DBP-114
HHaylee GaffinFeb 16, 2024 at 1:33 pm29min
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00:05Christi Johnson
Hello, everyone. Welcome back to the dream biz podcast. This is the podcast where we help you automate, streamline and grow your business so that you can work less, make more money and achieve your full potential. I'm all about making you able to do your things that you love the most, and not worry about the rest. I love bringing experts on occasionally from time to time to help fill in the gaps of the knowledge that I do not know and defer to the expert judgment. And I am super duper excited to have our guest today. And before I introduce our guests, I just want to introduce myself in case this is your first time ever listening to the dream biz podcast. I am your host, Christy Johnson, I am an online business manager, and I'm dedicated to helping you make your dream is a reality without overwhelm. And without stress. You can learn more about that at Kristi Johnson creative.com. And since it's all about making your dream biz a reality, it's fitting that this is called the dream biz podcast. And today on the dream biz Podcast. I'm very, very excited to have Sandra Chow. And I am going to let Sandra introduce herself. Sandra. Welcome. Thank you so much for being here.
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01:19Speaker 1
Now, thank you so much, Christine, for having me. So basically, I am a stylist and a creative director at Sandra designs, which is a visual content development studio, based in Sydney, Australia. I'm also the founder of school of visual branding, which specializes in teaching creative entrepreneurs, how to create brands that connect and sell through consistent and elevated visuals. I
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01:40Christi Johnson
love it. I love that so much you are speaking my language, because I love all about connecting. And I love converting we want to get those clients. So I know that as creatives, we can feel like we're really good at putting like visuals together because we're creative, we can do that. And so I but sometimes it gets really like overwhelming and the actual, like, how do I actually make this happen? Or the details of how do I craft my brand in a way that is going to be recognizable to people, be accessible, be like representing my mission and all of those things. And also, I think it's really important as well, that we know what to do. And it's easy, because branding can be something that we talked about all day long. And if we don't actually know how to do it, or what to do it, then it can be overwhelming and difficult to put those pieces together into an actual tangible process. So I would love for you to go a little bit more in depth if you wouldn't mind about what you actually do with your clients and how you help them achieve results. Can you talk a little bit more about your work with your clients? And then we'll talk to the audience about how to create their visual brand and all those good things that you have for us? Yeah,
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03:02Speaker 1
sure. So basically, with my clients, one of the main things that we do at the studio is designing and strategizing photoshoots for our clients and helping them create mainly photos, but also videos to use for their Instagram, their website, their socials, essentially to sell their offering and their products. I work with a lot of lifestyle brands. Now in the past, we worked with a lot with creative businesses, so like calligraphers, florists, and all the things to put on their brand shoots. And one of the main things that and I think the easiest way to sort of look at it, and in sort of the most simplest way is I always like to ask my clients like, what are like three adjectives that you would use to describe your brand. But when I say describe your brand, it's more thinking about when someone comes to your brand or sees your product, whether it's on Instagram or your website or Pinterest, wherever, how do you want them to feel and describe that kind of feeling. And I like to use those words to anchor a brand. So let's say for example, if someone said their brand is, you know, high end, it's minimal. It's quiet. Those kinds of adjectives would inform how they create their visuals, how they create their photos, the style, essentially of their brand. So on the flip side, if you're if they told me their brand was really happy, joyful and vibrant, automatically, you can already in your mind now see two very different brands, even if they're doing the same thing or selling the same thing or offering the same thing. So I like to always ask them to find really three simple adjectives to anchor their brand through and whenever they're putting together like a photoshoot or even if they're just, you know, taking a few photos on their iPhone of their product or their work for you know, Instagram something, you know, those kind of daily things. Always to ask yourself, do a little bit of a gut check. Hey, you know, those photos that I just put together? That photo that I want to post on Instagram? Is it high end? Does it feel quiet? Is it minimal, and if it's yes, then most likely it is very on brand and kind of cohesive with everything else that you're putting out there. If it's not, or in your gut, you know, you can usually sort of tell like, oh, actually, it doesn't really feel like that it actually feels a bit more, a little bit more cluttered than maybe it's not the right photo. So it's those little simple gut checks, I find that can really help you create that kind of visual brand, that cohesive visual brand that builds a kind of know like, and trust, that gets people to connect with you, that sort of resonates with the right people. Because if, say, for example, you're a calligrapher and you want to work at luxury events, you know, do a lot of brand activation, or your style of designing wedding invitations, is very, that kind of fine art minimal, very luxurious style than the way that you present your brand and put whatever you put out there, you want to reach those people who are going to pay those prices that are wanting that kind of fine art wedding that are going to invest in styling. So you want to make sure that it communicates that represents that. So I'm really all about when you're thinking about your visuals, approaching the bits more strategically in the simplest kind of way, but thinking about using them to communicate and to talk to the right clients and customers that you want to be reaching. Using those kind of visual elements, whether it's your you know, your overall branding, or then all the way down to how you present yourself on Instagram, if that's where you spend most of your time. And then you know, if someone finds you on Instagram, and they're looking at your website, is all of that kind of bolster that follows through. So I always like to use those three adjectives as that kind of gut check all across the brand to create that cohesive, recognizable brand that people kind of see and know like, oh, okay, that's Christie.
