The Four Brand Essentials for your Creative Side Hustle

1. Intro: Hey guys. You may or may not know me by now. If you don't, my name is Hayley. I'm a brand strategists and designer, and I help creative professionals just like you to craft brands that you love and that you're proud of. Many of you are looking to go off on your own and make money. Whether you happen to be an artist or a filmmaker, or even a graphic designer like me, you must be branded. If you can brand yourself, you can sell yourself and make money while doing what you love. After all, we only have one life and we have to work. So we might as well choose to make money creating our art. It's the only way to go. I didn't always start off by working for myself either and building these great brands. I started right out of college, at CBS, doing news graphics. It was a good job for a little while, but I started to slowly feel robbed of my life. I finally broke away from the nine to five to do something that would set my soul on fire. I knew I deeply loved branding and that I could find great meaning in helping my clients solve their branding problems. I loved that I could bring out the depths of their soul and turn it into something as seemingly meaningless as a piece of graphic design. But we know it's not meaningless now. That brings me to where we are today. I help rebels, rule breakers and risk takers create brands that they love. Branding takes a lot of time and effort and we don't have all the time in the world today during this class. I'm going to take you through the top four things I think you must do, and you must understand when you're starting off to create your brand. The first thing I want to go through is that unique selling proposition. Then we're going to go through the target audience, the brand story, and then of course, the visual design. These top four centers will help you begin to build a brand you are proud of, no matter what kind of business you're running. Maybe you want to sell cake or even launch an apparel line. I believe this top four brand essentials will help you begin to craft a brand you love. You will also find the brand essentials worksheet attached in this class. Make sure to follow along and take some notes. You won't get a well-rounded full brand by the end of this, but you will get a great start. You will need to do some more research as you develop your brand, but this is the right direction to go in these top four brand essentials. 2. What is Branding?: The first question we have to ask is, what is branding? Of course, the most common misconception that we have, is that when you have a logo, you have a brand. I wish it was this easy, but at last, good things take time and strategy. We all know that. Branding is, how all of the parts of a company work together to create an image. Branding is, an idea, a gut feeling, and a story that lives in your customer's mind. A brand is a promise that your customer believes in. A brand, is an emotional experience that your customer has, when they interact with you on any level. Much more than just a logo design. Branding is powerful. I believe, bias, that branding is the most powerful form of design, because it involves an art and a science. Put the two together and you get branding. Great brand strategists study neuroscience, and understand how to tell powerful stories that make us resonate and buy. Let's look at a few brands. Of course, my favorite case study is Marilyn Manson. Sasha Strauss said, "Marilyn Manson is not a good singer. He is not a good guitar player. He is not a good songwriter. He has known that from the beginning, so instead of standing around and hoping people would know who he is, he decided he would create an identity for himself, and he is executed it flawlessly. He created a name, a demeanor, and created the concept of the Anti-Christ superstar. The man's name is Bryan Warner. He loves his family, and has been married in civil ceremonies. He doesn't bite the heads off of chickens." Before Marilyn Manson even wrote a song, he defined his persona, his costumes, and his brand. I think it's so interesting to look at Marilyn Manson as a brand, because that is exactly what he is, and like Sasha Strauss said, he has truly executed it flawlessly. Marilyn Manson formed his name by mashing together, Marilyn Monroe and Charles Manson. Very, very interesting, and odd. Marylin said, he was the poster boy for fear. But when you get down to it, he is just a normal person. I sometimes wonder if he wished that his persona and his brand didn't include so much stage makeup, because now he is committed to upholding a brand, wearing all of this thick makeup all of the time. Of course, Marilyn Manson is a pretty abstract brand. Typically, when we think of branding, our minds go to classic brands like Nike, Apple, and Coca-Cola, which many of us have a strong loyalty to. We'll talk a bit more about Nike in a little while. Wally Olins said, "If branding can in its strange, illogical and emotional way, encourage people to develop a close rapport with soft drinks, hamburgers, and running shoes, what will it be able to do when its power is released for genuinely significant, and worthwhile activities?" You may have heard this quote before because I say it all the time, and I love it so much. The answer to what Wally Olins is asking is that, it can do amazing, amazing things. I was