With the number of businesses increasing, it can be challenging for companies to market themselves well. In order to serve your clients and stand out amongst the crowd, authentic branding is a must.

Sarah Erickson of Sarah Ann Design Co., a design studio specializing in intentional branding and websites for creatives, join us today to share her immense knowledge. From developing our second website to redesigning our brand, Sarah has helped build our brand for years now. In this episode, Sarah shares her best branding and marketing tips, including the value of having an established brand, identifying your ideal clientele, marketing with intentionality, and so much more.

Before you dive into the episode, it’s essential to understand exactly what branding is. According to Sarah, a brand encompasses visual design, brand voice, and brand imagery. Let’s break down each of these components –

Brand Design – If a logo, color palette, or typography were the first things to come to mind, you were right! This is the visual summary of your entire brand and includes aspects like patterns, textures, etc.

Brand Voice – This includes the terminology and way you talk to your clients. For example, Chick-fil-a is known for its line, “How may I serve you?”.

If you are in the process of defining your brand voice, refer back to your core values and ask these questions – How do you want your clients to feel after talking with you? What words do you need to say to evoke that feeling?

Brand imagery – This is where all of your brand messaging is brought to life visually. Your imagery defines your brand’s aesthetic appearance through sight, taste, touch, smell, and hearing!

“Branding is not about you. It’s what appeals to your ideal client.”

However, none of these aspects matter without marketing. You must identify and establish your core products, pricing, placement, and promotion (aka the 4 P’s of marketing) for your brand to have an impact. But this strategic and intentional marketing must be crafted from a place of understanding your ideal client.

When you approach marketing from a place of truly understanding the needs, wants, and challenges of your client, you will ultimately create an authentic brand. One that differentiations your company from all the rest.

For even more on authentic branding, intentional marketing, and nurturing creativity, listen to our episode with Sarah!

Quick marketing tip from Sarah –

“More than spending your time on social media, see what you can do to connect with your community, take someone out to coffee, send someone something in the mail, do what you can to cultivate those relationships off the screen, and it will go so much further.”

Listen to the episode on Apple or Spotify!