Latest / Imperfect Marketing / Episode 56: Branding with Linda Kleist

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Episode 56: Branding with Linda Kleist · Imperfect Marketing

0:29
Kendra Corman: Thank you so much for tuning back into another episode of Imperfect Marketing.
0:34
Kendra Corman: I'm very excited to have Linda Kleist of Identity Creative here as our guest this week.
0:41
Kendra Corman: Linda and I have known each other since 2015, I believe.
0:46
Kendra Corman: Can you believe it's been that long?
0:48
Kendra Corman: Yeah.
0:48
Kendra Corman: And I, one of the things that I love about Linda is the way she thinks through brand strategy and identity.
0:55
Kendra Corman: Her and her husband Bill founded an identity creative of the company that they work for back in 1993.
1:02
Kendra Corman: But the way Linda's able to put things together and tell Aand story, I think is really what sets them apart from.
1:10
Kendra Corman: Just graphic designers that do a logo, right?
1:13
Kendra Corman: Yeah.
1:14
Kendra Corman: Thanks guys.
1:14
Kendra Corman: You do a lot more than that.
1:16
Linda Kleist: Mm-hmm.
1:16
Linda Kleist: Because the brand is so much more than a logo, right?
1:20
Kendra Corman: Yeah.
1:20
Kendra Corman: So let's jump in with that.
1:22
Kendra Corman: Why don't you talk to me and my listeners here about branding?
1:28
Kendra Corman: What is branding?
1:30
Kendra Corman: To you.
1:30
Linda Kleist: It's a, a great question.
1:32
Linda Kleist: And first, thanks for having me on.
1:34
Linda Kleist: It's great to connect with you and we, we've done projects together too.
1:39
Linda Kleist: We brought you in to help one of our clients build out a content marketing strategy build out the personas, and that was, that was fun working together.
1:47
Linda Kleist: What is branding?
1:49
Linda Kleist: So let's start with what is a brand?
1:52
Linda Kleist: we hear people will say, oh, we'll get some branded products.
1:56
Linda Kleist: We'll put your brand on a mug or shirt.
1:59
Linda Kleist: Or the, these restaurant brands are going to be doing, turning in the market, whatever.
2:05
Linda Kleist: What is a brand?
2:07
Linda Kleist: So there are tangible and intangible parts of every brand.
2:14
Linda Kleist: The tangible things are the things we see.
2:16
Linda Kleist: The logo, the building, the packaging.
2:20
Linda Kleist: Yeah.
2:20
Linda Kleist: Your branded products.
2:21
Linda Kleist: And then there's the part that you experience.
2:24
Linda Kleist: It's what's, what you feel the customer service, how people talk to you, the product you received.
2:29
Linda Kleist: Did it work?
2:30
Linda Kleist: That is the experience that people have.
2:34
Linda Kleist: So when you would ask people do you like McDonald's?
2:38
Linda Kleist: They're not thinking about the logo.
2:40
Linda Kleist: They're They're thinking about their experience.
2:43
Linda Kleist: What are the offerings?
2:44
Linda Kleist: How I was treated before?
2:46
Linda Kleist: Yeah.
2:46
Linda Kleist: It's convenient for my kids.
2:49
Linda Kleist: They have good coffee or no, I like the app.
2:51
Linda Kleist: All of those pieces, tangible and in tangible contribute to that brand experience.
2:58
Linda Kleist: So the brand is big picture.
3:00
Linda Kleist: And what is branding?
3:02
Linda Kleist: Now I'm going to answer your question, Fair did that, was that, was that a decent Yes.
3:08
Linda Kleist: Okay.
3:09
Kendra Corman: Yeah, no, that's, that's very good cuz I do think that there's a lot of pieces to a brand that people.
3:16
Kendra Corman: don't always think about.
3:17
Kendra Corman: Mm-hmm.
3:17
Kendra Corman: they have a tendency to think that it's just the logo when it's a lot more than that.
3:22
Linda Kleist: Absolutely.
3:22
Linda Kleist: Right.
3:23
Linda Kleist: The logo's important.
3:24
Linda Kleist: I mean, how you get dressed up for the party, you know, when you walk into the room makes it first impression.
3:30
Linda Kleist: And your logo is the face of your business.
3:32
Linda Kleist: It's on your social media profiles is very important.
3:34
Linda Kleist: So we could talk about a, a, a myriad of things related to branding.
3:40
Linda Kleist: And if we wanted to talk about what, what makes a good logo where people can go wrong.
3:46
Linda Kleist: So what is branding?
3:47
Linda Kleist: So branding is actively, intentionally managing the brand.
3:53
Linda Kleist: So you're managing the tangible and intangible pieces.
3:56
Linda Kleist: So you're great at email marketing, you know that logo needs to not be stretched.
4:01
Linda Kleist: It needs to be.
4:03
Linda Kleist: Present.
4:04
Linda Kleist: The messaging, the tone, the words you use is a consistent, cuz consistency is vital in branding.
4:12
Linda Kleist: That is what's gonna build trust.
4:13
Linda Kleist: And no one will give you a dollar if they don't trust you and it's subtle.
4:18
Linda Kleist: So if you took, if you took say major department stores from Macy's, Nordstrom's to Walmart, and you put their flyers on the table and you covered up their.
4:29
Linda Kleist: you'd be able to tell which stores, which store because of the style, all of that, every single week.
4:37
Linda Kleist: It's consistent.
4:39
Linda Kleist: So managing the tangible pieces is a challenge, especially for small business owners, solar entrepreneurs.
4:45
Linda Kleist: They need logo files that are gonna help them place things correctly, not go a d d on their slogan and go, well, I'm kind of bored of that.
4:52
Linda Kleist: We've had that for six months, or, let's change up our colors.
4:57
Linda Kleist: don't get bored.
4:58
Linda Kleist: Build, build brand equity.
5:00
Linda Kleist: What's that?
5:00
Linda Kleist: Look?
5:02
Linda Kleist: But the part I think is most challenging are those intangibles,
5:10
Kendra Corman: and I think they're the most important piece too.
5:12
Kendra Corman: Mm-hmm.
5:13
Linda Kleist: Yeah.
5:14
Linda Kleist: So we we talk about the, the really, the foundational pieces of a brand are like the roots of a tree and your brand is grow.
5:23
Linda Kleist: With you, your, your business is gonna change, it's gonna adapt, it's gonna have external challenges obstacles to overcome internally, and you're gonna have to navigate those things.
5:35
Linda Kleist: So how do you do that and stay consistent?
5:37
Linda Kleist: How do you stay aligned with your brand?
5:41
Linda Kleist: What is the brand?
5:43
Linda Kleist: So we had a client once call us up.
5:46
Linda Kleist: We're gonna get a new website, which is what most people think.
5:48
Linda Kleist: You know, I need a website and then can just get us a logo too.
5:51
Linda Kleist: Yeah.
5:51
Linda Kleist: The web company can build a logo, which web companies can don't mean to dis that, but it can be an afterthought.
5:59
Linda Kleist: And this owner came to us and he said, they asked, the web company asked me, what is our brand?
6:04
Linda Kleist: And the, well, I don't know, So we did the front and, and any good branding resource is going to do.
6:15
Linda Kleist: gonna talk about, we call it a brand blueprint.
6:17
Linda Kleist: It is the foundational pieces of your brand.
