Marketing

8 Important Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Web Designer/Developer

I have always been intrinsically drawn to the beauty and freedom in artistic expression. Over time, that artistic expression has evolved to embrace the evolution and influence of technology, and it has taken my career down paths I never thought possible. When I was dreaming up my place in the world, I never imagined that my art would consist of HTML code, responsive design, CMS platforms, etc. In 2008, I took an evening class at University of the Arts in Philadelphia that went over basic CSS and HTML. I was hooked. I loved the idea of creating interactive visuals that could grow and change over time. What I didn’t realize is how rapidly the changes would occur—making the possibilities almost endless. After 10+ years of experience working on websites, I have ascribed a particular set of steps and preferences that I implement when working on a site. Much like the possibilities of any medium, a website will look and feel different depending on who created it. That said, I’d like to share with you a few key questions that will help you find the right web designer/developer for your next project.

What platform will you be working within? What are the benefits and limitations within that platform? Nowadays, anyone can design a website using the page building tools that are available. From WordPress to Wix, or Squarespace to Shopify—there are so many options available. Some of these tools are seriously awesome, while others can potentially cause long-term issues. No two are created equal, so depending on your product, service, or industry, you’ll want to work with someone who can help guide you and recommend the platforms and page-building tools that make the most sense for your unique needs. Before you begin any project, ask your potential web designer/developer what platforms they are experienced in. Share your website functionality and technical requirements with them, so they can suggest an appropriate platform. And listen for a clear explanation of how they have arrived at choosing their preferred platform for your site.
Do they have branding experience? If you are not a designer yourself, I highly recommend that you work with a web designer with some branding experience or a brand expert on their team. When you’re investing in a marketing tool for your business, it needs to represent your brand aesthetic. This means that it represents your brand voice and is cohesive with the rest of your marketing material. If you already have a style guide, you can pass that off to your web designer. If not, I recommend working with your web designer to start the project with a mood board to indicate color, fonts, photography, and illustration. In the absence of a style guide, this will provide the foundational look and feel for your project.
What does their process or methodology look like? Websites should not be created in a vacuum. Your site should reflect your business, and in order to do that, your web designer/developer will need to become very familiar with the work you are doing. This means that there should be multiple touchpoints, thoughtful conversations, in-depth collaboration, proactive communication, deadlines that are delivered upfront, and so much more. If your web designer can’t share with you their process, or doesn’t include this in the original agreement, then my advice is simple … run for the hills. Likewise, you should prepare yourself to commit and stick to a schedule to ensure your goals are met.
What type of SEO implementation is included with the package? When it comes to your web content—imagery, copy, and user experience—each element should be looked at through the lens of an SEO strategy. Your designer should have a base level SEO package built into your web design package. Ask them to explain what this looks like. Listen carefully … high quality, relevant content is the key driver to successful Search Engine Optimization. SEO implementation should continue after the site is launched and when new content is added to the site. Ask them how you can best ensure the continued optimization of your site long term.
What type of on-going support do they have? Who will make the changes? Websites are fluid—they can and should grow and change over time. You’ll most likely have new ideas for added content the minute you launch the site. How quickly are they available to make changes? Do they have monthly or quarterly support packages so you can reserve time in advance? If you or someone in your team would like to make changes to the site after launch, make sure this is a discussion point early on. They should be able to provide you with a tutorial that will help you understand the fundamentals needed in order to make changes to the content on your site or publish new content in the future.
What host do they recommend and why? No two hosting platforms are created equal. Your site speed is affected by many different components—the platform you’re running on, the size of your site, the interactive capabilities, and the overall form and functions. Your hosting account can make or break your website—literally—so you’ll want to ensure you are hosting your site on a trusted hosting platform, with excellent customer service, speed, and security. In addition to those features, it is always important to have a backup of your site. A good hosting platform will include a backup of your site, so double-check to be sure that feature is included. Two of my personal favorites are Rackspace.com (for multiple large sites) and Siteground.com.
What type of added security is available? Many hosting platforms have excellent security features built directly into their services. But to truly protect your site, prevent hacks, or reverse any damage caused by a site hack, you’ll need to implement a third-party security system. I like to compare this to a home security system. Is it mandatory to have a home security system? No. Will it protect you from break-ins or prevent damage. Yes. The same applies to our website. Your site might never get hacked, regardless of whether or not you have added security. But with malware and sophisticated site hacking nowadays, I strongly encourage all my clients to invest in added security—just in case. The security platform I recommend is sucuri.net. The good news is if something does happen to your site and you don’t currently have a system in place you can reach out to Sucuri and they will help you through the aftermath, getting you back up in running in no time.
What exactly is happening on the back end? In my opinion, it’s important for you to have control over your domain name, hosting, any added security or outside features, and access to your website files/backups. Imagine you had to contact your realtor every time you want to make a major change to your house. He or she would be in control of your insurance, your mortgage, your security system … you would be left in the dark without any control of your own property. The same logic applies to your website. You should own the domain, hosting, and added security so that you can make changes as your business grows and evolves over time. Transparency is key with your web services. If your web designer is reselling hosting to you, be sure to ask them what would happen if you ever wanted to move your site from their server. And make sure their contract specifies ownership details of everything that is “behind the scenes” of your website.

