Episode 8
Season 2
Helping Purpose-Driven Businesses Clarify Their Brand Strategy
Welcome Kelly Wittman, CEO of Witt and Company to Saturday Soundbites!
Kelly shares her years of experience of helping companies and business owners use strategy to guide their branding efforts. The key to a successful visibility strategy is understanding your brand’s promise and how you want your target audience to experience your brand.
Kelly and Veronica discuss some of the techniques that can be used to identify how your brand is being experienced by others and how it can be refined to maximize your efforts, and ultimately grow your business.
It is more than visuals and it’s more than fonts - it’s about the emotions that your assets evoke. There is a proven process to go through and Kelly shares how she has used that process in the various spaces she has worked in.
Strategy is the name of the game and Kelly is a master player! Tune in to learn from an experienced and successful brand expert.
[00:00:00] Veronica: Hello. Hello and welcome to Saturday soundbites. I'm your host, Veronica. So for, and I am thrilled to be here with you for another phenomenal episode here on Saturday soundbites, we talk about all things, visibility strategy that includes public relations, advertising, marketing, and all the parts that put it all together, including brand strategy, which is really exciting to talk about because you know that I love brand strategy.
[00:00:25] In fact, But the word strategy is going to really help drive your business. And that's what we're going to talk about. Really being purposeful and driving your business. So I have a phenomenal guest, but a little bit of housekeeping. First, if you are watching on YouTube on Facebook, give us some comments so we can connect with you.
[00:00:41] And if you're listening on our podcast, make sure you hit subscribe because we don't want you to miss any episodes of Saturday sound bites. Always be learning with us with that. I'm going to go ahead and open up and invite my guests. We have Kelly Whitman joining us.
[00:00:55] Kelly: Hello? Hello. Thank you so much for having me.
[00:00:59] I'm excited to be here.
[00:01:00] Veronica: Oh, wonderful. I'm so excited. When I saw that you were an expert in brand strategy. I knew you were someone we wanted to talk about.
[00:01:08] Kelly: It is one of my favorite topics. So I can't wait to dig in with you today.
[00:01:12] Veronica: Great. So tell us a little bit about yourself so that we can kind of get the, get the flavor of your background and what got you to your area of expertise with brand strategy.
[00:01:20] Sure.
[00:01:21] Kelly: So I went to school for advertising and marketing, and I did a few internships while I was in school, in the nonprofit space, specifically in marketing event management fundraising. And then. I got the nonprofit bug. Um, so once you get in, it's kind of hard to get out. Um, so I did that for about six years and then.
[00:01:41] I moved over into a software as a startup, um, or software as a service, excuse me, it was a startup company. And in there I realized that I really wanted to kind of go out on my own, uh, my husband about a year and a half prior to that, my husband and I started a home renovation blog, and I through connections with other bloggers that I had, I started offering digital marketing services to them.
[00:02:03] I loved it. And this idea of brand was kind of always percolating in the background, but I didn't have the confidence at that point to do it. Um, and then I started when company went in full time in 2017, and about six months after that, I had a friend reach out in her husband wanted to start this. And he needed branding and marketing support and website support.
[00:02:26] And I was like, yes, let's do it. Uh, and the rest is history in terms of when I fell in love with branding and when it became the focal point of when company was kind of thereafter and we've been supporting businesses with their brands, visual brand brand strategy, website, strategy and website design now for about four and a half years.
[00:02:45] That's so
[00:02:46] Veronica: exciting. I love that. And I love that you bring to it a lot of different experiences because nonprofit world, for those of us who have been in this space for awhile is completely different. Your resources are different in a corporate space. You've got access to different things that you don't have, and you have to be super creative.
[00:03:03] So I love that you're bringing both parts of that to the table in the conversation.
[00:03:08] Kelly: Yeah. And you know, I, it's really great to your point, right? In the nonprofit space, you wear all of the hats, um, that the phrase, that's not my job. It's not something that you ever say, it's, it just needs to get done. And because resources are so limited, I was able to get so much experience and I, you know, retrospectively looking back now at the power of branding and strategy and marketing, and really connecting with your donors.
[00:03:34] And the people that you want to support. I mean, there's such a variety of ideal clients that you're working with and trying to serve in a nonprofit space. Um, it's so I'm thankful that I had that experience because it's transferred so well into the work that I do today.
[00:03:49] Veronica: Yeah, no, I, I I'm sure it does. So tell us a little bit about the work you do today.
