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My Weekly Marketing
Join conversations about marketing, business, and life-in-between with Janice Hostager and a variety of world-class entrepreneurs! We will fill you with step-by-step training, marketing strategy, and life experiences from where life and business intersect. We'd love to have you join the fun!
My Weekly Marketing
Small Business Branding while Traveling the World with Whitney Bateson
Ever wondered how to balance the thrill of globe-trotting with running a successful business? Whitney Bateson, website designer and branding expert, pulls back the curtain on her adventurous life as a digital nomad.
Whitney shares her experience with the logistical challenges of working remotely from stunning locales like Colombia, Portugal, and Indonesia. She highlights her unique lifestyle and offers practical tips for anyone dreaming of combining work with travel.
Whitney also talks about the pivotal role of effective communication in building a brand that goes beyond logos and colors. She explains how creating a trustworthy relationship with customers starts with a memorable first impression and consistent messaging.
Establishing a strong brand identity is crucial. Whitney emphasizes the importance of grounding your brand in your passion and including your personal story to create an emotional connection with your audience. She warns against the pitfalls of mimicking competitors and the dangers of frequent rebranding.
Whitney shares her blueprint for evaluating your brand's effectiveness, choosing purposeful design elements, and maintaining consistency to ensure customer recognition and loyalty. Tune in to gain practical advice that will help your business build a lasting, memorable brand presence!
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Branding for your business is kind of hard to define. I think we know good branding when we see it, but it's really kind of hard to put into words. In reality, brand is something that other people define for you. You can't fully guarantee that how you shape your brand is how others will see it, but we, as business owners, can certainly influence our brand. That's why it's helpful to have done your branding homework, and that's just what we're going to talk about in this episode.
Janice Hostager:If we haven't met yet, this is my Weekly Marketing and I'm Janice Hostager. On this week's episode, I've invited Whitney Bateson. Whitney's a website designer and branding expert, who will talk to us about what a strong brand looks like and how you can create one for your business too. But, starting our conversation, she talks about what it's like to travel full time. Yep, she travels the world working remotely from destinations such as Colombia, portugal and Indonesia. Pretty cool, right? Here's my conversation with Whitney. Hey, whitney, thank you for joining me today this evening, I should say because where you are, it's evening, right? So tell us about where you are and and yeah, thank you so much for having me.
Whitney Bateson:uh, yeah, I I'm in Lisbon, portugal, right now, so I am a bit of a digital nomad. Uh, it's not a term that I actually like a whole lot, because I think it's very connotes the idea of like working from hammocks and kind of like jetting around, you know, week to week, different places, but I like to call myself a full-time traveler. So I actually started traveling before the pandemic, a couple of years before it, and I've been doing it now so for six years, just building my business, working around the world. I, my clients, are mainly in the U? S and Canada and those kinds of areas, so I don't necessarily pick up business as I go, but I just take my computer and the internet. I'm good to go.
Janice Hostager:That is one of the things I just love about technology. Now, right, I mean, definitely during the pandemic, it came in handy, for sure, but the fact that you can just you literally can work from anywhere, that you have internet, yeah, yeah and yeah and yeah. How long do you stay in places typically?
Whitney Bateson:So we always. So I traveled with my husband, who I actually met on my first year of my. I did a travel program. It was company, um, it's called remote year, and they organize travel and all the logistics for a year, uh, or shorter if you want to do that with a group of people. And so I met him through that program. So I did not start this like on my own.
Whitney Bateson:Cold Turkey definitely had an agency doing all the logistics and then after you do it you know it was called the kind of like travel with training wheels and then after you do it for a while, you start kind of getting into the habit of like okay, this is how I can research a country and I can. Okay, this is how visas work, this is how finding a SIM card in a new country works, and you know, you kind of you start feeling more comfortable. But so that was for that time. It was 12 countries in 12 months, so it was one country a month for an entire year. We did yeah, it was, it was a lot, it was too fast, it was.
