130: How to keep design coherence in mind as a small business owner: a deep dive into brand harmony with Dolly DeLong and Abby Powell

 

Dolly DeLong: Hi, and welcome back to another episode of the Systems and Workflow Magic podcast. I am your systems and workflow BFF and guide, Dolly DeLong. Today, I have an exceptional guest on the podcast. So, my guest is the brain behind my brand design. She has helped me create a more cohesive story for Dolly DeLong’s education, this podcast, and all of my digital courses, products, bundles, and summits to Dolly DeLong photography, the other side of my business.

For the past year, I’ve had more cohesiveness. Thanks to her. I have Abby Powell on the show. Abby is a wife, a mom, and a church planter. She is also a computer science nerd turned brand website designer. She specializes in overall brand aesthetics and creating consistent brand recognition across all assets and platforms.

I can attest to that. Abby believes branding can be easy, but it requires a strategy to be effective. She helps women take their marketing to the next level by creating strategic brands. Wow. Worthy websites and easy-to-use cohesive social media kits. So Abby, welcome to the show.

I’m so glad you’re finally here. Thank you. It’s been a long time coming. I’m glad to be here. I’m so excited you’re here. Did I miss anything in your formal introduction?

Abby Powell: Nope. You nailed it.

Dolly DeLong: Well, I 100 percent mean it has been a more cohesive year because of your help and expertise in branding and strategy in my business.

I do owe so much. Thanks and gratitude to you. I’m excited to introduce you to my audience and help them understand more foundations, systems, and the importance of setting up a cohesive brand because I’ve experienced it. I’m on the other side of it and still growing.

I’m still ebbing and flowing, but everything is coming together for my business. And so I want this for my listeners. I want to chat with you about how we started this cohesive brand design journey for me. I know you have tactical and strategic points you wish to share with my audience.

So, let’s start from there.

Abby Powell: Yeah, as you mentioned, we’ve built a fantastic brand for you, and it was a rebrand. You already had a brand established in some capacity and were like, I need to get everything looking like it goes together. Your brand is unique because you serve very different clients and have two distinct parts of your business, other departments, under one big umbrella.

So, we got to take a unique approach to your brand-rebranded design, which was fun and challenging. And I think we’ve done a great job, and you have been able to use all those pieces consistently over the last year, and it’s been amazing to watch you do that. One of the goals that I had going into your brand design was to build; I think you already said, like the foundation of your brand so that you can grow and scale with this brand, that your business can grow and scale with the visuals that we were putting to it.

So, I would love for people to think about branding because it’s not just creating a logo and picking many fun colors. It’s creating this foundation of who you are as a business turned visual aid. Those visual pieces should help support who you are as a business.

And so, um, I think the first thing people need to know about branding, especially branding, is if you’re coming back to your business and reevaluating who you are, deciding who you are as a business. And as a personal brand or as a product, store, or service that you’re offering to people, you have to decide who you are and who you want people to see you as before you can create visuals, which you came to me with an apparent understanding of who you are as a business and, who you serve and why you do it.

And so that. Those pieces have to be established before you can do any visuals, which is fantastic because you came to me saying, I don’t know what this is going to look like, but I can tell you who I am and what I do, and I can tell you what it’s not going to look like. And that’s helpful, and people may not realize that they cannot articulate what it is to look like. Still, if they know what it doesn’t look like, That’s helpful because that’s how our process started, was, I don’t like this, and I don’t want that, and I, this is who I am, this is who I serve and what I do and why I do it, and we built from there, which was great. Not everybody gets that; people must work hard to establish those pieces on the front end.

So yeah, that’s how our story started, which is fun. I also wanted to make a point about cohesion. Once you establish the strategy behind who you are as a business, you can start making decisions about some of those visual elements.

Cohesion doesn’t necessarily mean that you take those pieces and make every single graphic the same color or you put the same. Logo or icon on everything. That’s not really what cohesion means. Cohesion means that you create this series of elements, of visual elements that may be colored, that may be different versions of your logo or patterns, icons, the fonts you choose and the way you use them, those are kind of all those elements and you, you make all of them where they look like they go togetherCohesion means that all the pieces you’re going to be using look as they belong together. So, if you pick some random Canva template with some fun-looking things, and then the next time you like a different one, those pieces may not feel like they go together.