recently in Nashville and I stopped by Thistle Farms. I'd heard of Thistle Farms before, and I was immediately interested. Thistle Farms supports women who have survived trafficking, prostitution, and addiction. They provide them with safe housing, and a two-year residential program where they don't have to pay for anything. They provide them with a job, and aftercare for when they leave the program, by giving them access to counseling, education and of course, financial help. Starting with the name alone, you can see that Thistle Farms has been branded. They're telling a powerful story with the entire brand, but they leave nothing untouched by the passion and the dedication they have to healing these women. The name Thistle Farms, comes from the misunderstood thistle. The only flower to grow on the streets and alleys, where these women of Thistle Farms have walked. Considered a weed by many, the thistle has a deep root that can shoot through concrete and survive. It survives drought. In spite of its prickly appearance, it's soft purple flower, and profound healing qualities, make the thistle a mysterious and gorgeous flower. The thistle has become a symbol of survival and healing, for our community, and women survivors around the globe. Every piece of the branding has been carefully executed to tell the story of Thistle Farms. From their cafe, to their packaging and everything in between. They invite us into a story, allowing the customer to feel like they're making a difference, because the truly are making a difference. Branding allows Thistle Farms to communicate the good they're doing in a concise and fast way. I argue that, if Thistle Farms was not branded, they would be doing a lot less good, because they would simply have less resources to run the business while giving back. They wouldn't be able to tell their story, and their products wouldn't be seen as high-quality as they are today. Branding can change the world, and if not the entire world, it can change a small piece of it starting with you. I want to ask you as what story are you going to tell, and what will you promise your clients and customers. You must know, that everything is branded. The reality is that you are already branded. This could be bad news for some of you. Listen, no one tries to have bad branding, but some of us truly do. There have been many times in my own life, where my brand was not as clear and concise as it should have been. We have all been there, but we should work to not stay in that space for very long. Even if you haven't gotten around to developing your USP, your brand story and refining your design, you're still branded. Your customer will always walk away with a gut feeling about your product or service, even if you haven't taken the right steps to develop your target audience and everything we're going to talk about today. They may have a negative reaction to your brand if you have not been concise and compelling. Branding of course, is a lot like first impressions. We brand and categorize people by their shoes, the band t-shirt they're wearing, the way that they talk, their hairstyles, or maybe even their tattoos. Girl, I cannot talk today. I need some more coffee. As consumers of course, we create a story in our mind about the company or the person, even if they haven't told us what the story is. We do this because we pick up on their visual elements, their tone of voice, their brand story, even if they don't have one, their customer service and of course, their product. When our minds are unguided, we create a story in our subconscious about a product or service, or even a personal brand, through visual and emotional cues. This is just a technique our brain uses to categorize and package things to better understand them in a world with a lot being thrown at us all the time. We experience brands by our initial gut feeling. A perfect quote that sums this up entirely, would be by Al Ries. He said, "Pour a bottle of Gallo into an empty 50-year-old bottle of French Burgundy. Then carefully decant the glass in front of a friend and ask for an opinion. You taste what you expect to taste." We know that perception is reality. Why do we need branding? I think I already answered that, but one, we live in an over-communicated society, and our defense is a simple mind. The only defense our brain has against this over saturation and constant stimulation, is to simplify and categorize. You and I must simplify in order to rise above the noise. Let's dig into that first brand essential. When customers can not see a reason to buy one product over the other, they will choose the least expensive if there isn't anything differentiating a group of products. If they seem to have the same value and the same quality, the cheapest product will always win. A well branded product, on the other hand, will give the customers a meaningful reason as to why they should buy your product. When you have differentiated your brand, you can then add premium prices if that's what you want to do, because people pay for what they value. For example, coffee, running shoes and cars are commodities, but Starbucks, Nike, and Mercedes-Benz are brands. The way that these companies came to be brands, was through a solid brand strategy executed by design. We must work to position brands in the mind of our customers. Positioning is defined as, the place that a brand occupies