Our brand is what paints the picture of who we are and what we do. It’s an all-encompassing collection of elements; from our logo to the way our website looks, our services to how we handle conflict, and all the details in between. A beautiful brand is just one piece of a much bigger puzzle. It not only needs to look great but work great too.
Think about all the ways in which your clients engage with your business:
- Social Media
- Your Website
- Your Store/Physical Location
- Marketing Event or Convention
- Your Invoicing/Billing
- Your Shipping/Delivery Methods
- Your Email
- Your Business Cards
- Your Print Materials like guides or workbooks
- Your Products
- Your Video Chats
The list is different for each small business, as each small business is unique. That’s what makes us Small Businesses so powerful. We have the power to control every element of our client’s engagement with us.
Now think about the ways that you can apply more of your brand to each of those phases…
- Social Media – do you have branded post templates and an editorial calendar to give your social engagement a balanced consistency that your clients can expect and recognize you by?
- Website – when was the last time you really audited your own website? What little touches can you update to create that much more of a seamless brand experience? New photos, updated text, a portfolio…? Are you in need of a full re-design?
- Invoicing and Billing – Create branded invoice templates with your logo and styling to match your branding and make the invoicing process feel more a part of your business and not just a financial formality. Sites like Creative Market have incredible template resources for items such as this.
- Shipping/Delivery – think about when you’ve received a package that you didn’t want to throw away the box? What did they do to make opening the package just as exciting as using the product? Branded wrapping paper, boxes, stickers, thank you cards… Moo is our go-to for special shipping and delivery goodies that make our packages more memorable.
- Email – Do you have an email subscription program and if so, how do you use it to support your business? How can you add more personal touches to each email?
- Business Cards – by far one of the most underutilized pieces of brand collateral. Create a card that inspires people to want to reach out and contact you, but also show others how awesome your brand is. Use your photos, or invest in a unique shape if it better supports your brand’s goals. Again, Moo is our number 1 resource for all our business card needs.
- Print Materials – Don’t forget about all the other elements outside of the website and your products. What about guides, or educational resources? Do you even have them? If not, consider investing in having them made to help educate your clients beyond your site or meetings and give them a beautiful print presentation of your brand.
- Video Chats – even the way you conduct your meetings is a player in your overall brand experience. What programs do you use? How do you dress when in meetings? What does the client see behind you? We moved to Zoom this year as it has the best resources to maximize our video time with each client, including recordings, screen sharing, drawing on the screen, and scheduling calls in advance. All the details matter.
All the details matter…
Case Study With Xanne Fran Studios
Earlier this year, we had the pleasure of working with Roxy Becofsky, founder and designer of Xanne Fran Studios, a handmade, custom fine jewelry business that specializes in tiny figurine pieces in gold and silver.
Just because we are small business owners doesn’t mean there is anything “small” about us.
Roxy conducts her business on Etsy, where she’s found great success in growing her small handcrafted product-based business. She knew that she would eventually want to grow away from Etsy, desiring more accessibility to her clients and control over the tiny details that make up their purchasing experience with her. Esty is an incredible platform, but it does control a significant amount of the purchasing experience with limited customization options available. But there are so many other ways for Roxy to capitalize on how her clients experience her business and the entire purchasing experience.
We decided to invest in our Full Brand Design package as it provided the largest set of complete design graphics that Roxy could use in the marketing, shipping, and delivery of her brand. We then broke down the various steps that her clients take from their first point of contact, all the way down to the delivery of her product to their doorstep. What are all the ways we can utilize her branding to attract her ideal clients, inspire people to purchase her products, and then enchant them with every detail in the delivery process?
Goals:
- Create a fresh, modern, luxury brand identity that best communicates the Xanne Fran brand.
- Balance the handcrafted small-batch style with high-end modern quality.
- Bring in more consistent sales and repeat sales by clients who are following the Xanne Fran Brand.
- Create a customized delivery experience to maximize client engagement with the brand.
- Create a consistent visual identity strategy that can tie in all marketing avenues for increased brand recognition and assist in separating Xanne Fran from her fellow Etsy jewelry sellers.
One of the struggles on a platform like Etsy is that often people undervalue the quality of the projects available there due to their handcrafted nature. As Roxy’s little creatures are anything but low quality, we wanted to utilize enough visual points to showcase their quality, value, and personal nature. We went with a very winter palette, utilizing lots of black and metallic elements to showcase the luxurious and expert quality of her jewelry while keeping things modern and playful with a tall thin sans-serif typography and her big hand-painted “X”.
The Final Brand
The Details
While having all the beautiful pieces of Roxy’s new brand identity look great, we needed to make sure they worked great too. Utilizing each piece in a way that would take Roxy’s brand collateral to a whole new level.
- Roxy took our business card designs and ordered them with rounded edges and silver foil to help match her silver jewelry and smooth lines of her tiny figurines. The metallic shine and different shapes are not only eye-catching but practical as they fit easily inside a wallet or small box delivery.
- She invested in new styled photos with a red granite stone background to help showcase the quality of her work, but also speak to the handcrafted nature and that each piece is unique, just like a slab of granite or stone.
- She ordered new packaging for her tiny creatures so that upon delivery, they would be perfectly packaged and displayed to the buyer, making their purchase feel even more unique and valued.
- And finally, Roxy updated her social media with the branded “X” to help create an easily identified brand that would help more people follow along and engage as she continues to expand her small business.
When was the last time you took a step back and audited your brand experience?
Just because we are small business owners doesn’t mean there is anything “small” about us. Being a small business has nothing to do with size and all to do with the way in which we conduct our business. It’s a lifestyle choice to always create a personal customized, one of a kind, experience for the people we engage with. Because we are small, every decision we make is huge! With one interaction, we have the power to make or break our brands. There is absolutely nothing small about that.