Whitney Bateson:It was nice to see the world and we did stay in like Europe for a third of the year. Then we went to Asia for a third of the year and then we did Latin America for a third of the year. So at least we weren't changing like time zones drastically during that time, because if that was happening, then I never. You know already it was a little challenging, but then, um, so that's been good. But now these days we try to stay two months or three months if we can, if longer.
Whitney Bateson:We stayed in Panama recently for six months. We're going to Columbia next and we're thinking I'm voting for like let's stay there as long as humanly possible, just because I'm a little tired, right, but yeah, and we were in Mauritius during the pandemic and we were there for a year and a half. So it depends. But you know, staying for a year you kind of start feeling like you're living there and it's not as exciting anymore and there's different visa implications and tax implications and all of that too. You stay in places for longer periods of time, so you have to weigh all of that as well, but it keeps life really interesting.
Janice Hostager:Yes, I mean I could talk to you for hours about this, but my husband had we lived in England and we lived in Sweden, and then we did traveling while we were there too, because my husband's a college professor and so he had these opportunities to teach in different universities around the world. But I was with two little kids at the time and but after a while you do kind of especially if there's a language barrier you do kind of get kind of overwhelmed. And I remember we were planning on spending the Christmas in Italy, one year after having spent a month in France and several months prior to that in England, and I just had a meltdown. I was like I cannot do one more culture.
Whitney Bateson:I cannot do one more language I cannot do.
Janice Hostager:You know, and it just really. You know, you don't realize it, and it's very fun and very um, full of adventure, but at the same time, um, my, my kids were starting to fray. I was. I can't even imagine. Yeah, you know, and we just ended up going back to France and having a lovely Christmas there, but you know um good and even that.
Whitney Bateson:I mean, you went back to France. You didn't retreat all the way back, you know so, but at least it was somewhere that was more familiar than where you were planning to go next. Right yeah.
Janice Hostager:We had just planned on going to Italy right across the border, but you know it was so it it does sound fun and it is amazing and I I'm just feel so blessed to have that had that opportunity, but at the same time, it it definitely its challenges, for sure, and every country is different. Like you mentioned, immigration not immigration, but visa and social work visas, if you have that, which it does sound like you do because you both work remotely, right? Yeah, so you're, yeah, we don't do the work visa.
Whitney Bateson:Yeah, just the tourist visa? Yeah, exactly so. But yeah, it's. You know, it's almost like a lot of little um, like challenges every single day like, okay, what's the hairdresser, I'm going to see what. Where's the grocery? What do they call grocery stores? You know, like it just if, if you're staying for longer term rent, like in Panama, I had to figure out how to pay the electric bill and that was a whole challenge and a whole wild goose chase to figure out. And so it's fun and you know, you learn all these things and you learn to be very, very flexible.
Whitney Bateson:I feel like I've gotten really good at getting comfortable. Once I land in a place, within a week I feel like, okay, yeah, I could stay here forever. You know, this is great. Yeah, I think it's. It's helped with my adaptability a whole lot. But yeah, we are looking for just like a little bit more stability. Maybe make some friends in a place, come back to a place and have some routine, but never stop traveling fully. We're, we're not. We don't have any plans or desires to just like live in one spot, but more maybe do like a quarter of the year here, a third of the year after the year here and then go somewhere else.
Janice Hostager:So oh, very cool Very cool.
Janice Hostager:Yeah. So your story about paying the electric bill reminded me that when my daughter and I and my in-laws came to visit and we were in Paris and my daughter got a terrible case of stomach flu, and so I was wandering all around Paris, not sure, looking for popsicles, right? So which is what we call them here in the US. In England they call them ice lollies. I had no idea what the French word was, and so, you know, I'm just trying to communicate in my school girl French, which is terrible. Even though I had five years of French, I still, you know, it's like they don't teach us every word.
Whitney Bateson:Right, Right. This is. This is before I had a smartphone in my pocket.