in the minds of the customers, and how it is distinguished from the products of the competitors. When I first learned the word positioning, I thought it sounded like sorcery. It was very confusing for me to understand how you could change something in someone's mind, and control the way they perceive you. I swear, it literally took a whole semester of college for me to barely understand positioning, and I'm still trying to understand it today as I learn more and more. If you are confused about what positioning means, join the club, I'm in it too, but I'm here to make it as simple and easy to understand as we can. 3. Brand Essential: USP: The first step to positioning a brand in the customer's mind is to create that unique selling proposition. That is our first brand, excuse me, essential. Your USP is a one-sentence statement that you own to differentiate your brand from competitors. The USP is your brand name plus your number one unique specialty. You may have heard about the USP before, from my other videos. Your USP is meant to be short, concise, and distinct. Creating USP requires you to be committed to one single path and a single big idea. Too many businesses claim too many unique attributes and listing all of the features of your brand can actually hurt rather than help. Our brains typically remember one thing so it's best to commit to one path. Some great brands that have committed to this single path are Thistle Farms, Tattly, and Voodoo Donuts. Thistle Farms offers a safe place for women survivors to heal and work. Tattly fake tattoos by real artists. Of course, Voodoo Donuts, the doughnut shop tourist attraction. A USP is invaluable because it sets you apart in your industry and makes your idea so clear that the manager, the customers, and the janitor can repeat it. We know that every single person at Thistle Farms knows what their USP is. A strong USP will result in more sales and competitive strength and of course, more growth in your brands. Having a USP also gives you a strong focus. The USP statement will then form all of your decisions around your entire brand. I always say that the USP is the seed and everything else that we do is a branch from that seed. So that's logo designs, your brand story, your package design, your in-store experience, everything else follows from that seed. I always teach four ways to create that USP. The first way is, finding a need and fulfilling it. An existing mutual desire. A great example of someone that's done this would be Sara Blakely from Spanx. Sara saw a need for an undergarment that would smooth out her body under her clothing, and this transformed the way women wear clothes today. Sarah's products came from fulfilling a need and solving a problem. Fulfilling a need can be hard and you also have to beat everyone to it. She was the first one to do this specific product. If you have a product that is fulfilling a need and you're the first one there, keep going, you guys are doing great. The second way to create that USP is by specializing in a category. You will take a solution that already exists and extend off that solution until you have your own unique and motivating difference. For example, my client, Joey, came to me, he wanted to create a place called the City Mountain Lodge which would be a restaurant. I was able to pitch to him, after all of our research and brand strategy, the name Wild Belly, which we chose to use. So this brand Wild Belly differentiates by category. We have our base, which is a restaurant, of course we have restaurants all around us, and then we're going to add categories on. For his restaurants categories or altruistic, intentional and non-traditional. This brand is altruistic because we're changing the way that we do business and we're creating a giving back element in the brand. It's intentional because it's all about that active meditation that comes from snowboarding and doing activities outside in the mountains. It's non-traditional because we are not going to brand Wild Belly as a typical lodge like my client wanted to do at first. We realized, through research, that wasn't the best option. So we're taking something that we see all the time restaurant, and we're adding on different categories to make it something new. Another brand that we're familiar with that differentiates by category is Lush. They sell cosmetics that are pure and handmade, and of course, socially responsible. It is important to make sure that each category you choose will be something your target audience is looking for and that they care about. The third way to differentiate is by a non-existing desire, a brand new solution. Henry Ford, the founder of Ford, said, "If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses." Henry Ford, of course, created a new solution to an old desire. In this case, the new solution happened to be a huge technological advancement that many people needed to be educated on. This approach can be revolutionary because well, most of us aren't really creating something totally new. This is Elon Musk ship, with the tunnels and the fire gun. Anyways, the fourth way to choose to differentiate or a teach differently is by experience. This would be creating a new experience for your client or customer to engage in. I love this brand called Nap York in New York City. It's a 24-hour facility in Manhattan that lets people drop in and sleep