Branding Tips for Virtual Assistants
This episode may contain affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase through the link, I get a small percentage at no additional charge to you.
Before we hop into today’s episode, I want to announce that I published a new class on Skillshare on finding clients without social media! So if you’re a Virtual Assistant, service provider, or freelancer, you’ll want to check it out! Sign up through my special link, and you’ll have access to the class for free for 1 month. You can also check out my other class on creating services and any other classes on the Skillshare platform! Go to desiretodone.com/skillshare to sign up. I’ll also add a link in the episode description. Now on to today’s episode!
You only have a few seconds to grab someone’s attention when they land on your website or social media platform. With the wrong look, you could potentially lose a client! (No pressure, right?!)
Hi there! Welcome to the Desire to Done podcast! I’m your host, Billie Gardner! Today we’re talking about branding!
I’m going to share my favorite branding tips and give you some fun projects that you can do to create the perfect brand for your business.
What is branding?
Before we dive into the branding elements that you need, let’s cover what branding is.
Simply put, branding is a lot of things. It’s not just the “pretty things” like your colors, fonts, and logo. It’s also your voice, the way you take care of your clients, and much more.
Why is branding important?
There are many reasons why you want to take the time to figure out your branding.
Your brand is your business’s first impression – As I mentioned before, you only have a few seconds to grab someone’s attention. If you don’t, they’ll just click away. Adios, potential client!
Branding is a way to get your prospective client's attention and connect with them – When you create a brand that communicates your style and also attracts your ideal client, you’ve hit the sweet spot!
Branding is your business’s personality – Your brand communicates what you believe in, how you treat clients, and so much more.
And it helps to distinguish your business from others – A brand helps you stand out from others in the same niche or industry.
In this episode, we’re going to focus on the design aspect of branding, specifically your business’s tone and look.
Let’s go over some elements you need to have and project ideas you can do for each!
Step One: Set the Tone
Your tone is the overall look and feel of your brand. It’s basically the vibe your business gives off.
Do you want to give off a bright, sunny, happy vibe? Or a cool, calm, relaxing one? Do you want it to be modern with clean lines? Or do you want it to be romantic and ornate?
Your project is to: Choose 3 words that describe your brand’s tone.
Step Two: Pick Your Colors
Have you ever noticed how certain colors make you feel? For instance, yellow is a happy color that might remind you of the warm summer sun or a happy smiley face. Green might make you feel vibrant and healthy. That’s the power of color psychology.
You’ll want to find colors that match the vibe of your business.
Create a color palette of colors that complement each other. Typically, you’ll want to choose up to 3 colors and 1-2 neutrals for your brand. One of the colors will be your main color and the other two will be accent colors. Neutral colors to choose from are white, black, grey, brown, ivory, silver, tan, and gold.
When you create your color palette, jot down the hex code of each color. The hex code is a combination of unique letters and numbers that create a specific color. So instead of choosing “blue” for your brand, you’ll choose a specific shade of blue.
You can search “color palette hex codes” on Pinterest and you’ll see tons of ideas for your brand colors that also include the hex codes.
Your project is to: Choose 1 main color, 2 accent colors, and 1-2 neutrals for your brand.
Step Three: Pick Your Fonts
What kind of fonts communicates the tone of your brand?
Just like your brand’s colors, your fonts set the mood. There are TONS to choose from! There’s serif, sans serif, script, novelty, and much more!
You’ll need to choose a font for the heading, body, and logo.
For the Heading and body you’ll want to choose a basic, easy-to-read font that you can use for your website, blog, proposal, etc., like serif or sans serif.
For the Logo: You can pick a fun script or novelty font if you like. Just as long as it fits your vibe and is easy to read.
Your project is to: Choose a heading, body, and logo font.
Step Four: Choose Additional Elements
The additional elements are like the accessories of your brand and include things like photos, icons, and patterns. Just like the colors and fonts, you’ll want to pick additional elements that match your brand’s tone.
For example, if your ideal client is a blogger, she might like photos of a woman working at a desk. If your ideal client is a health coach, she might like seeing photos of healthy food.
Your project is to think of some additional elements you can use for your brand: What kind of photos, icons, or patterns would appeal to your ideal client and match the tone of your brand? I recommend Ivory Mix, Haute Stock, or Canva Pro for images. I’ll drop links to these sites in the episode description.
Step Five: Create a Mood Board
Now that you have an idea about the direction you want your brand to take, you’ll want to get a little clearer by creating a mood board on Pinterest.
It’s really simple (and fun) to do. Just create a secret board for your new brand, and start browsing! Try searching words that embody your brand to see what comes up. Pin anything that fits with the look and feel you want to create.
Your project is to Create a mood board for your brand on Pinterest.
Step Six: Design Your Logo
Use your brand’s colors, fonts, and imagery to design a logo for your business. Don’t spend too much time on this though. At the very least, you just need something clean and simple.
You can simply create a logo with your business name written in a script font, or you can use Canva and their logo templates to create a professional-looking logo in no time.
Your project is to: Design a simple logo in Canva.
Step Seven: Create a Branding Kit
A branding kit is a visual reference or style guide for your brand.
Basically, you’re creating a document that details the different aspects of your brand. When you’re just getting started, keep it simple! Stick with your colors, fonts, those descriptive words you came up with earlier, and your logo.
If you ever forget what shade of pink your brand is, you can reference your branding kit and find the hex code. It also helps to see all the elements laid out so you can remember to keep that tone or mood with your business when you create something new for your site or social media.
You can add all of this information to a Word Doc or Google Doc, or you can create your branding kit in Canva.
Now you’ll have a reference whenever you design something new! It’s also great to hand over to a graphic designer if you decide to hire one.
Your project is to Create a branding kit that includes your brand’s descriptive words, logo, hex codes, fonts, and imagery.
Congrats! You’ve now got yourself a brand that not only shows your business’s personality but also grabs your ideal client’s attention.
Keep in mind that you can always tweak your brand elements later on. So if you’re not totally in love with it yet, it’s ok. Go ahead and launch your website and work on fine-tuning your brand later.
If you’d like to see examples of the different types of fonts I mentioned, a mood board, or a branding kit, I’ll link to a blog post where you can see all of these.
Want to learn more branding tips? You’ll find them inside the introvertvaclub.com along with courses on blogging, SEO, WordPress, and more! Go to introvertvaclub.com to sign up.
And don’t forget to check out my new Skillshare class on finding clients without social media!
Have a great day, and talk soon! Bye!
