Use a Vision Board to Create an Unforgettable Brand - #015

Show Notes

A well-defined brand will help you grow your business. Yet as a new side-hustler or aspiring business owner, you may tend to put off creating one to focus on more tangible tasks. A vision board is a fun and insightful way to nail down a unique and powerful brand - one that will raise your side-gig’s professionalism in the eyes of your current and future customers. Using their own vision board as an example, Lori and Nola reveal the science and thinking that went into creating their brand, and walk you through the easy steps to create your own. to edit.

Thanks for Listening!
You can subscribe to Lori and Nola's show, (we love you and want to make it easy) on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

We love hearing from you! Leave or speak your message here

If you haven’t already, please connect with us on Facebook! 

Would you like to be a featured guest or have your question, comment or review mentioned? Ask Muse!

Sticky Brand Lab

Exciting possibilities are in the works. Come have a listen!

In This Episode You’ll Learn

• How to apply the same technique used by championship athletes toward creating a winning brand
• The difference between a goal-setting vision board and a brand vision board
• The importance of maintaining continuity in your customers’ (and prospective customers’) journey -- and the many touchpoints to consider
• How images, colors and phrases can influence the way your customers think and feel about your business.

When prospective customers encounter your business, a good brand can mean the difference between them saying, “meh..nah.” or “ME! NOW!” You can more easily evoke such positive responses when you first display your brand on a vision board for you to visualize, internalize and realize. Learn Lori and Nola’s vision boarding process, download the free resource, and then go have fun!  

(7:40.75) Who is it that REALLY defines your brand? (Surprise: it’s not you!) 

(15:27:78) What your audience will actually love and feel when they connect with your brand.

(16:46:33) Answering these questions before you start will make all the difference.

(18:46:55) Supplies to have on hand when you’re crafting your vision board.

(25:23:53) This poem reflects our encouragement to aspiring entrepreneurs to break out your comfort zone and embrace the adventure of the unknown. 

Resources

This episode was supported by: Be-YOU-nique

Download the free resource: Key Branding Questions to Ask Yourself Before Creating Your Brand Vision Board, ​

Transcript

Nola: [00:00:00] You have an idea for a business, but feel lost when it comes to creating a brand for it. Maybe now you're wondering if you even need it for a side hustle or small business. Well, let me tell you, not only do you need a brand, but having one will help you grow your business. It's that important. In this episode, we're going to introduce you to the power of vision boards. Specifically, how to create and use a brand vision board to connect with your ideal customer. And the best part: you don't need to be an artist to master this effective DIY business tool. So stay tuned as we show you how to bring your vision to life.

Announcer: [00:00:35] You're listening to the Sticky Brand Lab podcast, where time strapped professionals like you learn how to create a business you love in as little as three hours a week.

Lori: [00:00:46] Hey there motivated side hustlers Lori and Nola here. Today, we are visibly energized to talk about the power of a brand vision board. A fun, valuable, and creative tool to help you design the visual identity of your business. One that resonates with you and your target audience. But before we show you how to create one, check to make sure you're subscribed to our podcast on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. This will ensure you never miss a weekly episode as well as help other aspiring side hustlers like you find our podcasts so they can create a profitable business they love. Without further ado, let's get to the heart behind your business brand.

So Nola. Nola, Nola, Nola. That, yeah, What comes to mind when I say you need to create a vision for your business?

Nola: [00:01:45] Well, if I wasn't already familiar with the topic at hand, I would say I'm ready to like, do vision casting and figure out what my business is going to look like and where it might be in the next five years or something like that.

Lori: [00:02:01] Yeah. So typically what my clients think about as well, or clients that you worked with, tend to focus on the business component of it. So let me ask you one more question. What comes to mind when I ask you about visualization?

Nola: [00:02:18] Well, I think visualization as when you're really, internalizing a vision and you're smelling, tasting, feeling the emotion behind it, what it will be like when I've reached that goal. That's, that's what I think a visualization.

Lori: [00:02:36] That's pretty awesome. I mean, I tend to think of it with guided meditation, you know, and they have you like focus in or think about something. So I'm there with you. And in general visualization has a long history. One example is with athletes. And you might not know this, but when athletes visualize or imagine a successful competition, they're actually stimulating the same regions in the brain as they do when they physically perform that same action.

Nola: [00:03:10] I've heard that. I think that's so cool.