[00:03:54] Um, how, when a client is interested in either establishing a brand strategy or thinks they already have one and they come to you because I'm interested in, in what that looks like, how do you get them on the same page? How do you entice them into investing time to strategize? Because that's really the key, right?
[00:04:15] A lot of people have these great ideas or visionaries, but they don't want to invest the time and effort into establishing all of the. Foundational components to grow your business.
[00:04:25] Kelly: Yeah. Great question. So usually when business owners come to us for support, they say something along the lines of it just doesn't feel right.
[00:04:34] I'm not connecting with my audience and that's my biggest. The red flag for me of, oh, you probably haven't done any strategy work. Um, I did this myself when we first started our home renovation blog, and I'm sure a lot of the listeners and viewers have been in this space. When you start a business, you're super excited and the visuals are really the fun part, you know, oh, I'm going to go get a logo and I want to scroll Canva and find the fonts and go on Pinterest and look at all the cool color palettes.
[00:05:03] But when we don't have. The strategy kind of that, why behind we're making those visual decisions more often than not. We wind up with the visual brand that doesn't feel right. And that's why we always start with strategy. So really that's the work that we do with clients is understanding who you are as a brand.
[00:05:25] And how do you want your brand to be experienced that then helps to guide and facilitate. The decisions that we make with our visuals. So based off of, you know, how you want your brand to be experienced, what kind of feelings really big on feelings, um, what kind of feelings do you want people to feel and to have, and the actions that you want them to take?
[00:05:44] And what do you want them to think when they experience your brand at those various touch points? So whether. Come in contact with you on LinkedIn or they get an email from you or they jump over to your website. What do you want them to think? What do you want them to feel? And based off of those decisions and those words, we then can help to pick the right colors based off of color psychology and seasonal brand theory and pick the right type of geography.
[00:06:08] So, you know, things like how tall, the font, the height of the font, and then in terms of the layout, I mean, it can help address and guide a lot of those visual decisions. But oftentimes as business owners, we jumped right into without being intentional about our strategy.
[00:06:25] Veronica: Absolutely. And there is a science to it.
[00:06:26] I know there's a, a huge, um, uh, tons of research out there, brain science on how we experience colors and fonts. And I love that you make that investment with your folks. What are some of those questions look like? So if I'm interested in analyzing my brand. What are some of the questions you would ask me to help me
[00:06:48] Kelly: get there?
[00:06:49] Yeah. Uh, the first one is who are you serving? Uh, we can think about it, especially as new business owners. And I would say even sees the end, we can think, well, we want to serve everybody, but a lot of our. Strategy or communication. And the, what that looks like for our brand is going to be affected by who we're serving.
[00:07:10] Because if you are really targeting, you know, new moms, how you show up as a brand is going to look vastly different than if you're targeting, uh, teenagers, you know, millennials or older adults or empty nesters. So when we think about it from that perspective, I always start with clarity on your ideal client.
[00:07:28] So just asking some questions around who is that person, not necessarily their demographics, I think that's important. Um, but it's not, it's more so getting in vested in their emotional state. So what are they really struggling with? Um, and I'm sure you know, this with public relations. When you're getting out there and talking about your business, you want to connect with them on an emotional level, um, rather than just kind of throwing things out there.
[00:07:55] That's really how you build that connection with your audiences. More so on the emotional.
[00:08:01] Veronica: And I'm always fascinated when, um, we start these kinds of exercises and people have to dig really deep and they're not expecting it. Um, I'd always, it always blows my mind when people are like, well, I don't, I don't know that I know that.
[00:08:17] And you have to start really digging deep into that. And I always advocate for having a facilitator. Someone with some expertise like you, because as a visionary and a business owner, oftentimes you're so emotionally connected to the work or the product or the service that you don't know how to experience it from the
[00:08:33] Kelly: other side.
[00:08:34] Yes. And we get so in it. Um, and it's, it's what I hear from every single client that I work with as well. I know it it's in my head. Yes. But the physical action of speaking it and then writing it down and seeing it on paper totally transforms your understanding of your brain. And the other piece that we don't necessarily think about, especially if we're just getting started is when you can verbalize, when you can write down what you stand for as a brand, it helps with your team and communicating that of this is who we are, so that they can then communicate on your behalf and you have that consistency and everything is cohesive.
[00:09:11] If it's all up in your head, then it's hard to understand perhaps where those gaps are in terms of communicating consistently showing up cohesive.
[00:09:21] Veronica: Yeah, no for sure. And that's really the, um, the strategy component of it. And I think it then drives the operations. Right. And so I love that that connection is made because yes, we want to get our visuals.
