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Cynthia Oswald

Cynthia Oswald

Surface Design, Fine Art + Branding for Creatives

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curate your brand

Curate Your Brand In Really Meaningful Ways

Curating your brand in meaningful ways by using the 80/20 rule

In today’s world, it is easy to get caught up in trying to do all the things, do them perfectly, or make them more complex than they need to be. What is hard to do, and something I have been really intentional about focusing on is to do less.  Something I have found to be really beneficial for me to truly curate my brand in meaningful ways is by taking the time to reflect and figure out how to pare down my efforts and focus on the things that make the most impact. 

I learned this strategy from one of my favorite books: Do Less by Kate Northrup. In this book, she explores the Pareto Principle — otherwise known as the 80/20 rule. In the exercise, she asks you to list out all of your biggest wins. Then next to it, she has you list out all of your biggest efforts — for business this could be marketing efforts, sales efforts, or any way you have put yourself out there to grow your business and move the needle forward. Once you have the lists side-by-side, draw a line from your biggest win to the effort that you put forth in order to make that win a possibility. By the end of the exercise, you should be able to see that out of all of your efforts, 20% of your efforts brought 80% of your results. 

This exercise should help you see what is working best for you and what you can potentially eliminate or pare down on to give you some more time back in your business. How does this work with curating your brand? Instead of spending time doing all the things, spend time doing the things that are going to bring you the biggest impact with the time you have. 

My top two were writing and relationship-building through in-person events.

In my business, this looks like writing blog posts, and most recently, being intentional about showing up on video as a form of a blog — vlogging. When I do a video, it is quick to transcribe and a lot faster to create blog content if I can get good at it.

In person events are something I absolutely love! It doesn’t feel like it requires as much effort to build key relationships when at in-person events. What stinks is I figured this out right at the beginning of the pandemic, so I had to start brainstorming how I could still authentically show up to build relationships without being in the same room as someone — the solution for me was the use of video.

What efforts are your biggest business wins connected to? As you’re gearing up to do impactful work with curating your brand you want to be thinking about how you can do it with less so you aren’t spending more time. Take a minute to do the exercise Kate Northrup suggests — jot down your biggest wins, line them up with the effort that you put forth in order to get that win & see where you should put most of your effort going forward. 

3 Simple Steps to Bring Awareness to Your Preferences & Brand Cohesion

Bring awareness to your preferences and establish brand cohesion

Step 1: Define what is holding you back

Have you ever been in a situation where you’ve toiled over and worked on something all day long and it still just doesn’t feel right or as good as it could be? Then you go to sleep, and wake up the next day with this sudden clarity and you just know exactly how to move forward or what to tweak to complete that task or project? This happens to me quite often. Oftentimes, it takes a tiny little shift in perspective, taking a step back or removing something — giving yourself the space to reflect on what is working and what is not that helps you move forward. 

So take a few moments to define what’s holding you back within your brand materials. What brand materials am I referring to? These would be your visuals, your voice, and your communication platforms. Think about what is not feeling right? What is disjointed? Define it so that you can take it off the table and move forward without it for the time being.

Step 2: Collect the brand assets you like

It’s really important to acknowledge what’s currently working and collect it. Put it all together in one spot —create a brand assets folder on your computer to house these items. Add any colors and/or images that you like or that are working well across your branding platforms and any copy that is really speaking to you or your audience. Keeping it altogether makes it easier to see and visualize how it all can work together for your brand.

Step 3: List what is currently working

Write down what about your branding is working? Why is it working? What is it that isn’t working and why you think that is? This is an exercise in awareness. Knowing this things is going to help you in every decision that you make going forward relating to your brand and it’s going to help you be more cohesive automatically. 

I’ve written about this topic in a prior blog article, but I wanted to dig in a little bit deeper in this latest video. If you want to take a look at the prior post, click here.

Need someone to bounce ideas off of? Or need someone to help you figure out your next steps?

Schedule a Brainstorm Session and we will collaborate together!

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Cynthia Oswald Portrait of an artist

About Cynthia

In addition to creating surface design and fine art, I own and manage a boutique branding agency just outside of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. When I’m not working you can find me chasing my little ones or dogs around our small home, enjoying a fire with my husband, reading, or riding my bike on the river trail near our home.

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Recent Posts

  • My Top Ten Transformative Books
  • Featured on CanvasRebel: A Creative Journey Unveiled
  • Choosing the Best Website Platform for You
  • The “Wild Garden” Collection
  • An Interview with Painter, Printmaker & Mixed Media Artist, Sally Richards | Chester County Studio Tour 2023
  • An Interview with Mixed Media Artist, Emily Mullet | Chester County Studio Tour 2023
  • An Interview with Artist & Photographer, Tina Crespo | Chester County Studio Tour 2023
  • Charting Your Creative Path: Exploring Long-Term Career Goals with Bonnie Christine
  • Behind the Scenes of the Vast Views Collection
  • Curate Your Brand In Really Meaningful Ways

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