All in all, these questions will help you get the conversation started with a potential web designer and/or developer. Use them to spur helpful dialogue and to make sure you know exactly what you are getting. A good web designer will ask insightful questions in return to help you think through the content that should truly exist on your site. And they will bring much more to the table than user experience, SEO, and design. They’ll collaborate. They’ll guide. They’ll troubleshoot. And they’ll provide feedback, direction, visuals, and verbiage. And when you partner with the right web designer/developer, they’ll help you build a powerful marketing tool, extending beyond the device, and into the hands of your target audience.

Alt Summit Key Takeaways

Alt Summit has come up in a number of conversations over the last few years. This year, two of my awesome clients were planning to speak at the event—Emily Marko, a Visual Problem Solver and Goal-Setting Guru and Aimee LaLiberte, a Profit First Professional and Virtual CFO. The fact that these two ladies were making an appearance piqued my interest in a whole new way. I do a lot of research and development in order to stay aware of trends and technology within my industry for my customers and my own business. I didn’t necessarily need another set of courses to absorb. I do, however, need to meet business owners doing amazing things. All that said, the minute I found out that Joanna Gaines was the opening keynote speaker I knew that these were my kind of people.

Day 1

The main message that Joanna delivered can be summed up in a quote she stated during the keynote, “Do what you love doing, be passionate about it, and stay true to who you are.” It’s easy for all of us to get off track but very important to recenter ourselves in order to remain true to who we are—both in our business and in our lives. The other truly amazing tidbit from Joanna’s keynote was her publicly thanking the Founder of Alt Summit and Design Mom, Gabrielle Blair, for featuring Joanna on her blog, designmom.com. The original post in 2012 caught the eyes of HGTV and therefore Fixer Upper was born. A lot has transpired in 7 short years. That story, coupled with Joanna’s honesty, inspired me for the week.

Next, I found myself at a panel titled, How to License Your Creative Work. If you didn’t know this already, I’m currently working on this exact idea for my own work. Molly Hatch spoke about her humble beginnings as a studio potter. She was showing her work in a gallery in NYC when a buyer strolled past and thought her work would fit in well at Anthropologie. She spoke about staying focused on what you are making and honing in on your creativity. I found this so encouraging, partly because working with Anthropologie is a dream of mine and the idea that you can stay connected to your creative work by licensing your projects really inspires me. I’ve always needed a balance between my own creative projects and customer collaborations. The idea of monetizing my own creative projects seems like the next logical move.

I finished off the day with another motivating creative panel about selling yourself, or your work as a creative. This reiterated the messages I had heard all day. In between sessions, at the pool, in the hallways, shuttles, and just about everywhere I met amazing women paving their own way. I have to admit that I felt uncomfortable bringing along our daughter until I looked around the room Monday morning and saw so many babies. Moms are incredible. I met a woman who had her 2-week old daughter along and was so relaxed (baby #4). I aspire to be more like her.

