What to Do When You Can’t Afford Branding

Kathleen Shannon 0:00
Hello, and welcome to being boss minisode number four,

Kathleen Shannon 0:11
which is all about what to do when you can't afford branding. This minisode is brought to you by our sponsor fresh books. Fresh books is the easy to use invoicing software designed to help creative entrepreneurs get organized, save time invoicing, and get paid faster. So I use fresh books personally in my business, and I love it, it is so easy to use. I'm not like the most organized creative in the whole world. And it helps me stay organized financially. It allows me to get paid, it allows me to invoice and Bill my clients and it feels super professional. And I just love I really do love using this. So check out freshbooks you can try a free trial today by going to freshbooks comm slash being boss and enter being boss into the How did you hear about us section. And we don't have the biggest audience in the world whenever it comes to being boss. But I told freshbooks that you guys are committed, and you guys are engaged. And I'm betting that they're going to see a bigger return on their investment in us. Because I know that you guys well one because I really believe in freshbooks. But also, I think that you guys are gonna love it too. So check it out today. It is so easy and safe and secure. And your accountant will love you for it. freshbooks.com slash being boss. Okay, so onto our minisode I've been getting a lot of questions in our contact us section on our website, love being boss calm about what to do whenever you can't afford branding. So this question comes from Stephanie. She says, I've so been enjoying your podcast. I'm a mom to a 16 month old boy. And since he was born, I have been working on business planning for a retail store I plan to open in fall of 2015. Stephanie says I love the last episode on being boss and being mom. I currently either have stay at home mom friends or working friends who are not yet moms. So I totally appreciated hearing about others who are doing it and doing it. Well. I think Stephanie still to be determined if we're doing it well. And my question is, what do you do if you cannot afford an excellent branding and design company? I know is so so important. My shop is home design focused, and when it's been as much as I can on it, but my logo quotes have come in at 10% of my total startup budget. If you're able to share any thoughts on this, even though this is what you do for a living, which it is what we do for a living, I'd love to hear it in an episode should I take a course and try to brand myself, should tried to find a newer lower price agency to work with, should I spend that much and forego all other marketing in my first year of opening? Thanks in advance. And thanks for creating such an informative, supportive and fun podcast. I could probably spend an entire episode talking about this, but I'm going to try and sum it up in like 10 minutes, what you should do whenever you can afford branding. Okay, so one, this is my business. So I do see the value in branding. I think that branding is more than just a pretty logo. It's how you position yourself, and it's how you attract your dream customers. So I think that if you can put 10% of your startup budget into branding, you will see the return on that investment. If it's done well and if it's done, right. So definitely invest investing in the right branding company for you. whenever it comes to your brand identity, which is the logo and the look and feel of who you are. I think that if you can't afford a branding agency to help you out, there are some really easy tools for creating your own brand and I'm so cautious that my designer me with my design background is like no don't do it because I'm just scared that you're going to pick an awful font of like pirates for your for your store. And that's just the I'll admit that's the design snob and me coming out. But I think that there are ways that you can do it now for really affordable or even free

Kathleen Shannon 5:00
So the first thing I would suggest you do is get on Pinterest and make a mood board explore design is so much more accessible than it used to be. And so just like you can deck out your house interior design wise, with items from Target and actually make it look pretty good. I think the same is true for your brand identity. And so that's like your logo. So the first thing I would do is get on Pinterest and just pin a bunch of other brands that you really like and look at your board and start to see overall, like try and find patterns of what you're attracted to. So do you love things that are scripty typefaces? Or do you like things that are really plain and minimal. And I think that if you can't afford to have a tricked out brand created for you, the more minimal the better, the less, you're probably going to make a rookie design mistake. So there are definitely really classic fonts that you can pick and like literally just type it out, I know that my designer friends are going to kill me for saying this because truly a lot goes into branding and design. But if you have to do it yourself, and just take stock of what you love. And so Stephanie, you in particular you're opening, and like a home design focused shop. So just like you would design a home think about designing your brand the same way. Now, let's say you're not designing a retail store. That means signage. But let's say you were wanting to launch an online business. whenever it comes to branding there. Again, your your brand is kind of more malleable. And it's really more about the content that you share. And so I believe even though branding is what I do, I believe that you have have a quality product, or quality service, first and foremost. And that's really what you're selling. The brand is just the outer layer of who you are. And so yeah, you want it to look nice, but it's just like wearing an outfit. Like let's say you can't afford fancy outfits, it doesn't make you any less cool of a person. And you can probably still go even like thrift store shopping and rock a really cool outfit. And people love you anyway, because they don't love you for what you're wearing. But they love you for the kinds of conversations that you have. And so again, this comes down to your personal brand, and really leveraging that So, so really making sure that you have a solid service or a solid product, I see too many people pouring 1000s of dollars into branding, and they don't even have anything to sell. So it's like what's the point. So I actually tell a lot of my potential clients, hey, maybe spend like six months to a year just really focusing on your product, focusing on your service, really getting that top notch because it will sell word of mouth. And Stephanie, like really focus on the stuff that really matters. whenever it comes to your home design store, I would say don't even spend money. whenever it comes to like marketing and advertising. Don't spend money on advertising until you have a solid brand. And really think about getting in there grassroots. And so maybe hosting an event where people will see your amazing products that you have for sale, and they'll tell their friends about it. So really what I'm trying to say is content is key whenever it comes to what you're selling. So put your energy and focus into the things that actually make you money, then make some money and then invest in some into some branding, you can kind of like back into that. And really, your designer or your agency will thank you for it. Because you'll know more of who you are, you'll know more of who your dream customer is, because you've actually been living it. And then they can outfit you outfit your brand in something that really truly reflects who you are and what you're doing. So I hope I hope that that helps you guys. And if you can't afford a brand, there are things that you can do. And I realize I just I don't think I close my Pinterest board thought but really seeing what design you're attracted to and start noticing patterns there. And yeah, maybe you can hire someone now just to help you with an identity based on that like the more work that you can do for them to show them what you like the maybe less expensive it will cost to have a junior designer do that for you. But again, I kind of believe that you get what you pay for I'm sure that there's a lot of talent out there that can do it for not a whole lot of money but I think it is something that's worthwhile investing in.

Kathleen Shannon 9:51
But really just to sum it up, I would invest in what you're actually selling your product or your service and getting that really top notch. It will sell itself if it's good, and then you can back into the brand identity later. I promise it's, it feels like a big deal, but it's really not the big deal is what you have to sell. So, anyway, I hope that this helps. We're running out of time for this minisode. But yeah, join our join our Facebook group. And so if you go to facebook.com, slash groups slash being boss, I think that's the URL. We have it in our show notes, though, and ask your questions there because a lot of the other Facebook the members of the Facebook group are pipinb in and throwing in their ideas and their suggestions. And you might even be able to connect with someone there that can help you with your branding. So, go there, connect with other bosses, and we will see you next time. Thanks, guys. Do the work. Be boss.