in pods for naps; from a 30-minute power nap, to longer sleep session for travelers. The experience is made complete, of course, by the dark paint on the walls and the curtains keeping the space calming and dark, along with the plants, and of course those half-moon chairs you can lounge in after you nap while you drink your tea. They also offer healthy foods like juices and of course, a really cool meditation space. Without a clear and concise message that differentiates your brand, people will lose focus and opt for cheaper versions of your product or service. You must reinforce your difference with every contact you make with your customers, and your brand experience should always reflect that USP. You want your customers to have a certain brand experience, service, and products that they only get from you. Another great example is Build-A-Bear where kids can build a bear, stuff it and pick out bear clothes, and even put a heart inside of it. That is a great example of differentiating by experience. They're offering an experience, of course, because we can get a teddy bear at any grocery store or regular store, but you can't build one just anywhere. Once you have that USP that truly differentiates you, you must make sure that you live up to that USP, and deliver on it each and every day through all that you do. If you do not deliver on your USP and your promise, your customers will lose trust, and that will be very bad for branding. Imagine if Marilyn Manson started singing slow, sappy love songs. We would think of him differently. Imagine if he stopped wearing his stage makeup at all times. We would think of him differently and his promise wouldn't uphold anymore. Don't be afraid that you will lose business from nailing down a strong and concise difference. When you design for such a broad audience, you truly design for no one. When you have nothing special to offer to your target market, they will pass by uninterested. Your USP may take you a long time to develop. For most of us, we aren't doing anything extremely different. So it's also important to take your time when developing that USP, because it will shape everything that you do, every future decision that you have. If you take away anything from me at all, through all of my videos, develop that USP and make it compelling and powerful. 4. Brand Essential: Target Audience: All right guys, this brings us to our brand essential number 2, which is target audience. Finding your target audience is monumental for your brand's success. It first, it may seem that the best way to get the most customers is to appeal to the masses. We know now that this strategy is a faulty one will not gain a strong following by being agreeable with everyone. Having a specific target audience is effective girl, I cannot talk again and will allow you to focus your message and design to one small group in order to differentiate. Of course, like I always say, get more money honey, having a specific target audience will allow you to one, gain clarity. Let me tell you, it can be so stressful when you do not have a specific target audience you are trying to connect with. You may feel scattered and distracted most of the time internally when you're working to create something for them and you may be unsure where to focus your efforts. It is important to gain clarity, to sell to your target audience, to create copy, to develop a brand strategy and of course, create beautiful design that speaks to them on a compelling level. Having a target audience allows you to, create powerful messaging when you know your target audience and their pain points and everything about them, you can craft your messaging, your brand story, and your differentiation to fit them like a glove. This will work in your favor to grow your brand, allowing it to spread like wildfire. Everything you and I love has been crafted to fit our goals, our interests, our humor, and of course, our passions. Think about your favorite TV show, clothing, brand, or artists. They've all been crafted to fit you and it is no coincidence that you like what you like. Sadly, sometimes this can make us seem a little bit less like individuals, but a lot of the brands we choose to interact with them that we love has been made to cater to our personality, our income levels, and of course, our aspirations. Having a specific target, La, la, la, la, la audience allows you to three use design. Design as a tool used to target specific people. I love using Jeffrey Star as an example, he's clearly targeting a specific person. I always ask, do you think Jeffrey Star is targeting the quiet girl who wants a light shade of pink lipstick for her wedding? I do not think so. He is targeting the person that wants to go to the club tonight with that bright blue eye shadow baby and that grill. I think that's a grow. We definitely see who Jeffrey Star's target audience is by the way, he talks, by the ways websites designed, his logo, his promotional materials, and of course, his brand packaging. Jeffrey Star has an agenda, just like every great brand should. His agenda is to find his audience and target them with laser sharp focus in order to grow the brand and to make more money. You can see this in every big brand, whether the brand has to be a person like Jeffrey star or Marilyn Manson or maybe Patagonia, Budweiser, Target, Apple, Nike, Adobe, you name it. Take a