Branding Online | Ep 023

John: What's going on? This is episode three and this branding stuff has been so great. I've been learning so much, like it's blown my mind. The light bulb has been going off left and right, and I'm just excited to see episode three and our branding series. This one is on branding 

Kacie: online. Branding 

John: online.

Kacie: Mm-hmm. . Let's go. Let's do it.

The Business Project podcast business can be complicated. We break it down to regular people like us 

John: can understand and find success. I'm John Crespo, accountant and consultant. I'm 

Kacie: Casey Bryant, marketer and event planner. If you run a business or want to run a business, welcome 

John: to the show.

Kacie: So today we're talking about branding online and there might be some things that you might not consider even if you're doing amazing at your online presence. And so we are just so thankful to have you guys here listening. We love the nuggets that come out of these podcasts and we love hearing from you guys.

So if you have any, anything that you would like us to cover in the future as far as topics, we're doing this for you. So feel free to shoot us a message and let us know what you want us to 

John: cover. Yeah, very. I. You know, the more you, the more you interact with us, the more we can create the right content.

Benefits you. 

Kacie: Exactly. And we love hearing from you guys too. In the fact, in the way of giving advice. You know, we're all in this together. We're all business owners. John and I aren't the experts in everything. And some of you guys out there are probably way smarter than we are. Oh yeah. . So not probably.

You are way smarter than we are. And so we appreciate your, your feedback and your help as well, and your support helping other businesses on their journey. That's 

John: awesome. That is awesome. Um, yeah, I don't wanna be the smartest person in the room. No, no. I'd rather learn from somebody. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. 

Kacie: Yep.

All right. So today let's talk about branding online. 

John: How important is that in this world that we live in now, where everything. . Technology based, right? Everything. It's all about online. Yeah, online, social media, you name it. That's how people communicate Now, It's so awkward to get somebody to talk face to face nowadays, , because they feel more comfortable talking online than face-to-face.

They 

Kacie: do. It's so, it's so crazy to me. Nobody wants to do even a phone call. They don't even wanna do a phone call really anymore. They're like, let's text message or send an email. Yeah, I get it though. Yeah, 

John: I, I, I'm kind of a, a text message culprit. Are you? I like to do a quick text message versus a call sometimes.

Kacie: Sometimes, yeah. I drive a lot. I do voice messages now. Voice messages are the new, my new favorite. Like you, I'm trying hit the record button and you just talk and then you send it. 

John: Apple does good with that because they'll create the text, 

Kacie: right? It'll No, they just, you, they can listen to it. Oh. It'll be like voice can listen to the audio.

Mm-hmm. . Yeah. 

John: Yeah. I gotta try that with my Samsung. 

Kacie: It's good for mom. Android moms. Yeah. So you have a voice recording. Sorry, we are way off topic, but that's okay. We'll, we'll circle back. You have a voice even if you're not, there's still a voice record. App that you can download on your Android and you record it in the voice recorder and then you can export it into a text message.

Oh yeah. So there's you a a way around it there. Go look at that. Mm-hmm. , it's great cuz then you don't have to worry about reading while you're driving and you can just like, Hey, I have a thought I need to do, and you just put it down and send it off. 

John: Keeping it easy so you can keep working and. Well on the go.

Kacie: Yes. I'll the little tips. Okay, so let's get into branding . Yes. Actually that kind of rolls into one of my tips. I will skip the other ones and we'll go into this so that we can pretend like we intentionally had that conversation. , it's all a master plan. . Yes. The um, so as you're working on your branding online, I think something that a.

Businesses don't think about is the way that you sound and working on your audio and your tone of voice. Because as a business owner, a lot of, if you're not doing video by the way, then you are just missing out on the boat. You need to be, you don't have to dance on TikTok, like there are many other ways of doing video.

You don't even have to necessarily be on video, even though if you are a small. You should be, because that is why people support small businesses is to support the person. And they can't know the person if they don't see the person. No, no. Like and trust. No. Like And trust. Yes. So if, I'm sorry to tell you, if you're not doing video, you need to pull up your big boy pants and you need to step out into that world as a business owner.