Lori: [00:03:13] Yeah. Some sports teams actually have professionals to come in and coach them on visualization for this purpose. Yeah, there was a study done, out of the University of Chicago. Uh, Dr. Biasiotto, I hope I said his name correctly. He took a group of people and split them into three groups. Then he tested the participants in each group on how successful they were at making free throws and recorded their numbers.

After this, he had the first group practice, the free-throw every day for an hour. The second group only could visualize. They weren't to practice at all. They just visualized making the free throws. And the third group, he did nothing. After 30 days, he and his team came back and they tested them again. You are not gonna believe what happened. The first group, the group that got to actually practice the free throws, they improved by 24%. The group that could only visualize, what do you think their improvement was?

​Nola: [00:04:23] 20, 10, 15%. percent?

Lori: [00:04:27] No, it was 23%. Almost as much as the group that actually got to physically perform it. And as you may or may not expect, the third group who did nothing also did nothing in the improvement.

Nola: [00:04:42] Whoa.

Lori: [00:04:43] They've used it for Olympic sports.  Uh, who was the swimmer, that won all of those gold medals?

Nola: [00:04:52] Yeah. Um, Michael Phelps.

Lori: [00:04:54] Yes. He visualized having a rope pulling him. And so when he was swimming, that's what he visualized prior to winning all of those gold medals. That's how powerful visualization is.

Nola: [00:05:08] Wow. So do you think if I visualized sleeping, I wouldn't have to sleep so much?

Lori: [00:05:16] Okay. I was going to say, I, you know, I thought you were gonna say, if I visualized a pot of gold or money, would it be in my bank? Um,

Nola: [00:05:25] well, there's that.

Lori: [00:05:26] but there is some truth to that, right? So if you're visualizing going to sleep and sleeping soundly, and, and having a restful night's sleep, you're more likely to, to actually have that happen. And if you're visualizing money in the bank, you're more likely to Uh, follow that up with the steps that help you to grow your bank account. So, yeah, I mean, I wouldn't rule it out. But let me know if it works though, because if you do, I think we might have a way to market this.

Nola: [00:05:57] Stay tuned. Listen.

Lori: [00:05:59] for another episode.

Nola: [00:06:01] Well, I mean, this is all really fascinating, but, um, our listeners might be wondering, what does this have to do with a vision board? And more specifically, a brand vision board? Well, let me tell ya. A vision board by definition is a collection of images, words, sayings, quotes, drawing, symbols, you name it. That means something to you as well as represents something you want to achieve. While using a brand vision board, however, it is a way for you to approach defining your business brand creatively and with an overarching big picture mindset.

Lori: [00:06:41] There's also one other really important and great reason for creating a brand vision board. And it's a pretty big deal. Typically, entrepreneurs focus on the actual business part of it. They think about the selling, they think about creating a website, they think about all of those things and what they don't tend to think about is looking at their business through the eyes of, not only their customers, but their prospective customers. And a vision board helps you do that. That's why it's so powerful. Because every interaction a customer has with your business, whether that's on your website, your email signature, your LinkedIn, reading a blog post, even talking to you or somebody that is working in your company, each of those leave an impression about your business on their mind.

Your business brand isn't defined by you, it's actually defined by your customers. So every interaction that they have with some aspect of your business brand leaves an impression, and that impression sticks with them. So they form this identity that connects with you. The purpose of creating a brand vision board is to ensure as much as possible that there's continuity across all of those mediums, all of those platforms and that you and everybody that works for you or assists you stays on brand with your business.

Nola: [00:08:26] So it's really a creative strategy. It's creative because it's a vision board, but it's really strategic. a strategic way of making sure that your customers and prospective customers have an interaction with some element of your business that is consistent with your authentic brand.

Lori: [00:08:50] Well, yeah, I got an email from a podcaster who also has a business doing training. And in his signature was nothing related to his business at all. A matter of fact, it made me think, am I actually talking to the right person or did I reach out to somebody that had a similar name, but I clicked, you know, have you ever done that mistake where you send the right email to the wrong name, because it had a similar first name and you just automatically clicked? It was that kind of situation. And when I responded to him, I had my podcast signature thinking that he would then in turn, use his business podcast, email to return. He did not. So it formed an opinion.

Nola: [00:09:35] Yup. And that's an example of what not to do. And it explains why you would want a brand and have that brand thought through for every time a customer or prospective customer interacts with your company, with your brand, with your service. So, yeah.