So people will be confused by them. Yeah. Cohesion also doesn’t mean that all your Instagram feeds will be the same color from here on out. That’s not the same thing. Yeah.

Dolly DeLong: I’m glad you differentiated those two because sometimes I get so hung up on the idea that I must keep everything the same.

But it’s true that when you delivered the final brand, I didn’t even know what to call it. In the brand guide, you put different elements, like you showcased how I could still make a cohesive brand story but showcased how to do it with other elements, which I appreciated.

Abby Powell: Yeah. Some use cases or potential ways things could be used.

Yeah. It’s also not helpful if I say, here are your elements, and they’re in a zip file, and you’re like, great, what do I do with them? How do I use them? That’s not going to get you very far. But yeah, if you can see, this ribbony element goes with these things over here and maybe with these kinds of colors, and then this pattern can be used on top of or behind these elements over here, and that’s a great use for something like that kind of teaches your brain a little bit more like what to do with them because you did tell me a couple of times these are great I love them I don’t know how to use them you’re going to have to teach me that yes and so I’m glad that you feel like confident in using those because they’re not helpful to you if you’re like I have them, don’t know what to do with them, but they’re there.

They’re

Dolly DeLong: Very pretty. And they’re there. Yeah, I will take us back a little because I want the listener. I’m curious, Ab.y; I know you shared this with me while working together, but how did you start with a brand and website designer? You shared in your intro that you’re a computer science nerd, so those are two entirely different sides of your brain.

I want to hear what got you started as a brand and website designer so my listeners can understand.

Abby Powell: Yeah, that’s a great question. So I went to school. I went to college for computer science and walked out thinking this was the path I would follow. I also have a digital marketing career.

Digital design minor. So, my brain has buried the two. From the time I was a little bitty, I was a crafter, DIY, creative brain, but I have a logical problem-solving approach to thinking or seeing things. And so, in college, I married those in digital arts and computer science.

And then, just through different jobs and the way that the Lord has taken my life over the last several years, the opportunities he’s given me, I’ve gotten to dig my toe into both sides. I’ve been in the coding world, and I’ve been a full-time graphic designer. Then, website design married the two of those, but as I started to get into the web, I realized that people who needed websites needed branding first because they didn’t have it. They’re like, I need a website.

So people can interact with me, book me, or do whatever they want. But they didn’t have branding, and many people would say”, Oh, yeah, make me a logo. And I started seeing how services work very well. And my brain says, Okay, if we do a logo, we need to think about the strategy. Before, I knew that’s what we were doing.

Those were still the strategy questions I asked my clients. I just fell into that by word of mouth from people who knew me and knew what I did. I had my hands and feet in many different areas, so I could probably figure out how to solve their needed problem.

And then, I fell in love with it and started to train and learn how to do those things well and efficiently. I also learned the psychology behind why we choose, some of the colors we do are fonts, and how those things read differently to your brain.

And, um, I wanted to talk about that in a few minutes, too, but I just accidentally fell into it and loved it. Then, I saw a need for it, and the opportunities kept coming. And so that’s how I’ve ended where I am

Dolly DeLong: I love it so much. Thanks for sharing that and re-sharing it with me.

Cause I forgot like half of that. I was like, Oh, yeah. Okay. So we spoke about what brand. It is what cohesion is and what it’s not. So can you hit upon, like, you shared or hinted at this, like, um, reading fonts and what specific fonts and brand colors, like how this all plays together?

Abby Powell: Yes. So, the two things I would say about why cohesion is essential are that you and your audience must know who you are as a business. The psychology behind how your brain interprets those visual elements is critical to both of these.

Then we discussed who you are as a business just a minute ago. First, establish yourself on the front end before you create the visual branding. Then we can go in and say, you, Dolly, you’re like, my brand is, I want people to be confident in me.

I want them to trust me. I want them to know that I am a staple, a figure in this and this world, and that I do good work here. I know what I’m doing and need people to perceive me by what product.

Dolly DeLong: Yeah.

Abby Powell: And so we established these things about your business, like who you are as a business, who you serve, and why you do it.

