E15: Sandy is the Founder of Spotted By Humphrey, a dog boutique curating playful dog goods for good dogs. The shop has grown tremendously since its launch in 2018. Sandy and Humphrey were even invited down to Los Angeles for a segment on Shopify's YouTube channel. This was a professional studio set with camera crew, backstage make-up artists, and real actors and actresses on the set. Sandy's secret to growth has been building a strong brand identity. She built an audience over 150k followers across all social media channels and today, she's going to share her framework for building a successful brand.

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TOPICS:
Definition of Brand (2:38)
A brand is a feeling that consumers get when they're interacting with you. So it's something that's not definable by the company to the extent that a brand is defined by the relationship between the company and its customers.

Framework for Creating a Strong Brand (4:32)
Step 1: Identify your values.
Step 2: Live your values consistently.
Step 3: Be open to adapting your brand values.

Identify Your Brand Values (5:56)
Start with yourself. Think about how you see yourself as a brand, what values you live by, or simply just how your friends might describe you.

Stay Consistent with Your Brand Values (8:53)
Every touchpoint in the customer experience should embody these values. Think of the colors on your website, the tone of your social media posts, or the way that your emails look. So the more consistent they are, the more effective you'll be at reinforcing those values.

Evolve Your Brand Values (13:28)
It's only natural that a brand changes and evolves over time like humans do. It doesn't have to be drastic as a complete rebrand. It's really important to continuously observe the trends within your industry and assess what kind of changes feel appropriate to your brand.

Audit Your Brand Values (17:48)
If you have a business, when was the last time you did an audit on your brand values? Visit them now and update them.

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LINKS:

instagram.com/SpottedHumphrey
tiktok.com/@SpottedHumphrey

SpottedByHumphrey.com

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First Class Founders is a show for indie hackers, bootstrapped founders, CEOs, solopreneurs, content creators, startup entrepreneurs, and SaaS startups covering topics like build in public, audience growth, product marketing, scaling up, side hustles, holding company, etc.

Past guests include Arvid Kahl, Tyler Denk, Noah Kagan, Clint Murphy, Jay Abraham, Andrew Gazdecki, Matt McGarry, Nick Huber, Khe Hy, and more.

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