look at the way different brands are using designed to communicate. I think the best question to ask yourself as you're starting off as a creative is, who do I want to work with? Many businesses are just trying to grab anyone that comes along and when I ask these businesses who they want to work with, oftentimes they are stuffed. Knowing who you want to work with is so important. We know who you want to work with. You can mix purpose and business with your brand. Nothing is more sustainable than loving what you're doing and loving the person you are targeting while being passionate and serving others. Make sure choose a target audience that wants what you're offering. You must know that your target audience needs your product or service as well. For example, with my Hospitality Branding Company Romeo, which you can find at Romeo branding.com. I know I want to work with creative chef-owned restaurants. While I know I want to work with chef-owned restaurants, it is important to expand on this and to get a bit more specific. What kind of chefs do I want to work with? When I research more about the chefs in my area, I see that most of them have an established career and own a few different restaurants already. From research, I know that I'm targeting chefs-own, three to five restaurants and are looking to expand. This is a great progress, of course but what else can we add, perhaps the style of the restaurant that the chefs are creating, the food, the pricing. In general, these restaurants are rated as relatively expensive, which would be $3 on Yelp and involve an experience. They're also creative and evolve to meet the needs of their guest, whether that be a trendy lounge setting or a sit-down restaurant experience. We know now that my restaurant company, Romeo, is going after, chefs that own three to five restaurants currently and they're creating an artistic experience and they're also rate it as three money signs on Yelp. This allows us to define the target audience on a deeper level. This is just the starting point for you guys to get more specific as you did your research. A good question people ask me all the time is how do I find my target audience? Great ways to learn about your target audience is by attending events, joining Facebook groups where your audience hangs out, looking at forums where your audience's active and of course, finding reviews on similar products and case studies. The most important thing you can possibly do though, is just talk to your target audience. Take some time to talk to your target audience and get to know them on a deeper level. The next question to ask yourself about your target audiences. Who needs my product or service? Ask yourself who needs your product or service and get clear on who you are serving. You also want to ask yourself, what are my customers pain points. A pain point is a problem real or perceived and entrepreneurs create opportunity for themselves by providing solutions to pain points. What pain point are you solving for your target audience? You must find your customer's pain points that you can start addressing that pain point while giving a compelling solution, you may be able to use your customer's pain point as a way to articulate your solution to them. Either way, knowing your client on a deeper level is very important when you are beginning to create a brand. As must know that all good brands solve a problem whether that the problem be conceptual or physical, like some sort of product we need to solve that problem. All the brands that we use or solving a problem. When you know what your clients and customers pain points are, you're at better understanding of what you can offer to them and how you can solve their problems. 5. Brand Essential: Brand Story: All right guys, so that third brand essential is to have a brand story. After you have your USP finalized and you have your target audience research done, you've accomplished more than 90 percent, I made up this number, of businesses out there. Now you can finally work on creating that brand story. The king died and then the queen died is a plot. The king died and the queen died of grief is a story. A brand story is an emotional narrative that opens up an opportunity for your customers to resonate with your brand. A brand story is more than what you tell your audience. The story is made complete when your brand elements, your tone, your color palette, your in-store experiences, and even that USP reflects that brand story and conveys it in a powerful way. Have a story that makes your audience care about you. Without a compelling story, you are just another nameless company asking for someone's money. In a million miles in a 1000 years, Donald Miller wrote, "If you watched a movie about a guy who wanted a Volvo and worked for years to get it. You wouldn't cry at the end when he drove off the lot testing the windshield wipers. You wouldn't tell your friends you had seen a beautiful movie or go home and put a record on, think about the story you've just seen. The truth is you wouldn't remember that movie a week later except you'd feel robbed and want your money back. Nobody cries at the end of a movie about a guy who wants a Volvo." A compelling brand story allows your brand to stand for something bigger. A brand story brings meaning, clarity, and success for your business. In branding, we work to create a perception