And then we picked some additional branding elements, the visual pieces that would represent those things, right? So we have this beautiful orange, yellowy, sunshine yellow color that’s bright and fun and inviting to people. And we also have this navy color that’s not black because black can be a little bit too harsh for, I think, what your brand was.

You’re more approachable, and it also represents authority. Then we have this beautiful, pale blue color that is also creative and calming. It gives people a sense that they will be safe here. So, we chose your colors very, very intentionally. Yes, that’s just part of what we do with branding, especially strategic branding.

If you have someone who’s going to do the strategy behind your brand, they’re going to look at all the pieces that you, if who you are as a business, and then they’re going to say, these colors represent that. And with you and our branding project together, we had a couple of colors that we liked, and these colors could also accomplish that same feeling.

But then, I presented some to you, and you were like, that one’s I wouldn’t say I like it like that color. I don’t want to be that color. That’s not it. And so the good thing is there are a lot of colors, right? There are a lot of options. We went through the best part of the process: narrowing down what colors accomplish what we’re trying to achieve.

And then also which ones of those feel like they represent you as you’re a personal brand. A lot of. What you like as a person also represents and reflects in your business, which makes it a little bit easier. So that’s how we process through the colors and fonts kind of work the same way.

So you’ve got this specific tone of how you speak to your audience, what they’re going to, um, you know, you want to translate that from when they read your captions on social media to when they go to your website when they book a call with you, the emails they’re going to get. And then when they hop on a.

On a discovery call with you, you want that tone of voice to be translated through. And so the copy you choose will do some of that. The actual fonts you choose will also do some of that because, you know, we chose a combination of serif and sans-serif fonts for your branding. And some of that helps, again, reinforce that authority in the world that you’re in.

But it also gives some modernists and some like approachability. We have this fun script that also helps bring that lively personality to your brand. We chose those intentionally so they go together, don’t feel disjointed, like a match, and represent who you are as a business.

And then, when people get on a call with you, they’ll feel like they’ve already had that connection because they all intentionally go together.

Dolly DeLong: Yeah. Yeah. I loved it. And I would also ask you, Abby, if I have a listener listening in and they are in the beginning stages of their business. However, they don’t yet have an established brand identity, meaning they don’t know they are still throwing spaghetti at the wall because that’s the first year or two of business; you’re figuring it out. You’re figuring out who you want to serve, how you want to serve, who you want to talk to, all this stuff. And so, what do you suggest a person do in the very beginning stages of their business? If they, because I don’t think it was. This is my opinion.

I don’t think investing in a brand strategy on day one of your business is wise when you don’t even know who you are or serving.

Abby Powell: Oh, I agree. That’s probably not the best use of your resources at the beginning of your business journey.

So, I would say that you could follow a similar process to what we’re talking about on a smaller scale. You could Do the strategy part yourself, willing to be stripped down. It’s going to be scaled back. But I would say that you go tit through and think about who you think you are right now as a band is, where youth now if you’re starting, maybe you haven’t booked a client at all yet, or you haven’t even posted a single thing on any social media platform like you are literally at the beginning. Then maybe you envision this as who you want to be, who you know how you want clients to perceive you, and then make yourself a little mini version of this brand identity we’re discussing.

And that could be as simple as picking three or four colors. Maybe you have like pretty standard, which would be like a good light color that doesn’t have to be white, an excellent dark color that doesn’t have to be black, But they need some strong contrast and then maybe an accent or two that don’t strongly compete against each other and then say like this is the brand identity that I’m going to commit to for it now and just give it a test run. Maybe you can pick a couple of templates from Canva and doctor them up a little so they feel like they fit the content you want to share.

So, maybe not the visual aesthetic because Canva is one of the best, too, I feel, we have for entrepreneurs right now in terms of creating visual consistency. And so, maybe you pick a handful that fits the content you want to share. The layout is wise. You can adjust the color and fonts and commit to those brand standards for some time.

You can modify and adjust your brand and business slightly as you grow. Another practical thing would be changing, expanding, or scaling, not making a dramatic chain yourself. Yes, I’m guilty.

Dolly DeLong: of that. I’m very guilty of that, listeners.

A lot of people, A lot of

Abby Powell: People are. Yeah, it’s tough when you have shiny object syndrome. Yeah, that Neon color is so fun, and it’s really in right now. And I want to test that out. This person, these people over here, are using these amusing templates.