Day 2

I hopped on a shuttle in the morning and headed over to the Saguaro where I joined a group of ladies for an SEO Q&A. I mostly went to this session to make sure that I’m doing the best work for my customers and my own website. I learned about a few new tools and was assured that I’m on the right path. SEO continues to fascinate me. If you have a website and you haven’t tapped into the power of SEO I would suggest creating a strategy sooner than later. There are ways to start small and build overtime. There are so many free tools available. I was introduced to SEM Rush, Keyword Tool, and reintroduced to Moz during this session. All of which have free resources that you can start implementing today. The sky is the limit with SEO so my suggestion is to first make sure your site is set up properly and then take one step at a time. Stay in for the long haul.

Photography is a huge part of the Alt Summit experience. There are professional photographers everywhere. On day two I had a couple of photography sessions. I had head shots in the Flash Truck (pictured above on the right) and a portrait session with Claudia Reyes (pictured above on the left). Both sessions produced a wide variety of images that I’m sure I’ll utilize throughout the next year or more. I’m not sure if this is intentional but the level of confidence and camaraderie that one experiences at this event is unparalleled. I felt this and heard others share the same sentiment. By the end of day two, I started to ease into being away from home and I was really enjoying myself. Did I mention that I fell in love with Palm Springs and the surrounding area? The photos below are from Indian Canyons just outside of the city.

One thing I will say is that you have to prepare yourself for the fear of missing out. There are so many overlapping sessions. Additionally, you’ll need an hour or two per day to digest the content you absorbed and the people you met. Which brings me to the next session I attended, a Roundtable by Emily Marko, that was about Intentional Action Planning. She guided us through a 3-step process that allows you to review and learn from your experiences while creating an action plan for going forward. You can use her process on many different areas of your life—health, financial, work, community, social, etc. She suggested that you could even use this process to digest experiences such as Alt Summit. I love how she couples visuals with her process and I look forward to taking her Relaunch Course in the near future.

Day 3

In the morning of day 3 I headed to a panel that I was really excited about—From Opportunity to Impact: How We Can Use Our Platforms For Good. There were 5 women on this panel, all whose individual missions related to the greater good. I’ve struggled with how to attach my brand to the causes that I’m passionate about so this was an excellent panel for me to absorb. I had two main takeaways from this. First, it is important to use your voice to share what matters to you. Secondly, connect with your feelings and use that opportunity for good. These immediately prompted me into action. I work with Chester County Women’s Services to provide assistance with their graphic design needs. I asked them recently to share other needs. I learned that many children in my local area don’t have jackets to keep them warm in the winter. I’ll be collecting gently used jackets very soon for next winter. If you’re interested in learning more, email me here. I’ll also be connecting with other non-profits that I support and find out how I can become an advocate for their message. I want to send a special thank you to these ladies for sharing their mission and prompting myself and many others to action—Amy Webb, Archel Bernard, Elizabeth Quintal, Nole Garey, and Sara Chambers.

Following this very intentional mission-driven panel I found myself at another panel: How You Can Use Social Media to Invent Your Career, Make Friends, And Go On Crazy Adventures. I haven’t made any fast friends from social media alone but after hearing this panel I was intrigued. The idea that you can find others who have common interests through social media platforms, like Instagram, definitely seems possible. They also shared about how their businesses took off from using social media. The main lesson that can be learned from this is you should absolutely share what you are passionate about. It will resonate with your people. The panel covered Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. These days I’m most interested in the power of Pinterest, due to the SEO implications. I learned about the Pinterest 100—which forecasts 2019’s top emerging trends. You can also check out a monthly trending update here. When you are pinning, be mindful of the titles and descriptions of your pins for SEO purposes. I would venture to say that it matters on Instagram too. For any content that is searchable online SEO should be considered.