6:21
Linda Kleist: What is your purpose?
6:23
Linda Kleist: Why do you exist?
6:25
Linda Kleist: That can be a challenge to nail, right?
6:28
Linda Kleist: What is, why are you here?
6:31
Linda Kleist: Your mission, and some people put these together, but your mission is what you're doing to fulfill that purpose.
6:37
Linda Kleist: Your vision is the impact you're gonna make in the.
6:42
Linda Kleist: And not just, you know, we're gonna scale and grow to, you know, 5 million in three years.
6:47
Linda Kleist: Your vision is the impact.
6:49
Linda Kleist: How are you gonna transform lives?
6:51
Linda Kleist: And then your core values.
6:52
Linda Kleist: So those, those pieces, when they're really when there's a time for discovery, they don't have to be set in stone right away, but you, you can tweak them, try'em out and tweak them.
7:03
Linda Kleist: For example we.
7:06
Linda Kleist: I think examples help people.
7:08
Linda Kleist: I don't have it in front of me, so I'm gonna try and pull from my memory.
7:11
Linda Kleist: We finished a branding recently with a company that sells aftermarket parts to transit authorities across the country.
7:18
Linda Kleist: And so what is their purpose?
7:21
Linda Kleist: Why are we here?
7:21
Linda Kleist: We're here to keep people moving.
7:24
Linda Kleist: It's clean and simple so they can walk through the shop and the person who's blasting cores in the back, in the.
7:32
Linda Kleist: Back part of the workshop.
7:34
Linda Kleist: They say, Hey, you're keeping people moving.
7:36
Linda Kleist: You're getting that, that mom to work so she can keep food on the table.
7:43
Linda Kleist: That's inspiring.
7:45
Linda Kleist: So how do they do that?
7:46
Linda Kleist: Their, that's their mission and then their vision to set a new standard for aftermarket parts.
7:53
Linda Kleist: When you craft that, you can really, now you have the pieces that you need to.
8:00
Linda Kleist: Messaging, which Kendra, you're all about, right?
8:03
Linda Kleist: What's the message that we're gonna put in our email, on our website, in our sales flyers that our people, our salespeople, are gonna talk about when they're networking.
8:12
Linda Kleist: So that's branding.
8:13
Kendra Corman: One of my favorite That May, what you were talking about just made me think about, do you remember the B A S F campaign?
8:19
Kendra Corman: So B A S F is business to business.
8:22
Kendra Corman: They do chemicals, right?
8:23
Kendra Corman: Mm-hmm.
8:23
Kendra Corman: and they did a huge campaign that talked about we don't.
8:29
Kendra Corman: what is it?
8:30
Kendra Corman: We don't build the things you buy, we make them better or something.
8:33
Kendra Corman: It was really, really neat.
8:35
Kendra Corman: Because they wanted to be associated with the fact that they made things better and improved products.
8:42
Kendra Corman: Mm.
8:42
Kendra Corman: Because I mean, they're a chemical company.
8:44
Kendra Corman: Right.
8:45
Kendra Corman: But why did they exist To make products better?
8:48
Kendra Corman: And you didn't buy their products, but you bought, or you know, at Target, or you know, Meyer, wherever you are, but you buy things that their products are in And it's just a really interesting different way of, of thinking about it.
9:02
Kendra Corman: And I love thinking about your purpose.
9:04
Kendra Corman: I'm a big fan of Simon Sinek's Golden Circle.
9:07
Kendra Corman: Mm-hmm.
9:07
Kendra Corman: I don't know if you Oh yeah.
9:09
Kendra Corman: Share that.
9:10
Kendra Corman: We'll have a link in the show notes for it if you guys haven't seen it.
9:12
Kendra Corman: I talk about it a lot because I do think on people don't buy what you do.
9:17
Kendra Corman: They buy why you do it.
9:18
Kendra Corman: That goes for your employees too
9:20
Linda Kleist: and Yes.
9:21
Linda Kleist: And a business owner cuz Right.
9:22
Linda Kleist: You've got a lot of business owners and solopreneurs in your audience and business is, it can really eat your ego raw, right?
9:33
Linda Kleist: So there was a, a time.
9:35
Linda Kleist: um, Years ago when I was working and I thought, am I spending my life helping someone decide what to put on a business card on the front and back?
9:45
Linda Kleist: Really?
9:47
Linda Kleist: This seems so empty.
9:49
Linda Kleist: And when we took time to find out.
9:52
Linda Kleist: Okay.
9:53
Linda Kleist: And I think for people to start with what and there's, there's a gazillion ways to approach discovering your personal purpose.
10:00
Linda Kleist: When you find out what.
10:03
Linda Kleist: What drives you, what you're passionate about, what people will pay you to do, what you're really good at.
10:07
Linda Kleist: When you can align those things and the transformation you make for others, yeah, you can put that into your business.
10:13
Linda Kleist: So Bill and I were sitting one evening and we were talking about it and.
10:19
Linda Kleist: we're both like, yeah, we get really energized when we can connect with people.
10:23
Linda Kleist: He likes to feel like he's made like a light bulb moment a connection.
10:27
Linda Kleist: Like, Hey, yeah, we, I shared, you shared.
10:29
Linda Kleist: That was great.
10:29
Linda Kleist: We had a good conversation.
10:31
Linda Kleist: And I love it when I can help somebody feel like they saw some something, encourage them.
10:38
Linda Kleist: They, I brought out something that they're really good at.
10:41
Linda Kleist: And so I do that with the businesses.
10:43
Linda Kleist: You think you're just.
10:44
Linda Kleist: Whatever, you're just forming out chemicals or you're making parts or you're servicing.
10:48
Linda Kleist: We, we work with a lot of manufacturing clients, so you are repairing servo motors, right?
10:53
Linda Kleist: But when I can say, no, this is why you are special, and their light bulbs go off and so we, when we.
11:01
Linda Kleist: Hashed all that out, we realized, wow, our purpose is to connect business owners with their value.
11:09
Linda Kleist: Cuz you don't often see what you're good at.
11:11
Linda Kleist: You don't see your own value.
11:13
Linda Kleist: Help their teams see it and feel it, and then help them connect with the people they wanna do service with.
11:21
Linda Kleist: So now, instead of just doing that business card, I know I'm helping.
11:27
Linda Kleist: Business owners find the American dream, right?
11:29
Linda Kleist: The Amer America's made of small business, right?
11:32
Linda Kleist: Right.
11:32
Linda Kleist: Where the engine that keeps the country going.
11:35
Linda Kleist: So I'm helping fulfill that dream for someone in a great country, and that's what I'm doing in the mundane things.
11:46
Linda Kleist: So I think that applies to someone flipping a burger at Chick-fil-A.
11:53
Linda Kleist: Or typing out an email for an insurance company,
11:58
Kendra Corman: Yeah.
11:59
Kendra Corman: No, I mean, it all makes a difference.
12:01
Kendra Corman: It makes a bigger impact than we think about those in my audience are gonna be hearing this a lot coming up, but I read the book, the Gap in the Gain by Dan Sullivan and Dr.
12:09
Kendra Corman: Benjamin Hardy.
12:11
Kendra Corman: Dan Sullivan's the author and founder of strategic Coach.
12:15
Kendra Corman: And the really neat thing about it is that, knowing where you're going and where you came from and measuring what you've accomplished and achieved just can make you so much happier than measuring it against some random ideal, right?