John: Get outta your comfort zone. Gotta get outta the comfort zone, 

Kacie: but, and it just takes practice. Yeah. But when you're doing that, you need to really pay attention. To make sure, so in the past episode we talked about print. Mm-hmm. and consistency in print and fonts and colors and logos and simplicity and all of that stuff.

And that still is important obviously as you're doing things online, cuz you're still gonna be using fonts and colors and logos. And we'll get into more of that in a minute. But when it comes to your branding online, it also include. The way that you dress, the way that you talk, your tone of voice and the type of content that you put out there.

And so, Last time we used a restaurant as an example. And so we'll continue with that cuz I think it's just an easy thing for people to visualize. Mm-hmm. , everybody's been to because everybody likes to eat. Everybody likes to eat, yes. Mm-hmm. and most, most of us have been to, at one time in our life a fancy restaurant.

So if you go into a nice fancy restaurant, right? We talked about the print materials and the menu matching, the branding. Don't like get a, you know, little sheet of paper. And, um, so if a restaurant is doing branding online, , all of your online things have to match that as well. Mm-hmm. , and, and one of those goes into the, the way that you represent yourself visually, the tone of voice you don't wanna get as a fancy restaurant online, and be talking like, we're going to hang out with our boys and play in the streets and go to Mickey D's.

Right. You want to be prim and proper and educated about what you're talking about. You just need to make sure that the branding and the way that you represent yourself online is a representative of your business. And I know I'm kind of like stereotyping here a little bit. I'm, I'm overreacting just to give you guys a good visual and an example.

Um, and then also your dress. So you don't wanna be in your sweatpants with your hair in a hot bun while you're talking about representing. Your super nice restaurant, it's probably not gonna flow very well. Yeah, that 

John: makes a lot of sense. And it, you know, I don't think it's, I don't, I don't think it's a stereotyping thing.

I think it's, uh, being consistent with your brand, right? That goes into your consistency. If you're trying to portray yourself as the high end restaurant in your area, then you want to make sure that that's what you present. When you're out there marketing, um, your stuff online and you're making those videos online, like I was just thinking to my mind, what, what would I envision a high-end restaurant?

um, doing some type of, what, what would I see as their online kind of like marketing process. And I'm like, well, you know, maybe they can do a video on their wine selection. Mm-hmm. , you know, the different types of wine selections and show somebody, show one of your waiters pouring the wine into a glass and just looking all elegant like that because that's the image that you want to portray.

Keep it consistent instead. having your way to pour a bottle of soda mm-hmm. into a cup, you know, or a shot of whiskey. Or a shot of whiskey, right? Yeah. Instead of the whiskey may maybe do an old fashioned Yeah. , you know, or, or, or, or pour the glass of wine, a nice bottle of wine, you know, and that keeps consistency there, you know, so that it's, it's gotta flow, it's

Kacie: gotta flow.

Yep. Yeah. And thinking on the other end of it too, you know, if you are trying to do like a kid-friendly restaurant, we'll stick with the restaurant theme. You're kid-friendly restaurant and you have a playground that you've made in the back and you have kid-friendly meals and uh, and you're trying to market towards families.

Mm-hmm. , then you probably don't want to, you know, represent yourself in your videos or have your employees represent. A super fancy tie, like, don't come in here and spill type of branding. Right, right. Um, so I feel like that is just a very, um, a very broad way. Yeah. Kind of like a plane to Yeah. To explain what we're trying to explain.

But I think that it gives you guys a good idea. Um, when you're representing your business online and you can think about your own business, you know, if you're, if you're an electrician, um, I'm very familiar with the electrical mm-hmm. industry because that's what my husband does. Yep. Thinking about your brand and how you wanna represent yourself, cuz an elec, something as simple as an electrician can be represented in several different ways.

Mm-hmm. are you a residential electrician and you want, you're the best one with, you're always on time and you keep your job clean and, Or are you, um, a commercial electrician and you have all these corporate things and you know, it's very professional and, and so just thinking through how you wanna represent your brand online and making sure that that is flowing through as you're creating things.

