3 (Simple) Ways To Elevate Your Brand

There’s a lot of content on the internet regarding “luxury” brands. In my professional opinion, luxury is a very subjective term to me. Anything (or anyone) could consider themselves as a “luxury” service, but the perception differs from person to person after hearing a business’ message, feeling their brand story, or even viewing their brand identity.

Instead, I like to think that every business could elevate their brand in some way, and it doesn’t have to cost you thousands of dollars every single time. In fact, almost all of these tips can be implemented for free!

This post will cover 3 simple ways to elevate your brand – these methods can be applied to all businesses, whether you sell products, services, or both.

Refine who you’re currently attracting, and identify if you WANT to be attracting that audience.

Look at your business from an outsider’s perspective and truly scrutinize it from every touchpoint – from that FIRST landing on your website, to sending an inquiry, to buying your product or service – is this something this client would be drawn to? Why or why not? Do they prefer email communication or consult calls? What makes YOU their dream business to work with or product to buy?

I’m mostly speaking to service-based businesses here, but even product-based businesses could benefit from asking these questions. Why would your dream client come to you over a competitor? What makes YOU the ideal business for them to purchase from?

If you’re having trouble finding answers to these questions, this could be a clue to get some outside help with your brand strategy and heart story.

Cost: FREE – you can even download my Free Brand Audit Guide to help you out with some of those insider analytical questions.

Identify topics you’re the expert in/excited about, and start sharing relevant content as education.

Your audience is already attracted to your products or services. When you stand out as an expert, or ‘light house’ as a I like to call it, you’re continuing to build trust.

What are you the expert in? What do your clients wholeheartedly trust you to do? What truly lights you up inside and makes it EASY to begin sharing or educating? THAT is what you should be talking about.

For example: A dog-boarding company is an expert in, you guessed it, taking care of and training your animals effectively! A blog series for this company could be entitled “3 Tricks to Prevent Your Dog from Jumping” – if we divide the content out into a few social media posts, as well as sharing some stories consistently of those tips in place, this not only helps me train my dog from jumping up, but helps me put this company into a place of leadership. This makes me feel like when I invest in that dog boarding experience for Fido, that training will continue and he is in trusted hands.

A content strategy I like to use is posting long form content (like a blog) with 3-4 detailed tips, and then dividing those tips into content (email newsletter, social media posts, stories) to 1. lessen the work for me going forward and 2. to give people bite-sized tips for their businesses or personal lives. While it takes a bit of planning, I do find this to be the least overwhelming and most fun way to create content and educate my audience. And just remember, creating content doesn’t have to be hard. Find the topics that you could chat endlessly about and you’ll be golden. People follow passion.

Cost: FREE – use a project management tool like Asana or Notion to keep track of your expert content and divide it out! I also like to use Notion to do an idea dump of posts or content I’d like to talk about

Brand Identity Consistency – utilize brand guidelines and stick with them.

From the font spacing on your website to the typography and colors you use – are you changing them up every so often? Does your brand feel and look the same across ALL platforms? Just do a quick social media or website audit – if it feels inconsistent to you (the business owner), it is probably feeling inconsistent to your audience. Make sure you’re closely following the brand guidelines set in place by your designer – to the the font spacing, specific colors, and beyond. Consistency builds trust.

A great way to throw in some texture, stand out from the crowd, yet maintain brand consistency is adding some brand patterns to your branding kit. These can be a fun and cost-effective way to spice up your social media posts, backgrounds on your website, or on physical marketing materials.

Cost: Depends – if you go the DIY route, free – but I highly suggest hiring a graphic designer to draft up some brand guidelines (and patterns!) for you . If you don’t have an already established brand/fonts/colors/icons/textures, this investment is an opportunity to maintain consistency in your brand as a whole.

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If you’re looking for a place to begin a brand refresh, my newest service (the Brand Leap) is a basic creative direction service for those interested in more of a DIY brand service but need a little more direction before doing so – here’s what we cover inside of the Brand Leap:

• Dream Brand questionnaire to get a detailed basis of where you’re at and where you see your business going.  
• Custom color palette with explained color psychology to continue and maintain audience attraction.
• Suggested typography styles that would complement your brand direction.
• Fully customized Creation Direction Packet with summaries of your brand psychology, brand keywords, color palette, specific typography, & more – helping you begin your DIY brand creation with a bit of a helping hand. 

This package is for basic brand direction only – and suggested use is for those that are looking for basic direction and are prepared to continue to DIY their own brand. If you’re interested in chatting about if a brand leap is right for you, feel free to email me at pressandpalm@gmail.com or inquire here!