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Is your brand simply pretty, or is it also profitable? Of course it can be both, but we want to ensure that your brand can generate the income that you need to give you and your family the quality of life you dream about. In today’s episode, we’re exploring
Brand Strategy: Pretty or Profitable?
Over the course of 10 years in my business, I’ve specialized in brand strategy that positions you in front of your ideal clients. This allow you to charge what you want while doing what you love for as long as you want. As a result of my brand strategy, my clients feel more confident and satisfied in their work while carving a name for themselves in their industry.
Pretty will only hold an ideal client’s attention for so long. So ask yourself, is your brand doing the heavy lifting that it needs to do?
Why Brand Strategy is Important
Instead of just having a brand that looks nice, having a brand that emotionally connect with your client to serve them is the basis of brand strategy. This keeps them on your page longer, keeps them scrolling, and helps them to take the next step in working with you.
The Brand Strategy Process
We have to look at what is going to work for you with your full brand in mind. Here are a few things to consider as we go through the Brand Strategy Process:
Who is your ideal client?
What are your differentiators?
What makes your business unique?
What is your mission?
What is your vision?
What is your brand voice?
What do you offer?
Through this process you can build a brand that connects with your ideal client and portrays your brand’s message. By using these foundational pieces of brand strategy, you’re building a pretty brand, yes, but also a purposeful and profitable brand as well.
Success Stories in Brand Strategy
I want to share a story about a current client of mine; we’ll call her J. We worked through her brand strategy and design, yet before we even launched her new brand, J’s confidence in her work allowed her to raise her rates and book new clients—$35k in new client work. That’s the impact of brand strategy.
Due to my signature brand strategy process, J felt confident enough in her services and clarity in her brand to raise her rates. Therefore, when she connected with new potential clients, she was able to book 75 of those she met with. All before she even launched her new branding. Just imagine how incredible it will be when her website goes live.
Because we design differently and begin with strategy, it changes more than just the look of the brand. Like many of my clients, J was able to make investment immediately.
Invest in Your Brand Strategy
Over the last 10 year, I’ve had dozens and dozens of client stories like this. I want to encourage you to think about what your life would look like if you built a brand based on brand strategy. What would it look like for you to have the confidence to charge higher rates, to have the confidence to book clients in your service, to have more free time because of the rates you’re charging, to hire a team to scale your business?
Consider how your brand could be a catalyst of change for your business and your life. The longer you live with a brand that is pretty to look at but doesn’t bring you profits, the more revenue you’re losing month over month. Is it time to revisit your brand?
When you’re doing the work you love, being compensated appropriately, and helping people through the work you do—your work matter and has impact.
If you’re a little unsure of how your brand is actually showing up for you, or what heavy lifting it may or may not be doing for you, I’ve created a free quiz for you. In this 3-5 minute quiz, it will help you understand where your brand stands and what the right next steps are for you to achieve your business goals.
If you’re interested in working with me through my signature Brand Strategy Process, I would love to connect with you! Let’s make an impact on your brand, your life, and the businesses that you’re working with!
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Hi friend, and welcome to the brand strategy podcast. A show created to equip you with the inspiration, encouragement, and clarity. You need to build the brand of your dreams. I’m your host, Bonnie Bakhtiari, brand designer, strategist, and founder of the Illume Retreat. From sustainable strategy to heartfelt encouragement. Each episode is designed to equip you with the tools you need to chase after your dreams, because you deserve a brand that empowers you to do what you love, connects with your dream clients and offers a deep sense of fulfillment along the way. So grab a cup of coffee and join me on this journey. Won’t you,
Hey friends, welcome back to the brand strategy podcast. Where today we have a special episode, especially for my fellow creatives, for my service providers. For those of you who are building a business where you are offering an incredible level of service to your amazing ideal clients. And the reason why I wanna chat with y’all today is because I need for us to have an honest conversation about whether your brand is pretty or it’s profitable. And of course it can be both, but what I want is for your brand to be generating the kind of revenue that you want and that you need so that you can keep doing what you do for as long as you want. And that business can bankroll the quality of life that you and your family want to experience. Now, I am coming at you today with over 10 years of experience as a brand designer and strategist, I specialize in helping my clients through done for you brand strategy and design that positions you as the go-to expert, what that means for you.
