Does scrolling social leave you feeling like you need to run and grab that SUPER TRENDY [yet, oh so beautiful] font that everyone is using right now? What if I told you that you could scroll your Instagram feed without feeling like you need to make drastic changes to your brand identity? You could show up with confidence and clarity in your business without feeling like your brand doesn’t compare or that you need to jump on a new design trend, just because everyone else is! Are you ready to stop running yourself rampant on the trendy content wheel?
Here are my practical no-brainer methods for brand clarity. With these strategies, you’ll be able to have confidence in your vision and show up more consistently wherever you show up!
Use Pinterest to gather inspiration and analyze your pins to gain clarity
Have you ever spent hours on Pinterest doom-scrolling? Next thing you know you’ve decorated three nurseries for kids you don’t have, added recipes for a month’s worth of meals [that we all know you aren’t actually going to make], and built your dream house. I have a shocker for you – Pinterest isn’t just for saving your favorite recipes or planning your next DIY project. You can turn the time you spend doom scrolling on Pinterest into inspiration for creating brand clarity that you can start using today [unlike that recipe board]. I use Pinterest with all of my branding clients, this gets all the ideas flowing so that you can nail down a vision you are confident in, here is how.
Pinterest is one of my go-to methods for brand clarity. Create a Pinterest board dedicated to pining the things that you feel resonate with you and the dream brand you are trying to create.
Pro tip: You can even make this board a secret board, to be able to pin more freely.
Begin pinning images that feel in alignment with the brand you DESIRE
Some examples of brand-inspiring pins would include, images of offices, landscapes, textures, quote graphics, and brand photography. Avoid pinning mood boards, websites, or color pallets of other brands. Even if you LOVE it, we want to create a unique identity, not a reused version of someone else’s brand.
Once, you’ve stocked your Pinterest board with a library of images that resonate and feel in alignment with your vision you’ll begin to notice a common theme or pattern! You may notice that all your pins have a common style OR colors that appear in most of the images you pinned! After noticing these similarities in what you’ve pinned, note them down, and ask yourself MOST importantly what do you feel from looking at these pins, and would these feelings resonate with the clients and customers you are trying to attract?
I promise, after nailing down the feeling that you want your brand to convey, the rest of your branding will fall into place.
Stay away from following to many of those in your same industry
This may be one of my most surprising and maybe unthought-of methods for brand clarity. You stumble across a post from someone in your industry and it leaves you wondering if your current branding even compares. You’re hypnotized by their brand colors, and they use the most beautiful premium font you’ve ever seen. OR even worse, It has a completely opposing feel to your brand. If this is you, you can ditch the shiny object syndrome by not following so many of those in your industry.
Purge the content you consume – Stear away from shiny object syndrome or content that can cloud your clarity
The reality is, those in your same industry aren’t going to be your next client or customer and your social feed being inundated with their brands can dismantle the confidence and clarity you already have in your own branding.
A recent client of mine came to me at the end of a project expressing how she felt discouraged after seeing another industry leader online. She began to second guess the initial vision she had for her brand because her brand identity was very different than the way an already well-established creator was showing up. She went back to the branding guide I created for her and re-read her launch day blog post where I share the why and strategy behind design choices during the brand creation process. Because we established clear and genuine, feelings, missions, and strategies to inspire her brand, she was able to review that to regain confidence and clarity in her branding.
Be selective when following those in your industry. Don’t let the possibility of shiny object syndrome derail your confidence and clarity in your branding.
Choose 3-5 words that encompass the feelings and values of your brand
Choosing a word for the year has been trendy for many years. You can also do this for your business and it will serve the same, if not greater impact. You may choose a word for the year as a quick way to reference your larger goal day to day. You can do the same thing for your business as a guide and anchor when creating, interacting, and making decisions within your business.
Choose 3-5 Words that you can easily refer to when you feel like you are lacking clarity, or are unable to see the bigger picture
From your Pinterest board, you’ll notice those key feelings your pins have in common. Maybe your pins feel warm, spunky, and bright. You can use these pins as a starting point for brainstorming these words. If you have a mission statement for your business lean on this too. What is the point of your overall mission statement? Jot down words that resonate with the way you want your business to be represented.
Pro Tip: use Google to search for synonyms for the words that feel good but just don’t hit the mark.
You’ll end up with 3-5 words that you can use to filter all of your content through. Anytime you are unsure if your content, launch, or big business decision is in alignment with your brand and bigger vision you can ask yourself does this feel in alignment with my 3-5 words?
My 3-5 words are “Raw, Charismatic, Momentum, Inspiring”. I use these as a guide for creating content, making decisions in my business, and staying in alignment with the direction I am driving my business.
Using these methods for brand clarity will allow you to ditch the overwhelm, and show up with more confidence and consistency. If this was helpful I can help you can even take this a step further. We can transform your newfound clarity into a beautiful brand through hand-picked typography, colors, and logo design. If this sounds interesting to you, you can send me a message or book a discovery call with me. Right now I am taking Clients for April – June this year. I have a limited number of spots for Branding + Web Design Packages. So if you are ready, book now, and if you are curious, let’s chat before I am booked out.