EP15. Top 10 Tips for Branding Indie Beauty Businesses

Hello and welcome to the Formula Botanica Green Beauty Conversations podcast. If you don't know who we are, we're the online and award winning organic cosmetics science school. And you can find out more information on us over@formulapotanica.com. this week we're talking about branding, which is a subject that comes up a lot in our online forums amongst our students and graduates. How do I brand? What is branding? Today we're talking with Rob from the design company and we're covering branding 101. All the branding basics, all the information you need to get started. I hope you enjoy this episode. Hello, Rob. Hello, how are you?

I'm good, thank you. Thank you for having me.

Oh, it's a pleasure. Welcome to the Formula Botanica podcast. So today Rob and I are going to be talking about the top 10 tips on branding for beginners. It's a bit of a mouthful. Yeah, but I'm sure you're going to find it interesting. So before we launch right into that, let's hear a little bit about you, Rob, about your business, the design company and how you got into design.

I've been in the print and design industry for seven years, since I left university. I used to work for a small print and design bureau which gave me the opportunity to meet small to medium sized businesses. And working there as both a senior designer and an account manager gave me the best of both worlds. So I understand the business side of design and I also understand the value of having something that just looks nice. You know, I did that for six years and a year ago I decided to take a step down from that job and take the leap of faith, as everyone does at some point, and start their own business. And scared and, you know, didn't know where the money was going to come from and got a little studio space in Nottingham city centre, which was great and gave me the opportunity to meet even more small to medium sized businesses. And it just really given me the opportunity in the past year to work with clients to build visual identities and branding that really represents what they actually do. And I quite like enjoying working with, working with the client together. You know, it's not me telling you what you should have, it's how you can work with them to create something that they love as well. They've actively had a part in it, it's their logo. Each step of the processes that we go through is something that get involved, the client's involved with it and then at the end they take a step back when we're finished. And they love It, Yeah, that's what it's all about. It's not about the money. It's about just helping other businesses reach their true potential with their visual brand.

So I guess, I guess that way the client gets a chance to be creative as well. With you. Yeah.

No matter who you are, you always enjoy looking at colors, you know, thinking, oh, I think that really suits what we do. And sometimes if a neon pink is put on the table, it's not the right thing to choose, but you can work around it and ultimately end up with the right colors, the right tone of voice, and you end up creating an amazing story that goes with the brand as well. Everyone enjoys working on it. It's the stuff that you wish you could spend all day doing. And I'm lucky enough to have the opportunity to do it.

You're only making me want to work with you. Okay, so we get lots of people at Formula Botanica who are wanting to start a brand. You know, they've the course, they've got their products and then they're like, okay, what next? I need, you know, great logo, I need colors. All the things we were just talking about. So let's talk, let's start talking about our top ten tips.

Yeah, okay. Right. So I think the first thing to talk about is, is actually what is a brand? Because a lot of people get, get confused about what that is. It's, it's a really overused word at the moment, which everyone's like, got to get your branding on point. It might sound like a basic question, however, it's something that most businesses do get wrong. Obviously today that's what we're going to be doing in this top 10 tips. So you might not be aware of this, but a well loved and recognized brand is the most valuable asset a company owns. It's a common mistake that branding is just a logo or is simply a set of adverts that you send out infrequently. When the reality is your brand is the overall preconception that your business has on your existing customers, your new customers, potential customers, everyone, you know that that is what your brand is. That sounds really out there, but that is what it is. Obviously from saying that every business does have a brand, some people are aware of that and some people aren't. It isn't something that should be left to form on its own. You know, you should have complete control over it and ultimately it can influence people to either engage with your business or to instantly have a prejudice against it. Listeners might be wondering, you know, what does that all mean it sounds all a bit, you know. Yeah, everywhere. But we will explain it all.

No, no, I'm okay. I'm okay at the moment. It's making sense so far.