and an emotional connection with our clients and customers. It turns out that a brand story is a huge piece to this puzzle. A compelling story is so important. People buy your story and sometimes your story is your selling point. Story is so powerful because it ties into how humans have been wired for centuries across all different cultures. Humans create stories to give our lives meaning. We've been telling stories even before we had the invention of writing them down. We are storytellers at our core and we resonate with powerful and meaningful narratives. A brand story will allow you to create an ongoing narrative and an emotion in your customer. Some people believe that story is actually what kept our ancestors alive. The premise here, is that our brains are rewired to remember narrative over facts. Instead of just using facts, story uses both facts and emotion to make a larger impact. For example, a fact would be, "There is an animal near that tree, so don't go over there." A story would be, "My cousin was eaten by a malicious, scary creature that lurks around that tree, so don't go over there." Which example makes you want to stay away from the tree a bit more? Of course, the one that's about your cousin being eaten. A brand story is vastly important in connecting your customers to your brand. Brand storytelling is not a long essay that features all the boring facts about your business. Your brand story instead includes the reason why your company came to be, what you believe in, and it is a powerful concept that displays your differentiation. I teach three ways to create a brand story. I teach that through either concepts, manifesto, or by narrative. The first way, of course is by concept. There are many, many brands with amazing brand stories, but one of my favorite brand stories is the one that Nike tells. Their brand story, of course stands the test of time and they're always changing up the way that they tell their story. They have been utilizing the power of storytelling for decades. Take a look at this ad by Janet Champ and Charlotte Moore for Nike in the 90s. "Yes, this is a goddess, but you aren't a goddess, and you aren't ever going to be a goddess so maybe you should get used to it. You'll never be perfect and you're not worshiped and does this matter? No. Goddesses are worshiped because they aren't real and they aren't us, and they aren't allowed to complain. Goddesses are worshiped even though (and this is important) they are really stone and plaster and, more often than not, really dead. And yes, they will never grow old and they will never grow up and they will stay that way. This however, is not the way you will stay. Because someday, since you are human, you will notice that time has passed and you are not who you were 20 years ago or ten years ago, or even last week. Someday, since you are human, you will notice your body has changed and your face has changed, and your kneecaps look more like Winston Churchill than ever before. Do not be alarmed because someday since you are human, you will decide it is time to take those long walks and run down those streets, and push and bend and move your body in ways you never thought possible. And it may be harder than you think and you will get tired and kind of cranky and you may want to stop, but you won't. And as you move, you will learn to rejoice in your body because it is yours and no one else's. You will learn to rejoice in being imperfect because perfect is such a complete and utter bore. You will learn to rejoice in your kneecaps because they are your kneecaps and they have seen the world and the Goddesses from some high and chilly mountain top will be jealous of you. Let them. They are stone. You are flesh. They have pedestals. You just kicked the hell out of yours. They can't move, but you can. Just do it." These ads were defining what it was like to be a woman in the 90s. Nike knew that they needed a powerful story for women, and they knew they needed a strong voice for women to identify and resonate with. Up until this time, advertisements for Nike had been focusing primarily on male athletes. Champ and Moore really brought out a strong and empowering narrative to this brand campaign. The copywriters and designers for this project made something meaningful. It isn't enough anymore to have a cool logo design. You must work to bring in the emotion of your brand and to create a powerful brand narrative. Your brand story is a tool to help your customers perceive you in the way you want to be perceived. Overall, Nike's brand story is about the hero in each of us. Nike is all about the fight to do what we should do. You can see their brand story coming through all of their touchpoints and especially their slogan, Just Do It. Nike has an overall strong brand story, but their smaller stories could fit into their larger brand story as well. For example, in the ad I just shared with you guys about the Goddess, Nike's telling a story specifically about women but it's still ties in to that just do it, that good versus evil, that fight inside of each of us. Poor brand story that they are always telling. For example, this excerpt, "And it may be harder than you think and you will get tired and kind of cranky and you may want to stop, but you won't." This of course, is the same brand story that Nike is always telling us. The just do it, good versus evil, the