12:29
Kendra Corman: So I think that there's a lot to say for that, to take a look at the impact that you've made, because you definitely do, I mean, personally knowing your work and everything, you guys definitely do way more.
12:41
Kendra Corman: Put stuff on business cards, and I think that that's important.
12:45
Linda Kleist: Yeah, I think so.
12:47
Linda Kleist: And more and more people are wanting to have meaning in their work.
12:51
Linda Kleist: And I don't think it's the holy grail that you're eventually gonna get the job, or your business is gonna eventually down the road, be that thing that's fulfilling a purpose every.
13:02
Linda Kleist: You can be fulfilling your purpose.
13:04
Linda Kleist: So even I tell young people, okay, so I know this young woman, she's pushing carts.
13:08
Linda Kleist: I said, you know, you're really good at this and this and this, and I could see you implement implementing that in this company that wants to do whatever.
13:19
Linda Kleist: So she's like, I never thought about that.
13:21
Linda Kleist: I thought it was just kind of a dumb cart pushing, you know, bringing the carts in the grocery store job.
13:25
Linda Kleist: No, look at you.
13:28
Linda Kleist: You are working toward a greater purpose and it's gonna get.
13:31
Linda Kleist: But, so yeah, I can, I can get focused in on the purpose too, because it, it means so much.
13:38
Linda Kleist: But there's so many other aspects about branding building a brand, a sustainable brand.
13:44
Linda Kleist: What other things do you think your audience would be interested in?
13:50
Linda Kleist: So, so
13:50
Kendra Corman: one of the things that you brought up was you could tell some people, especially if they're starting out or looking to redo their brand or their, you know, logo because, you know, they did it themselves, you know, in Canva, didn't know who they were, what they were doing.
14:04
Kendra Corman: Not that canva's bad.
14:05
Kendra Corman: I love Canva.
14:06
Kendra Corman: I'm a big fan of Canva.
14:07
Kendra Corman: But what are some things, what are some things that they should be looking for when they're creating those physical, tangible pieces of the brand?
14:14
Linda Kleist: There, there are, there's form over function, and I, we just tell people you want to be you want a clean, sophisticated look.
14:23
Linda Kleist: Not too much detail.
14:25
Linda Kleist: There are some rules that people are breaking even.
14:28
Linda Kleist: Some big guys break it.
14:30
Linda Kleist: One of the, the cardinal rules that gets broken is the capital offense where someone uses the capital letter and turns that into the symbol.
14:40
Linda Kleist: And then writes the word next to it.
14:42
Linda Kleist: Well, now that becomes a symbol and people will, we've got some examples.
14:47
Linda Kleist: Actually.
14:47
Linda Kleist: We've got a video on our website.
14:49
Linda Kleist: I could actually link it with you.
14:50
Linda Kleist: It's, it's pretty funny.
14:51
Linda Kleist: Yeah, like
14:52
Kendra Corman: give me the, gimme the link and I'll put it in the show notes for everybody
14:54
Linda Kleist: to watch.
14:55
Linda Kleist: One of'em was Truth and the T is the tree.
14:58
Linda Kleist: So it looks like Ruth, you know, if they're a nonprofit and you So that's a big mistake that people can make.
15:05
Linda Kleist: And when they're, when they're hiring someone to do a logo.
15:10
Linda Kleist: I, I really think those pieces that we talked about, the intangibles are important to see if you can build that into the symbol, what we call a symbol story.
15:18
Linda Kleist: How did we take these elements that are important to you?
15:23
Linda Kleist: and build them into a distinctive, unique symbol.
15:26
Linda Kleist: And it's hard to be distinctive and unique now without being busy because we can see every single logo in the world.
15:32
Linda Kleist: And then you've got logo maker.com, and you could Google something and find it's, it's if, if you're a solopreneur, you're just starting up your boots strap.
15:43
Linda Kleist: And you've got a limit about amount of money.
15:46
Linda Kleist: It's super important to budget that so that you can stick through the thin times of your business.
15:52
Linda Kleist: We think it's very important, so you can, you can update your logo later.
15:57
Linda Kleist: Just keep in mind if you're, if you're purchasing.
16:02
Linda Kleist: you're needing to purchase things like trade show displays graphics for a vehicle, uniforms or, or, or you're gonna be putting money in there.
16:11
Linda Kleist: Then you're gonna look at having to replace all that when you, when you update your logo.
16:17
Linda Kleist: The foundation is a name, a really good name.
16:21
Linda Kleist: So we get naming projects, people make mistakes.
16:25
Linda Kleist: What's naming.
16:26
Linda Kleist: Google the name you're thinking of.
16:28
Linda Kleist: If, if one or two other local businesses come up on, on the search in your industry switch, I don't care how good it is.
16:39
Linda Kleist: And if you can get the.net, just don't get the.net unless you're a web company, So a good name is an essential part of building a, a strong.
16:54
Kendra Corman: Yeah.
16:54
Kendra Corman: No, and I think that, you know, again, thinking about the logo, it's expensive to redo your logo.
17:01
Kendra Corman: And I don't mean the cost of having somebody come and redo a new logo.
17:05
Kendra Corman: You need new business cards, new note cards.
17:07
Kendra Corman: Mm-hmm.
17:07
Kendra Corman: new displays.
17:08
Kendra Corman: I had a nonprofit that for some reason, didn't like their logo and I strongly recommended you know that it wasn't doing any harm.
17:16
Kendra Corman: Let's not redo it because we weren't rolling in money.
17:19
Kendra Corman: Mm-hmm.
17:19
Kendra Corman: they went ahead, they redid their logo and then I stopped working with them cuz I'm like, I don't have that kind of money to waste.
17:26
Kendra Corman: But they were redoing their logo and
17:31
Linda Kleist: they
17:31
Kendra Corman: s it was over a year later that they came back to me and they still had.
17:35
Kendra Corman: replaced the logo on their website.
17:37
Kendra Corman: They hadn't replaced the logo and the colors on all of their collateral.
17:41
Kendra Corman: The only thing that they did was a new logo.
17:43
Kendra Corman: Hmm.
17:45
Linda Kleist: So that, that's another important thing.
17:46
Linda Kleist: If people are looking for a designer that's gonna do.
17:50
Linda Kleist: A logo designed for them is to find out what the deliverables are gonna be, how I'm going.
17:57
Linda Kleist: I'm going to need this.
17:58
Linda Kleist: You're going to need your logo, not just in a PDF and a jpeg.
18:02
Linda Kleist: You're going to need the vector art in the e p s or AI file, you're going to want one that's just positive and negative space, which is another area that people can make mistakes, is if it's, if you were to silk screen your logo on a shirt with one color.
18:18
Linda Kleist: would you lose all that detail?
18:20
Linda Kleist: That's back to back color, side by side.
18:23
Linda Kleist: So they, they will need the, the logo files to be able to put it.
18:28
Linda Kleist: yes.
18:29
Linda Kleist: And then schedule a launch date.
18:31
Linda Kleist: So we encourage people to, and we'll walk clients through this too, an internal launch date and then an external launch date.
18:39
Linda Kleist: So internally, let your team know.
18:41
Linda Kleist: Give them the talking points.
18:43
Linda Kleist: Why you, why we did the rebranding.
18:46
Linda Kleist: It's not just to get a new logo, we.