So let's start with the first point. It's the longest of all the points, but it's important that you look at this in the early stages of the business before you get too far into the process of developing the brand. So let's start with number one, which is called before you choose your name. Your company name is a vital asset to your business that massively contributes to its overall success. If chosen correctly, it can conjure up that image in your head of what your brand actually is just by saying the name. So I think you have to question, do you think Mike would have been as successful if it was called something like advanced sports clothing? I don't think it would have been. So choosing your company name is normally what people when starting a business decide to jump to when, when they're starting it. And they tend to spend a few hours just debating about a name and then they go with what feels sounds best. It's the, the big mistake here is that there is a couple of steps that you have to do that if you've never run a business or started a business before, you might overshadow. So the first step that I would do before you even consider names or jumping into designing of logos or looking at which nice sexy bottle that you want to have, is just spending the time researching your target market and looking at all your competition. I always recommend, especially when you're a startup and money's tight, just find a bit of space in your house or in your office and just put a table up on the wall of all of the different competition that you have. Firstly, looking at your immediate competition when you start trading. So other startups, businesses that have been established for a year or two years and then go up to the weird term, the dream competition that you ultimately want to be facing five, 10 years down the line, just put it up on the wall. I always recommend printing it out, putting it up. Don't have it on a computer screen, put it up somewhere where you're going to see it every day and just keep looking at it. And always examine the colors they use, the overall voice, how they word their marketing, how they use photography, and how they pitch their products to you as a customer. Once you've done that, you have to then take a step back and think, okay, how am I actually going to stand out from that? You know, you don't want, you don't want to literally pick one that you absolutely love and you wish your business was that business and just replicate how they market it the way that they, the wording they use. Because ultimately when you do that, it's just your business is going to be living in the shadow of the more established business and it's just a horrible place to be in doing that. Your sort of standout point, the technical term is usp. For people who've never used it, a unique selling point. I think an absolutely amazing USP is with Tom's shoes. Love it, you know, so the way that they've pitched their product is they give a new pair of shoes to a child for every pair that you purchase. This gives their customers the reassurance that their purchase is doing some good. And on the other side of that, it gives the customer the excuse to make the purchase. It's just brilliant, you know, but don't, obviously don't fear, you know, you don't have to come up with a completely new world changing idea. Putting a unique spin on an existing concept is a great way to make your business stand out. After you feel comfortable with your market research and you feel that you've established a really strong, unique selling point, you can start to consider it. Consider your business name like before. This does deserve some time and patience. I would really recommend not doing this on your own because you ultimately, if anyone, we're all the same, you'll get this one idea, you'll focus on it and that's the only thing you think of and you get tunnel vision on it. And I just recommend getting a few people, some people that are a part of the project and, you know, are understanding what you do and some people that are outside of it and you explain what you want to do, really recommend that. Then spend an evening all together, just coming up with different names. Some will be stupid, some will be the best name ever and just list them down. I mean, if you really push the boat out, you'll get a hundred names, you know, But I'd Recommend get about 50 names again like before, write it on a bit of paper. Don't use a computer. Write a bit of paper, put it on the wall and then from that point spend an hour or so away from it, then come back and then all together, pick your top 10. Pick top 10 names that really represent what you want to do and just embody your usp. That's the fun bit. And then you have to do the checks so you've got these 10 names. And a lot of people don't consider this when they're starting the business. And it's crucial you have to do these checks. So what you have to do, firstly, if you're in the uk, there is different organizations in different countries that do the same. In the UK, you have Companies House, check on their website, gov.uk and just search for Companies House. Really simple to do. Check on there to see if there's a name, there's already an existing company with that name for each of the 10. Do it for each of the 10. Spend the time. If there's a company with that name existent, I wouldn't go for it. And then also on gov.uk check for the trademark. Big thing, check your trademark. You do not want to have a name. It means it's bad, because ultimately, if you do end up picking a name that's already been trademarked and it's already a registered company and you get further down the line, you've spent thousands on branding, you've spent thousands getting your bottles designed, your formulation, you've got you sorted your distribution out and then as soon as you feel settled and you get a letter, a cease and desist letter, and it kills it, your business is in essence dead because you've wasted all your money. It is waste. So that is an easy check that if you do, with each of the 10 names, will save potentially the death of your business in about a year.

Yeah, and I think that's a really, really important point because I think a lot of people don't consider that. And it will probably happen in most countries. If something's already trademarked and it already has that name, it's more than likely you will get a cease and desist letter from a lawyer who says you need to stop using and you do. It's quite simple. You would have to stop if it's already trademarked and already being used.

Yeah. And if you've got a warehouse full of products, a great product, you know, it's all waste, you've got to relabel it. And if you've got the funds, it's not cheap to do. But if you have got the funds and the trademark isn't there, look into getting it trademarked as soon as you can to prevent someone else doing the same. You know, I would recommend doing that. Once you've done that check and you've checked all of your 10 names, I would then move on to the next step, which is check if the domain name is available, as in for your website, for your Email address. But by this point where you get to the point of looking at domain names, normally I would say the 10 has been whittled down to about 5. All of a sudden you'll think, yeah, L', Oreal, yeah, that name hasn't gone. And then you end it just. You end up coming up with names that are already taken. So definitely what I would do. Once you've got your now probably around five names that you've got on your wall, check your domain names. This again, for people who've never done it before, is an easy enough thing to do. Go onto websites such as oneonone.com or GoDaddy. Everybody's heard of GoDaddy and they have a search engine and just literally put in your potential business name. Just put it in and you want to get the dream domain name, which is your company name. That is the dream you know, everyone wants to get. Org.co.uk.com is the one that you really want. I would also recommend at this point, normally the name is taken, but what I would recommend not doing is you'll get lured into your company name natural organic skincare company.com and it ends up being this massive name. Don't do it. If just put yourself into your client's shoes. Would you like to spend five seconds typing out a domain name to realize you've missed out a letter? Nobody wants to do it and you're just going to lose people that are at the first step of just checking out your website. You know, you don't want to do that. You want to get the dream where it's just your name dot com. As a word of warning, if you've never done this before, you'll probably go on Seiko Daddy and you'll, you'll put your business name in there and it'll say it's unavailable. Then you'll Google it, see if it's available and it'll come up as under private sale people and it'll say please contact us and it'll end up being the domain names 3000 pound. And obviously it would be amazing if you could get that. But I would seriously reconsider the name if you can't. If it's going to cost you that. If you've got the funds to do that, do it. You know, that's great. You know, it's a big decision book. I think to scale your business long term to get that niche name is crucial. So once you've done that search and hopefully you've managed to find the name that is your name.co.uk or your name, whatever country you're from, you're there. If you've got four names at that point from your 50 that you think, yeah, it hits all of the points. You've got a great usp, you've got, you know, the name reflects usb, it reflects what you want the business to be. And you've got an absolutely amazing domain name to go with it. Settle on that, get that domain name and that is your business name you sorted and then you can move on to the rest. But at least now you've got a solid understanding of potentially who your target market is, your selling point, and you've got a name solid. It's brilliant. That's a good place to be.

