When I started my marketing career in the corporate world, the shift in branding grew out the company by 50% after being in business for over 20 years.
That’s a big jump for being so far into a company.
The company steadily grew for years and then plateaued because the world had changed and their marketing didn’t change with it.
This is what happens if you don’t keep up with the trends of what your audience is going to respond to. One heavy shift that has been made in consumers is the desire for trust. We’ve had our many years of pushy salespeople that inspired “No Soliciting” signs on front doors and the practice of never answering a number we don’t know to avoid sales conversations. Now we want authenticity and to gain that, we must have a strong brand.
I see Facebook ads telling people you can skip this step and that you don’t need to do all the things it takes to build a brand and I just shake my head. They are right, but at what cost? At the cost of never building something that brings YOU business. At the cost of having to chase every single lead that comes into your business.
Branding is a long term game, but trust me when I say patience is worth it. In this episode, I break down:
If you want consistent leads coming into your online wellness practice, this episode is for you.
00:01 Hey everyone. So today I’m going to talk about branding. I wanted to talk about this because I ask a lot of people in my audience what is branding? And some people have an idea, but a lot of them have no idea what it really is, like how to define it. And I will tell you, especially in my experience in the corporate world and in freelancing that a lot of people do not understand the importance of it. And so in my corporate job, when I first started, it was very focused on sales and because my corporate job was in the legal industry, it was focused on leads more specifically. But when I started branding was so inconsistent. And to be honest, not even really a concern, it was always about shouting for attention and trying to break through the noise and just be the loudest person.
01:00 Whether that’s through like headlines or you know, if you’ve ever seen lawyer advertising, um, they’re always like shouting and kind of talking at you. And so that’s what it was really like. And the goal was to always just try and get more leads, which makes a lot of sense, right? But whenever you’re doing that, it’s like running on a hamster wheel. And what happens is that you’re always having to do this grunt work and shout and try and gather these leads. And so as the marketing director, I steered the entire strategy to branding and the year that we made it a top priority, we grew by 50% and this was an established law firm. So it’s been around for over 20 years. So growing by 50% when you’re 20 years into your business is a really big deal. It’s not that hard to get those numbers in a brand new business, but an established firm that had several offices all over the state, that’s a really big deal.
02:01 And so that’s how important it is and the kind of impact that it makes whenever you make it a priority. And it’s just often not taken as seriously because it is a longterm approach. But so there’s two main approaches to getting clients and I’m going to talk about those and the differences. And most business owners live in the least effective one, which is the just gaining, um, quick leads in that moment. And so I’ll talk about what branding is so that you can kind of define it and really understand it and why it’s so important. So first I’m actually going to start out talking about why it’s important before I really describe it because I want to give you guys some action steps that can get you started right away. And the first thing I want to talk about is the trust factor. If you’ve ever heard, you know, to sell to anyone they have to know, like trust you.
03:00 And that’s a common saying because it’s very, very true, especially now. So things have trended if you listen to my podcast or following my content, I talk about this over and over and over again. And I do it because it’s so important and I still see all the time, um, people doing more traditional strategies for marketing their business. And what I mean by traditional strategies is less focused on trying to gain relationships and gain people’s trust and opening yourself up to people. And because that is something that, where the strategy has moved into and what actually gets people to respond to your marketing. And before it was, you know, very salesy. You could do cold calls, you could do door to door, and there are all these things were so much more effective then, and now people have just, they want nothing to do with anyone that has to or that wants to sell to them.
03:56 People do not like being sold to. And so we’re in this place where we really have to build meaningful and trustworthy relationships with people. So talking about the trust factor, people want to work with a brand that they know they can trust. People buy from brands and companies and from other people that they feel like they can trust them. And the thing about gaining trust is you cannot fake it. And one thing I love about the wellness industry is that you’ve chosen to do something that really makes a huge impact on people’s lives. And I’ve never seen someone in the wellness industry just not to care. It’s not one of those sleazy industries. It’s a very competitive and there’s a lot of noise in the wellness industry because it is such a hot topic now of course, but not caring is definitely not a reputation that this industry has.
04:54 So that is something that really works in your favor by being in this industry is that you don’t have a reputation already of not caring about your clients, about your customers. So you’re starting in a really good spot and now you just need people to trust you that you are able to fulfill the promises that you are giving. And so, um, you know, like I said before, when I told my story about my corporate job in the legal industry, because it started in law, you can imagine we had a lot going against us. Building a trustworthy brand was much more difficult in the legal industry because as soon as you walk in the spotlight, people already think you’re a lawyer. I cannot trust you. So building that trust was incredibly difficult, but it’s so doable. And we did an amazing job at it. Um, and so it is doable no matter where you’re coming from, but you just have to know how to do it.