18:47
Linda Kleist: Always tell people no one cares if you get a new logo.
18:51
Linda Kleist: You get those emails right?
18:52
Linda Kleist: Hey, you got a new logo and a new website.
18:54
Linda Kleist: Come see like, oh.
18:55
Linda Kleist: But if you say, we got a new logo and a new website, cuz we wanna show you the services that we are we offer now that apply to you or that you'll be interested in.
19:03
Linda Kleist: Now I wanna check out your website so there's always a story that's relevant to our audience.
19:11
Linda Kleist: Your audience, when you're doing the rebranding.
19:14
Linda Kleist: Come up with one, make one, find out what matters to people and make that part of the story.
19:21
Linda Kleist: So that internal launch and then the external launch where you're gonna pull the lever, you're gonna have your print stuff in the office and shirts ready for that internal launch.
19:30
Linda Kleist: And then you can flip the switch on the website.
19:34
Linda Kleist: Social media on a given time of date, I met a woman.
19:40
Linda Kleist: This was some years ago and she handed me her business card and it was a really nice card, really professionally done, and she was a solopreneur.
19:51
Linda Kleist: And I said, oh, this is beautiful.
19:52
Linda Kleist: I love your local, your brand identity here is stunning.
19:56
Linda Kleist: She goes, thank you.
19:58
Linda Kleist: The, the designer who designed the MGM Grand did it.
20:04
Linda Kleist: I forget how much she paid.
20:06
Linda Kleist: I, I could guess now, but I'd probably be inaccurate.
20:08
Linda Kleist: And I said, oh, why isn't it on your name tag?
20:12
Linda Kleist: So she just had her just this font on her name tag, plain old, because that's your, put your logo everywhere.
20:19
Linda Kleist: I don't care if you hate it, put the logo everywhere because that is the phase of your business and you want to be recognized.
20:25
Linda Kleist: So she, she goes, oh, I don't even know how to get it on a name tag.
20:29
Kendra Corman: That's not useful.
20:31
Kendra Corman: But I do think, you know, one of the things that you're talking about is one, put it everywhere.
20:35
Kendra Corman: So make sure that you have the files that you need to put it everywhere, but also think about where you need it.
20:41
Kendra Corman: Mm-hmm.
20:42
Kendra Corman: because I had somebody that was working on a logo and they're like, what do you think of this?
20:46
Kendra Corman: And I was like, It's got a lot of detail.
20:48
Kendra Corman: Are you gonna do any embroidery?
20:50
Kendra Corman: Mm-hmm.
20:50
Kendra Corman: I'm like, what does it look like?
20:51
Kendra Corman: One color?
20:53
Kendra Corman: Mm-hmm.
20:53
Kendra Corman: What?
20:53
Kendra Corman: Because it was like it wasn't gonna work in embroidery.
20:56
Kendra Corman: It wasn't gonna work in one color.
20:59
Kendra Corman: And most of the time nowadays because of technology, we do most things full color, but.
21:05
Kendra Corman: If you have a four color logo and you wanna do, you know, as you, the example you were using screen printing.
21:10
Kendra Corman: Mm-hmm.
21:11
Kendra Corman: your T-shirt's gonna be four times the cost of Someone that can do it, one
21:15
Linda Kleist: color, right?
21:15
Linda Kleist: Mm-hmm.
21:16
Linda Kleist: And so you really need to think about that.
21:18
Linda Kleist: One of my favorite logo files.
21:21
Linda Kleist: Is the, the white knockout.
21:23
Linda Kleist: It's just the logo and the name.
21:26
Linda Kleist: So you can have a word mark where like e, eBay, or Amazon where the name is the logo, or you can have a logo signature where you have a symbol and then a name.
21:37
Linda Kleist: And I highly suggest people get a, a descriptor for small business solopreneurs so people know right away who, what you do and for who.
21:50
Linda Kleist: So it's just flat white, and you can put it on every image.
21:54
Linda Kleist: So we do any image that goes out on our social pages, and our email has that white knockout logo in the corner, sort of like a word mark, like a photographer would do.
22:03
Linda Kleist: So if someone wants to take that image online, they're gonna have to Photoshop that out or crop it out.
22:08
Linda Kleist: It's yours.
22:10
Linda Kleist: And you can use that in so many places instead of having.
22:14
Linda Kleist: your logo in a white box on a dark background, cuz that's the file you got in a color.
22:20
Linda Kleist: It will blur.
22:21
Linda Kleist: You need a white knockout so that you can put your logo on a dark background.
22:25
Linda Kleist: It will look beautiful.
22:26
Kendra Corman: Yep.
22:27
Kendra Corman: No, and, and a lot of other people are gonna take your logo if you sponsor a non-profit event, things like that.
22:32
Kendra Corman: A lot of times they'll put it on a dark background and then you're like, yours looks like stands out like a sore thumb because unfortunately everybody else had.
22:42
Kendra Corman: You know, the reversed out.
22:44
Kendra Corman: Yes.
22:44
Kendra Corman: One color, whatever they needed that blended in without
22:48
Linda Kleist: the background and stuff that, that reminds me of.
22:51
Linda Kleist: I'll tell people to you if you have a long name or, or your horizontal orientation.
22:57
Linda Kleist: So the symbol is on the left and then the name is to the right.
23:01
Linda Kleist: That's a horizontal orientation.
23:04
Linda Kleist: Ask your designer to also put the symbol on top to create a vertical so you don't have to spin your mug around to read your name.
23:10
Linda Kleist: But the same when you said sponsorships.
23:13
Linda Kleist: You want to be seen, you're sponsoring this event.
23:16
Linda Kleist: So ask the sponsors.
23:18
Linda Kleist: Here are three logo files.
23:19
Linda Kleist: Please choose the one that will fit va.
23:21
Linda Kleist: So you've seen those where the horizontal orientation, it's so hard to do this without visually showing you using my hands.
23:29
Linda Kleist: with the horizontal orientation is squished so small.
23:33
Linda Kleist: It's illegible.
23:35
Linda Kleist: Mm-hmm.
23:35
Linda Kleist: So you, you want, the other reason for not too much detail is because you want it to look crystal clear when it's small as.
23:45
Linda Kleist: Yeah.
23:46
Kendra Corman: No, and I think it's all, it's really important because people fall in love with a look, not necessarily, and then they're disappointed when it doesn't work in embroidery or mm-hmm.
23:57
Kendra Corman: in a small setting or something like that.
23:59
Kendra Corman: So I had originally done my, look, my logo was nice and long for a long, long time, and, you know, then eventually we made a square one.
24:07
Kendra Corman: But you need it, you need the square version for social media.
24:11
Kendra Corman: Mm-hmm.
24:12
Kendra Corman: for all these different.
24:13
Kendra Corman: Ex extensions that you're gonna need to use in all these different places.
24:16
Kendra Corman: Mm-hmm.
24:17
Kendra Corman: I think it's, it's really important to point that out.
24:20
Kendra Corman: because even if you don't have it right now or have the need right now, you wanna think about all the different places it could go.
24:25
Kendra Corman: Mm-hmm.
24:26
Linda Kleist: Yes.
24:27
Linda Kleist: We have a checklist.
24:28
Linda Kleist: It's a free download.
24:29
Linda Kleist: People, we, we brainstormed every possible place.
24:32
Linda Kleist: You could put your logo, people could just come.