I want to try those out and avoid shiny object syndrome if you can. I know it’s so hard, but that would be an excellent practical tip: pick a couple of colors that feel like they represent you as a brand or as who you want to be as a brand. And stick to them. For a little while, that will help establish the consistency, that cohesiveness, using the same colors; as I said, it doesn’t have to be the same color in every single graphic, but maybe if you’re using the same colors across all your graphics.

Consistently, whenever you use the blue, you use the same blue. Whenever you use this pink, you use the same pink. Those kinds should be beneficial, at least for some time, until you feel ready to invest. And even templates that maybe you purchased that are a semi-custom brand or, or a brand, a brand designer, who will do like a much larger strategy for you.

I agree with you, though, and I want to reemphasize that what you said is not a thing that I think people need from the beginning all the time. I don’t think that’s where you need to spend your money at the very beginning when you can accomplish some of those things on your own. At the same time, you try to figure out who you are because you have to figure out who you are as a business and brand before any of those other pieces will serve you well.

Dolly DeLong: I also want to affirm any listeners who are listening in. You might be in the messy middle of your business, growing or starting. You know who you are and see what you want to serve, and now you’re at a crossroads, a fork in the road.

I don’t know what to call it where you’re like, okay, I know I need to niche down a little bit more and serve this audience, and you might have to let go of several things. And so this is where your brand might have to evolve. Abby, I’m throwing a curveball at you right now. Okay. I did not prepare you with this, but what would you say to the business owner at the crossroads where they know what services are successful? Then wh?y What kind of is? I don’t know how else to say it.

It’s like excess baggage, excess fat. I need to get rid of it. There’s nothing terrible about it, but it’s just not helping them. It’s hindering them. So, what would you say as a brand strategist for them to then work on?

Abby Powell: That’s a great question. I would affirm what you’re saying.

If you are in the messy middle of that space, then it will be mandatory for you to get rid of the things that aren’t serving you well. And that may be, for your branding, that may look like, it may look like things you’ve been using for the last several years, or, it may look like, It may look like just honestly scaling back a little bit, it may just be like taking a step back and like Dolly said, just really stripping down, services you’re offering, but also maybe stripping down some of the like brand elements that you’ve been using and give yourself a space to hit the reset button.

That is a great place to bring in a strategist, brand strategist, or graphic designer, maybe to help you relish or reintroduce some new templates. Still, you’ll have to do that, stripping back first to reintroduce new things.

And it may not be a full-blown re-brand, um, it could be, potentially that, that is an excellent place to do that if you’re going to try to reposition yourself with your audience as, as a new directive or a more narrow niche, that is a good time to do some of that rebranding. Still, I think a good first step would be to scale back on some of the brand things to be able to rebrand the new or the more narrowed-down pieces.

Dolly DeLong: Gotcha. Thanks for letting me throw that curveball at you. Yeah, okay. Okay. So, I know we got off track. I’m sorry about that. Would you encourage a listener to organize branding and have a system for this new brand and how to maintain its cohesion? For me, having organization at the back end of my business is, in a way, a system.

I know you, and you helped me establish a perfect brand design. You also helped me organize, so I immediately put it into action because you had a system down for me to manage. So, do you have any tips for my listeners?

Abby Powell: Yes. So I think I 100 percent agree with you.

Suppose you have difficulty staying consistent and keeping your pieces cohesive. If you are not organized, try using organizational tools that make sense to your brain, and they will be your best friend. So, very practically, that could look like all of your logos live in a Dropbox, wherever you’re, your files storage system that you have it labeled, and you know where to go to find those pieces.

If you have a V.A. helping you, They know where to find those pieces, and each file is labeled clearly like this is the primary logo. This is the sub. You see the subheading font. Size, whatever, as you have, you have everything labeled where you or someone else can come into your file system and find the pieces they need for whatever they’re creating at that time.

Practically, organizing the files themselves will be helpful. Then, secondary to that, I would use Canva again—I would use Canva Pro. It’s going to be your best friend. Set up your brand kit. That will be like a saving grace because you don’t have to dig through those files every single time.

