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Jen A. Miller Consulting

Tag: brand personality

  • How to bring your Brand Personality to life through design

    How to bring your Brand Personality to life through design

    Step 4: How to bring your Brand Personality to life through design

     

    Hi guys! It’s Jen here where we’re breaking down everything you need to know to build your brand. And, we are smack dab in the middle of our series with Fiverr where I am showing you how to build a brand from the bottom up in just a few short weeks. I am super super excited to share my updates with you today. If you recall, last week we went through the exercise of filling out our brand equity charts. This is the tool that really lets us get to know our brands like they’re real people – what do they do, how do they make people feel, and what kind of  personality do they have? There are so many ways this equity chart can be used but one of the biggest ways is to guide the development of your brand identity. And what do I mean by that? I simply mean the way your brand looks and talks. Otherwise said, it’s how we bring your brand personality to life through design

     

    Let’s unpack a little further by  starting with the way our brand looks.

     

    First Impressions

    Research reveals that we make a subconscious judgement about something within 90 seconds of seeing it. That means we need to make an awesome first impression every time someone encounters our brand. And an awesome first impression begins with how our brand looks or our brand design. It’s the outward expression of  our equity that brings to life our brand personality.

    The first step in developing your brand identity is to create a mood board which is a simple visual aid for bringing to life the look and feel of your brand.  An easy way to build one is with Pinterest. Just create a new board and then begin to pin pictures that you feel reflect your brand personality.

    The mood board sets the visual tone and is the source of inspiration for the core elements of your brand design like your colors and fonts.

    It’s also an awesome tool when you’re working with creatives. It can really help them understand the look and feel you’re going for.

    Which is exactly what I did this past week. Here’s my mood board:

    brand personality mood board

    While I had figured out what I wanted my brand to look like, I still didn’t have a name or logo. I turned to Fiverr for help with both of these things. So are you ready to see them, already??

    Ok – tada!

    So the name is Live Freely. And this was really inspired by this idea of the customer being freelancers and creatives and really anyone outside of the normal 9 – 5. It resonates both with who they are but also what the brand has to offer them.

    And with the logo, I really wanted to reflect that spirit of being free. Which is why we chose this script font.

     

    Besides influencing your logo, you can also use reference your mood board to identify your brand colors and fonts as well as and when you’re selecting images for everything from your website to an Instagram post.

    Of course, visuals are only way one to communicate with your customers. The other is through your brand voice. Seems pretty straight forward but for a lot of people finding the perfect tone of voice is actually one of the most challenging parts of the brand building process.

     

    So here’s my easy hack. Imagine how you’d talk to your customers if you met them at a party. Then, read out loud as if you actually are talking to them while you’re writing. I find that doing this really helps your words to come out more naturally. Another trick I like to use is to come up with a handful of signatures words and sayings which can really give your brand personality.

     

    At this stage we’re really starting to see our brand come to life. Next week we’re going to talk about how we use this brand identity when we develop our website and social media.

     

     

    Services Used + Cost

    I Will Give Your Product, Invention, Business or Book A Name

    brand identity brand name

    – Basic, $35
    – Medium, $65 (My choice)
    – Premium, $115

    I Will Create Your Logo and Brand Design

    brand personality logo

    – Basic, $400
    – Medium, $700
    – Premium, $1,100 (My choice)

    I Will Design A Product Package, Product Label or Product Box

    brand personality product label

    – Basic, $50
    – Medium, $50 (My choice)
    – Premium, $50

    Total: $1,215

    Total for weeks 1-4: $1,975

     

    PS: Want more tips on how to bring your brand personality to life and examples of how other brands have designed their brand identity? This post is for you.

    If you missed week 1, week 2, or week 3 of this series, check them out.

     

    Cheers!

    Jen

     

     

  • 3 super simple tips to find your authentic brand voice

    3 super simple tips to find your authentic brand voice

    3 super simple tips to find your authentic brand voice

    How to find your brand voice

    How do I find my brand voice? Am I just being a copycat of other people’s styles I admire?