Janice Hostager:So, yeah, it was like I'm sure you keep journals and the whole process of this, but yeah, you should write a book afterwards, because I think there's going to be cause. I felt like I should have because if you, you're, if you're a parent and you're taking kids to europe, here's some things you need to know straight up, yeah, and even if you know you don't have kids and you're going living anywhere in other, in another country. There are some things you should do um and know about beforehand, but anyway, I am totally off topic here we're talking yeah, so.
Whitney Bateson:So how did you get into?
Janice Hostager:branding and marketing and all of that.
Whitney Bateson:So I, as a young kid, I always loved art and design and all that, but I just didn't think you could have a career in it. So I went the more logical route and pursued a science degree and got into nutrition and dietetics and I did that for 10 years. So that was my first career. But I found ways to bring in the communications, the marketing, the design, as I was creating materials for nutrition education, or we had to. I was working in DC public schools and we were introducing salad bars and we had to teach all the kids how to use the salad bar without getting your hands in everything and all of that. And so we kind of branded it. We made a nice little package that we could give to the school so that they could put signs up and educate the kids and all of that.
Whitney Bateson:And I had to train people and I just I really it hit home for me that in order for our messages to be heard, no matter what professional we are, we really need to ensure that it's being communicated in a way that people want to hear and see.
Whitney Bateson:Otherwise it's just we're not doing any good.
Whitney Bateson:And I saw that I had this gift to figure out a way to communicate things that were technical or not interesting like how to use a salad bar in a way that was a little bit more interesting and something that people would actually want to listen to and hear, and so I really had this passion to take that and help other health practitioners and dietitians and wellness folks, to help them communicate and reach their customers more and really be seen as experts, because I know that for so many I mean so many entrepreneurs no matter where they're learning, they're not learning marketing and design, necessarily, and branding.
Whitney Bateson:They're focusing on the business, and focusing on however they started their business. You know they're great at that skill, but they're not also learning all these other things, but it's just so critical and important, so I just I made the shift and started working in this field of branding and marketing and websites. I really enjoy the whole process of creating websites, and obviously, though, in order to have a great website, we need to first have a really great brand. So it was always important, as I was working with clients, to ensure that they were really clear on their brand and what they were trying to get across, because we can't create a powerful website until we have a powerful brand.
Janice Hostager:Oh yeah. So yeah, I'm glad you said that, because that I used to have a design agency and when people would come to me for a logo, they would say I just need some branding. And I remember a couple of times where I would sit down with them and just start going in deep and talking about their mission and their vision and all the things, and they were a little put off by that because they just weren't expecting that. You know, but a brand is not something that is a logo or fonts or colors, right?
Janice Hostager:So talk to us more about how a brand is deeper than that.
Whitney Bateson:Right, right. So a brand begins with how you are positioning your business and and who you are and all of that. And really a brand is how you want to form this relationship with your customers and how you're going to be showing up for them and really allowing yourself to figure out what is this great first impression I'm going to be giving to customers and then what can they keep expecting from this relationship? As time goes on, it's like this roadmap of okay, this is how I'm going to look in my business, this is how I'm going to speak in my business, this is just how I'm going to be, and it's honestly having that predictability, it's building trust.
Whitney Bateson:And going back to parenting if you're parenting your child and every day you're acting differently to them, like one day you're being all nice and sweet and then the next day you're screaming at them and then the next day they're going to just be like what the heck is going on here, like this is so unpredictable. You know they may not say that to themselves, but they're definitely not going to it's not going to be a good interaction. So to themselves, but they're definitely not going to it's not going to be a good interaction. So you know. So we want our brands yeah, we want our brand to to really be that predictable place, because we need our customers to build that know, like and trust factor with us. And if we are not letting them know hey, this is who we are, this is what you can expect when you work with me then they're not going to trust you and they're just not going to buy from you. And, honestly, a haphazard brand at its worst is going to just completely repel customers and turn them away, and at its best it's just going to bore your customers. So, okay, maybe your brand is okay, maybe it's not sending people away, but it's also not connecting with them on that deeper emotional level, and instead they're going away from the website, they're scrolling past you on social media, they're leaving the webinar that you started and thought it was going to be great, and they're like no, because we're just not having that strong brand. So the world is really crowded.