Fabulous. So let's just go quickly back to that point you made about sometimes when you search for a domain and it says under private sale. So I think what happens is that people and companies buy up domain names. Yeah. And then try and sell them back. So if you see something like that, that's. That's pretty much what people have done and it happens quite a lot.

Unfortunately, domain names are money in the modern world and they're worth quite a lot. I mean, a perfect example is my domain name. I looked at the Design Company or thedesign.co.uk because I thought it had a nice ring to it, but that was already taken. And then it was going to be something like £4,000 to buy a domain name. And you just think, as a startup and money's tight, there's no way on earth you could ever afford it. So I ended up finding the design co, which is a new domain, which was perfect to play on words. And it's quite quirky for, you know, a design agency. And that one, unbelievably, was £700. So it still cost me quite a lot, but it saved me having that really convoluted name name. It's nice and clean and it was worth that for me at the time. Big investment, but it's not a massive investment. So I just. Just be aware of that. Just definitely be aware of that.

So, moving on to point two.

Okay, so obviously before we get onto point two, I just want to make an emphasis that, like mentioned before, the brand is so much more than just the logo and the corporate identity. It's how your business interacts with the outside world, which leads me on to point two, which is their reputation. So your reputation is a big part of your brand. It's the result of what you do and what you don't do. Your reputation can either be your best friend or it can be your worst enemy, especially when you're trying to grow the business. A good example of a positive reputation would be if your skincare business has stood the test of time and you've got orders coming in constantly. People love your product and trust that every time they order, they get the same great quality and they enjoy the extra little details that you put into it, such as using tissue paper in the packaging or a little handwritten note just to say thank you. You know, word travels fast and people even say to their friends, you need to buy more of their exfoliator. It works well and smells amazing. This is the company having a great reputation and it's the best foundation to build upon. Your customers are marketing the business in for you. It's the dream, the opposite of that. A bad reputation is when your business is known for being inconsistent or people always saying staff are always so unhappy on the phone. Or even if you put those little details in to start with, such as putting the tissue paper in and then it slowly starts to disappear. And then because you're busy, you start just putting stuff quickly in the box and people who were with you and loyal to you starting off begin to feel as if I'm not really valued anymore, you know, and then they utter the dreaded words, they're not like they used to be. Yeah, I hate that you don't want to be that. And it's really difficult to shake that off. But you can do it. You just need to be consistent with whatever you change with.

So I guess it's best to be consistent from the beginning. And I guess you can only improve a good reputation by doing, you know, different things or adding in different touches. But to try and sort of come back from bad reputation or bad feedback is more difficult. So it's better to put the effort in.

Oh yeah. Especially if you're just starting off the business. Start as you mean to carry on. I mean, that's easier said than done. I understand what it's like when you're spinning all these plates trying to run a business, but don't show how crazy it is behind the scenes. You know, that you are trying to. You're working 13 hour shifts and stuff like that. Try and keep everything, smiles, happy and the way that you want your business to look to the outside world because it'll keep people coming back. So that moves us on to the third point, which is your employees. Now, not everybody is going to be lucky enough to have employees or When I say this, I mean everyone. So that includes yourself if you're, if you're working on your own. Ultimately the people in the business do actually make the business and they make the brand. They all add their own little character to it. And ultimately, if, if your business has an outgoing feel to it, you're less likely to hire people that don't have the same sort of ideology, you know, same ethos. You're not going to do it. And it's likewise that obviously when you reach the point that you're hiring a member of staff, it can make or break the business. You know, having an employee working with you that has a poor work ethic, especially when it's a small team, can create tension in the business and it makes it both a difficult place to work in. The customers can sense that, you know, you know, when you're answering the phone, they can sense that you're stressed. So if you do get unfortunately stuck in this scenario, just talk to that member of staff and politely see if there's anything can do to make their job better, if there's anything that you can help with, just to make them feel more motivated about the business. Because ultimately the dream scenario is to have members of staff working with you in an environment where everyone's happy to turn up every day. It's the dream, you know, if only everyone could get to that point. But that's the dream. Yeah, so also the big thing with staff is that knowledge of the brand is key. You know, it tends to be that, especially when you're just starting up as a director or as the owner. You get stuck in the boardroom and that's the only place that you talk about it. That's all you talk about. The development of the business. As everyone who is involved should be aware of ultimately what the goals and the plans of the business are, both short and long term. So it's like you spend thousands of pounds on an amazing ad campaign, it looks like great, but you don't tell your employees about it. You know, you tell them last minute and give this half hearted explanation about what it is and they don't really get why you're doing it. And you expect them to be as motivated about it as you are and be able to sell it. And the last thing you want to do is spend all that money, all that time and effort getting this great campaign. And then when your staff go out to sell it, or when they answer the phone and your customer goes, I've seen this campaign, it looks great, they're inconsistent Yeah, I think you can see a trend with consistency coming through.

Or they don't really know what they're saying. They're like, yeah, I think that's how it's working. Or yeah.

And then they say something that's not right. And we've all been in that scenario where you think, but somebody else told me something different and you just get annoyed and it just makes it look bad. So just keep everyone in the loop. It's exciting. They're working there. They actively want to work there. Keep them involved, your team.

Keep everyone in the loop. I think that's a great, great advice. Right, where were we? Number three. So we're on to number four.