fight and the struggle, and winning and persevering. That brings us to the second way that I teach about brand story, which is through a manifesto. I really love manifestos because they're so powerful sounding. They're typically the no bullshit policy that a brand stands for. Wikipedia defines a manifesto as, "A published declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer." Let's look at the manifesto I created for Wildbelly, the brand I talked about a few lessons back. "Wildbelly believes life is best, lived intentionally. We know there is freedom and risk, reckless abandon, kindness, and compassion. To us, the world is a sanctuary for everyone to call home. This notion can be experienced in the powder days, campfire nights, belly laughs and those friends you love so damn much it hurts. For Wildbelly the only way is forward; which includes sacrificing for others, and standing up for what we know to be true. While some are hoping for a revival, we are living one. Come get wild with us." This manifesto ties into what the audience persona believes in and the lifestyle they aspire to have. We know a lot about the target audience and that allows us to take their lifestyle and to create a powerful story that appeals to them and ultimately creates brand loyalty. The third way I teach to develop a brand story is through narrative. You want to make sure that you have a really special narrative to share and not a boring narrative of how your company came to be and all the things that you went through. This seems to be powerful and it's not for every brand. A great example of a narrative brand story would be about the journey of the founder of Charity: Water had to take to get to where he is today and to how he started Charity: Water. Here is the narrative. "At 28 years old, Scott Harrison had it all. A top nightclub promoter in New York City, his life was an endless cycle of drugs, booze, models-repeat. But ten years in, and desperately unhappy and morally bankrupt, he asked himself, "What would the exact opposite of my life look like?" Walking away from everything, Harrison spent the next 16 months on a hospital ship in West Africa and discovered his true calling. In 2006 with no money and less than no experience, Harrison founded Charity: Water." Today his organization has raised over $300 million to bring clean drinking water to more than 9.5 million people around the globe. If you choose to go with a narrative brand story, like I said, you must make sure that your brand story, your narrative, is compelling enough to share. As you now know, there are many different ways to create a brand story. The three that we broke down, were the concept, the manifesto, and the narrative. It is totally up to you guys to decide which format you want to take it to. Just remember that you need to be compelling with whatever story you decide to tell. Your story can start in all different ways. Usually a brand story is sparked by deep and meaningful encounter or outlook on life. What we are looking for in a story is compelling value that you want to share. Something that awakens your customers' emotions. A brand story can help your customers and clients resonate with your brand. Good brands know this and they know that story sells. Your brand story should always be genuine and remember, it's okay, it's sometimes even beneficial to talk about your failings and your journey to get to where you are today. Your customers will gain trust by hearing you talk about your failures, of course, as well as your successes. Just like Scott from Charity: Water, he highlighted his negative lifestyle and change in order to create that powerful narrative. 6. Brand Essential: Visual Design: This brings us to our fourth brand essential, which is visual design. Now listen, there's a lot more to branding that we could fit into one class, but these steps are the most important steps I think you can take when you're starting off. Brand essential number four, of course, is my favorite because it's design. Design communicates intangible ideas in a tangible way. I loved the way graphic design, illustration, photography, and typography can speak to a target audience. Sarah Hyndman is a graphic designer who studies how fonts influence us, and found that when she gave a group of people two of the same jelly bean, and had them look at two different separate pieces of typography, one which was soft and rounded, and two, which was jagged and sharp. She found the people that were looking at the soft, rounded typography felt that the jelly bean was 17 percent more suite, where sample number two, with the jagged lines was perceived as 11 percent more sour. Sarah found a way to actually alter the way that jelly beans tasted through visual cues. Design turns strategy into visual stories and queues that speak to us on a subconscious level, this design can only be done when the brand strategy and research is there to back up your choices. Your visual design should always reflect that unique selling proposition and that brand story to effectively speak to your target audience. Brand design, the forming elements of every brand design that needs to be done to create a powerful gut feeling, of course, is the logo design, the typography, the color and the imagery, whether that imagery be illustration or photography. We've been following Wildbelly a lot through this class. Let's go