Whitney Bateson:Customers do have a lot of options, and so they're making these quick judgments, they're going off of their feelings and these gut reactions, and so our brand is how we stand out, and so our brand is how we stand out. It's how we get our customers to feel like we see them and we understand them and really from that first interaction, and really make them feel like your business is tailor-made for them, because our business is the perfect solution for our ideal customer out there, and we want them to feel like this was tailor-made for them so that when they are hearing what you're saying they're seeing your content, they are just saying like wow, this is for me. How did she know that? This is exactly how I'm feeling. This feels so comfortable. I want to just like devour the content, the emails that are coming out, all of that stuff. That's really what we want. We want want to just like devour the content, the emails that are coming out, all of that stuff. That's really what we want. We want people to feel like we read their minds, and that takes time. I definitely will say.
Whitney Bateson:When I was starting my business, I was like I don't really know what people need. I'm taking guesses, and I think we all are taking guesses all throughout our business. As we're launching a new product or positioning ourselves in a new way or maybe going after like a slightly different audience, we are going to have to make some educated guesses about. Okay, what is it that our customers are going to resonate with when it comes to our brand. What is that thing that they need to see and hear? But the best way is to start and make a guess and work through a process to kind of surface those guesses and those best guesses. And then, as you interact with your customers, you're going to be picking up little clues here and there of oh, this is something that people are telling me they're really struggling with, or this is a phrase that they keep using about this, and then you can keep adjusting from there too.
Janice Hostager:So Love that.
Janice Hostager:There's a couple of things you said. First of all, you said that you know somebody will just know if it's right for them, and I and I love that, because so much of what we pick up on is not even rational thought. You know, you may go to a webinar and just immediately know that this person is not for you. Or go to a website and say, thought, you know you may go to a webinar and just immediately know that this person is not for you. Or go to a website and say, oh, you know, this is not my thing Whatever, and but it also has to be. I think it has to be kind of a marriage between what they're looking for, but also you need to be true to your own personal brand and who you are, and for a lot of entrepreneurs, you are your brand, at least initially.
Janice Hostager:Even bigger corporations, like there is so much of Steve Jobs in Apple, for example, right. So they started out that way and of course you know he's gone now, but Apple still lives on and they have a brand that really was, I think, hasn't changed a whole lot from when he was there, because it worked for them, obviously, you know, versus a brand that's more generic, for example, so, how do you feel like?
Janice Hostager:how is it that you can distinguish yourself from everybody else out there? You can distinguish yourself from everybody else out there. What's the first step in doing that? That would make sure that your brand is unique. To look inward first and say, okay, who am I, or what am I about, what's the?
Whitney Bateson:process that you recommend that people do like in your online course. Yeah, so I would recommend answering a couple of questions, and these are going to be getting at kind of like what you were mentioning with the mission and vision and all of that, and then they're going to help you start forming that idea of like what your business is about and what your brand is about. So, first off, who your ideal customer is and that can be you know is, and that can be you know we've maybe seen people talk about, okay, you know what's the age, what's the gender and what's their education level and all that. It's like, yes, those things can be helpful, but I would just almost word vomit, like who is this person in your mind that just you would love to work with and just go and talk about it and try and describe them. What are the things that they like to do? What are the things they like to read? What are they struggling with? What are the things that are really just keeping them up? What are the things that they've been trying? So, getting at that understanding of your ideal customer, which, funny enough, similar I had these experiences when I was doing custom work in the past, where people wanted branding and I sent them a questionnaire to get started, and this is now the questionnaire that I give our students in our course.
Whitney Bateson:But it's asking these deep questions of like, who's your ideal customer? And I think it's surprising that there's a lot of businesses that actually aren't that clear about who their ideal customer is, so that's really important. That's then going to keep driving it forward. So what they're struggling with, what their needs are, all of that and then thinking about how is your product or service meeting those needs? What is the thing that you are doing that is addressing that problem? You are doing that is addressing that problem. And then how is what you're doing different than what's out there? And you could go about that a few different ways, but you could just be talking about the things that your customers have already been trying that haven't been working for them, and that's why your solution is a solution that's going to work for them.