    Who has ever found themselves asking these questions?

    I can fess up to saying that I have. In fact, I can remember one particular instance when these questions were screaming inside my head. So, before we go any further, I’d like to share a quick story.

    Marie Forleo is one of the women I most admire. I love watching her videos on Marie TV and tune into any podcast interview where she’s the guest. All of that to say, Marie’s voice is in my head… a lot.

    When I first started the Toast Meets Jam Youtube channel, I created a series of videos tackling the most popular questions I was hearing from this community. I titled of the videos “How to Create a Business & a Life that You Love”. It wasn’t long before someone called me out for copying Marie. “Create a Business & a Life that You Love” is her signature saying.  

    Ugh. Are you SERIOUS?? I had borrowed her brand voice without even realizing it.

    Imitation might be the highest form of flattery but it wasn’t what I’d wanted to do in this case. I was trying to find my own voice, not copy someone else. 

    Now here’s the thing, finding the Toast Meets Jam voice wasn’t something that happened overnight. In fact, it’s still something I am working on. But through this process I have figured out a few tips that have made the process easier. Today I want to share three of those with you: 

    Tip 1: Think of your brand as a person

    Every brand has a personality and that personality influences how your brand communicates. So, try thinking of your brand has a person. If you knew her what would she be like? What words would you use to describe her? Is she curious? Does she have a certain Southern charm or New York confidence? Remember those Mac vs. PC commercials? They are a prime example of differing brand personalities at play.

    brand personality

    Next, think about what kind of relationship you want your brand to have with your customers and followers.  Do you want them to see your brand as a friend? The kind who makes them laugh? Fills them with inspiration? Always tells them the hard truth?  Or do you want your customers to see your brand more as a mentor or teacher?

    (Tip: If you haven’t yet read this post, now would be a good time)

    The answers to these questions will help you figure out the best tone to use when writing for your brand. If you want to be a friend, your tone will be more conversational. Likewise, if you want to establish yourself as the expert change your tone would be more formal.

    As you’re going through this process, I want you to go ahead and write down all the words that come to mind.  Once you have them all on paper, go back through and pick out the 5 words that best describe your brand’s personality. These will serve as the pillar words which will guide your brand voice. For instance your words might be something like: fun, friendly, charming, curious, and good natured.

    I’ve also found that it can be helpful to create a “this, not that” list. For instance, my brand voice is fun but not immature.  Make sense?

    Tip 2:  Read your writing out loud

    This is a simple but effective trick. After you’ve written copy for your brand, read it out loud. How does it sound? Natural or forced?

    When you’re writing for your brand, it should sound in line with how you would talk to your followers and customers if you met them at a party.

    If you want a great example to reference, pop on over to Melyssa Griffin’s blog. I love her writing style. When you read her writing, you actually feel like she’s having a conversation with you. Just take a look at this example will ya?

    3 super simple tips to find your authentic brand voice

    Now take a look at your writing. Would you really use all of those big fancy words? Or, do you need to think about putting away the Thesaurus and getting more human!

    Tip 3: Coin signature words or sayings

    Girlboss wasn’t a word we used until Sophia Amorusa made it so. “Badass” wasn’t being thrown around until Jen Sincero came along. And, “As if” will always remind us of Cher from Clueless.

    3 super simple tips to find your authentic brand voice

    Each of these is an example of a signature word. They become associated with a brand and embody its personality. The Girlboss brand voice for instance is strong, feminist, and unabashed. When you hear the word, these are the traits that come to mind.

    As you’re writing for your brand, think about what words or sayings you can own. These can truly be a powerful way to bring your brand voice to life.

    Over to you…

    Alrighty, those are my 3 top tips for finding your authentic brand voice. What tips do you have to share?

     

    3 super simple tips to find your authentic brand voice

    A toast to you,

    Jen