back and look at Wildbelly's design in detail. We know good design is all about distilling a message down to the very basics in order to communicate, we carefully consider the soul and the manifesto of Wildbelly in order to create a compelling logo. The logo here needed to signify wildness and danger and of course, a life full of intention without being cliche. The logo also needed to appeal to the target audience. The Wildbelly logo is inspired by the black diamond you may see at ski resorts. We always take into account the target audience designing, and we knew that the audience would associate this mark with something they love and understand immediately. We knew our target audience need to resonate with this brand, and while this icon is for those familiar with the slopes, we truly believe we can add significance to this mark and make it stand for something deeper in Denver and beyond. We of course want to see people wearing this logo on t-shirts, putting the stickers on their cars and other personal items, and of course, embracing the manifesto and what the brand stands for. Though typography for Wildbelly was chosen as a mix between a san serif and a serif font. We really want to articulate the timelessness while also giving a slight nod to the 1970s. Many of our current competitors, were just using strong sans serif typefaces, and we know we needed to push this in a new direction to stand apart from the crowd, and then of course you have color. So we know that a guest may make snap judgments based off color alone, and we know that we need to create a powerful association with the colors we chose. Color, of course, can be used to create a desired mood or even increased appetite. We know from research that red and yellow are often used for fast food restaurants because it creates a sense of urgency and appetite. Whereas calming cool colors are typically used for formal restaurants, because they allow the guests to stay longer and relax. So the color we chose for Wildbelly was going to have to communicate wildness and an intentional calm. Interestingly enough, color is often related to culture and religion. The associations a guest may have with a certain color may differ from country to country. Color for Wildbelly was going to be extremely important in communicating what we want to say. We found that Dutch orange and avocado green were the best options to communicate what we wanted to say thoroughly. Orange signifies electric wildness, it's confident, it's urgent and it warns of potential danger. Through surveys, we knew that orange is historically the color of amusement in Europe and America. Orange is also associated with the unconventional warmth, energy, activity, and danger, and then green, on the other hand, is sometimes associated with envy, but it's often associated and perceived as peaceful and organic. Green symbolizes safety and permittance which really creates a strong juxtaposition to the orange we chose for Wildbelly. Green was chosen to ground the brand, and while Wildbelly is wild, we're selling the idea of an intentional calm and a presence found in nature. The way that we create a well-rounded experience is by curating everything your guest comes into contact with and guiding them to the desired perception. We use touch points to help us do this. A touch point is any point of contact between the buyer and the seller. Touch points can be anything from a: brochure, a bag design, packaging, a branded Instagram grid, a menu design, web design, booklets, posters, or even loyalty cards like this loyalty card we designed for Wildbelly. For Wildbelly, we created this loyalty card that actually looked like a ski resort pass. This loyalty card will be able to help you track your charitable elements, give you discounts on food trucks nearby, and be able to track your rewards for all the beer that you buy. This was a really cool touch point. We're always bringing home the idea and that unique selling proposition through every touch point, so of course, you don't need to worry about your touch points before you do your core elements of your brand, but you need to start thinking about your touch points after you have that logo design, that color palette, and that typography figured out. 7. Conclusion: As you can see, there is a lot that goes into branding and there's definitely a process and of course, it is never done. A brand is a living and breathing thing and it must be treated like so. Once you have your brand essentials, you're ready to start creating your brand and bringing it to life. Your brand is always transforming and everything you put out will be a reflection of your brand strategy, so make sure you are staying on top of it. Branding is a long-term investment, but you will always get back what you put in. The more time you spend on getting your brand design aligned with your strategy, the better off you will be in the crowded marketplace that we are living in. If you take away one thing from this class today, remember that you can sell anything if you brand it, and that finding your unique selling proposition will make the most difference for your brand. Remember to follow me on social media at blessedarethebad on Instagram and check out the other tools and resources I have on blessedarethebad.com. Thank you guys so much for sitting with me and please feel free to e-mail me any questions you have.