Whitney Bateson:And so defining, just like how you're different, what you've seen out there, that you think there's something wrong with it, and this is why your product exists and your service exists, because I think every business owner, if you do talk to them and you say you know why did? Why did you start this business? Why are you so passionate about this? They're all going to have some kind of deep personal story about what made them want to start that business, and I think that that's really a great place to go and explore, because that is similar to what you were saying about your brand. Is you, when you're getting started, your brand is going to come from your heart. Why did you start your business? Why are you so passionate about serving this person with this solution? And the more you can just kind of get that written out and teased out, I think that's really going to help.
Whitney Bateson:And then just kind of a little bit also of like why your customers should believe you that your claims of what you do are going to help them. How are you the one that is best equipped to serve them? Is it because you've been doing it for 20 years? And I kind of told my story at the beginning of how I saw the value in creating great branding and marketing materials and communication materials and how that can really translate into things. So even just what you've seen that is making you feel that this is going to be the right solution and just why you're qualified to be the one actually providing this service.
Whitney Bateson:And even if you're getting started, because the branding process is often at the beginning of the business and if it's a new business, maybe you don't have customer testimonials and a lot of success stories. So maybe a business owner may feel like, oh well, I can't really say that, why should they believe me? It's like, well, there's something in your background that has made you get up to this point, that you feel confident that you can get this business going and help people. So what is it that you've done? And I think that's also having those unique perspectives is what creates the uniqueness of your brand and the uniqueness of your business.
Whitney Bateson:If you're just going off of okay, I'm just going to yeah, it's a moms with kids, I want to give them meal plans and it's better because there's the other meal plans out there aren't good. Why do I want to do this? I don't know. I just need to make some money. Why am I equipped? I mean, I know I've made meal plans for myself. Like there's no heart there. So you're not going to differentiate from the competition because you didn't really connect yourself emotionally with your brand. So you have to kind of form that connection and then that is the connection that we're then going to put into the rest of our brand materials and as a brand expands out into visuals and copy and all of that kind of stuff visuals and copy and all of that kind of stuff.
Janice Hostager:How do you feel like, okay, if I have a small business and maybe I kind of went and kind of followed somebody else that was a little more successful and I feel sort of like I adopted their brand a little bit, how do you know if you have a strong brand? First of all, I would ask you, is that a good process? But we all know that's not A brand is what sets you apart, right? So if you're following somebody else and I think we all do that, especially when we're starting our businesses we'll look at another website and we'll say, oh, I love this website, I want to make one just like that, or a logo that you really like, or the colors or whatever. So how do you know if your brand is truly effective or what? Is there a way to know or how? How would you figure that out?
Whitney Bateson:Yeah, I would say like you know, first, if, if you didn't go through the process that, if you went into that visual process of like, okay, I'm going to pick these colors because, yeah, maybe it's a slightly different shade of green, but generally it's kind of picking the same colors that I've seen out there just because you saw a competitor use those, then that's not going to line up and match well, because you didn't take the time to say, okay, this is what my business is about. Now I'm going to select the visuals based off of how I want my customers to feel, because you start after you create your brand personality and that positioning, you're then going to start thinking about, well, how does this extend now into the aesthetic that represents this feeling? And you can be there. I have like a branding workbook that I'll share the link for I have some word banks that people can use to kind of just start associating words with how, how would customers describe your business and all of that, and then the kinds of colors, even in fonts, that would represent that. And so if, if you didn't go through that process and you just literally were like this is my business and now I'm going to go and pick some colors, then I would say that, even if, because it's really hard to pinpoint what's not working in our business if we're not getting customers coming in the door, it's really hard to know is it my brand? Is it my website? Is it my prices? Is it my discovery call process? Is it that the services are not? Is it my copy?