05:55 So gaining, you have to make people believe three things about you. The first one is that you can accomplish what you’re promising, like I mentioned before. And so to do that you have to prove that you can get them the results. And you can do this with testimonials. In my a one year marketing challenge where I do a weekly marketing, um, projects that go straight to your email, it’s completely free. It’s an entire year of weekly projects. I believe the first one or one of the first ones I would give it away is gaining testimonials because in this industry it’s so important and it’s so impactful. I mean, even just putting it on your website, uh, it can be really impactful. People want to know what their peers are saying about you. And so you could do that with testimonials. Definitely with stories. There’s lots of great ways to do it with stories.
06:50 So there’s many ways to do it, but you can show social proof, but you also doing it for free in different ways by giving them content that’s really valuable to them and that’s actually going to make a difference for them is a great way to prove to people that you can do what you are promising. The second thing that you have to make people believe is that you care about getting them results because obviously people want to know that you care about their results and not just that you care to sell them something. And so, um, ways that you do that is, again, it’s honestly often the same thing is that you get them results for free. And I’m not talking about big huge, you know, these transformations, although you can do that if you’re able to, but even just the small wins and just really providing that value will show people that you do care about getting them results.
07:49 Because if you’re not getting paid for it and you’re just doing it because you really just want to help them, that demonstrates it very, very well. And then the third thing that people need to believe is that you are genuine. And again, it all comes down to the same thing. Just providing value all of the time and just carrying out your mission and your promise in smaller ways. And then you can always offer, which I’m sure that you do, offer some bigger way to make even bigger transformations, whether that’s through your services or you have online pro products or anything that is paid. So to help prove these three things, those are the three things that you need people to believe that you can accomplish what you’re promising. You care about getting them results and that you are genuine and authentic. And so to help prove these things, you have to be consistency in three other things.
08:41 So these are the three things that you need to be consistent in. You need to be consistent in branding and about to talk more about branding and get more deeper in that. But that’s the first thing is you need to be consistent branding. Um, you need to be consistent in showing up. So whatever kind of content that you create on a regular basis, you must rain or shine. Always create that content. Mine is my podcast. I do lots of other content just sort of here and there if it makes sense and I think it’s valuable, but my podcast is something that no matter what, every week it goes out. Um, and uh, you have to be consistent in providing value. So everything that you produce has to be valuable. So if I, even if I do a podcast and I’ve done this many times, um, and I feel like it just doesn’t bring enough value and I could do more with it, I will just put it aside and I’ll start from scratch or I’ll like, I’ll completely create a new one, or I will find a way to make that more actionable and better and just provide more value.
09:50 And so those are the three things that you have to make them believe in. Three things that you need to do to gain that trust with them. So there’s two approaches to gaining leads or sales and in your business. And I talked about them a little bit earlier, but those two ways are instant sales or branding and building trust and branding and building trust go hand in hand. And so instant sales is where you are putting ads to cold audiences. I see this all the time. People often come to me and they’re like, I did Facebook ads but they just don’t work. Facebook ads definitely, definitely work, but there’s lots and lots of factors and variables that make them work or not work. And so one of the biggest things is that you are selling to a cold audience and which is why Facebook ads tend to work much better when they are retargeted or targeted to a more, um, an audience that knows you and is familiar with you.
10:54 Obviously those are going to convert a lot better. So there’s different strategies with that. I won’t even get into it right now because that’s not what this podcast is about. But, um, instant sales is putting ads to cold audiences and basically just hoping that someone responds. And, um, it’s also lead generation where, um, this isn’t super common in the wellness industry, but it does happen to, you can actually pay for leads, um, through lead generation services. It’s usually like some sort of marketing agency or something like that. And they will sell specific kinds of leads. Not very common. I don’t really recommend it at all. But it’s a thing. And so I’m where most business owners are, are in the ads to cold leads. Um, that’s something that I’ve noticed a lot, especially with solopreneurs and smaller business owners are just starting out.
11:56 And the second approach is the branding and the building trust and branding and building trust is a longer game, but it’s one where once you have that foundation built, you just have leads coming in. So if you just provide value and create that brand the result is amazing. So let’s talk about what branding is now that you understand why it’s important and what role it plays in your marketing strategy. Let’s talk about what it really is and how you can define it to understand it better. So branding is basically the best way to describe it is how your brand makes your audience feel. So it’s who you are as a company and it’s an identity that you create that has your story and your mission behind it. And so some basically, or some basic elements that people usually think of when they think of branding is your logo, colors, funds maybe and just general style that you use.