Following lunch I went to another keynote given by Garance Doré. I’ve been a fan of Garance for about 8 years now. I first stumbled across her beautiful fashion illustrations around 2011. I have some of her prints hanging in my office. Her message was raw and timely. She spoke about how being addicted to her business caused her body and soul to suffer. Her following was accustomed to seeing a version of her and at some point that version changed—yet she wanted to remain on brand. When you, as an individual, are the brand this can be a struggle. “Resist the pressure to be an image of something,” Garance shared. She also talked about how it is important to look around when you are bored and see what actually inspires you. Her message perfectly tied into Joanna’s keynote. It’s so easy to get caught up in how others perceive you. Once this happens you are veering off your path. That’s where inspiration can help guide you. Connecting with what lights you up can help to guide your next move.

The final session I attended on day 3 was an email workshop: Next Level Emails — Using Automation to Get New & Repeat Business. This workshop was full of great information. The most important thing you can do for your email subscribers is to provide exclusive, valuable content. Create content that has value to your list by answering the questions they are asking, creating downloadable resources/guides that will help them, or share beautiful and meaningful illustrations or writing that resonate with your audience. Don’t try and sell them. Do them a service. Alternatively, if you are providing valuable content to a large number of subscribers you could charge a minimal fee for a paid subscription. Did you know about Ann Friedman’s email newsletter subscription? It’s $5 per year. Another way to decide what your next step will be is to look at emails you enjoy reading/opening. What can you glean from them?

Day 4

By day 4 I was ready to move to Palm Springs. The weather at the end of March is absolutely perfect. Did I mention that the desert was in full bloom? I was inspired to create and ready to actually take a vacation. The final workshop I attended was: Business Planning—Tips and Tricks to Manage Your Business Financials. Aimee LaLiberte delivered up so much meaningful content is less than an hour. She walked us through our money mindset, what tools we need in our accounting stack, what our next financial moves should be, how to get a hold of our personal and business spending, how to save for taxes, and creating and implementing a business revenue goal sheet using the Profit First method. Aimee runs a Virtual CFO and Bookkeeping service and she just opened up a YouTube channel where she’ll be sharing more of this great advice.

My fear of missing out was at a height as I decided to take time off from the Summit to visit Joshua Tree National Park in the middle of day. My husband, Steven, and I just wanted to see if it was worth coming back to and of course we weren’t disappointed. Next time we are in the area we plan on staying overnight so we can star gaze. I made Steven promise that we would be back in time for the closing keynote.

Jessica Hische was announced as the closing keynote the week prior to Alt Summit. I was beyond excited! Jessica’s work is a huge inspiration for me. She is an incredible lettering artist originally from PA. She worked with my favorite designer, Louise Fili, and she’s pregnant with her third kiddo. Anyone who has more than one child is basically my hero right now. Having Leona has opened my eyes to the challenges of parenting. I recently described it as walking into an SAT test unprepared, every single day. I know that might be extreme, but for someone who loves planning and being prepared (me), it literally does feel that way at times. Jessica’s honesty about motherhood, hormones, and breastfeeding all rang true. She talked about how her capacity to create has changed since becoming a mom. In order to continue doing her best work and spend time with her family she had to get clear on her focus. She asked some important questions that I still need to work through: What are my true strengths? How can I leverage my strengths? What do I truly love to do? In other words, what is my super power? I think we can all benefit from running through those questions from time to time. It’s easy to become an expert in so many areas with online learning at our fingertips. Focus on what you love doing, remain on your true path despite outside influences, and create work that is meaningful to you.

Your site is up and running, now what?