24:33
Linda Kleist: Oh,
24:34
Kendra Corman: that's perfect.
24:34
Kendra Corman: Make sure you gimme that link so I can put that in the show notes.
24:36
Kendra Corman: So be sure to check the show notes for that link too.
24:40
Kendra Corman: Now let me, let me ask you about, the challenges that you face.
24:45
Kendra Corman: So when you go into a lot of larger companies, a lot of the people that I work with are solo entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs, small business owners, and there's one decision maker and mm-hmm.
24:55
Kendra Corman: Or there might be two but not a ton.
24:56
Kendra Corman: But you are going into larger organizations and dealing with some larger teams, and in some cases a lot of history.
25:04
Kendra Corman: Mm-hmm.
25:04
Kendra Corman: I know you did an insurance company's logo that had been around since like the sixties or seventies or something like that.
25:12
Kendra Corman: what, what do you face or how do you you know, how do you work with these people that some are, you know, passionately tied to mm-hmm.
25:22
Kendra Corman: the existing logo.
25:23
Linda Kleist: Mm-hmm.
25:24
Linda Kleist: that's exactly right.
25:25
Linda Kleist: And that is that is an important consideration.
25:27
Linda Kleist: I'm really glad you brought it up.
25:28
Linda Kleist: Getting from most people, getting a new logo or rebranding is an emotional decision.
25:35
Linda Kleist: I, they're used to seeing it.
25:36
Linda Kleist: I mean, there are, there are times you just, everybody would look at a logo and go, oh, my word.
25:41
Linda Kleist: That's horrible.
25:42
Linda Kleist: But the, the owner, you know, we've had that logo for 40 years.
25:46
Linda Kleist: What's wrong with it?
25:47
Linda Kleist: So there's been a, a number of diff different situations.
25:52
Linda Kleist: What we have found is when you work through the process of.
25:57
Linda Kleist: Let's, we have a process.
25:59
Linda Kleist: We say it's clarify, create, and then you're gonna connect with it.
26:03
Linda Kleist: So let's clarify first those intangible pieces of the brand.
26:08
Linda Kleist: And so often, most people are 90% on the page of what we need to communicate after that phase, before we even move into the logo design.
26:20
Linda Kleist: Then when you move, we move into the logo.
26:24
Linda Kleist: It's black and white, so you're not getting subjective color.
26:28
Linda Kleist: It's in positive, negative space.
26:30
Linda Kleist: So will work like we were just talking about, we don't run into those snags.
26:35
Linda Kleist: And then bill will set these up in a presentation where it's tiny, it's big, it's knocked out a, a black negative space so that you can.
26:45
Linda Kleist: It's kind of the test to prove whether this design could stand up.
26:48
Linda Kleist: So now you've got six to eight concepts.
26:51
Linda Kleist: And the team, if it's the larger team, if it's a solo printer, and usually.
26:56
Linda Kleist: Solopreneurs are gonna bounce it off as somebody, so that was a mistake we'd, we'd made early on.
27:02
Linda Kleist: When someone, when someone says, oh, I'm the decision maker.
27:04
Linda Kleist: Nope, I'm just, it's just me.
27:06
Linda Kleist: Like, no, it's not.
27:07
Linda Kleist: So if it's, we want whoever you're gonna run this past, you know, your husband, your wife, your, your roommate, whatever let's bring them in on the process at some point so that they can see the thought behind it.
27:20
Linda Kleist: And then, things are worked out.
27:23
Linda Kleist: So we'll tell people, Hey, we have unlimited changes.
27:26
Linda Kleist: You're never stuck.
27:26
Linda Kleist: So if you wanna see this maybe rounded or tweaked or, or thin that part out or, or we could interchange that font so that you're loving it.
27:37
Linda Kleist: But at first the designs are gonna be, okay, let me, let me try this on.
27:42
Linda Kleist: Some are gonna be absolutely, no, I don't like that.
27:44
Linda Kleist: Others are gonna be, well, that one's a consideration.
27:46
Linda Kleist: This one's a consideration.
27:47
Linda Kleist: It would be like, if.
27:50
Linda Kleist: if you come back, I don't know, maybe, I don't know how many women are out there listening, but have you ever like come back from the salon and your hair is like, not the color you expected, you're like horrified, but then after two days, you're kind of used to it.
28:02
Linda Kleist: I'm not talking about getting used to a horrified lo, a brand logo you're horrified with, but it takes a minute to let it sink in.
28:09
Linda Kleist: It does, but with what you were talking about with a larger team.
28:13
Linda Kleist: There was one where the owner, the founder, wanted one design and it was a large branding team.
28:20
Linda Kleist: They brought in sales management.
28:22
Linda Kleist: There were several partners, and the, the founder wanted one logo and everyone else had decided on another.
28:28
Linda Kleist: But the founder is like, oh, so that's no problem.
28:33
Linda Kleist: So what we'll do is we, we.
28:35
Linda Kleist: a presentation that he could show to his favorite clients to other people, and he could just sit back and click, click, click, what do you think?
28:44
Linda Kleist: And overwhelmingly, they chose the people he trusted, chose the ones that the rest of the group did.
28:50
Linda Kleist: So there's ways to resolve that tension and get people over that emotional hump because the thing you want is to love your logo.
29:01
Linda Kleist: You.
29:03
Linda Kleist: everywhere,
29:04
Kendra Corman: you're gonna see it a lot.
29:05
Kendra Corman: Mm-hmm.
29:05
Kendra Corman: So you better like it.
29:06
Kendra Corman: Mm-hmm.
29:07
Kendra Corman: at least, right?
29:08
Kendra Corman: Yes.
29:08
Kendra Corman: So talking about people that are on a budget cause you know, you did mention on a budget, one of the things that we talked about was not including like the tree and in truth, and so that it looks like Ruth.
29:20
Kendra Corman: My question for you is, what, what cautions do you give solopreneurs and things like that, that are trying to create their own logo?
29:30
Kendra Corman: Maybe themselves, because it's a tight budget.
29:32
Linda Kleist: Which is fine as long as you're not investing a lot.
29:35
Linda Kleist: And like, you need a, you're opening up a restaurant and you're gonna have a sign and menus and everything.
29:41
Linda Kleist: Don't just whip it out, you know, like Ham Diner was the name we picked and there's a giant h and a giant R at the end.
29:47
Linda Kleist: And so that's our logo.
29:50
Linda Kleist: That would be something, Hey, make the investment.
29:53
Linda Kleist: I had a Sooper once talk to me at the time I think it was 3,500.
29:58
Linda Kleist: She could have gotten a nice brand identity.
30:03
Linda Kleist: And she's like, oh, I couldn't afford that.
30:05
Linda Kleist: Oh, I couldn't afford that.
30:07
Linda Kleist: Well, her business was her lifeline.
30:10
Linda Kleist: And then it was a month later she told me I bought a brand new couch for my lobby.
30:14
Linda Kleist: It's beautiful.
30:15
Linda Kleist: It was leather, you know, it was$4,000.
30:18
Linda Kleist: But it is beautiful.
30:19
Linda Kleist: And I thought, you afford what you want to afford.
30:24
Kendra Corman: Yes, that is, that is very insightful because I don't think enough people put value on.
30:34
Kendra Corman: what you bring to the table with your understanding and your eye and the different things that you guys see.
30:40
Kendra Corman: For sure.
