was four years old, and it will exactly match the brand that I have today.

So it might be subtly different. But not enough that anybody would say like, Oh, that's old stuff. So when you watch an old training from me, it looks exactly the same. I look exactly the same, maybe a couple more wrinkles, but I look the same because I I've always worn red lipstick. I've always worn scarves because that is my brand.

That is me. It's not just my brand. I've always had short hair. I've always had bold glasses. These are things that you guys know about me. The flowers in the background, you know that? So. Watch a training from four years ago. It will look exactly the same, maybe different glasses, maybe a different flower arrangement back there, but it will look the same.

So that is what I want for you and your business. I hope this has been eye opening to you and that you really understand personal branding. Now I want to encourage you. Part of our coach to profitable entrepreneur framework is about being seen as a successful coach. That is the visual aspect. We teach you how to create a professional brand yourself.

We teach you how to utilize it, how to do all the things that I just talked about, what your brand for your podcast would look like, what your brand for this particular, you know, asset would look like, what your social media brand should look like. I teach you how to do that within your unique brand.

Brand identity. All right. So join me in the life coach business building school. I cannot wait to help you. Listen, we are coming close to the end of the year and I want to tell you that you can work with us. And in just four weeks, I promise you, you will actually accomplish more than you have in this entire year.

And if you take the next quarter, this last quarter, and you follow our framework, You have a business in 2025 that will blow your mind. Okay, you guys come work with us. Cannot wait to see and hear about the brand that you create. Hopefully it was enlightening to you. Love talking about branding. So go step into your true authentic identity.

And this will be one of the ways that your business flourishes and thrives. All right, until next time. Bye bye.