Congratulations! You’ve made it through the messy middle and launched your website. There is probably so much more you’d like to do. Can I tell you a secret? That is a good thing. Your website is a living, breathing business asset and it can and should grow and change over time—just as your business does. Features like email marketing, payment processing, calendars, social media, and much more can seamlessly integrate with your website. As you’re working on your marketing and communication platforms as a whole, keep in mind that you may be able to connect them directly to your website to help streamline your efforts and save time. There are endless possibilities, so let’s just start with my top five …

1. SEO Strategy

If you don’t have an SEO Strategy now is the time to get one started. What do you want to be known for? Write about it. What new and relevant content can you share about within your industry? Building and sharing relevant content will enhance your SEO naturally. You’ll want to group like-minded pages or content on your site by linking and categorizing appropriately. This helps to show that there is relevant content throughout your site and helps search engines rank it accordingly. Incorporate your mission, values, and core marketing messages to attract your ideal client. Your core marketing messages typically correlate with your SEO Strategy. Building on your keywords over time looks like building content that is relevant to your core messaging and adding it throughout your site—whether it’s updating the main pages or building on your blog pages. Within your strategy include how you anticipate sharing your content throughout all of your communication platforms—outside of your website (i.e. social media, email marketing) as well as within.

2. Google Analytics & Search Console

Reviewing your Google Analytics and Search Console week over week, month over month, year over year, will help to inform you regarding what marketing efforts are working and what isn’t. Make a note of the pages that users are staying on the longest, navigating to other pages, and generally visiting the most. How can you utilize those locations to obtain your goals? Are there pages that users are dropping off quickly or not navigating to other pages? How can you develop relevant content and an opt-in that will enable users to reengage? Pay attention to where users are coming from—both in location and referral. What keywords are you being found for? Are users clicking through to your site when it appears on a Google search? There is so much that you can dive into with Google Analytics and Search Console. I recommend reviewing reports either monthly or quarterly to optimize your content and be aware of how your site is working for you. Then make changes to the site accordingly.

3. Opt-ins, Automated Emails & Landing Pages

Sync your site with your email marketing provider and ensure that you have locations for the user to opt-in or sign up for your list. I recommend setting up an automated email sequence so that when a user signs up to receive news they’ll receive a few informative emails that include some of your most important content. This way they feel welcomed and you already begin to build trust. Explore utilizing the opt-ins in different locations on the site. Remove the ones that have been there a while and experiment to see what works both visually and verbally. Streamline your goals through creating landing pages. These would be simple pages, targeted specifically to one of your audiences. They can help to achieve a specific goal by engaging the users to take action—sign up for your list, contact you, purchase your offering, follow you on social media, etc. Users could arrive to the landing page via social media, an email blast, another webpage, a digital ad, etc. This is just another way you can build on your site and engage your audience.

4. Social Media

As you develop your website content share it on social media platforms in smaller, digestible chunks, that link back to your site. While you are working on your strategy consider the goal that each of your social media platforms aim to achieve. Be mindful of that goal when sharing socially. For example, let’s say your business Facebook page serves as a fun, informative way, to connect with your current and potential customers. While your LinkedIn account may be acting as a place for you to connect with like-minded businesses or potential partnerships. In this case you may share smaller, lighter imagery and posts that align with your mission and values on Facebook. On LinkedIn you may be writing articles that share more about your process and business development. This is only one example. Understanding the goal and your audience on the platform will help you to determine the types of content you should be sharing. For a more in-depth look at some of your options click here.

5. Perform Updates & Added Security

If you worked with me to design and develop your site then it is a WordPress site. WordPress is an Open Source Platform that has many contributors from all over the world. There are updates to themes, plugins, and the WordPress platform often. Just as computers and phones perform updates your website should be updated to remain compatible and protected with technology as a whole. I recommend making these updates on a monthly or quarterly basis. Additionally, as time goes on you may decide to add another level of security to your site. This can be helpful if you notice there are frequent visitors from one location with an 100% bounce rate. In this instance you can assume they are trying to hack into your site. If you’re working with me I would have you set up with—SiteGround—which has an excellent security platform. Should you want to add another level I recommend Sucuri.net. This is not necessary from the start but it may be worth investing in as your site and audience grows.

If you don’t have the time or desire to invest in the above let’s connect. I’d love to chat with you about your business goals and see how we might be able to partner on a monthly or quarterly basis to achieve your business goals. Schedule a connection call to get started.

5 Essential Steps For Building A Successful Website

So you’d like to update your web design or create one from scratch? The task ahead of you is time consuming. The middle is messy. And the end result, if not properly planned, can leave you feeling underwhelmed. I’d like to share some tips with you I’ve learned over time that can help setup your website for success right from the start.