John: Yeah. And, um, so let's, let's talk about like, I know you have your checklists, right? But like, so what types of online. tools or branding, like besides videos? Like what, what do, what do businesses do online that can help, you know, put the, the message out there. I think 

Kacie: you're sneaking and peeking and cheating.

John: I, I got the good glasses on today. I can see a little bit farther . 

Kacie: The, so that is a, that is an excellent question. There are so many different types of, Branding. Mm. Um, I, I would say probably the two most common when it comes to a business and something that all businesses deal with is your website.

Every business should have a website. By the way, it is not your Facebook page. Your Facebook page is not your website. You need to have, especially if you're a professional business, you need to have a website. It shows legitimacy with your business and it shows professionalism, and it shows that you're very serious about what you're doing.

You're willing to take the next step and invest in your business. Um, so your website is, um, is a type of branding that is a representation of your business, and it needs to match all of your other things. It needs to be consistent with how you want to be represented. So a website is one. Um, your social media pages, the actual pages are a type of branding.

You want them to be very consistent with the rest of your branding. You don't want somebody to go to your social media page and have no idea who you are because they've, they're seeing fonts and colors that they've never seen before. Um, and so the actual visual, like aesthetics of your, of your social media, And then as I love that, as we talked about, the things that go on your social media pages.

So whether it be, you know, online flyers or posts, pictures, videos, all of that needs to be very, um, very consistent. There is a, and we'll post it, I'll post it in the description, but there is a place that does, um, uh, macaroons. Mm. And I love macaroons. I get macaroons and the other one mixed up. There's like, And macaroons or something.

And they're two totally different things, by the way. But I don't know. But this sounds good though. We have a local business here that does Mac Macrons Macarons does the little sandwich ones look macaroons? Yes. And um, I think I'm telling you, , y'all correct us if we're wrong, her branding. amazing. And she's very, very successful because if you go to, and Thistle Suites is the name of her place.

Have you had Thistle Suites? I have not. If you go to check them out, her Instagram page, it's so cool. It's like she does so well on Instagram just for this little bitty place that that's all they do is Macrons, but it's got like bright colors and mm-hmm. . It's super fun. You go to their Facebook page, you go to their website, it all is very, very, you can, I can immediately see, if I see a post from hers without like even paying attention to any of the text or who it is, I can immediately tell that it's hers.

John: So she created the consistency in her brand. And that's what we were talking about in the previous episode is you want to create that consistency so when somebody sees it, they know who it's tied to. Yep. Right. Like it automatically draws your audience to. . That's smart. Mm-hmm. . Good stuff. Now I gotta try thistle.

Sweet. So . 

Kacie: Yes. That's very good. So, um, we have your website, we have your social media pages, like the actual landing pages, and then we have the. Content that you're putting on your pages, that all needs to be consistent. Um, let me think of other online, you know, your LinkedIn profile, even if it's a personal thing and you're a business owner and it's, um, you know, linked to your page or tied to your page, somehow, it's good to have all of that represented very consistent.

The more consistent you can be throughout all of your online things, the better. You know 

John: what, uh, there's another one. And, um, you know, Google My Business, right? Mm-hmm. , mm-hmm. . They've, they've become, , um, kind of like social style, so you can actually make that look instead of just putting your business information, like your directions and all that stuff on it, they want you to actually make it look like it's a mini webpage as well.

Mm-hmm. . So, you know, kind of like you want all that stuff to flow. Like there's so many different avenues now. So like you said, website, Google your, your social media. , what else? All all that stuff. But all that stuff be, believe it or not, if it looks the same and it flows together, then you are gonna be like, thistle, sweets.

Mm-hmm. , everybody's gonna know who you are. Everybody's gonna know. Once they see a little glimpse of what that, that branding, um, looks like, they're gonna know it's you and they're gonna. just drive business to 

Kacie: you. Yeah. And we're gonna go into, in a future episode about how making, how you make people feel when they see your stuff.