Some of that will already live inside Canva for you, so you can set up all the logos that you use. A V.A.ybe you put in there just the main ones that you use, not every single version, because that would be a little bit overwhelming, especially if you have a V.A. or somebody coming in to help you who’s not quite as familiar with all of those pieces.

So, I would put the primary things you will use on templates in your brand kit. I would put off your colors in your brand kit. That way, every time you create something, like I said, if you’re using blue, you use the same blue. If you’re using black, you’re using the same, whatever, the same dark color.

That will help with cohesion tremendously. You won’t have to remember hex codes or look them up. They live right there inside your Canva account. I would also say that we created these amusing templates for different use cases with Dolly and you.

If you’re familiar with Canva or already use it, you’ll know you create one file size at a time. So we made one whole template folder that’s just square graphics. It’s all the squared graphic templates for the podcast, this, freebie content, educational content, or whatever.

All templates are live in one Canva file of a specific size with its folder. So, all your templates live in a folder. Each template size lives in its own Canva space. Every time you create graphics, you copy that and use the templates already there.

These templates already establish all of your font sizes and spaces for photos. This will make your workflow fast and help with consistency. You always have the same logo in the same space and size on these graphics.

Dolly DeLong: While you were talking, I decided to open Canva so that we could give a real-time example to a listener. So, what Abby was sharing was immediately when she walked me through my new brand, Identity Cohesive Design for Dali DeLong Education and Dali DeLong Photography. Keep in mind that Dali DeLong’s education is the podcast.

It’s now the YouTube channel. It features summits, bundles, and digital product education centered on systems and workflow education. I’m in Canva right now. You guys can’t see me, but I’m in Canva, and I created a podcast folder for Dolly. So this is just like taking all those elements, and then Abby walked me through them for your podcast.

So I was like, okay, I’ll make a podcast folder. And then, within that podcast folder, I have a blog banner. I don’t know why, Abby; nobody else can see this, but on Riverside, where we’re recording this giant thumb, Thumbs up just came up. So, that distracted me for a second. So, within this folder for podcasting, she created my blog manners because she knows I like to create blog posts that correspond with every podcast.

That’s an image and then Instagram stories. Cause I like to push, my. My viewers on Instagram to my latest podcast episode. So I need something visual. So that’s another folder. A third folder features blog posts, which are entirely different sizes but have the same elements. But that same size, let’s see real cover photos. I also have an Instagram strategy and like to do reels to discuss my podcasts, email header templates for my email service provider, flow desk, and Pinterest folder.

And then, I know that my podcasting requires a thumbnail, so they are through a cast, so you created me. Essentially, podcast thumbnails are all within one folder, and this is all for the podcast brand of Dali DeLong Education, which is the systems and workflow magic podcast.

And so this was just a percentage of the brand identity. And if I had just taken it and not allowed Abby to guide me through, okay, this is how you divide it up, I still would not have any cohesion. I would be confused. And I’m so glad you helped me develop a system of organization for myself.

Like literally Abby, it takes me one hour every, like every podcast, to do the marketing because of this versus the four to five hours. It would take me. Yeah.

Abby Powell: Yeah. Wow. That’s awesome. Yeah. I would say that having the strap brand strategy and having even the brand kit in Canva, your actual visual pieces, is part of it, and then having a designer come in and tell you how to use it and teach you how to use it, create templates for you that.

You can easily swap the colors, swap the photos, and change the titles. And I think they will serve you well in the long term. Having one makes it much faster for you as if your workflow is much quicker. And then the organization, though. You could have all those pieces; it will take you forever to find them if they’re not organized. You’ll be frustrated and not want to use them. They go hand in hand, I think. To use them well, you have to be organized, find them, know how to use them, understand where they are, and then be willing to stick with the little guidelines you’ve been given.

Dolly DeLong: Yeah, I’m sorry, I went off on the tangent of, like, I just wanted to showcase your expertise, like, on even the podcast, and it’s helped out this podcast in so many ways. So thank you. Good. I’m happy. That’s

Abby Powell: awesome.

Dolly DeLong: Okay. I know we are a little over 30 minutes late. I could talk to you forever about how excited I have been about my new brand for the past year.