Whitney Bateson:You know, I think the best thing that we can do is look at more of these, these tangible things of well, did I go through the process of clarifying my brand? If I didn't do that, then I need to do that. If, if you did go through that process and you came up with a brand and you're still not sure is that brand working for me or not, I would say I would look then at some of these other things I just mentioned, like what are your services? Who are you selling them to? Are they really addressing a problem? Who are you selling them to? Are they really addressing a problem?
Whitney Bateson:Can I get even more specific in how I am describing them or who I'm selling them to? Am I getting them in front of enough people services and all of that and then look at your brand and say, okay, is my brand going to support me in getting these services really looking good and being clear. Is it that I have no brand voice and that I didn't get clear on how the kinds of words that I'm using to describe things to my customers? So maybe it's just picking little pieces of of where your brand is maybe not so strong, or it needs to be modified a little bit in the different parts of your business, versus just being like, well, I need to rebrand because you know I'm not getting any sales, although I don't think most people go to their if they're having sales issues.
Whitney Bateson:I don't think most people go to their if they're having sales issues. I don't think most people like look at their brand, you know.
Janice Hostager:Yeah, I think a lot of times people will grow tired of their brand, or at least their brand components, before their customers ever will. You know, because we look at our websites all the time and look at our logo all the time and we may say, oh, it's just time for something fresh. But that may not necessarily be the case. In fact, it can really work against you in some cases, where even the huge corporations if you look I'm trying to think of companies that have been around for generations you know that when they rebrand or re-logo, put a new logo on something, they do it very gradually because they don't want to lose people in the process. Right, Oftentimes not always, but that's often the case.
Janice Hostager:Yeah, so does a strong brand matter? Now we can talk about how branding is important, but how it? Because somebody may say, well, I just started a business, I don't really have time to go into my whole branding and have or have the money to do that. So how important is a brand really? Is that something that we should look at right away? Is it something that can wait a little bit until we're a little further on in our business, or what are your thoughts on that?
Whitney Bateson:I would say that a strong brand is important, or at least defining your brand and then using it consistently. Now do you need to go and spend thousands for a full brand suite when you were just starting out? Probably not. I think, going through the process of figuring out who you are as a business and who you serve and getting a logo, I think keeping it simple is great. Picking some color palettes that are again fonts too, that are really informed by who you want to be as a brand and who you think your customers are going to resonate with, and then deciding on that and feeling good about it because you can defend your choices.
Whitney Bateson:I think it's a good exercise, if you DIY your brand and you pick your colors, to then explain to someone why you picked those colors, what do they mean, and if you're kind of like, well, I picked pink because I like pink, that's not a very strong reason. Maybe I picked pink because it's warm and soft and nurturing and I'm really looking to create this comforting, welcoming place for me. And it's this more peachy pink. It's not like bubble gum in your face, pink. Then it's starting to feel like okay, you picked that for a reason. I'm glad about that. So once you pick those things and there's some meaning and purpose behind the choices that you've made, then what you really need to be doing is just being consistent with how you use that branding. So I've seen people where they pick.
Whitney Bateson:Well, there's a few things that can go wrong. People can pick a bunch of different colors for their color palette, and too many colors is really not a brand, I would say and I have a podcast episode about this too. Like I would say like two main colors and then two like supplemental accent colors, and then just use shades of those colors for for different purposes, but really pick like a primary color that is used most often and then a second one. So I think that's a problem. I see also using way too many fonts. Honestly, you could have one for your headings, one for your body font, so this goes for both on your website and also like in Canva, when you're creating graphics or handouts or anything like that, and then if you want one accent font that's a little bit more fun, like a script font or something like that, that's okay, but use it sparingly. But I wouldn't go more than that in terms of different fonts. So you have all of those, and then you're going to be consistent and that is allowing people to connect with you and connect with your brand and begin remembering you and thinking about you, even when you are not immediately in front of them, and then they're really considering you and, after they've seen you a few times and your offer a few times, they're going deeper and they're getting that full picture and they're forming that relationship with you and getting close to committing.