So this kinda is all gonna tie into that as you're creating both your printing, your print branding and your online branding. It's all about how you make people feel. It's the feels. Mm-hmm. . It's all the feels. The feels are all very, very, . So another little thing right here I have is consistent messaging.

Uh, and that is, that kind of touches on, we've already touched on it a little bit, but I wanna go into it a little bit deeper, making sure that, like we had talked about, if you are a kids' restaurant, making sure that the messaging that you're putting out there on all of your online materials is consistent and matches, whether it be.

you know, your, your mission statement, um, or the pictures that you're using or the video that you're using, or the text that you have and your about page of your Facebook page versus, you know, your about page of your website if, if they don't sync up. So say you're a nonprofit and um, and you go do amazing things for foster kids, and somebody goes to your website and they go to the About Us, and it's like just this little blurb.

Hey, we are, you know, we help foster kids, and that's it. And it's just maybe the mission statement. We help foster kids and then they go to your Facebook profile and they're like, it's this whole elaborate, um, testimonials behind the stories that you've told. And this is our mission and this is how you can get involved.

And these are the type of kids that we help. And this is why it's important. , um, you're, you're creating a completely different feeling between those two and you have mixed messaging, or if you go to your website and it's like, okay, we help kids. And it's just very broad. And then you go to your Facebook page and it's like we, you know, all of these things.

So making sure that as you're going Google My Business, your LinkedIn profile, all of these things, anywhere that your business is mentioned, making sure that the messaging and what you are wanting your audience to see. When they come to that, it's all very consistent. And that 

John: kind of goes back to the marketing plan.

Mm-hmm. , knowing your market, right? Knowing who your target market is and making sure everything you create is attracting that target market and no matter what avenue you're using, attracting your target market. So creating that. Listen, you're gonna learn a lot on these podcasts cuz we had a, we had a whole series on creating the marketing plan we did and how important it is to know your target.

but now in the branding piece, you wanna make sure that you are communicating to them. Yep. Communicating to your target market at all times. 

And 

Kacie: I think a lot of people, when they think of branding, they just think of the visuals and they don't think, oh, the paragraph in the About us page or our mission statement, you know, being all over the place or whatever.

They don't, they don't think of that as branding, but it is branding all the words in the text that you have in, in, whether it be print or online, is all part of your brand, Inc. . 

John: Yep. So true. Wow. This is good stuff. So now you've been able to, this, this is episode three, right? We've been able to create the, the brand for print, right?

And know the colors, understand what the, the, the importance of the color scheme and the font and all that. And now you're, you're able to incorporate the communication piece consistently through online. I hope you're taking notes cause this is some good stuff. I am taking notes like, seriously, once this is done, I'm writing all this stuff down.

Or you 

Kacie: can just go back and listen again. . Yeah, that's 

John: right. You can download the podcast. Podcast We have. We have the resources to go back and listen. Yes, that's 

Kacie: true. Yeah. It's all good. I hope that you guys are getting something out of this because it's just, I mean, even if you know it, a lot of the stuff that we go over, I feel like is, you already know it.

Mm-hmm. , you already know the stuff. Most likely, a lot of this you've heard or you hear it and you're like, oh yeah, that's common sense. Mm-hmm. . Um, so it's not like this rocket science stuff that we're coming up with. Right. But sometimes as business owners, we. So many things that we're focused on, and it's nice to just be like, okay, here's what we're talking about today.

Now let's run with it. Let's do it. Here's some action steps. Yeah. 

John: And sometimes we need to hear it again. You know, we may have done, done some online research and read about it, but when we actually hear it and get examples of how it's implemented, then it, you know, it lights up that light bulb and allows it to actually put into action what we know we need to do.

Yep. So this is good. , we, we, we say this and we, we beat this drum till it's dead. Right? You gotta share this with your, with your fellow business owners or people that are thinking about going into business because putting these, these practices into place are so important to being successful. And if you're not doing it, then you know, then ask yourself why are you struggling?