You’re gonna be able to charge your ideal rates. You’re gonna be able to charge a premium for your services. You’re gonna be able to consistently connect with your dream clients and carve out a name for yourself as the go-to expert in your industry. And over the 10 years that I’ve been doing this, my track record of working with my clients means that I see my clients double, triple, quadruple their rates. After working together, I see them pack their calendar, reaching their sales goals, working with the caliber of clientele that they love working with. And as a result, they experience an increase in confidence and satisfaction and in fulfillment through the work that they do and friend, because I’ve created a brand strategy and design process that generates these kinds of wins for my clients. I’m confident that I can sit here today and I can share some advice with you so that we can figure out if your brand is actually doing the heavy lifting that it needs to do for you.
Now, when I take a look on Instagram or when I’m connecting with industry friends, I see tons and tons and tons of folks who have beautiful brands. And you know what I’m talking about, they’ve got a gorgeous website. Maybe they went and bought a really beautiful template where they’ve got that aesthetically pleasing color palette. And it’s so pretty. And as a designer, yeah, I love that stuff. But if it’s missing a foundational piece brand strategy, then that pretty is only going so far. What I mean by that is your brand serves as this initial touchpoint, this first point of contact between you and your ideal client, and pretty is only gonna hold their attention for so long. Instead, if your brand is created with a cohesive sense of strategy and mind, then your visual identity is actually going to be designed differently. It’s gonna go deeper than just the surface.
And instead of being something that’s just, you know, aesthetically pleasing to look at, it’s going to be something that emotionally connects with your ideal client. So then that captivates their attention. It keeps them on your page longer. It gets them scrolling so they can learn more and it’s connecting them with the mission behind the work that you do. So they are excited and eager. In fact, to be able to apply to work with you or to fill out your contact form or to buy your product, right? That is what I mean by having a profitable brand. You want it to be aesthetically pleasing. You want it to position you as a pro and to look polished, right? But we need for it to go deeper than the surface we need for it to be something that is strategically designed to convert for you in the long run.
So when I’m working with my clients, we aren’t just looking at, uh, you know, color. We’re not just looking at type, we’re not looking at, you know, all of the latest inspiration on Pinterest. There’s a place for that. There’s value in that, but we’re actually starting with my signature brand strategy process where we’re walking through who your ideal client is, we’re walking through your differentiators. So what makes your business unique? How does it stand out from the competition and how can we maximize and call more attention to that? We’re looking at your mission, your vision, your values, we’re looking at your brand voice and your messaging and how can all of this come together. So it’s not just this, this sense of who you are and what you do, but also what you offer, how it’s unique, how it adds value to your ideal client’s life.
And we know who your ideal client is so intimately that we can create a visual brand. And then we can weave that throughout your website, throughout your copy or throughout your social presence in a way that captivates your ideal client’s attention, gets them to get in touch with you or hire you and creates a relationship along the way. So, as I’m talking about this one thing that I want to encourage you to look at is if you are thinking, wow, Bonnie, I’m hearing you talk about this. And brand strategy is something that maybe, maybe I, I didn’t really invest a lot of time or energy into, or maybe I decided to walk myself through some worksheets that I found or some free downloads that I found online, but I haven’t actually partnered with a professional to do this before. So you’re telling yourself right now, I’ve got this brand that, you know, it’s, I like the way that it looks, but I’m not seeing a dramatic amount of growth from it.
And so if you, that is resonating with you, you’re gonna be feeling like I have this brand that, yeah, it looks good, but I’m not seeing consistent inquiries. I’m not making consistent sales. I’m not receiving the kinds of opportunities that I want. So maybe you’re not getting the press that you want, the publicity that you want. You’re not able to create connections with coworkers or colleagues or industry peers, and the way that you want to. Right. So that tells me that there’s room for growth. And so I would recommend no matter what stage of business you’re in, whether you are just in that startup phase, or you’ve been in business for 5, 10, 15 years, there is always room to bring it back to those foundational pieces of brand strategy so that you can start working to create a brand that is yes, pretty, but more than that, it’s purposeful and it’s profitable for you.
So I wanna share with you, uh, a story that just honestly filled my heart with so much joy made me so happy. Um, and actually at the time of recording this client, we’re gonna call her Jay because her project is still in process. We have not quite launched yet, but, um, I was chatting with her earlier this week and she shared with me this incredible story where over the last two weeks, so, you know, just 14 days, she generated over $35,000 in new client work, just because of the work that we did together. So she told me that because of the clarity she received by going through my brand strategy process, because of the confidence that she feels and seeing what her new visual brand looks like and seeing how the website’s coming together, she showed up differently. So when she got all of those inquiries and for context, she is a wedding photographer.