Yeah. So obviously we've been talking about consistency and it's going to be a thread that runs throughout all of this. So number four is your products, especially talking to everyone is going to be listening to this, which is they're creating a product that in essence is the core of your business. You know, people come to you not to have a chat with you. They come come to you to ultimately buy the product and that's how the business gets its income. So if, if you have it really well developed, which I'm sure everybody will, product that has been tried and tested and it's proved that it works, then the brand will simply amplify how great all of it is. If all of these points are met. However, again, I must, you know, emphasize the importance of consistency. So you need to make sure that your customer is confident that they will always get the same quality product. You know, selling an amazing product, but with a poorly designed website will devalue that product. On the other side of that, selling a product that doesn't appeal to your target demographic, so your target audience is more likely to fail no matter how much money you pump into design, you know, designing POS and, and packaging and your website, you need to have a product that you have researched that fits the gap that you've decided to fill with your product. Or be careful with that, because I've worked with, with firms before where the niche is that small that there's probably only about six people that are going to actually buy the product. And I mean, you can do that, but you're going to make life very difficult for yourself. So just really consider the audience that your product is aimed for.

Okay, So I think the important point to note here is that the product is not necessarily the brand.

Yeah, it's obviously, it's a key part of it.

Yeah. But it's not. Yeah, the entire Thing, I think that's where a lot of people get slightly confused. So they've designed the product, they have it and like, this is my brand. And it's probably not. It's a part of it. It's just one unit of a whole.

Exactly.

Bunch of units.

Interlinking units, if you wish that together make the brand.

Exactly.

Yeah.

And then you're more likely to sell products. Yeah, exactly, exactly. Okay, where were we? Number 5.5.

So it's, it's an obvious one, but it's, it's a lot bigger than what, what you'd imagine.

Yeah.

So it's customer service. Your customer service is key to creating a trustworthy brand. That's keyword trustworthy. Customer service represents the way that you interact with your customer. So people will just think, okay, this is when they call up and it's on the phone, that's my customer service. But it's not. It's how you word your emails, it's the copy text on your website, and it's even the way that you greet your client when they come into your office. It's all customer service and every little detail matters. So this obviously isn't generic for every business. It all depends on the character and the ethos of the brand you're trying to create. So for example, you instinctively know that when you go into a place such as Google, you're going to get a completely different experience than going to somewhere like the BMW headquarters. Google is going to be a fun environment that's vibrant, bubbling with energy. BMW is going to be minimal, professional to the highest standard. This doesn't happen by mistake. You know, these businesses have crafted their ethos to match the offering to their particular client base. They have understood the importance of the correct use of language and environment, which also applies to the listeners business, you know, it applies to every business. So think of it like this. Being an E commerce business will make people think differently of it as compared to a bricks and mortar building where you can go in and go in and visit. I like to think of it that each business is different. So some businesses pitch as being casual, right? You know, they are your friend. So a casual business, a casual environment is not going to appeal to every person. It's going to appeal, it's going to appeal to a certain type of client as, as does a formal environment. Formal environments don't appeal to everyone, you know, which is absolutely fine. You can't please everyone, which is why you picked a target audience in the early stages. You're not trying to target Everyone, that, that's key. I deal with a lot of businesses where I ask, okay, so what's your target audience? And then they go, I don't know, everyone between the age of 18 and 50. It's just, it's not gonna work, is it? Well, as soon as you scratch recently beneath the surface, you quickly realize that, okay, so you're actually targeting someone who's 20, between 20 and 30, they're women and that they're, they're professionals. Okay, that really hands it down, you know, and normally they know it, it's just, they want to. Everyone. I just want to deal with everyone, you know, I don't want to turn people away, you know, and unfortunately, to be successful with it, you're gonna have to do that.

Yeah. At least in the beginning.

Yeah. Especially with, you know, skincare and beauty. I mean, you see these larger firms where they initially focus with one target audience and then they'll branch out, and then they'll branch out and ultimately this massive range don't bite off too much. You know, people have this grand idea when they're starting up that I'm gonna do a, a teenage skincare agent, I'm gonna do a men's skincare regime. It ends up being mental. Tear it into age ranges. I'm thinking, how much are you spending on getting all of this made? Yeah, you've already got the millions because you've spent it on doing all these, especially for beginners. Just really just focus on your audience.

Yeah, yeah. And then we were talking about customer service. So making sure that your customer service at every level is good because it's not just about like you say about how you greet people. Even if. So for instance, if you were just an online or an E commerce, you know, it's going to be the way your website looks, how user friendly it is, how responsive it is. Do you have a chat box? How easy is it for people to reach you? Do you have opt ins on your website? Do you have, you know, et cetera, et cetera? I mean, all of that is customer service. And I think that people don't always think about that. The usability of your site is essentially.

Oh definitely, yeah. A customer service tool in the industry. We call it touch points. You know, each single touchpoint and you've got to remember that it's normally 12 touch points and then you'll get a sale. So you have to interact with them 12 times normally before they'll even consider buying it. So this can be through a mail shot or it can be that They've seen an advert on Facebook or, you know, you've sent a letter to their business or they've heard somebody else talking about your product. It's each little point that you've interacted with them needs to be consistent and that is very vaguely, it is your customer service. You know, I think having those chat now boxes on the website is brilliant because you're always there and I love it because especially those is you can say when you're not there. And I would recommend getting those on your website.