30:42
Linda Kleist: I think it's a very subtle thing and people can look, start paying attention.
30:47
Linda Kleist: So companies like Apple have raised the bar.
30:51
Linda Kleist: Packaging.
30:52
Linda Kleist: You know, you get that, that packaging.
30:54
Linda Kleist: It's like, oh my word, this is just lovely or just from a beautiful florist.
30:59
Linda Kleist: They, whatever they raised the bar and those things, that's, that goes back to that abstract.
31:04
Linda Kleist: But we have shown people before and afters and What would you say about this company before?
31:10
Linda Kleist: What would you say about it after?
31:11
Linda Kleist: And they don't know.
31:12
Linda Kleist: It's after they think maybe it's a simple a different company.
31:15
Linda Kleist: Their impressions about.
31:17
Linda Kleist: Is it professional?
31:19
Linda Kleist: Are they expensive?
31:20
Linda Kleist: And if you look homespun, people will expect home spun pricing and homes spun quality.
31:28
Linda Kleist: So it is very important.
31:29
Linda Kleist: So tips for solopreneurs?
31:31
Linda Kleist: Yes, you can do it on a budget if you're going to go, I, I don't, I've never worked with fiber, but I've heard we've had people come to us from those kinds.
31:42
Linda Kleist: So just be aware of.
31:45
Linda Kleist: Find out what you're going to get, what are the deliverables?
31:48
Linda Kleist: Because people will get nickel and dimed.
31:50
Linda Kleist: A signed company.
31:51
Linda Kleist: I talked with a manager of a sign shop and she said, we hate doing logos, but we'll do them for people for$350.
31:59
Linda Kleist: If they want the files, it's another$650.
32:03
Linda Kleist: That doesn't include the standards guidance.
32:05
Linda Kleist: It doesn't.
32:06
Linda Kleist: So you.
32:07
Linda Kleist: Go to Vistaprint and make your own, but then they're gonna nickel and dime you.
32:13
Linda Kleist: They are selling machine.
32:15
Linda Kleist: So if you're going to hire a designer, you don't wanna tell them.
32:21
Linda Kleist: If you wanna tell them what to do, that should not be very expensive.
32:24
Linda Kleist: And I don't know that I'd recommend that.
32:25
Linda Kleist: But if you're gonna hire a designer, ask to see the, ask them about their process.
32:31
Linda Kleist: Asked to see your designs in black and white, because a lot of those online places will show you a slick thing in Boston or in neon colors.
32:41
Linda Kleist: You can't make a good decision when it looks all pretty and shiny, just down and dirty.
32:47
Linda Kleist: Positive, negative space, black and white.
32:49
Linda Kleist: And then introduce color second.
32:53
Linda Kleist: So those would be some.
32:57
Linda Kleist: That I would give, I would tell, I would not tell somebody to spend most of their startup money on a logo because you need so many other things.
33:05
Linda Kleist: You've got legal operations, depending on your product or services.
33:09
Linda Kleist: You've got marketing.
33:10
Linda Kleist: You need to be able to have something that's sustainable.
33:13
Linda Kleist: And then, and there, there was, there are times too, you're not quite sure, especially if you're a.
33:20
Linda Kleist: What is the unique differentiator that I bring?
33:24
Linda Kleist: Sometimes you have three years in business and you're like, Hey, these clients, this is my, I'm, so, I told, I've told people, you're not really ready for a branding yet.
33:34
Linda Kleist: You can make some money without an outstanding looking logo if you're, if you're good at what you do.
33:43
Linda Kleist: Some experience and decide on who your target is and, and your next, but I think it's
33:48
Kendra Corman: important that, you know, you come up with something that's clean, something that's, that is professional and that reflects you to some point.
33:57
Kendra Corman: So if you're a solopreneur, you can do something in a unique font.
34:01
Kendra Corman: Mm-hmm.
34:01
Kendra Corman: again, make sure it's legible.
34:03
Kendra Corman: That's important.
34:03
Kendra Corman: That's right.
34:03
Kendra Corman: I love people that love the script.
34:05
Kendra Corman: Fonts that you can't read.
34:06
Kendra Corman: Yes.
34:06
Kendra Corman: Like you can't read that at all.
34:08
Kendra Corman: Thank you
34:08
Linda Kleist: Kendra.
34:09
Linda Kleist: Like corn form over function.
34:12
Linda Kleist: You want to be remembered?
34:15
Kendra Corman: Yes.
34:16
Kendra Corman: Yeah.
34:17
Kendra Corman: So start, start.
34:18
Kendra Corman: Basic.
34:18
Kendra Corman: One thing that I actually, I feel bad, I had to tell somebody not too long ago that their logo really isn't their logo.
34:26
Kendra Corman: And they're like, well, what do you mean?
34:27
Kendra Corman: And I'm like, they used a shape at a can.
34:32
Kendra Corman: Hmm.
34:33
Kendra Corman: Like for their lo well, you can't copyright that shape, but because it's not yours mm-hmm.
34:39
Kendra Corman: it wasn't created for you.
34:41
Kendra Corman: Hmm.
34:42
Kendra Corman: And it was, you know, it was like an icon type thing out of Canva's library.
34:48
Kendra Corman: Hmm.
34:48
Kendra Corman: And it's not
34:49
Linda Kleist: theirs.
34:50
Linda Kleist: That's right.
34:50
Linda Kleist: The word
34:51
Kendra Corman: mark was fine, but the, the icon that they picked and fell in love with, I'm like, you're gonna have to have someone recreate that in a new way because you.
35:00
Kendra Corman: You can't copyright that.
35:02
Kendra Corman: Mm-hmm.
35:03
Kendra Corman: and
35:04
Linda Kleist: they had no idea.
35:06
Linda Kleist: Right.
35:06
Linda Kleist: And, and if it's clip art or if, especially if it's something from an image library that you could get an icon library, you could see someone else using it in their ad.
35:16
Linda Kleist: So those are risks you take.
35:18
Linda Kleist: I think people see.
35:20
Linda Kleist: Logo design is just, oh, let's add some swishes or swirls and throw in some color, but really to do it well it's, it's clean, it's simple and distinctive, and that's a challenge to not be too much.
35:36
Linda Kleist: If, if it was.
35:39
Linda Kleist: If you've got something you've thrown into the name like a wordmark, and then you add a symbol now where do people look?
35:45
Linda Kleist: You don't, you don't need so much.
35:48
Linda Kleist: I'm telling you.
35:48
Linda Kleist: It's, we have pictures.
35:49
Linda Kleist: We'll snap pictures for years.
35:51
Linda Kleist: We have a library like, oh my word.
35:53
Linda Kleist: Look at that logo on that truck, or that on the sign of that building what people are get, are, are, are using.
35:58
Linda Kleist: It's, it, it really does bruise their brand.
36:01
Linda Kleist: And that is the sad part.
36:02
Linda Kleist: They're putting so much into their business their life.
36:07
Linda Kleist: And then they're just, you know, just are are we really going to leave, leave for a meeting without.
36:14
Linda Kleist: I'm taking a shower, doing your hair.
36:16
Linda Kleist: You know, for me, no makeup.
36:18
Linda Kleist: Forget that.
36:19
Linda Kleist: Speaking of
36:20
Kendra Corman: no makeup, so Linda's the first person that taught me about lipstick days.