[00:09:37] Yes. We all want a logo. That's consistent with our brand and our mission and our vision and fulfills who we are, but then what happens afterwards? Um, and so I love that you, you mentioned that because I think some people. Might not appreciate the value of what a brand strategy exercise can do
[00:09:53] Kelly: for them.
[00:09:54] Right. And it's because it's in the background, it's not something that's as tangible and seen and drives a lot of the brand awareness. Like what you get with a logo or your colors or the graphics. It can be hard to. I understand too. You're exactly what you're saying, the value of it. But when we think about, you know, the, the strategy, a brand strategy, I define it as your communication plan for your brand.
[00:10:17] So if you don't know how your brand is going to be communicated, then how do you know whether or whether or not you're showing up. In alignment with where you're going, right? The vision of your brand and the impact that you want your brand and your business to have, especially if you're not clear on that or your team isn't clear, then we can have a lot of those gaps and miscommunication and inconsistencies that really erode the trust.
[00:10:44] His potential with our customers and our clients and our audience and our community.
[00:10:48] Veronica: Yeah. And I think that's really the risk, right? As a business owner, you run the risk of eroding that trust. And I love the way you phrased it. Cause that's the risk. And, um, I've had people say, well, I really can't afford it.
[00:11:00] I don't know that I want to invest in that. And I'm like, how can you, not because you're going to run the risk and, and you articulated it perfectly of eroding your brand. How have you seen this? Play not play out so well. Right. I know that you've worked with different kinds of companies. How have you seen this not work out so well, because I want people to understand, not that this is a nice, um, something I would want for my business, but it's something you need for your
[00:11:27] Kelly: business.
[00:11:27] I love that. You're saying that. And that's such a great question. When we think about how it doesn't work out, it's kind of exactly what we've just said is that you don't have the trust with your audience and with your community. So I always like to flip it and think about what, how someone is experiencing your brand at the various touch points.
[00:11:46] I would always recommend write down where someone can experience your brand. And then ask if it's clear who you serve, how you want them to feel when they experience your brand, why the work matters and what you're offering, if they aren't able to clearly understand those four pieces, which are kind of the main components that we work through with clients, when we are supporting them in their brand strategy, if a visitor isn't able to.
[00:12:15] Clearly articulate those four components at their various brand touch points. It's a huge opportunity miss, because they don't know how to connect with you as a brand, which then they won't do business with you. When we think about the whole purpose of brand, at least from my perspective, it's to help build and facilitate that connection.
[00:12:33] And that starts with trust. And we all know the value of trust as business owners. So if they have the. Inconsistencies or they aren't able to understand what you do or why it matters, or really who you're for. They don't trust you. And I'm willing to bet they won't purchase from you, or even start that first step, right.
[00:12:53] Of engaging with your brand. Because they don't understand it. They're confused by it. And that's really the power and the benefit of brand strategy is to take away that confusion and make it crystal clear who you are as a brand and what you stand for, how you can support them and really. What you are, I guess I keep saying this, but who you are as a brand.
[00:13:13] It's just, does that make sense?
[00:13:16] Veronica: I, I, I get it. I get it. And I think for some entrepreneurs, um, or maybe even traditional brick and mortar folks who, um, aren't, uh, don't live on this side of the house as much. That's a concept that may be really deeper philosophical or one that they don't feel connected to.
[00:13:33] But the reality is once you dig a little bit deep and start answering some of those true questions, anyone on the, on the leadership team who holds the vision can start to articulate it from their perspective. And that really drives a lot of the work that you do. So I love that you phrased it that way.
[00:13:48] Kelly: Yeah. And I think a lot of, you know, to your point, yeah. Even from the consumer side, we live in a day and age where consumers have the power and they have choice. There is, so are so many options for someone to make a purchase and a product or service. And I think, uh, an, uh, a great opportunity to separate yourself from your competitors and other people in your space, your category, your industry is to make your stake in the ground with clear branding.
[00:14:16] And that starts with strategy. And to really say, this is who I'm for. And also on the flip side, this is who I'm not for support that customer in making a decision, because I think about. I'm sure. You probably found this with, you know, in working with your own clients, we can get so scared and putting that stake in the ground of who I am and who I am not for.
[00:14:37] Well, what if they don't? What if they go somewhere else? Well, yes, but if you're really clear on who you're serving. They'll know, and then they can maybe refer you to someone else who's looking for exactly what you are delivering. Yeah.
[00:14:50] Veronica: Yeah. And I, and I tell people, you shouldn't be afraid of who you are.