Yes. Yeah. And I think it's so easy for a customer who's got an instant question to be able to ask something immediately. Like, you know, when is your product going to be for sale? Or is it suitable for me, I have acne. Or, you know, how can I return this? I'm based in America and I want to buy it from, from England. Or, you know, they're able to ask an instant question, get an instant response and then, you know, carry on. And I think, I think all of us have been on those websites where you're like, oh, how do I add this to the basket? Oh, I can't quite see where this is. Oh, how do you actually check out? And then you just get fed up so you don't do it. And yeah, so I think, I think, I guess we have to think about customer service slightly different than just how you, how you speak to customers face to face. Because we might not be speaking to them face to face in the same kind of the older retail environments where it's slightly different.

That's the thing. Everything's changed so quickly that people do get stuck in that traditional sense, don't they, where it's like, okay, initially people think, okay, I've got to get my product into John Lewis, you know, and that's what people think. Where as reality is now, obviously you've got the world of Amazon, which has changed everything and you've got E commerce. I mean, you can now do E commerce website for a thousand pounds. You can have a website selling products that 15, 20 years ago, I didn't even dream of it, you'd be going to markets trying to sell it in the early days and you dream of getting in John Lewis. And the world is, you've got a completely global reach thanks to having an E commerce website. It's amazing.

Yeah. I mean, just think about what we're doing today. I mean, you're based in Nottingham, I'm in London for this sort of technology, you know, that links us via audio. We Wouldn't necessarily be working together.

Or a long drive.

Yeah, or a very long drive to achieve a short podcast recording.

It's a great time to set up a business. It's an exciting time as well because all it takes is for you to get a few influencers on, say Instagram to just plug your product and you're done. You know, you are doing well. You know, for people to get interest people. It becomes a well known name or an advertising campaign that goes viral. You know, that just wouldn't have happened. It was the big boys that do that 20 years ago as now everyone has the chance and it's such an exciting time to be part of it.

I mean, I was speaking to a student of ours that set up a business and she does consultations online and you know how, what, 10, 20 years ago that wouldn't have happened. You wouldn't have been able to do an online consultation. So she has clients all over the world and yet she's based in one country.

It's amazing.

So she's able to help people in, you know, Japan, in China, in Indonesia, in Malaysia and she's based in America. So before she would have had to travel, but now obviously, you know, through, through being able to talk via Skype or Zoom or whatever, she's able to offer her services, you know, globally without having to travel. All right, so we're on point six.

We've covered a bit of expectations, but I can go into more detail about it. So obviously talking about expectations, the biggest thing with, with your product when you start your business is you don't want to oversell your product. We have all at some point stretched the truth. We all have. But in business you quickly found out when you don't deliver on what you promised. So I just wouldn't do it. People just prefer it when you're completely honest and just describe it as it is. And ultimately if your product's great, it'll sell itself, it'll do fine. You know, if anything, this is what I personally think is that you should slightly undersell it. This doesn't mean to make it sound bad in the description, you know, it's try and make it so when, when they receive your product that gets slightly more than what they expected. I mean, for example, I mentioned earlier that some people can wrap their product in tissue paper, they'll put a lovely bit of ribbon that goes around it and they'll write a handwritten note that says, good choice, thank you for your order. And then it just makes the customer feel like they're valued. But then that little icing on the cake is that when they take the product out the box, they notice that they've got a 10 pound off your next order voucher. You've just knocked it out park, you know, you're doing great. So the customer feels as if they're valued and they're getting an additional bonus just for shopping with it, you know, and it, it's great. So I understand that obviously certain businesses will not have the time to lovingly hand wrap everything, but you get the point that it's the little details that you add to it that just exceed what they're expecting or just at least meet the expectations of what they think they're getting.

Okay, all right. Fabulous expectations. So number seven is the actions you make.

This is trying to think of the bigger picture when you step away from the business. So your business will have a presence both online and depends how you've structured the business, you might have a local presence. So part of your brand is to do acts that don't necessarily benefit the sales of products. So a perfect example of this would be charity work. Going on a fun run and having a T shirt with your name, your business name on there. It really does highlight your business in a good light and people remember that. And you'll get positive PR from that. And I'd recommend doing it for the sake of a bit of time. It's worth its weight in gold. And even if it was something like doing a talk, like I'm doing now with you, it just shows, it shows that the business is taking that one step further than just trying to push a sale at someone. There's people in it and people do buy off people. At the end of the day, anything that can reflect, make your business be reflected in a positive way, it's going to really impact your brand on a good way.

Okay, fabulous. Yeah. So it's just thinking about things that you could do that's not necessarily directly attached to your business, but still present in a good light. Yeah, yeah. In fact, we want, we want to do a series, a podcast series on businesses that give back people that are donating, you know, percentages of sales to different charities and different things. And yeah, it's a very interesting concept and it's one.

Well, it's even might be going off on a bit of a tangent, but a lot of business are trying to get inbound marketing. So instead of you trying to force people to look onto your website, it's to get people to actively want to go on your website and this can be through, you know, blog posts is a big one. Vlogs is another one that's developed over the past few years. Obviously this takes a lot of time and effort, but I would recommend doing it especially if you're an expert in your field, where people would want to get some influence off you. I'd recommend doing that Right. And like this. For me, I work in branding, so I will do a top 10 tips on branding that I'm just happy to just give people. Businesses that are open to giving things away look better than trying to do the hard selling. You're more inclined to come back and have a look if you feel as if you're not being forced to buy something. No, nobody wants that.

Yeah.

Especially if you're British. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. And I think we've all. We've all had the hard sell.

Yeah.