36:24
Kendra Corman: Right?
36:25
Kendra Corman: MAs?
36:26
Kendra Corman: Mascara days.
36:26
Kendra Corman: Mascara days.
36:27
Kendra Corman: I'm sorry.
36:28
Kendra Corman: Okay, so mascara days.
36:29
Kendra Corman: So there are no mascara days.
36:30
Kendra Corman: So you gotta have one day a week where you don't have to put on mascara, which is I think a lot harder nowadays with Zoom you're working from the office and you still gotta put on mascara
36:40
Linda Kleist: Yeah, I'm waiting for them to develop a mascara filter.
36:45
Kendra Corman: they have the lipstick filter, right?
36:47
Kendra Corman: Yeah.
36:48
Kendra Corman: Yeah.
36:48
Kendra Corman: But yeah, so I think it's, I think it's really important though, like when you're thinking about your brand and who you are, keep it simple in the beginning, you know, if you're on a budget and you don't have the money or you don't see the value quite yet, that's okay.
37:03
Kendra Corman: start with the name of the.
37:05
Kendra Corman: just start with it in a nice, easy font.
37:08
Kendra Corman: And in a, a square layout.
37:11
Kendra Corman: So it can go either way, and then you can invest and unveil it later when you, you know, have your multimillion dollar business or whatever it is that you're growing.
37:21
Kendra Corman: Right.
37:22
Kendra Corman: It's not permanent, you can change it.
37:24
Kendra Corman: there is a process to go about with changing it, especially the more established that you are.
37:29
Kendra Corman: and you really wanna think about that when you do it.
37:31
Kendra Corman: And I'm bringing on someone like, like Linda and her husband, bill, I think is, and the CR team at Identity Creative, I think really does help because you guys have a process for all
37:41
Linda Kleist: that, right?
37:41
Linda Kleist: Mm-hmm.
37:42
Linda Kleist: right?
37:42
Linda Kleist: And I, I would encourage people if, if you haven't, and we've, we've worked with companies that have been in business for 75 years and still have not nailed their core values or if they do, they're in a drawer.
37:57
Linda Kleist: I, it doesn't take any expense to write out why am I doing this?
38:04
Linda Kleist: What am I doing?
38:06
Linda Kleist: What's the transformation I'm making for people?
38:10
Linda Kleist: And then what are the core values?
38:12
Linda Kleist: And you're nothing is set in carbon stone.
38:14
Linda Kleist: You can tweak those.
38:16
Linda Kleist: We've added another core value over the years.
38:21
Linda Kleist: try it on, use it, keep talking about it, and that really will shape the brand.
38:29
Linda Kleist: Yeah, and again,
38:29
Kendra Corman: it's not about, You know, going back to what you said in the beginning about McDonald's, when you say, do you like McDonald's?
38:36
Kendra Corman: You're not thinking about the golden arches of their logo, right?
38:39
Kendra Corman: Mm-hmm.
38:40
Kendra Corman: you're thinking about, did you have good service the last time you were there?
38:44
Kendra Corman: Was it clean or did your feet stick to the floor?
38:46
Kendra Corman: Mm-hmm.
38:47
Kendra Corman: just so you know, the last time I was at McDonald's, feet stuck to the floor.
38:49
Kendra Corman: You know, by the pop machine, it's like, okay, someone needed to wipe that.
38:52
Kendra Corman: But again, it's, it's the food, it's, it's, you know, where your fries cold, like all of that's what people remember even more than your logo.
39:02
Kendra Corman: Mm-hmm.
39:03
Kendra Corman: If you're gonna invest in the experience, invest in the, in the, the customer experience.
39:10
Kendra Corman: I remember one of my favorite this is another thing to, to keep in mind, one of my favorite.
39:14
Kendra Corman: Things that I learned when I was at Disney World and I was on like this behind the scenes tour, and they show you the backside of like where the paint stops or where the paint is the same color on the Tower of terror, because you can see it from Morocco and Epco.
39:31
Kendra Corman: Hmm.
39:32
Kendra Corman: So you, but they were adamant you put the money in the show.
39:36
Kendra Corman: Hmm.
39:37
Kendra Corman: Only the sides, the buildings that people see were.
39:41
Kendra Corman: and dressed up.
39:42
Kendra Corman: The backstage was plain.
39:45
Kendra Corman: So when you're starting out, I think put the money in the show you know?
39:49
Kendra Corman: Absolutely.
39:49
Kendra Corman: Sometimes that's a logo, sometimes it's not.
39:52
Kendra Corman: You know, again, it depends on what you're making.
39:53
Kendra Corman: If you're having a sign and menus and things like that, that logo is the show.
39:58
Kendra Corman: So make sure you're putting money in the show.
40:00
Kendra Corman: Absolutely.
40:01
Kendra Corman: And then, you know, not a leather couch out in your office.
40:05
Linda Kleist: they'll, they'll remember the leather couch, but they really can't read your logo.
40:10
Linda Kleist: It's, it's, it's, it's in the sand.
40:13
Linda Kleist: It's a photograph where somebody wrote the name in the sand.
40:17
Linda Kleist: It's a photograph.
40:18
Linda Kleist: Your logo is not, not replicable.
40:22
Linda Kleist: It's, it was just sad for me to see that choice made.
40:26
Linda Kleist: Okay.
40:26
Linda Kleist: But you were talking about the experience.
40:28
Linda Kleist: Another resource for your listeners is the customer service revolution, Don de Julius.
40:35
Linda Kleist: Has just so many great resources that people can glean from to make that experience, to evaluate it.
40:45
Linda Kleist: And one of the things we've added to what we do with our clients, you know, the brand promise was always there.
40:54
Linda Kleist: It's that unique.
40:56
Linda Kleist: Differentiating thing that you do and you deliver it consistently, we can say, we delivered this.
41:03
Linda Kleist: So he has the customer service action statement, and that's something that your team, your salespeople, your landscapers, whoever, this is what we do.
41:13
Linda Kleist: This is our CU customer action statement.
41:15
Linda Kleist: So the, there's one company, oh, and you mentioned about companies that have been around for a long time.
41:20
Linda Kleist: Going back to the, is huge.
41:23
Linda Kleist: Let's look at the history, because a lot of times that DNA is still still there and that that is really what makes a strong brand.
41:32
Linda Kleist: So we were talking about building a customer service action statement for a company that had been around for decades.
41:37
Linda Kleist: And they said, and we were looking through their iso, they had done this certification.
41:42
Linda Kleist: It's like, oh, take time to do it right or better the first time.
41:46
Linda Kleist: So that's pretty good.
41:48
Linda Kleist: Oh yeah, we always say that around.
41:50
Linda Kleist: you do Well, that's a great customer service action statement.
41:54
Linda Kleist: Take time to do it right or better the first time.
41:58
Linda Kleist: So that is another tool for building out what you're talking about, the Disney experience.
42:03
Kendra Corman: Yeah.
42:04
Kendra Corman: Again, putting money in the show.
42:05
Kendra Corman: So again, think about if your logo and your brand, what parts of your brand, I should say, because your brand is more than just the tangible items, right?
42:13
Kendra Corman: Mm-hmm.
42:13
Kendra Corman: think about.
42:15
Kendra Corman: what parts of your brand are the show and are the piece, the pieces that the customers are gonna see and interact with and be wowed by?