[00:14:53] Um, you know, in the self-development and, and the, um, on the professional development and mindset world, all those books, you read all the brain brown. You, you listen to, it's all about authentically connecting and. And as a person you're more fulfilled, but when you do it as a business, you're more fulfilled.
[00:15:13] Kelly: Yes. 100%. And you get people who you can support really well. Um, when they're a good fit for you, which I think we don't think about, you know, we, um, I know I've made this mistake myself of, well, I want to help everyone. Okay. But are you then able to get the best results for everyone? What happens if you really hone in on.
[00:15:34] Who you want to work with and make that authentic connection. Think about the better results that they're going to get, which then it's a trickle down effect. When we think about referrals, they're more likely to refer you because you gave them great results because your product, your service, your offering was specifically designed to support them and their problems and what they're specifically struggling with.
[00:15:57] Veronica: Yeah, no, I love that. So, um, I want to touch a little bit on what people. Should expect if they decide they want to engage in something like this, what's the timeline what's what does that process look like? Obviously you talked about asking questions and getting information from folks, but what does that process look like if someone's considering, um, engaging in some brand strategy at any point?
[00:16:21] Kelly: Yeah. It's I think we had talked about this a little bit and you had mentioned it as well. It's digging deep and asking some hard questions and I rephrase it as putting your stake in the ground. You have to make a decision and that's really challenging and can also be really scary because we have, you know, that story in our head.
[00:16:39] I know I have this myself of well, what if I choose wrong? And I really don't believe there is a wrong decision. I think when I think about. Power of brand and really the evolution that your brand is this growing, evolving entity. So it's okay if you need to change and pivot, that's not the end of the world to make the quote unquote wrong decision, but really working with and getting clear on your brand strategy is, and how we work with clients is doing workshops.
[00:17:06] Um, we send over, you know, lengthy questionnaire. It is long, and I always warn my clients about that, that we ask a lot of questions because the more questions we can ask. And the more clarity we can get in terms of who you want your brand to be, and what do you want to stand for? Um, so we do workshop styles and then our clients I'll walk away with a brand strategy and a messaging guide that is really their, I call it the brand Bible.
[00:17:28] It's their reference document for them and their team to really understand what is our communication for our brand. And how are we showing up in terms of how we talk about what we do? Um, what kind of common words and phrases do we have and do we use. And how do we want, you know, kinda getting back to this idea of how you want people to feel when they experience our brand.
[00:17:48] Um, so it's, it is, uh, can be a little bit labor-intensive, it's a vulnerable space. Uh, but that's the point because when we think about the whole goal is to create this authenticity authenticity within our brand. I don't believe that. Without asking some hard questions. Right,
[00:18:05] Veronica: right. No, I agree. I agree. And that's, I always warn people.
[00:18:09] This isn't going to be some fill in the blank, you know, let them create for you. You're going to have to do a lot of the work. Um, do you, um, do you work with folks one on one, how do you, in particular at Whitten company engage, I know you guys have a strong online presence and I want to make sure people have an opportunity to figure out what offerings you have and how to connect.
[00:18:30] Kelly: Yeah. So we do work one-on-one with clients. That's our primary source. We have a brand strategy and messaging package, and then that's really for people who perhaps like the visuals, the visuals are on point for them, but their messaging, how they're actually communicating their brand, isn't serving them.
[00:18:47] And then we have more support kind of stepping up from that, where we add the visual brand. And, or we add the visual brand and your website. So it's really all about getting to this space where you're confident in how your brand is showing up and it is doing so in a consistent and cohesive way. So that's really how, how we work with clients is I think for me and what I really enjoy the most is digging in to my client's businesses and really supporting.
[00:19:15] In that one-on-one capacity so that they really can understand, okay, this is what my brand is. This is what we're all about. And then this is how I can communicate it to my.
[00:19:26] Veronica: Yeah. And I like, um, I like the idea that there's a different level, right? So if you just need the guidebook, here's, here's how you can move forward at whatever point.
[00:19:37] And if, if you're ready to go all in, then here's the other, the other part of it. Um, what, what are some of the things that people come to you with that they didn't know that they didn't know? Obviously when they're, when they're ready to make the plug and they've decided, you know, they're going to invest.
[00:19:52] When companies who I want to work with, what are they coming to you with? That they, people don't know that way. If anyone's considering it, they can think about all those options before they connect with
[00:20:01] Kelly: you. A lot of the feedback that we get after the fact from our clients is more so, something along the lines, I've heard this quite a few times and it's, it's helpful.