You know, we've all been harassed by phone calls. We've. You know, sometimes when you walk in the shop and you get three or four people come up to you immediately and you feel a bit like, oh.

I just want to get out of here.

Maybe you want to have a little look and figure out some questions that I have and. Yeah, yeah, it can be a bit full on. Okay. All right. So lots to think about already, but we're moving on to point 8, which is logo.

Yes. So we're actually moving on to the visuals now, which is where, if you're starting a business, this is where the design code would step in. Obviously, we can help out making a. Consider your demographic and thinking about bigger picture of your business, but this is normally where we would step in. That's not to say you have to come with us, it's just normally this is where a designer would step in. So as mentioned before a couple of times, your logo isn't your brand, but it is the key element to it. It's what I call the visual representation of what you do. It's the first thing that people normally see and associate with. It's a vital element to your business. This doesn't mean that you should list out everything that you do on your logo, because I do have people that want to cram everything onto your logo that you do. You do male skincare, you do women's skincare, you know you're organic. Don't do that. Keep it minimal. The shorter the better. None of the big names that you think of have massive company names with everything in the logo. Exactly.

And four letters and a tick.

Exactly. And obviously, we all dream of having a business that is that big, but why not think on that sort of level? So I've got a set of rules that I like to follow when setting up a logo design, and I always talk to clients about this when we're at this point. So people always tend to have a rough idea of what they're after. And I like to just clear off and we'll start on a fresh, you know, just start completely fresh. So I've got six rules and I'll just list them out. So a good logo identifies and it doesn't describe what you do, which is what I've just said. Also, a key point is if you're having problems with the business, the logo will not solve that problem if you change it. So also, it should be obviously visually engaging. A lot of people don't think of this, but when designing your logo, you want to create this intricate little design and it looks. It does look beautiful. But then they want to put it on a bottle and it's sort of 5, 10 mil. It's too intricate. It's just not going to scale down. Well, you know, great, if it's on a billboard, looks amazing. But then you've got to scale it down. You've just got to consider that. So we've said Nike, that swoosh. The swoosh works well and everyone can recognize it at both sides. From a print point of view, if I put a print cap on is that if you do have a small, intricate little logo, you can do it. But as soon as you go to print and you want that foil blocked and you want it looking really nice and sexy on the front of your bottle, it'll bleed in and it'll end up becoming this blob. And the printer will tell you that it's not going to print well. And by that point it's too late. You know, you'll end up either having to alter it and it'll look different to everything else, or. Or you're gonna have to change it, you know, So I think it's best just to consider where it's going to be applied in the early stages when you're making it, which obviously means. Which is 0.5. It should be an illustration. And lastly, always think that your logo is the foundation of the identity. It starts from there and works up. So I've mentioned point 2. I will get through this quickly. But I've mentioned point two that it can't solve all your problems. I have dealt. This is from experience where I've dealt with clients, where they're going through Difficult times and they've got legal issues against the business and it's tarnished the brand and the name is in tatters, so you just can't use it anymore. So they come to me and they're like, what, a new logo? And we'll make the problem go away. And it just doesn't work that way. It just doesn't work. You have to solve the problem. There's ways to get around it. But if it's a really bad issue, such as the trademark infringement, you're going to have to change it. You can't just change the name because people will associate the icon and the word mark that goes with it. You kind of have to change it all, really. So stepping away from the negativity, I like to think of the logo as being the smiling face of the business, you know, and you have to consider that when you're developing the products is that if, if your products and your business is family friendly and you've got this logo that's dark, really abstract, it's just not going to do you any favors. You know, it's just, it's worth taking a step back and just reflecting on your business as an entirety and just reevaluating whether it's working for you or not.

Yeah. And I think, I think we just need to be mindful because everyone's like, oh, it's not working. I've done everything wrong, you know, but you know, reevaluation is a very, very positive tool in your toolbox. Constantly re evaluating and say it was a brilliant idea, but it's not going to work for this particular project that we're doing. Let's have a rethink, let's still stick with a few ideas, but let's, you know, reevaluation is not anything to be ashamed of or, or, you know, it's, it's value. Valuable.

People think it's set in stone, don't they? I mean, in the early days I got really working on my own. In the early days it was, I got stuck working. Everyone says this, you know, working in the business. So I'm, I get stuck working on briefs, working on website design and everything like that. After talking to a mentor, they told me, okay, take one day out a week. And I'm thinking, I can't take it, I can't do it. I actually can't. There's not enough time. Make the time. Take it out a week, or even an afternoon, Friday afternoon, when typing that email takes four times longer. Stop then, you know, plan the time Spend an afternoon or a day a week and work on the business. So taking a step back and just reevaluating whether, you know, is an issue with cash flow, how are you going to sort that out? Is the branding working? You know, is the logo right? Let's work on that. The business deserves that time because otherwise you'll end up blinking and a year or two will have gone down the line and you've stagnated, everything has stagnated and you're just churning out the same thing. You're stressed pulling air out and just to give it some time.

And I think going back to your first point where you said about, you know, getting input on, you know, your name and, you know, brainstorm with your friends, your family, your colleagues, whatever, whoever you can. I mean, input is so valuable because often it can just make you see things from a slightly different perspective. Or like you say, when you get that tunnel vision about something, you just need someone to give you a little tap on the shoulder and say, well, hang on, have you considered this angle? Or, you know, suddenly, like, oh, well, that's, you know.