Whitney Bateson:If your brand isn't connecting though, if it's being used inconsistently or you came up with just more of a generic brand, that the colors are not really there's you just picked them because you like them, it's, even if it's not. It's not science here, unfortunately, it's, but it's, it's true. So if you didn't put any purpose behind it, this is what will happen, and it's like you're restarting the process of getting to know that person and that person getting to know you every time, because what's going to happen is that they'll see your post in a social media feed Okay, great, but it wasn't very memorable in terms of branding and then maybe they're going to see a blog post from you and the branding on there is also not memorable and they're not going to realize that this was actually the same person and it's like they're they're just restarting that, getting to know you every time and they're not saying, oh okay, I'm going deeper and learning more and and all of that it's similar to.
Whitney Bateson:I was trying to think of like analogies before this recording. I don't know if this happens to you, but when I hear a song for the first time, generally like from an artist, I like, I'm like I don't think that's a song I'm going to like. And then I hear it again I'm like, oh okay, it's growing on me, and then suddenly it becomes the only song that I listened to on repeat for like a good month. And so I think that that repetition and that's repetition is important in lots of many, lots of different places. It's definitely important in marketing as well. So having that, that brand that is memorable and connecting with people, and then using it consistently is going to get people to move towards that sale and that purchase, whereas if it was generic or not really memorable, people are just not going to get that pull. They're going to remember other businesses and they're going to pay attention to those businesses and buy from those businesses.
Janice Hostager:Because essentially you're starting over. Then every time you see a new post or new something that you've put out there, they're not connecting the dots. And I think one thing we really haven't talked about is a brand story, and you know, story will always connect with people. I mean if even like an entertainer, like you're, if it's a singer or a songwriter that you really like if if you know their story, it's going to connect more deeply with you.
Janice Hostager:And so having that brand story, a brand voice, which we really haven't talked too much about either, they're always really powerful in connecting those visual components of your brand to the deeper message or the story that they have and to product or service. So it's kind of a full spectrum and different people connect in different ways of course too. But you know, even seeing, like, if I'm walking into a store and I see something with Mickey Mouse on it, I'm going to immediately recognize the Disney font, for example, and you know everything that is Disney is going to immediately recognize the Disney font, for example, and you know everything that is Disney is going to come to mind and exactly, and it's so powerful. And yet I maybe just saw Mickey Mouse or Mousey or something like that.
Whitney Bateson:Or just the font. I mean these days, like I mean also, especially around the world, that font is used in all sorts of places that are not Disney. Font is used in all sorts of places that are not Disney and but I, I see that font and I know that that's Disney and you know it, it does. It evokes a feeling that it's it's not a heavy metal brand, it is, you know, it's a childhood nostalgia connection, you know, enjoyment and, granted, these brands are big brands and they spend lots of time doing this and lots of money, and so, not expecting that someone's going to like recognize your business just from the font that they see. But that's what we're going for and working towards and if we can even just have a small smidgen of that, that is what's really going to help us deepen these relationships with potential customers and get them to want to work with us.
Janice Hostager:Yeah, Absolutely Whitney. Where can people learn more about you and your course and all the good things?
Whitney Bateson:Oh, thank you. My website is whitneybatesoncom and if you would like to get the branding workbook that I mentioned, that takes you through some of these questions and coming up with a brand positioning statement there's lots of good stuff in there. You can go to WhitneyBatesoncom slash branding workbook and I also talk about my course on there. So if you're an entrepreneur who is looking to get a website up and going, then we have a program that helps you with that. We remove, like, the tech overwhelm and guide you through the whole process and yeah, it's a lot of fun, sounds perfect.
Janice Hostager:Of course, I'll put all the links in the show notes for today, yeah, so thank you so much, whitney. I will let you go to bed now because I know it's late there, so thank you so much.
Whitney Bateson:I was looking forward to this. This was a lot of fun. Thank you so much for having me.
Janice Hostager:So did you have some ideas for your brand? To learn more about anything we talked about, visit myweeklymarketing. com/ 64. Thanks so much for joining our conversation today. If you liked what you heard, I'd so appreciate a review on the podcast app of your choice. See you next week. Bye for now.