Lori: [00:09:53] way, shape or form.

Nola: [00:09:54] Any way, shape or form. And you want to make sure that if somebody is forming an opinion going to your LinkedIn page, it's a similar experience as going to, say, your Facebook or your website, so after a while, they're developing an expectation. Hey, when I encounter this company, I know what to expect.

 Lori: [00:10:13] Think about it from this other standpoint. Often, before somebody interacts with you about your business, they've done a Google search or some other search to look for you. So they might've pulled up your website. They might've seen that you're a subject matter expert about what you're talking about. They might've looked for reviews of your business or your product or your service. Each one of those are before they have any interaction with you. You and I did the same thing. Somebody reached out to us offering a service. And the first thing that we did is we went and did a search, a Google search for them and a LinkedIn search for that person to see what they were about. And when we couldn't find anything, the very first thought that you and I had was, does this person really have a business?

Nola: [00:11:03] Are they really legit?  Are they really doing what they say they're doing? Because there would be some evidence.

Lori: [00:11:09] Exactly.

Nola: [00:11:10] Once you've created that vision board for your brand. You've really thought that through. And so that's what we're about to help you with. We're going to walk you through that in this episode.

Lori: [00:11:23] We're not going to sugar coat. This it's scary to invest in starting a business. And we know that. And that's, that was the whole point of why we love to break things down into small action steps that people can take.  One mistake that you and I encounter frequently with people who are starting a business is they tend to think a brand is simply a logo. And a logo is a brand element.

Nola: [00:11:52] Yes,

Lori: [00:11:53] But even before you get to there, even if you use that as an example, that element should have continuity as well. It should represent the impression you want people to walk away with about your business before they contact you, and after. It should have continuity all the way through. So, the goal here, is that as we walk our listeners through the process that we used to create our brand vision board and provide the resources that can help them to do it for themselves, that they'll have more confidence about what a brand is, what the brand is that they want to create for their customers.

So now here's a question. Or maybe I'm just a little confused. What does the brand vision board have to do with visualization?

Nola: [00:12:49] That's a good question.

Lori: [00:12:51] Thank you, I, I try to come up with at least one good question per episode, and I think I did it.

Nola: [00:12:57] So I would say that a brand vision board helps you internalize your brand. Because it's something that you're going to be looking at and referring to, and just having it hanging out in your periphery or not so periphery.

Lori: [00:13:13] Well, you know, our brand vision board sits behind me when I'm sitting at my computer. However, the funny thing is, is that every time I walk into my office, it is one of the very first things that I see. And if I'm on Zoom, I see what, what people on Zoom see. They see my artwork, but they also see our vision board. So it helps me to remember and keep that kind of front of mind.

Nola: [00:13:42] And so when you have it front of mind, you're more likely to make those choices that reinforce that brand . . .

Lori: [00:13:50] Agreed. Totally agreed. When we come back, we're going to walk you through the process that Nola and I used for creating our brand vision board and share with you the important steps so you, as the creator can learn from our insights.

Nola: [00:14:05] Check out our Facebook page to see pictures of our board. You'll find resources, the resources we used on our website, too, at StickyBrandLab.com forward slash resources.

Ad Spot - Be YOU-Nique: [00:14:16] Are you an aspiring entrepreneur, who's ready to share your vision with the world, but you're not sure exactly what that would look like? Or do you just want a safe soundboard to help you evaluate your top business ideas? Then a Be YOU-nique session is just what you're looking for. This two-part clarity session is customized and based on your individual goals and experience. Together, we will help you determine your ideal business niche, target audience, and strategy. You'll leave the session with a realistic timeline and a set of small step, big win goals that make sense for you and your lifestyle. Sign up today for a free 20-minute consultation at stickybrandlab.com/shop.

Nola: [00:14:56] Welcome back to sticky brand lab, the podcast that reduces excuses. So you can gain traction and take action on starting your side hustle.

So often when an entrepreneur thinks about starting their business, the focus is on the business. And not necessarily the user experience, the customer experience. And at this point you are probably creating not only your business, but also, you're the creator of your brand. At least we hope you are. And now in creating this whole brand journey, you're going to put a whole lot of hard work into developing it, and it takes courage to really put your heart in it and really think it through and put that emotion and all of the articulation of it and bring it to the world. And you feel so much pride as the creator of this brand. That that is actually what your audience will love and feel when they connect with your brand and that feeling it's priceless.