[00:20:12] I think just reiterate the importance of strategy, um, is that they've worked with designers in the past, but they haven't done the strategy. And that's why the designs haven't necessarily. Been a good fit for them. Um, I definitely think there's an, uh, a time and a place for just reaching out to a graphic designer or a brand designer.
[00:20:30] Um, if you need something, however, if you feel like the visual component, right? Some more of that external facing brand communication, isn't a fit for you or it's not feeling. Like I said in the beginning, that's usually, um, why it's, because we haven't done the strategy work. So when I think about what clients don't know, it's that it's, oh, this is why that logo wasn't working.
[00:20:53] Or this is why that color palette wasn't supporting my brand vision and the personality of my brand that I want people to feel and engage with. So I think that's usually the biggest takeaway, um, that my clients have when they come and work with. Yeah.
[00:21:09] Veronica: Yeah. And I like to just reiterate, you said, um, you talked about pivoting, so people who are just starting out ops absolutely.
[00:21:16] They should reach out to you and connect to do those first phases. But those of us who are transitioning businesses in our services are maybe going in different directions. That's also a good time to reach out and connect with you because you could be four or five years in and still need to readjust.
[00:21:33] Kelly: Exactly. And that's usually where, um, Clients that come to us that are in that phase, it's that their brand is really holding them back from reaching their next level in business. And we don't think about it from that perspective. It's, you know, why is this not connecting and. All of these programs and maybe a course, and I'm launching a podcast and you're doing all of these things because of course, you know, you're amazing.
[00:21:57] However, you get to a point where you're just like, oh, running your head against the wall most of the time. It's because you have these inconsistencies and kind of getting back to what I was saying before, when we have a team, that's doing things on our behalf. If you find yourself struggling with this, isn't feeling good, or this isn't looking what I'm envisioning, it might be then time to revisit.
[00:22:17] Okay. Am I clear on what my brand is in this new phase and are my visuals supporting this new phase and this new direction or this new edition? Um, a lot of times I just did. We have this program it's called the design day. It's an intensive where we, my team and I spend an entire day doing the visuals for.
[00:22:35] And a lot of times the clients will come to me if they're doing like sub brands. Um, and I just worked with someone this last week and she wanted, uh, she was creating a sub-brand from her program and we were able to knock it out in one day and that's really a good fit. Right. So if you come to the space where you have these other things going on in your business, are these new things coming and getting that consistency that cohesive visuals with the strategy is a great.
[00:23:01] Yeah. Yeah. Oh,
[00:23:02] Veronica: that's so fantastic. Wow. I'm just so excited that we had this conversation. Kelly. I love the topic. I love that we're emphasizing that fundamental work that needs to get done. Um, do you have any parting tips for us as we wrap up?
[00:23:18] Kelly: Yeah, I think I would just reiterate this idea that you can't get it wrong.
[00:23:22] When we think about our brand, I, I like to think about it and showing up for our business and our brand as this experiment and everything that you're putting out there, look at it from the lens of is this supporting my brand vision and how I want people to experience my brand, or is it detracting from it and learn from that.
[00:23:41] Right. And ask yourself that question. And then. Understand what you can do better or what you need to continue, right. Is this, if this is really working, let's drive forward and just get away from. It's so often to get into this space of, well, what if I choose wrong? Or what if I do it wrong? And I really don't think that serves us, especially when we think about growing a brand that's impactful and that's authentic.
[00:24:02] And that really engages with our community
[00:24:04] Veronica: well said, well said, well, thank you so much, Kelly. I appreciate it. For tests and sharing it with our audience.
[00:24:11] Kelly: Thank you so much for having me. I love this conversation.
[00:24:14] Veronica: Awesome. All right, guys, make sure you connect with Kelly. I'm going to put her website up with company.
[00:24:21] She's got some phenomenal expertise and I love. That she's just so open to connecting with people because when you get to the core of who you are in your business, then your, then your brand will be able to speak on your behalf and engage folks in field, make people compelled to want to work with you.
[00:24:38] And that's ultimately a key component of your visibility strategy. When you are tying in all those things together, you have got a winning formula Whitten company you're going to. The amount. All right, guys, this wraps up another episode of Saturday soundbites. I was so thrilled with the conversation. I hope you enjoyed it.
[00:24:53] If you're listening on the podcast to make sure you hit subscribe. If you're watching on Facebook or YouTube, let us know so we can connect. And if you catch the replay hashtag replay so that we can go back and say hello with that, I'm going to sign off by sitting in lots of positive energy and light.