So when she got couples reaching out to her, inquiring about her services and, you know, curious about what her availability looked like, she showed up to those consultations differently. Instead of wondering how to talk about what she does. She knew exactly what to say. She knew exactly how to talk about what makes her service, what makes her experience so unique. So relational, so desirable, she was able to show up and talk about just what kind of expectations her couples can have. So they already are able to imagine what it’s gonna be like to have her as their wedding photographer. Oh, and I forgot to mention she’s already raised her rates. So her prices have gone up as well. So she connected with these, uh, potential clients. She booked 75% of those inquiries within a two week period at her new, higher price point. And we need to acknowledge that that’s before she even launched her brand.
So, wow, let’s think about how incredibly profitable and purposeful and incredible it’s gonna be for her. Once her website goes live and the full brand is out for the world to see, right? Because we design differently because we begin with strategy. That is where we’re able to make this magic happen. So my client, within a two week period, before we even launched her brand and her website, we were able to see her not only make her investment back. So what she invested in my services to hire me. She made that back and then some, she made thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars and profit because of the work that we do. So friend, I’m honored to say that success stories like this wins, like this are, are the norm for my clients, because I have created a process. That’s different, a process that goes deeper and a process that allows them to have these brands that are purposeful and profitable while still being aesthetically pleasing.
This is where the magic happens. And so I wanna say to you that if you are not experiencing that kind of growth, if you are not seeing an increase in your prices, let’s say you’re feeling like, oh, I don’t know if I can raise my Price’s body because I don’t feel like my brand looks that professional or looks that high end, right? That’s, that’s a sign for growth to me. If you are finding that you’re not receiving consistent inquiries, or you are receiving consistent inquiries, but you’re not booking those clients. So they’re not a good fit. They’re not able to, uh, afford you. Right. That tells me that there’s an opportunity there, right? If we’re looking at your brand and it’s just now doing that heavy lifting for you friend, I want, I want something better for you. And whether that means you get in touch with me and we chat about it and we put our heads together to create your most profitable and purposeful brand yet.
Amazing. If that means you’re going to someone else amazing. I want you to take that action because I see how life changing it is for my clients. When they experience this kind of growth as a direct result of working together over the 10 years that I’ve been doing this, I have dozens and dozens and dozens of success stories like this case studies from my past clients where their businesses not only changed, but their lives changed because they had a brand that increased their confidence that gave them a new sense of clarity that positioned them like an expert. So it attracted the attention of their ideal clients and it gave them the ability to easily generate those high end rates for their services, because they looked the part and their own experience when it came to the delivery, backed it up. So with that being said, I wanna encourage you to think about what your life could look like.
If you have a brand that is generating the kind of revenue that you want, what could your life look like to have the kind of brand that’s generating your ideal client inquiries? So when you’re connecting with a potential client, they’re the kind of person you wanna work with. They’re the kind of person who values your services. Who’s excited to get to connect with you, who is appreciative at the opportunity to have you as the expert that you are help them throughout that project. Right? What could that free up for you? What kind of expansiveness could that create for you where maybe you’re able to take on fewer clients a month or a year because you’re charging a more premium price. And so that means that you are able to, I don’t know, have hobbies, take your kids on a vacation, spend time with your partner, um, do whatever it is that you wanna do.
Maybe you’re able to grow a team because you have this incredible volume of dream clients coming through. You’re booking at higher prices than you ever have before. And you’re like, let’s scale this business so that we can help more people through the work that we do. And I can build a small but mighty or maybe a massive team along the way. And I can support them through this brand that we’ve created. And I mean, we could go on and on and on about all the different scenarios and all the different ways that your brand can be this catalyst of change, not just for your business, but also for your life. And I, as you’re thinking through that, I want to encourage you to think about how you can get started, right? Because if we’re honest, the longer that you live with a brand that is only pretty to look at, but is not purposefully designed.
The more revenue you are losing month by month, the more opportunity to connect with your ideal clients, right? Those relationships. It’s like they’re slipping through your fingers time and time again. So I, and yes, I have to acknowledge that. I, I feel this way because of the decade that I’ve spent in this industry. But friend, I’m saying this because I want for you to have that kind of growth. And I want for you to not waste another week, another month, another quarter missing out on the opportunity to connect with the people who are out there, who need your work. Because if your brand is some best kept secret, that’s doing nobody, any favors. That’s not serving you. And that’s not serving your client when your brand is visible, when your brand is purposeful. And when your brand is profitable, that is serving you, that’s serving your clients and that’s helping you have a positive impact in the world.