You know? That's why, cuz there's stuff that needs to be put into place that's not being done. And this is helping you 

Kacie: do it. Yeah. And for a lot of people, this is. Overwhelming, not fun part. It's almost like a cloud in the sky. Right? You know that it's there. You know that it's important somehow, but it's like, I don't know how to get up there and touch that cloud and so let's get in an airplane, get up there, get in the middle of the cloud, bring some of it with us, get it all worked out.

We don't need to be scared of it. 

John: Yeah. Get outta your head, get outta your comfort zone, you know, challenge your. . And really it's not a major challenge because like, like you said a couple seconds ago, it's not rocket science. Mm-hmm. . It's just really doing it and focusing on it, being consistent with it.

Yep. There's that word. Consistency again. Yeah, consistency. Wow. It's gonna ring through my head all day. Yeah. 

Kacie: But it's true. It is. One thing. One more thing I wanna mention really quick before we get off about social media. I have one more low bullet point, or not social media, but your online marketing is monitoring your platform.

That is another thing. So unfortunately, sometimes things get hacked and that can be a terrible representation of your business. If you can't just put a website live or a social media page live and just completely ignore it, make sure that you're going back and you're monitoring it because. If it gets hacked or if you have other people that are doing the work for you, you, you don't wanna just like hand it over and never pay attention to it.

It's, you are the heart behind your business and all of what's being represented. online for your business is important and you can't just wipe your hands of it and be done. You need to consistently monitor how your business is being represented online. 

John: Oh, yeah. Somebody can nowadays, especially get a, get control of all of that and just destroy it and destroy you.

Destroy your business. Mm-hmm. and yeah, you gotta monitor that for sure. That's important. That's like a risk management. Down the road is just the, the importance of monitoring your stuff. Mm-hmm. consistently. 

Kacie: Consistently. And that doesn't mean spend 15 hours a day looking over all of your stuff. Just once a week.

Just go into all of your things, double check, make sure it all looks good. Yep. And you might even see something, Hey, I didn't know that button was there. Or, I need that button doesn't make any. Yep. I 

John: actually did that a little while ago. Did you? Um, I was, cuz I was on my website trying to add this booking feature to my website and I, I realized when, on one of the buttons that I click, It just sent them to a totally random place,

Oh no. So I'm like, that's been there for a while. . 

Kacie: I had people booking meetings with some random person. 

John: Right. And I'm like, I'm losing business. I don't know who it was going to, but it wasn't coming to me funny. So I had to, I had to go change that. Right. Yeah, because so, so it's so important. Go in there and just monitor your stuff.

Make sure everyth. All the buttons are going where they're supposed to go, you know, and make sure all the information is going toward to the business and nothing is being jacked around that can mess you up 

Kacie: for sure. Yeah, because sometimes if you make a small change on your website, it. impacts, um, you know, a chain of things.

And so you might make this small change and think, oh, this is no big deal, but it impacts other things. And then that impacts your business. Cuz somebody goes to your website that's part of your branding and they're like, oh, this person has no idea what they're doing because their links don't even work.

John: Exactly. Yeah. That's what they were thinking about me. . Not anymore. . 

Kacie: So funny. Don't do 

John: that. Don't be like John. Make sure your stuff goes where it's supposed to go. Yeah. 

Kacie: All right. Well, we hope that this was helpful. We will be talking next week about branding and how it makes people feel. This is so important and I don't, I don't think I've ever heard anybody talk about this topic.

John: Yeah. Cuz there is that aspect. No, I haven't at all. 

Kacie: That's the whole intention behind branding. That's right. Is how it makes you feel. What's the point? That's, I mean, you don't just like pick colors out of a hat. Mm-hmm. or pick logos out of a hat or create, you know, social media just like by the seat of your pants.

You have to. Think behind why, why am I doing this and how is it making people feel about my business? 

John: Very good. I'm excited about that one because I did hear that there's certain colors make you feel certain ways and make you wanna kind of do certain things or whatever. So I'm interested to see what you're gonna talk about there.

Yeah. So follow along and of course share, download, comment en engage with us because the more you engage, the more we can come up with some good topics to discuss and share with. . Yep. 

Kacie: We appreciate you guys so much for being here, and we will see you next week. 

John: See you next week. Take care.