Lori: [00:16:01] Like the MasterCard.

Nola: [00:16:03] Like the MasterCard.

Lori: [00:16:04] Like, like the MasterCard commercial. But you know, every time somebody comments about hearing our podcast and talk about our connection or the topic or any of those things, I do get very excited because I think about that somebody is commenting on the thing that you and I worked so hard to bring to life.

Nola: [00:16:28] Yeah. It's confirmation that it worked.

Lori: [00:16:31] It feels really, really good.

Nola: [00:16:33] Yeah. A brand vision board is a key first step to designing your customer journey with their experience in mind. But before you start creating your vision board, ask yourself some key questions. We have a list of over a dozen questions that you can get from the Resources page of our website at StickyBrandLab.com. We'll just talk about two or three of them here.  Just to give you an idea of the kinds of things you want to be thinking about. So, one of them could be, what kind of personality do I want my business to have? What kinds of personalities can you think of that a business might have?

Lori: [00:17:11] You could be fun. You could be compassionate. You could be supportive.

Nola: [00:17:16] You can be hip, you can be snarky.

Lori: [00:17:19] Yeah, you could, it's not snarky in a mean way, but kind of quick witted. Right? Um, you recognize those personalities are sometimes fun to engage in, but if you're super sensitive, you might not think of it that way. You think of a lot of innovative companies may be a little bit more like that. 

Nola: [00:17:37] Yep. So, another question could be, what colors will help me create a brand that gives customers the feeling that I want them to experience when they come in contact with any of the touch points of my brand?

Lori: [00:17:51] We created a, um, a whole episode on choosing your brand colors and we found that some key colors outside of the United States are actually offensive. So, if you haven't heard that podcast, we highly recommend that you listen to it.

Nola: [00:18:09] Good advice. Another question is what visuals will I use to illustrate my brand?

Lori: [00:18:16] And yeah, we have a couple of real images as well as some character images that we used for our own website and to help us with our brand.

Nola: [00:18:27] So those are just samples of some of the questions that you can find on our resource page, but it kind of gives you an idea of how to think it through, what are the kinds of things you would want to not only put on your vision board, but why you would put them on your vision board. And how is it going to evoke a response from your customers?

Lori: [00:18:45] Yeah, that's a really good point. And, and before you get started, actually creating it, there's some supplies that you're going to want to have on hand. For actually putting together your brand vision board, you could do it online. We did it in,  what would you say? Hard form.

Nola: [00:19:03] Hard copies. Yep.

Lori: [00:19:05] Um, but if you're doing that, you could use poster board, which we did. You could use corkboard, you could use a white board, or you could use an art book or a canvas to do it. You can have magazines, you could download images, you could go to Google images, for example, if you had some thoughts in mind. So, let's say that your business was about travel, you could put travel and look for images that way, and you might download some of those. You want to have some colored pencils, markers, highlighters, colorful paper, scissors, a glue stick or tape, or push pins, depending on, you know, what background you're using. In our case, when you, we were talking, I used, uh, uh, poster board and I used wrapping paper to frame it.

Nola: [00:20:01] I love that! Idea. Yeah. I

Lori: [00:20:04] I, I kind of did scallops to kind of form a frame around it. And then I used a combination of tape and glue to put it together.

Nola: [00:20:16] Very cool. Very cool. So you want to start by choosing some meaningful images and not just images you like because you like them because it's your own preference, but really, images that reinforce and compliment your vision for your brand. Again, from the customer's perspective. For example, our long-term vision for Sticky Brand Lab was twofold. One was to help aspiring entrepreneurs create sticky, sticky brands, which is a term used to describe staying in front of a customer's mind.  Our other focus is on people who are thinking about, or are in the midst of, starting their business and feel overwhelmed or unsure. And we wanted our brand to convey can do fun, easy, uh, I can do this. It's actionable, baby steps, warm, energetic, feminine, empowering educational, supportive, all of these positive things that make somebody who might otherwise feel overwhelmed think, you know, I can do this. And so we went about looking for visuals that conveyed that, that message, that thought.

