Today’s episode is all about branding design and WHY it’s so crucial to growing a successful business. Most people think branding is simply logos + tag lines, but Maria goes in depth on the common misconceptions surrounding branding design + brand strategy. We also cover pitfalls new business owners make and how they can avoid them! You can find Maria HERE!
Why Branding Design is KEY to Running a Successful Business with Maria Platusic
Maria Platusic is a Seasoned Branding + Website Designer & Brand Strategist and the Owner of Platusic Design Creative Studio. She helps established entrepreneurs looking to RE-BRAND, combat branding and website overwhelm.
She’s been at this game for over 20 years now having worked at large and small Design Agencies across the Toronto Area. Her current goal is to empower as many small business owners as possible with a strong brand foundation, via full brand strategy and a gorgeous, authentic brand. So they can move forward with confidence, consistency and cohesiveness in their business.
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BULLET POINTS FROM THIS EPISODE:
- What is really good branding and what does that actually mean for a business?
- Branding is how you’re perceived out there in the real world. there are many, many different items that make your brand and whether you’re developing a small business, a brand, a personal brand, or a seven-figure business brand, the fundamentals all remain the same.
- Branding allows you to stand out from the crowd, right in the seat of the ordinary, you become extraordinary. It allows your particular skill set to shine above the rest, letting you be distinct in your niche and in your category. It also grants you permission to play at the level that you want to play at.
- Another reason branding design is important is that it provides you with the guidelines. There’s no more cheating, there’s no more tweaking colors or the layout. You can create your content and post it away.
- What are some of the most common misconceptions that you see with branding design and brand strategy?
- One of the main confusions or misconceptions that you hear most often is that your brand is your logo. Your brand is your core values, your work ethic, your quality control, your customer service. It’s what people say about your business when you’re not in the room.
- Branding is the visual elements and pieces that identify your business via the logo marks, the imagery, the colors, and the overall design of the items. It’s what’s used to attract your ideal target audience and appeal to their senses. Once they’re lured into your brand, now that’s when the brand strategy needs to take over via the language that you speak.
- Some misconceptions that happen when it comes to brand strategy, is that it isn’t all that important. Brand strategy is what allows you to reach your future business goals, right? So it gets you in the right mindset to devise the brand strategy and the plan. You need to define what your brand strategy is – this is the foundation piece that every business owner should take. There are some deeper level questions that should help you figure out your brand strategy prior to developing your brand.
- What are your big picture goals for your business?
- What is your main brand message?
- Who is your target audience?
- Who is your competition?
- Once you’ve answered these thoroughly, you’ll be very close to building that strong foundation. This will be your sounding board for everything you do moving forward. That’s why strategy is very imperative at the beginning of every business. Even the best ideas need that brand strategy behind them to actually connect with the audience. There is this strategy that needs to happen surrounding it in order to really elevate your brand.
- There is something to be said about investing in your business in this way and allowing somebody whose actual zone of genius resides in creating these really cohesive brand strategies to do that for you so that you can focus on doing what you are good at.
- What are some of those major pitfalls that you see new business owners make when it comes to this branding design and what are some ways they can maybe avoid them?
- One of the pitfalls that come to the top of mind is that people try to overcomplicate their branding. They try to showcase too many skills or too many items in one tiny space.
- The goal of good branding should not be to attract everybody. It should be to attract the right one. It’s okay to be picky with who you’re actually trying to help. That’s when that really specific brand messaging comes in, when you can speak to one specific person and their specific problems and how you’re going to solve that problem for them.
- Another pitfall is inconsistency. It’s much, much harder to appear consistent when you’re all over the place and changing things up too frequently.
- Done is better than perfect. The way you can start is, you know, select one to two fonts that are compatible with each other, select one to two colors that compliment and really reflect what you’re trying to achieve, and then one to two supporting images as well, and then maintain those items throughout your efforts. Being consistent is key.
- Consistency will forever reign king when it comes to building a brand.
- What would you say to those people who are a little bit on the fence, or just unsure if this is the next step for their business?
- There are a lot of signs. You’ll notice them when you’ve done “all the things” and you still feel stuck. When you’ve been two-plus years in and you want to get to that next level and no matter what you’re doing, you can’t reach that level. If you’re constantly attracting the wrong audience. If you have just recently pivoted, so the product or service that you’ve provided initially is no longer a product or service you’re offering.
- In regards to investing, I always look at it like when I invested in my coaching. It wasn’t a matter of “oh my goodness, this is a lot of money that I’m going to part with now.” For me, it was “Okay, great. How am I making this money back? What am I doing?” That’s the right question to ask: how am I going to make this money back and how am I going to maximize my time and my money and get that ROI. And that’s the way you’ve got to look at investing. That’s how I take every approach when investing in my business as well.