Yeah, yeah. I find I do it all the time. I mean, I'm a fan of going to the pub and sitting down and just talking, you know, and I've got a group of people that. We all do that and we all just bounce ideas off each other and I will get such tunnel vision on a certain idea and I think I've got to do it. The business is going to fail if I don't do it. And then as soon as I actually say it out loud to somebody else, you think, God, that's the most stupid idea I've ever heard.

Yeah.

But in your mind, you've. You've planned how much it's going to cost, where you're going to get it shipped to and all this. And it's like, it's good to talk because, I mean, completely outside of branding, just from running a business, it's so lonely when you're on your own.

Yeah.

You get stuck. I mean, you could be surrounded by people, but running your business is so lonely. I think just talking to people, frankly, is. Is great, you know, and it's. It helps you grow as well as the business grow. So I'd recommend it even if it. Once a week.

Yeah. Take some time out. I mean, there's lots of different ways that people can. Can, you know, now that we've been talking about the modern world, you can go on Facebook, you can try and start a local, you know, entrepreneurs meeting or, you know, I know, I know in our area in, in London, they've got lots of different business meetings that you can attend where it's just local business owners that all want to get together and just yak about, you know, what is running a business or aspects that they're struggling with. And just because it's not the same business as yours doesn't mean that you won't get, you know, valuable input from people. So it's.

Yeah, keep an open mind on it.

Yeah, an open mind is definitely needed. Right, okay, so logo, we are nearly there. We are number nine.

Right. So we are at point nine, which leads from your logo design. So I mentioned earlier that you start with your logo design and then you build on from that, which in the industry we call the visuals. So this is all the visual elements of your business. So this is your logo and the guidelines that go with it. The visuals for the business are items such as your website, your brochures, any form of advertisement or pos, you know, the business stationary, if you opt for that, email signatures, anything that involves someone designing it, that. That is your visual. So if you're lucky enough to have a brand manual or also called brand guidelines, which is. It basically itemize how you should lay out your type, you know, what type of language you should be using, color palette, you know, the only stuff that I tend to do.

Yeah, I'm just going to interject here and say how valuable it is to try and have one of some brand guidelines. We've just got them at Formula Botanica and they are. It solves so many problems when you're dealing with other companies, other people. Anything you've just got here is how it works in a PDF document.

It's amazing. But it also works internally, I think, quite well. So it's like if the secretary is sending an email out or sending a letter out, it just gives them the guidelines. Okay, your logo should be here. You need to word it like this. And it all consistently looks the same because that's the perk of a brand manual. If you do go somewhere else. You know, if you're working with an agent, a design agency, and then you opt to go somewhere else because it's not working out. It happens as soon as you move over, you can hit the ground running. You've got the brand manual and it looks as if nothing's changed. You know, these can cost quite a bit of money to set out if you opt for a full brand manual. But you don't need that necessarily. I mean, starting all you're working with a designer and you should say, can I have a spec sheet? And that will just give you fonts that you use, the point size you should use, your basic colours that you use and how you should be using photography. If you opt for photography in there, really nice and simple, shouldn't cost the world, but I'd recommend getting it. Okay, definitely. I was going to mention about how obviously the brand manual stops the dreaded. Where you receive an email from, from a company and the logo's stretched and you just think everyone does it and you think what, what's cracking off there? You know, and it just, it gives people trust in the business and you know, and that's what you need. You need your clients to trust, trust you before they become loyal to you. You know, you need it. This is the only time where not standing out is the best scenario. You want it to look like nothing at all changed at all. And I've got a good example of this is that if, if you was to go to McDonald's and you, you gone to the drive through and you're looking at the menu and straight away you notice that the menu is in a dark blue and it was all written in comic Sans instead of their trademark red. You just wonder what's happening. It is exactly the same with, with your business. You know, always consider that.

So, and going back to the point that we've been making throughout the whole 10 points is consistency. It's got to be consistent and it's got to be basic. I mean I think we've all received those emails with the random signature and then a massive quote from someone in like pink floaty writing and it just, you know, you get, you're like, oh, what? Yeah, you know.

Doesn'T it? Yeah, you think why did I even open it? You just deleted it, which is bad. And you don't want your stuff to be like that. Where they go, I'm going to delete that. They want them to open. You think, oh wow, look smart.

I know and I, and I think that we have to be realistic about what people's inboxes are like nowadays.

Yeah.

I mean my inbox can get crazy where I, where I get so many emails that there have been some where I thought I'm gonna have to delete this because I, you know, you can't read it properly. It's all over the screen. It's. Yeah, it's too bright or the fonts like you say. I mean there was obviously a trend for Comic Sans at some point. Dark Side the dark design. But, you know, and, and interesting. Went to an event and there was a well known beauty blogger that was saying, you know, she gets thousands of emails over a week and if they are written in a certain way or they look strange or whatever, she will delete them and you won't get a reply. So to have a consistent, you know, well thought out font design structured your emails to your signatures, everything is definitely worth it. Not just from customer service, but when you're interacting with people like in the PR industry or bloggers or, you know, vloggers or whatever.

Yeah, well, yeah, it's funny you mention that because we had an advertising campaign at Design Co. A couple of months back where I sat back and reflected on, you know, how other firms are doing it, you know, and it's all eshots because of cost. It keeps it cheap. And at that point I thought, okay, let's obviously we do design and print. I thought we'll take a step back and we'll do a direct mail, you know, but not a cheap, nasty, horrible flyer through the letterbox sort of thing. We'll do something that's a really nice fold, uncoated stock. And you know, we put a bit of chocolate on there as well just to, you know, to get people reading. Everyone likes a bumpy envelope. Yeah, you're never gonna not open a bumpy envelope. You're gonna open it because you think, what is it? And you know, a bit of green and blacks chocolate in there. Just.