42:25
Kendra Corman: Because I think that that's really important
42:27
Linda Kleist: and it's more challenging than ever because there's not so many sides of the building that people don't see anymore.
42:36
Linda Kleist: I mean, you've got glass doors, so you think you can hang up that phone and gossip about a.
42:41
Linda Kleist: Well that may end up on Glassdoor, so maybe we have a core value that says we treat others or we don't gossip, or our clients are, you know, just when you say the show in, in some respects, you are always on.
42:56
Linda Kleist: I heard, mm-hmm.
42:57
Linda Kleist: there's a great book.
42:58
Linda Kleist: Women Make the Best Salesman and I read it years ago and she saw some realtor that was in a restaurant and just being so rude to the wait.
43:09
Linda Kleist: And she said, I noticed as I, as she left, she got into her car with her realtor's name on the side of the car, you knows, magnetized things.
43:17
Linda Kleist: Oh my gosh.
43:18
Linda Kleist: I'll never call her again.
43:21
Linda Kleist: You're always on.
43:24
Linda Kleist: Yeah.
43:24
Linda Kleist: Really, because your brand is the experience you create for people.
43:28
Kendra Corman: And Linda and I did a presentation, gosh, I don't even wanna remember when, cause that was a long time ago too.
43:34
Kendra Corman: We, we actually talked about we talked about with interns about their brand.
43:39
Kendra Corman: You know, you gotta think about your brand when you go to the grocery store and when you go out, you know?
43:47
Kendra Corman: what, what is it that you're known for?
43:49
Kendra Corman: How do you wanna appear to others?
43:51
Kendra Corman: You never know who you're gonna run into wherever you're at.
43:54
Kendra Corman: Mm-hmm.
43:55
Kendra Corman: and I'm not saying you have to wear your pearls and skirt and twin sets or anything like that, ma, but, and mascara every time you go.
44:02
Kendra Corman: But do you do wanna think about that, right?
44:04
Kendra Corman: Mm-hmm.
44:05
Kendra Corman: think about.
44:05
Kendra Corman: You know, how you're appearing to others and think about your personal brand because all of this stuff that Linda talked about, you know, applies to you as a person.
44:14
Kendra Corman: So even if you're an employee at another company or something like that, your personal brand reflects a lot of this.
44:20
Kendra Corman: Mm-hmm.
44:21
Kendra Corman: and you can control a lot of that too.
44:23
Kendra Corman: The
44:23
Linda Kleist: best part and I don't know where you are on time, but I think the best part about branding is when you are creating a brand for your business, you get to be you.
44:35
Linda Kleist: So you don't have to do business with everybody.
44:38
Linda Kleist: You couldn't do business with everybody.
44:41
Linda Kleist: You need to get your authentic self out there.
44:45
Linda Kleist: because you can live that out sustainably.
44:47
Linda Kleist: Can't fake it forever.
44:50
Linda Kleist: So whether you're a solopreneur, a coach or you're a small business, what is our coffee shop like?
44:56
Linda Kleist: What is it here?
44:58
Linda Kleist: Are we posh?
44:59
Linda Kleist: Are we casual?
45:00
Linda Kleist: You know, just be you because you mm-hmm.
45:03
Linda Kleist: attract those people that are attracted to what you offer.
45:07
Linda Kleist: authentically.
45:08
Kendra Corman: Nope.
45:08
Kendra Corman: I think that that's huge.
45:10
Kendra Corman: All right, so before we go, I do ask everybody one question, all my guests.
45:14
Kendra Corman: This show is called Imperfect Marketing cuz marketing is anything but perfect.
45:18
Kendra Corman: What has been your biggest marketing lesson learned?
45:22
Linda Kleist: So I'm gonna take that as what has been my biggest marketing fail and lesson learned.
45:27
Linda Kleist: So any fail, right?
45:28
Linda Kleist: It's just an expensive course.
45:30
Linda Kleist: That's all.
45:32
Linda Kleist: We're gonna get on the digital paper, click, you know, bandwagon for our company, and we signed up with a digital marketing firm and we were on the low end.
45:46
Linda Kleist: I don't know if it was two grand a month, 2,400 a month.
45:50
Linda Kleist: Some of that was in management and some of that was in the digital ads, and we let them create the funnel, the landing page.
45:59
Linda Kleist: We didn't have a follow through and we burned through so much money because we didn't build an email nurture campaign.
46:08
Linda Kleist: We weren't really thinking about who we were targeting.
46:12
Linda Kleist: I think this was in 20 14, 20 15.
46:17
Linda Kleist: I don't know if we did it for six months.
46:18
Linda Kleist: I was like, we're getting calls for, can you put my logo on my guitar pick?
46:22
Linda Kleist: Is that what you do?
46:23
Linda Kleist: It's like, seriously, yikes.
46:25
Linda Kleist: We are wasting money, So that was our biggest marketing lesson that comes to my mind anyway.
46:33
Linda Kleist: I'm sure there are others.
46:34
Linda Kleist: Be smart when you're gonna invest in money.
46:37
Linda Kleist: Invest money in it.
46:38
Linda Kleist: There's no magic bullet.
46:42
Linda Kleist: Know who you're talking to, what are the next steps they need to take in order to call you, do business with you.
46:52
Kendra Corman: Yeah.
46:52
Kendra Corman: You gotta think through all of that.
46:53
Kendra Corman: You gotta think through all of that.
46:55
Kendra Corman: I find that my, my campaigns that perform the worst are the ones that I don't build all the way through from start to finish and don't think about that whole, the whole funnel and the process and the follow up and the follow through and the targeting and what's motivating my target.
47:10
Kendra Corman: And I think all of that stuff is, is really, really important.
47:13
Kendra Corman: Even I was talking to somebody about knowing their target audience.
47:17
Kendra Corman: He told me, he is like, you know what?
47:18
Kendra Corman: You're right.
47:19
Kendra Corman: He goes, I just had a meeting with another person and they said, stop spending money on marketing until you have a better definition of your target audience.
47:25
Kendra Corman: You're throwing it away.
47:27
Kendra Corman: It's integrated marketing, communications, personalized all the time to everyone, and that's what people are expecting.
47:33
Kendra Corman: So that's what you have to do.
47:34
Kendra Corman: Otherwise, you know, you can't be all things to all people.
47:37
Kendra Corman: You have to be something to someone.
47:39
Kendra Corman: And that's, that's really important to keep in mind.
47:40
Kendra Corman: So thank you for sharing that.
47:42
Kendra Corman: I am gonna let you go now, but I just wanna thank you guys all for tuning in and listening to Linda.
47:47
Kendra Corman: She has so much experience and just so much to offer in the world of, of branding and Just brand identity overall.
47:58
Kendra Corman: So be sure to check out her website and the resources that we'll link to that we were talking about earlier.
48:03
Kendra Corman: We'll be sure to link to the customer service revolution information she was talking about too.
48:08
Kendra Corman: And of course, The book that I think we all gonna need to read now, what women make the best salesman.
48:13
Kendra Corman: So again, all different things for us to take a look at and, and to keep learning, and keep building our brand.
48:20
Kendra Corman: So as, as we're heading into 2023, I want you to think about your brand, who you are, what's your purpose, what's your mission, and does your, do the tangible and intangibles of your brand fit?
48:35
Kendra Corman: So thank you again, and tune in next week for another episode of Imperfect Marketing.