12:59 And that is a very big part of branding. It’s a little more than that, but that is all very important to be consistent in because that is just how the brain’s going to work for your audience when they see those same colors, those same funds, that logo over and over, that’s when you’re going to start building trust. Because as crazy as it seems, they’ve done studies and you actually will gain more trust with people just by being seen over and over. So the more exposure that a brand has to a person, the more likely the person is to trust them. Even if they’ve never worked with the brand. And even if they don’t know anything about the brand, just by seeing them over and over, especially in multiple different places, that trust factor goes quite up high. So everything that you create should be on brand.
13:51 I do sometimes see business owners wanting to change the color of an ad because their brand is more subtle and they want their ad to stand out. I see this a lot. Um, and I’ve even worked with clients who have hired a designer of some sort in the past who suggested their website be a different color because it speaks something differently, which I understand. I have, um, when I got my degree, I took lots of design classes and they definitely teach you that relationship between color and feel. But what they’re missing is the marketing aspect, which is the fact that for branding you should never do that. Um, you want everything to be aligned and consistent because again, that consistency over and over is what’s going to build their trust. And then alongside that you have your valuable content, which is just going to magnify that trust.
14:47 And that is how you build the brand. So we’re in a world where shouting at people is just not a thing anymore. It’s not what gets people’s attention. And what gets people’s attention is seeing that familiar branding. And so branding is always going to win. At least it’s not going to stop winning for a really long time. So this is definitely the way to go. If your ad is a brand that they’ve seen before, it will get a lot more attention than all of the other loud ads with, I guess, loud colors or the best headlines. Um, if they’ve seen your brand before, they’re going to go after your brand. And so let’s talk about some action steps. So you will need to get much deeper into your brand as far as your mission and your values and all of that. And I do have some resources for that on my website.
15:42 So you can go to your wellness marketer.com/resources and there’s lots of free stuff to help you do those things. But for starters, we’re going to just focus on the basic elements I talked about before. And so I want you to just gather these things and just make it a commitment to always use these elements. So, um, for your elements, you want to grab your brand colors, you use the hexadecimal and which is that, like hashtag and then like six letters or numbers. And you can use my favorite website is color hex.com. I think it’s color-hex.com. I wonder if that’s it. Yeah, it is. And so this website you can find the hex color code for your brand. And if you don’t have like specific color, like if you always just find a purple that looks similar, you can also use this website to define like a specific color.
16:53 Like this is my purple, if that makes sense. And just copy that little code onto a Google doc or a word doc or whatever you use and you can just record it and always have it and then use it for all of your marketing elements. And I forgot my notes cause I went out of my tab here. And then you have all of that in one place. And what I recommend is having you have your main color and then choose a, um, maybe a secondary color and then choose a neutral color. This is going to help you in all of your design design elements. And if you hire out your design, you can just give the person these codes and tell them, these are the colors I want you to use and choose a neutral color. A gray is probably the most common, but it can be like a tan color or some sort of other neutral like cream color, whatever goes with your with your brand, with your theme the most.
17:57 And then of course your brand name, your logo, and um, a simple statement that represents you. Like a tagline is always really nice to be consistent in as well. That sort of describes your brand a little better. Um, and then have an idea of what your personality is and you should probably have an idea, but just put in the Google doc and record it. And just never produce anything that doesn’t have these elements or has any other elements other than these. So no other different colors or you know, don’t forget to put your logo on things that you create and certainly don’t use different brand names, which I don’t see very often. Um, and then just always make sure that everything is your personality. So if you are really silly, funny brand, um, you don’t have to be serious in your, uh, in your work.
18:51 But if you’re really serious brand, you can be funny, but just make sure you’re always kind of staying the same person. And the easiest way to do that, a lot of people, a lot of business owners in the wellness industry are solopreneurs and tend to be the, your brand is you. And that makes it a lot easier actually. And when you are doing branding for a huge company, whenever I’m doing that, it’s much harder to define that than it is for a single person because your brand should just be you. And it’s really easy to be you if, if you know what I mean. So those are things I want you to grab and just have an always make sure you can even make just a checklist and make sure that everything that you are doing is using your brand and giving the same feel for your audience. So I hope you found this podcast helpful. If you did, please leave me a review. I would greatly appreciate it. And don’t forget to subscribe because one of these episodes comes out every Monday. And I hope you guys have an amazing day.
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