Yeah. Yes.

Just to sweeten the deal. I did that as well as doing an eshop just to see. I mean, I cherry picked some clients to send them to and you know, clients that you want to get. It amazed me how the response for the printed version of it was so much better and I got more of a genuine response than what I got with the direct mail. So for me it feels as if it's taken a little bit of a step back, especially when it's more premium to the tactile. I've always loved tactile and everyone loves to feel something as you don't want to end up being that that business that's just deleted or goes into the spam. You know, try and think outside of the box when you're doing your marketing.

Yeah, no, it's all, it's all good information. Right, final point number 10, final point.

Right. Your story. So your story. So it really is a commonly overused term like the word brand. But it really is important that you have a solid understanding of the business's story. What, what made you start the business? You might think that your product will just sell itself, but the story behind it is what captivates the customer. Looking at the skin care industry, there's many great examples of amazing stories that really conjure up, you know, the emotions that make, you know, persuade you to make the purchase. We all instantly know certain firms. For me, look at Lush, look at Burt's Bees. You know, they have perfected their story, which is why they're so big, you know, and from humble beginnings, they're now selling such a genuine product. You do think it's genuine. That makes you think that they're still a small business when in reality they're huge, you know, they're massive. But you can't help being swept up in the story of, yeah, but getting the honey from the bees hive, you know, in reality isn't involved in it anymore, you know, and it's such a lovely story to get swept on up in, you know, and once you've done your market research in the early stages, you'll realize that there's a story there that always is. People always think that you have to have this really convoluted story about hiking the hills of Nepal, you know, and all this. And it doesn't have to be like that. It can be quite simple. You can always put a unique spin on what sounds like quite a generic story. You can do that, you know, and it can be a personal story or if you don't want to do that, it can be a story about the product. Like I said, you know, every business is different. However, the key point that I want you to take away from, you know, examining your story is that you have to make that emotional connection, you know, and you know, it has to be something that people can, well, your target audience relates to. So you have to embellish the points. And I've done two little examples just, just to prove a point. So I've got two options. So when writing your story, it could be one of these two. So you've got. All of our organic products are sourced from the Mediterranean. It's to the point, or you could say all of our organic ingredients are hand picked from the heart of the sun soaked Mediterranean. Only the finest herbs and spices are chosen by our team of botanical experts. Purposely chosen to bring that perfect aroma, making you feel like you're on a faraway shore. It's a bit more long winded, but it instantly makes you feel as if, oh, I wish I was there.

I know I want to go on holiday and be there with the perfectly hand picked botanical.

You know, I really want to be there. You know, it's something that I'm not even doing it. I'm excited about that. Obviously in certain scenarios, the first line, perfect. It's what you need, you know, that's what you'll put on the bottle. You know, that's, that's great. But you need to really just squeeze. I mean that's just talking about the product and what's in there, you know, and that doesn't necessarily need an expert to do that. You can try that yourself. I mean we help do that, but you can do that yourself just by amplifying and just really squeezing out what you can from. And that's it. You know, I think in doing that is it really amplifies the effectiveness of the brand by just bringing out what's really happening with your product in the story. Obviously we've gone through it all the way through.

Yeah.

The last bonus point, number 11 is consistency.

Okay.

None of that, none of the other 10 points matter if you don't keep consistent, you know, keep a consistent plan, you know. And if you do stick to these 10 points, 11 points, you know, it gives you a good step up to hopefully having good success with your business.

Yeah. And I guess, yeah, it's worth putting the time and effort into thinking about these things beforehand because you don't want to be mopping things up while you're. And then, and then going back to the other point, then you're working in the business all the time and then on, on the background. Okay. All right, so we got through our 11 tips. Thanks so much, Rob from the design company for joining us. So just to end off, where can people find you?

So we have a website, thedesign Co. That's all it is. Nice, clean, simple. You can contact us through the website. We have all social media platforms. Search for us on Instagram if you want to check out what we've been doing. The design company uk, it's the same on Twitter and it's the same on Facebook. We love to have a chat. So all Formula Botanica customers, we're 30 minutes, three consultation. If you just want to talk, you know, love to have a chat and I love hearing about exciting new businesses and we'd love to be part of it. Like I said, check out our portfolio on our website and check out our social media. If you go onto our website, there is a useful, essential guide to building a strong brand on our website that you can download for free. It comes up on the bottom of the screen when you're scrolling down. Just sign up or drop me an email at robhedesign co and I'll more than happy to send you a copy over Fabulous.

Thanks so much for joining us Rob.

Not a problem. Anytime.

Thanks so much to Rob for joining us and I hope that you enjoyed this podcast on branding and that you got some valuable information on it. We're going to be posting a second podcast that covers some different elements to branding and I hope that you enjoy that one as well and that you come over and listen to it. If you want to find more out about Formula Botanica, you can check out our website@formulabotanica.com if you want to find us on social media, we're on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Formulabatanica.com if you want to weigh in on the conversation, come and join our online forum on Facebook, the Skincare Entrepreneur Mastermind Group. And if you want to drop us an email, you can just get in touch with us@helloormulabotanica.com thanks so much for your time and I hope you enjoyed listening.

SA.