1. The first and most important task is defining your goals for the website.

It could be that you’d like to generate new leads, target and attract a specific audience that you haven’t been able to reach, or maybe it’s an informative marketing tool that will save you time and money. Write out your desired outcome for how this site update or launch will aid your business goals and make your job easier. Websites are versatile and multi-faceted tools that will grow and change over time and therefore will continue to help you achieve your goals.

2. What basic or complex functions could your site include that will make your business run smoother?

This answer should reveal itself through defining your goals. I have many different types of customers that are all achieving a variety of goals through their site designs. Let me run you through a few examples that may help you come up with your own list:

• Defining a process or service visually to use as a sales or marketing tool
• Creating a map of locations that include where your products can be found
• Growing your email list through offering free tools and resources
• Creating a form that allows your customers to give you all of the information needed to generate an estimate
• Display your portfolio of work in an interactive and user-friendly way
• Creating a resource archive that customers have access to so that you only have to share information one time

I could keep going but the possibilities are endless so I’ll let you use your imagination.

3. How are you going to point your potential viewers, customers, clients, colleagues, buyers, friends, etc. to your site?

Whether your site is an informative resource or a storefront, part of the goal is to have viewers on the site. This could be your number one reason for developing a site in the first place. Honing in on your target audience will help you define an SEO strategy and develop a plan that ensures your site has visitors. You can have the most beautifully designed website but if you aren’t aware of how to integrate an SEO strategy, before you structure your content and design, you may miss out on big opportunities. For tips on improving your SEO starting today click here.

4. Content will drive the design.

By now you have a clear picture of what the major goal of your website is, what basic or complex functions you’d like it to perform, and a rough idea of your target audience. It’s time to gather your content. A web designer or developer can help you through this process or you can gather some resources in advance. Start by creating an outline that includes your mission, values, product or services, body copy from your current marketing materials, brand elements, style guide, logo versions, and other brand resources. Having this all in one location will speed up the process and give your designer a head start on understanding your brand. For more information on gathering your site content click here.

5. Last but not least let’s dive into the web design.

This step is a process within itself but it should begin with wireframes. Once you are clear on steps 1-4 the goal of your designer should be to take all of that information and implement it into a user-friendly experience for your target audience. The best way to do this is to visualize the entire site through wireframes. This way you are thinking through the web of possibilities before you set anything into stone. Also, you create a visual guide for gathering content and building out the entire site. This saves you time and money in the long run and allows you to create a doable action plan from the start.

Ready to dive into your next marketing project? Click here >>>

Branding with purpose:
creating and collecting brand materials with your wish list in mind

Steven and I got engaged May 31 and chose September 9th as our wedding date. Yes, that was a little ambitious. In just over three months I would need to sell my house, move, and plan the wedding! I knew that every moment would count so I was intentional about creating elements for the wedding invitation that could be reused across all of the wedding day materials. I had no choice but to let the illustration ideas simmer as I prepped and sold my home. I’m sure glad I did. At first I was thinking about including bunnies and squirrels on the invitation. Yes, I’m a Beatrix Potter fan. However, this isn’t a children’s book—it was our wedding invitation. As the idea for the big day evolved so did the look of the invitation. I decided to take inspiration from the willow tree in our yard and combine it with my innate desire to create decorative, ornamental elements (hence my logo). I got out a fresh sheet of watercolor paper (pictured above) and used every square inch to create illustrative elements (pictured below). These would serve as the “branding” elements for the entire event.

With my wish list in mind I created illustrations that could be repurposed across an entire collection of event items. This is the same way I create for your brand materials. The idea is to establish a collection of secondary brand elements that match your brand style—creating a library of sorts. This library includes items like your logo variations, multiple fonts, images, and illustrations that portray your mission and values. Today I want to share with you some useful tips on how to collect these items with your wish list in mind.