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06:44Christi Johnson
Yeah. And we all want that feeling of when someone sees our content, they think, Oh, I know who that is. And that's where the visual branding is such a huge, you know, part of it, like I'm sure we could all think of in our minds like Starbucks screen, or target rat, or whatever. I don't know, I just went to like, corporate big names. But you know, it's Christmas, red and green. So maybe that's swirling around in my brain right now. But I love that so much. And that's such a simple way to be able to feel like does this photo? Or is this shoot going to match what it is that I want to communicate to my clients, and they can help you in the planning process with your photographer as well, to find a photographer that is going to match and align with your brand, like having those things and being able to fully describe those things to the person that you're working with? Because I think a lot of times, you know, we might work with a photographer and think, oh, they have beautiful photos, I like their photos, their style is really great. And that's great. But the question is, will they represent my brand, and you're not going to know that if you don't know what your brand represents, and what kind of people that you want to be speaking to, I would love to go a little bit more into how you can kind of figure out those additives for yourself. And I would love to just hear you explain a little bit more about that. Before we get there. I know I'm long winded. Thank you so much for your patience. One of the things that I do as a systems and operations and liat journey expert is I'm always making sure that we are communicating to your clients in language that they are going to understand. So if you're calling your, your product, or you're offering a super secret thing that is like some industry jargon, and your client doesn't know they're going to be confused, because you're creating confusion on your brand. If they land on your website, and they don't know what you do, and how to get in touch with you and how it will make their life easier in three seconds, they're gonna click off somewhere else. And I know that the words are a big part of it. And so that's why I love working with my clients to help them with the words and the customer journey and the user experience and all that stuff. But even a bigger part of that, I think, is the visuals. So we need both words and visuals because we need people to be drawn in with the words but attracted with the visuals. So what are some ways that you think someone could start to figure out those three adjectives or to figure out because you know, what type of clients they want to attract with their images? And like what is really going to represent their brand, not just them and like what they like, because that's a pretty photo and that's what I think I would like, but like their brand of like speaking to their their ideal clients. Does that make sense?
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09:52Speaker 1
Yeah, absolutely. And I think a whole a big part of it is all about storytelling, right? Storytelling for your brand, and that's kind of the way to one standout. Let's be honest, it's a little bit saturated these days. So if you're able to stand out with your visuals that goes a long way. And personally for me, because I think, you know, when we think of like platforms like Instagram, for example, I like to use it to build connections. So it's really more about building those kind of relationships. And the way to do that is really through storytelling and making it a little bit more personal for you. So you know, if we look at the example of a calligrapher because we're talking about a calligrapher before, your Calligraphy is always going to be different to somebody else's, you know, your story, how you came about to doing calligraphy, or the kind of people you want to work with, that's always going to be different. So there's no one calligrapher that's exactly the same. So I think in order to think about ways to stand out, it's really about sharing that kind of story and that kind of journey as well to through your visuals. And your process is going to be different your tools, all of those visual elements, that sometimes you don't really think about putting out there, those are always going to be different, like your studio is different, your workspace is different. And that's why I like to, you know, thinking about creating visuals, like photos and videos, for example, that really helped people, you know, stop in their tracks, and then read what you have to say like what you were saying with the copy, Christie is thinking about all those elements that you already have that form your style that you don't necessarily think to put out there, a simple snap of your workspace or you a simple video of you, you know, writing and maybe designing an invitation or practicing your calligraphy, writing a place card, or you know, even scripting on like a perfume bottle, all of those kinds of things, that whatever you use for that you're setting for that the environment for it is already going to be different. So you putting it out there already makes it feel like you it already is on brand and that sort of sense. And when we're thinking about like those three adjectives that you were asking about Christy, I just like to one, create a very simple mood board, on Pinterest, you sort of generally have that kind of idea of those adjectives for your brand, like you generally know, like whether your brand is kind of loud, or if it's more quiet, or whether you wants to be more luxury, or maybe more laid back, you know, or whether it's more minimal, or whether it's more, you know, overflowing with items, things like that. So when you put together a Pinterest board, I always like to find, you know, photos that aren't really very specific of that thing. So I wouldn't if I was a calligrapher, I wouldn't be looking for calligraphy photos, I might be looking for photos of spaces or textures that kind of give off that mood, and curate a very small mood born. And then think back to your adjectives again, and ask like, Okay, does this actually feel right, and sometimes the adjectives change, or perhaps the photos change a little bit, and it becomes a little bit more high level and curated. And you'll find that it's something that's really great to just have on reference, that when you're maybe putting together a graphic or something, or putting together a brand guide, or a PDF, or something that you know, for an event or, you know, a price guide to send that to a client, you can always do those kinds of again, those gut checks, looking back at your mood board, like Oh, does that kind of feel like that mood board? Does it kind of represent that visually. And just like I always just like to do those little gut checks, I think to make it sort of that simple in the simplest way possible to ask yourself, whether you're always showing up consistently. And in that kind of manner that really speaks to your brand, or does it feel like me, an example would be like, an, let's just say reels, for example. You know, these days, a lot of people think you kind of got to do something cool, or you got to show up and maybe you know, create something amazing and point and dance or whatever, and let you know, all the different fonts and things sort of come up and the words, but sometimes, like for me, if I started showing up like that, I know my audience would be like, Oh, what's Sandra doing? That doesn't really feel like Sandra. And deep down, I know, when I put it out, they'll be like, Oh, okay, I kind of want to delete that. And those little things already tell me like, okay, that probably means it's not on brand, and it's not going to speak to the people I want to speak to. So let's take it off. Let's not let's try and put something that's a little bit feels more like me. So I'll put on a behind the scenes footage video from a shoot of mine. Without all the bells and whistles. It's like a literal, you know, behind the scenes, pop some music on and then probably what I want to say and then that's enough because and that would speak more to my audience and connect more with my audience.
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