Because when you were doing the work that you love, when you are being compensated appropriately for that work, and when you are helping people through the work that you do, whether you are a designer or a photographer, or a wedding planner, or a calligrapher, or a floral designer or a coach, right, no matter what you do, your work matters, it has impact. And that’s why I’m so fired up today, talking about this incredible, uh, amount of success that my client Jay experienced in just two weeks, because those are new couples that she might not have connected with, that are working with her. Now, those are couples that she is gonna be able to show up and capture their wedding memories, those moments that, that joy for them on their wedding day and because of how incredible she is and how dynamic she is. I know that on those wedding days, she is gonna be making such an impression on her couple’s families and their wedding party.
And I know that those clients that she booked, they’re gonna generate more clients for her. And that has this beautiful ripple effect, where when your brand is doing what it’s supposed to, it’s giving you that direction. And it’s inspiring that level of connection. It’s creating this opportunity for you to not only serve your current clients, but all the future clients that are gonna come your way because of those word of mouth opportunities. So when I think about that, I get excited and I know I sound like such a branding nerd right now, but I don’t care because this is powerful stuff. You’re not only when you’re visible and you’re showing up in this way and your brand is doing this heavy lifting for you. You’re not only, you know, seeing your bank account grow as it should, but you’re seeing yourself create connection with people who need your work and you are having an impact in their lives and the lives of those they connect with.
And I get excited for you when I think about that. So friend, if you have been tuning in today, and you’re a little unsure of how your brand is actually showing up for you, what it’s actually doing, what kind of heavy lifting it may or may not be doing, and you need a little opportunity to assess. I’ve actually created a free quiz. It takes like three to five minutes at most for you to walk through so that you can figure out where your brand currently stands and what the right next steps are for you to achieve your business goals. So if you want to be commanding high end rates, connecting consistently with your ideal clients and positioning yourself as the go-to expert in your industry. Um, but you’re not quite there yet. Uh, come take this quiz. It’s gonna show you the exact steps that I recommend taking so that you will be able to move in that direction with clarity and nix, that trial and error.
So, uh, of course this link will be in the today’s show notes, but if you go to BS for Bonnie design.com/expert-brand-quiz, again, BS for Bonnie design.com/expert-brand-quiz, you can walk through this self-assessment and see exactly where there are opportunities for growth. And if you’ve been tuning in today and you’re like, Bonnie, I don’t even need to take the quiz. I know that I need help. And you want to connect with me and you wanna learn more about what it could look like to work together, to create your purposeful and profitable brand so that we can celebrate wins, like what I shared and what Jay is currently experiencing in your business. Then I would love to connect with you. You can go to BS for Bonnie design.com/contact, and actually fill out that form. And I will be in touch with you the way that it works is with every potential branding client.
We hop on a completely complimentary call, where I learn more about you, your business, your goals, and we explore what kind of solution I might be able to offer so that we can pursue what is gonna serve you best. And as always friend, I’m grateful for you tuning in today. And I cannot wait to be cheering you on. As you just continue to grow your brand with such intention. I could talk about this all day long, not only because I’ve got, you know, 10 years experience in this industry, but because I see how much potential this kind of growth has to change your life for the better and to change your business for the better. And I believe that when we, as entrepreneurs have businesses that are profitable, that are purposeful, that are consistently connecting with the folks out there that need our work.
The most, it is such an accessible way for us to have an impact. It is such an accessible way for us to create the kind of change that we want to see in our communities, whether that’s locally or virtually or abroad. And so all that being said, friend, there’s just so much good that exists out there, and there’s so much good and growth and possibility that you can experience. And I can’t wait to connect with you if you want to get in touch and learn more about working together through my signature, done for you brand design and strategy services, feel free to get in touch. If you have a question about what we’ve talked about today, you can always find me on Instagram at Bonnie joy Murray, send me a DM and we will chat. And of course, if that quiz, that self-assessment is something that you’re curious about, that you wanna dive deeper into. Uh, you can always go to brand strategy, podcast.com, click on the latest episode link. And you’re gonna find all of the links to what we talked about today. Plus a recap of our biggest talking points and a full transcript. So that’s waiting for you there, friend. Thanks again for tuning in and as always, I’m cheering you on from Waco.
Thank you so much for joining me today. Friends, before you go, I would be so grateful to receive your feedback on the brand strategy podcast. If you enjoyed this episode or the podcast in general has helped you grow your brand. I’d really appreciate it. If you left us a review in iTunes, your positive reviews enable the brand strategy podcast to continue to grow and reach like-minded creatives. Just like you. Thank you for all your support and encouragement as together. We pursue building brands with purpose and intention until next time I’m cheering you on from Waco.
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