1. What particular styles do you love?

You’ve had a week to think through descriptive words that resonate and start taking notice to your visual preferences (if not, start here). Now it’s time to name them. My favorite designer and business role model is Louise Fili. Her work makes my heart beat a little faster so I decided that she needed to represented. I purchased her “Love” stamp for all of my envelopes and bought a font that she just debuted, called Montecatini. The font was also named after a town in Italy—Montecatini Terme—which I happened to visit 13 years ago. What does this have to do with you? You’ve collected your inspirations and preferences, now it’s time to imbue more of what you love into your brand. Keep collecting those items and make sure to share them with your designer.

2. In what formats will your materials be created in?

Thinking through the entire event package prior to creating the illustration was crucial for saving time. This included my invitation, thank you cards, table numbers, place cards, signage, program, website, cups and more. Before you start finalizing one little part, picture how your brand will be represented as a whole. Is your logo only going to be visible on your stationery? Or will you be creating packaging that features your logo as the main branding element? Do you have a car or truck that needs to have your logo and brand elements prominently displayed? All of these details matter. Think big and then start small. It should be fun to think of the different ways your brand will be represented.

3. Price out the cost to produce prior to designing.

Did you know that postage costs more for square envelopes than rectangular envelopes? These tiny details add up when you are working on branding elements. Small choices make big impacts both in dollar amounts and on our environment so I suggest pricing out different ways to produce your marketing pieces. For me it was important that my invitations be printed on 100% recycled paper. I also wanted to reduce waste by allowing the RSVP to tear off and serve as a mailer. These choices cost a little more up front but resonate with my brand so I could plan accordingly.

Essentially when you are thinking through all of these little elements your brand is coming to life before you even began. This means that you are troubleshooting issues and saving money in the long run—which to me, is branding with purpose. That’s what I’m here to help you do! If you’d like to review your next branding project start by emailing me here. Next week I’m going to share the entire wedding package so you can see it come together. For now, I’m going to go make the BEST COOKIES EVER (recipe here). Happy Thanksgiving!

Branding with purpose: find your hidden gems

In 2017 I’ve worked on 5 large-scale branding projects for events. Of course the most strenuous of the 5 was my own wedding invitation package. Each of the events were completely unique in both formality and intention. Some were fundraisers and others were to bring loved ones together. All of them had purpose, meaning, and were imbued with a specific set of values. At the core there were always a few hidden gems of inspiration that we could pull from to create the perfect illustrative elements for the special occasion. Since this process doesn’t happen in an hour, a day, or even a week I’m going to share with you my process over a series of posts. Today we’re going to think about the hidden gems in your business. Specifically what inspires you—this is where the magic happens.

1. Start by gathering descriptive words

When it came to my own wedding day I wanted to utilize what I had available to me. I envisioned the day organically coming together based on my resources. The main inspiration was my backyard. Words like rustic, earthy, repurposed, creative, vintage, conscious, friendly, warm, fun, relaxed, welcomed, loved, and collaborative all resonated with me. Since the invitation was the first impression of the event I wanted to make sure it reflected those thoughts and feelings.

2. Next gather your visual preferences

Once I was able to identify the descriptive words I was able to start working on the visuals in my mind. Since the inspiration for my wedding came from my environment I was able to collect reference images—like the willow tree below—very easily. My guess is you are surrounding yourself with objects and places that visually inspire you. Over the next week begin observing what inspires you and your business. Start taking notice to objects, people, places, or anything in your world that resonates and record it by snapping a photo or taking some notes.

3. Let it simmer

Sounds easy, right? At this stage let the core inspiration simmer while you start thinking through all of the materials on your marketing wish list. These could be printed pieces such as brochures, catalogs, business cards, etc. or digital pieces like email campaigns, website content, or your social media presence. How could your materials reflect these descriptive words and images that resonate with your business?

It’s easy to rush through this process, but let’s not put the cart before the horse. When you spend adequate time thinking through the details you begin branding with purpose. When you are branding with purpose you’re investing wisely in materials that will continue to work for you long after completion. If you’re feeling stuck or you’d like to review your inspiration set up a call by emailing me here.