I guess it’s not new anymore, but it is. It still feels so exciting and so fresh for me. And I, Oh, again, I’m going on another tangent. So Abby, please forgive me. Those listening know that I love leading the systems and workflow magic bundle at least once, if not twice a year, and I just ended it earlier this February.

Abby created a brand kit for the systems, workflow magic bundle, and summit. So, whenever I have a new theme, summit, or bundle, I can go into that brand kit and quickly create graphics and whatever templates I need for all of my contributors and affiliates who are part of the bundle.

And that has been a lifesaver for me. So I don’t have to start from scratch.

Abby Powell: Yeah, that’s awesome. One thing we want to be able to do with your brand is create a perfect foundation. Because that was your plan, you don’t know all the pieces as you grow and add things. Yeah, it would just continue to grow with you, which you’ve been able to do beautifully.

So that’s awesome.

Dolly DeLong: Thank you, Abby. Okay, so as we wrap up, do you have anything else to say about Brand cohesion and setting up a system for yourself either early on or when you’re in the messy middle of growing your business, especially regarding the brand?

Abby Powell: Yeah, one last thing I would say that I think you did very quickly once we established some of your visual pieces is to go into all of your software platforms that you’re using and update your colors, update your logos, make sure that on your email marketing, your CRM, your invoices, your course platforms, any project management systems you’re using, anything that’s client-facing or audience facing, that all of those pieces are the same or look the same, um, use the same colors, from buttons to fonts to just the logo that’s in the footer of emails, yeah.

That will also help with the consistency of the social media platforms. Looking anywhere that you have touch points with clients or an audience, try to make those things the same across all platforms as best you can.

Dolly DeLong: Awesome. That’s a perfect piece of advice to end on because I have noticed that a lot of it, like even myself, I will include myself in on platforms that I started using in the past. Still, I’m not as active on, let’s say, LinkedIn. For example, whenever I jump on there, I notice That I need to update mine.

My title and branding do not match what I’m posting on Instagram, my website, or Pinterest, on which I am active. And so that was a good reminder right there. Because somebody might find you on one of those platforms you used to be on. You’re not as active on them, and then they click on it, jump over to your website, and then there’s.

Like a psychological disconnect, wait, is this the same person?

Abby Powell: Yeah, and we want to eliminate as much confusion as possible. We want people to quickly be able to connect that you are the same person across different platforms so that they know and recognize you and trust you ultimately to want to work with you.

Dolly DeLong: Awesome. Okay, this merges into the next question. Abby, how can a person find you and work with you? Are you taking clients? What does it look like to work with you this year and in the future?

Abby Powell: Yeah, that’s awesome that you asked that. I am on social media, not a ton, but I am @abbypowelldesigns on Instagram.

If I’m on social media, I’m hanging out there. I’m also abbypowelldesigns.com. That’s where you can probably connect with me. The fastest is my website. Right now, I am taking clients and have a Pinterest account. Template freebie that’s very similar to the templates we were talking about we’ve created for your brand that can be customized for someone else’s brand.

If you go to abbypaldesigns, Com slash free dash Pinterest, I’m sure Dolly will put it in the show notes. I will. Um, yeah, that would be a great resource I’ve created that goes along with what we’ve discussed: giving people an opportunity to have fun.

Strategically designed templates for Pinterest, blogs, podcasts, and other content you’re pushing out—those are great places to find me.

Dolly DeLong: Awesome. Abby, thank you so much for being on the show and the podcast. I appreciate all the hard work you’ve done for me.

And so I’m excited for people to get to know you more.

Abby Powell: Awesome.

Dolly DeLong: Thanks, Dolly. I’ve

Abby Powell: I enjoyed being here.

Dolly DeLong: Yeah. Okay, listeners, after listening to the show, I want you to do several things for me. Please go and find Abby on Instagram and start following her. Um, and if you are meeting a new brand identity because you have established your brand, you’ve established your business, and you know who you serve and who you are, but now you need more cohesiveness.

Then, I want to encourage you to reach out to Abby. She is a true gem, and I hope you can do that. The third thing is, of course, to download her freebie. I will link it to the resources and blog posts corresponding to this episode. So, until then, have a streamlined and magical week.

You are a fantastic muggle, and I will talk to you all next week with a new systems and workflow-related podcast episode. Bye.