Lori: [00:21:36] It's funny that you should say that because, so for example, When we started talking about Sticky Brand Lab and what was going to be the image that we created, I actually, had found this car. it was a picture and they had paint splashes all over the backend and they had a variety of them and the paint was dripping and it, some of it connected, some of it was separate. And I immediately got this idea in my head that there would be no boundaries. And when we were trying to work with a designer, that actually got interpreted as part of the visual element that went into our logo. So, you know, our logo is a circle, but we also have it with a frame, a black frame around it. And the paint splashes go outside of that frame. And that, yeah, no boundaries. Um, we were going to not be boxed in and we didn't want anybody else to feel like there was only one right way  to start a side hustle. And that really created an impression in our mind and one that we wanted to convey to other people. Of course, then having all of those colors lended itself to a different problem that we ended up having.

Nola: [00:23:05] Which we talk about on a, on a different podcast

Lori: [00:23:08] Right. And we used images to help us create our color palette. One of them reminded me of being in Italy, on the Island of Capri.

Nola: [00:23:22] Right. Which I have never been, but when I saw, that same image, I thought adventure, fun, freedom. And those were all feelings that we wanted our customers to feel when they interacted with Sticky Brand Lab.

Lori: [00:23:37] Exactly which also, on the corner of this vision board in one corner, it says, "what lies beyond the edge." And it said" I'm betting on the future" and "stand at the edge." And that reminded us being at the edge of your comfort zone. That when you're creating something, whether it's from your knowledge, from your hobby, from your passion, and you're going to put it out there into the world, you have no idea what's going to happen next. And there's something scary and exhilarating that happens when you're at that edge.

Nola: [00:24:19] Cool. So that's a saying you got, is that something that those are words, those weren't on it or were those on a visual?

Lori: [00:24:26] Well, I actually had some magazines, and they were different words. Uh, actually the, "what lies beyond the edge" was a phrase. "Stand at the edge" was, uh, a phrase and "betting on the future" was a different phrase that I found.   I must have had a dozen different magazines that I was working from. And it was almost as though when I landed on the right page, sometimes they were in an ad, sometimes they were in an article. Sometimes they were a title. I just instantly found that they were resonating with me. And, uh, and I used it. Now, there was an ad for, I actually don't even know what the product was, but it had this poem that spoke to me. I did put this on the vision board.So I'm just going to read it because I, I love it.

Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock goes to the clock. It's so rhythmic. It's almost soothing. It lulls you into a false sense of security. Tick another coffee, tock another meeting, tick another lunch, tock another quiet night in. And before you know it, you're so numb from the comfort of routine that you didn't even feel a thing as that great adventure called life slipped away like sand between your fingers. But fear not, adventure has another plan. Roll with them. Embrace adventure, grasp it with both hands, until your knuckles turn pale. Don't let comfort take you down. Rise above routine and monotony. Ride shotgun with fear and the unknown.  Don the uniform from the restless.  Get uncomfortable being comfortable. And here's the reward for the discomfort. Your heart will be fuller, your compassion deeper, your horizons wider and your memoir way, way, better. Before you die, make sure you have lived. [Source: Aether Apparel Mantra]

I still get goosebumps when I read that. Which is why I keep this thing so handy because that's the thing that really stands with me. And then right next to it, "you only get one journey."

Nola: [00:26:47] Profound.  It's all the reason you want people to realize it's now or never.

Lori: [00:26:53] Exactly.  And I have this pathway with a gate that's open, and it says, "your journey begins being reinvented by the next generation of dreamers." Meaning that you, entrepreneur, aspiring side hustler, are the next generation of dreamers. So, there's a lot on here that we used to create our board for our vision. And I think, uh, when you see it, you'll see some other things that we haven't touched on. But it's still as relevant today, as the thought was when we started the process. What now? 18 months, two years ago? More? When it was just a speck of a flash of light in our eye.

Nola: [00:27:40] It's been quite the journey.

Lori: [00:27:44] It has been, it has been. So, you can find the list of questions and the brand vision, board guide and pictures of our brand vision board on our Resource page. And really that brings us to the end of today's show.
So, until next Tuesday, action creates results. So tap into your desire to create a business and brand you love by taking 1% action every day. Remember. Small steps, big effects.

Nola: [00:28:20] Do you have questions about creating a brand vision for your side hustle or small business? Sign up for one of our clarity sessions. For more information, contact us at stickybrandlab.com/contact.  
 
Out-take: You have an idea for a business, but feel lost when it comes to creating a brand for it. Maybe you even wonder if you even need it for a side hustle….