Ep. 113: The What, Why & How of Good Branding w/ Kaila Piepkow
In the world of business, the word "branding" gets used a lot but what really is a brand? We know we need one, but why? What's the point and how do you come up with one? Is it ok to just create something in Canva? Is it worth spending the money to hire a pro? And when would I need to rebrand?
Because there are often more questions than answers when it comes to branding I had my friend and Brand Design expert Kaila Piepkow on to talk all things visual branding. In this episode she breaks down the what, why, and how of creating your brand in an easy-to-understand way.
And we discuss why your brand can make it easier to get clients once you've raised your rates and how you can create raving fans who share your brand freely with others.
Kaila is the Creative Director & Founder of Dox Design a remote branding studio for top dogs. When she isn't walking her three Dachshunds or jamming out to some 70s tunes you can find her proudly leading Dox's fearless team on a mission to create strong, compelling brands that flaunt their clients’ stand-out qualities in fun and daring ways. Together, Dox Design works together seamlessly with their clients to create #droolworthy brands and design for people just like you: the doers, the dreamers and the dog-obsessed.
Link:
IG: @dox.design
-
This week of the sell it sister podcast, I am joined by my friend, Kayla Pepco, who happens to also live very near me. So as we chat beginning of this, we have actually met in real life.
It's so cool. So much fun. Um, but Kayla is the creative yeah. Director and founder of docs design, which is a remote branding studio for top dogs. When she isn't walking her three doxins or Chami out to some seventies tunes, you can find her proudly leading DOCSIS fearless team on a mission to create strong, compelling.
That flaunt, their clients stand out qualities in fun and daring ways. Together. Docs design works together seamlessly with their clients to create hashtag drool worthy brands and designed for people. Just like you, the doers, the dreamers, and the dog obsessed. And even if you are not dog obsessed, I know you are going to absolutely love what she says about branding, especially as it relates to.
Directly helping you make more money, charge, higher prices, and get raving fans who will refer you for free. And you can also find Kayla and the whole crew@docksdesignoveroninstagramatdocs.design that's D O X dot and then the word design. All right on to the episode. Hey, Kayla, welcome to the sallet sister podcast.
I am super, super stoked to have you, uh, because a you're awesome at what you do. And B we now are in real life friends, we are actually like neighbors. So that's kind of wild. Uh, like the online world is actually incredibly, incredibly small, and we've been able to have coffee in person. So, yeah. It's pretty rad.
Yeah. I'm really
Kaila Piepkow: excited to be here and to have actually met you in real life. And then I know what you mean. Like the digital world, I feel like I know all these people for years and never actually get to meet up. So I was glad to be able to meet you in person.
Erika Tebbens: Yeah. And we actually originally connected because we both know Sabrina Torres of be truly social.
And she has been an online friend of mine for a while and I actually get to meet her in just a few weeks, meet her in person. So. I love it. Um, cool. So you are a branding expert and a dog lover, which is great. Cause my little dog peanut is laying here next to me. So hopefully he'll be quiet while we record, but yeah, I know that this is, you know, branding as something that we all know.
Hear about, but I feel like is oftentimes very elusive or confusing or, you know, just, there's like a lot of, I think, mystique and confusion around what branding is and what it isn't. So I. Yeah, I'm really excited to dive more into this, but first, why don't you just tell us, like how you got to where you are, like a little bit of your, your origin story?
Definitely.
Kaila Piepkow: Um, so I always was more of like the artsy type. Um, so in high school, everything like that, I leaned more towards the arts programs. You know, the, like I'm an anagram three wings four. So I'm very like artsy and creative. Um, so I kind of always knew I wanted to be a designer, wanted to do something in the art field.
The design world kind of seemed like the not starving artists path to do that. Um, so it was able to go to school for graphic design. I have my bachelor's in graphic design, um, and I
always kind of had a plan laid out for me of like, I'm going to get my degree. I'm going to work at an agency in the city.
I'm going to work my way up to be a creative director. Um, you know, that was the plan, uh, clearly that did not. Pan out. Um, I very quickly graduated with my dad. I agree. Um, I worked at one of the top agencies in the Midwest and it just really wasn't for me, the hours were extremely grueling. Um, at the office setting, I just don't thrive in.
Um, but what I did love about it was obviously the branding aspect of it and really getting to hold it. Skills and my expertise there, I was able to work with really big brands like Georgia Pacific and target help with the brand strategy, help with the overall branding. Um, and I really wanted to take that and bring it over into the small business and online space, because I was just seeing that they were often overlooked.
By these big agencies, they weren't getting the same love as these bigger brands were. And I really felt there was a hole missing. Um, so I started freelancing on the side of kind of taking all of this knowledge I've learned in my agency world and applying it to smaller businesses, online creators. Um, cause I knew that branding works and when you do it the right way, it could really help these businesses and make a lasting impact and results.
And especially when it comes to small businesses, I feel like they reap the benefits even more. Um, so it was able to freelance in about a year after doing that under my own name, I decided to double down, open up DOT's design. Um, it is named after my three Doxies, as you mentioned, I am a dog lover. I have three of them.
I hope they're quiet during this recording too. Um, and then, yeah, I've been doing docs now. Full time. Going onto my third year. Um, full-time to be there. I actually have a team now, so pretty much took the agency model and moved it into the online space, made it more personalized, um, and more impactful
Erika Tebbens: for them.
I love that. And I, I love when you share your client designs on Instagram, because they're so fun. And I know that you work a lot with dog centric brands and ones that have physical products, you have like really cool you'll show like different packaging and stuff, but you also serve. Online entrepreneurs, right?
Like service-based is as well. Awesome.
Kaila Piepkow: While we've rebranded a few business coaches now, um, copywriters, I mean, even in the dog space, like you said, I mean, naturally we attract those clients because we are such dog lovers, but even in the dog space, a lot of them are moving into the online world or our service providers.
So they don't have a physical product, but they might have digital downloads. Courses, that sort of stuff. So really branding transcends any sort of business. I mean, obviously with the product side of things, we do, it's fun to see the tangible, actual packaging design we're doing, but a brand can really relate to any sort of brand, like you said, an online creator or a service provider as well.
Erika Tebbens: I love that. And I feel like it can be like, I feel like this is a perfect segue even to talking about like, why it's good to think about branding because obviously, like, you know, if somebody is selling a physical product, it's like, okay, well of course I'm going to need labels and I'm going to need boxes and I'm going to need.
Just all of that stuff. And so that, I feel like that sort of makes a lot of sense, but I think when you are an online entrepreneur, it can feel really complicated sometimes. Well, do I need a brand? Like, how do I decide what my brand is? Do I just pick colors? I like, or, you know, does it even really matter?
Like, I, I feel like when there's so many different things that are pulling at our attention and our things to invest in, it's sort of like how important actually is this, so why don't you explain a little bit about. Kind of like what a brand is maybe like what it isn't or some misconceptions. And then we can talk about like what it can actually do for you once you have it.
Yeah,
Kaila Piepkow: definitely. And I think you kind of hit the nail on the head there. When I get online providers or people who don't have a physical product, I think they get really confused over what a brand is because they come to our Instagram and they see our product companies and they're like, Ooh, I love that box.
You designed, I love those labels that you designed, but I don't have that. So I'm not. Like able to visualize how my brand would be used. In reality, you have just as many touch points as an online brand that could be branded beautifully and help you be cohesive, right. Premium and all that stuff we'll talk about later.
Um, but where I think this conception is kind of what you said, what a brand is and what a brand isn't. Um, when we talk about branding at doc's design, we come at it from those visual brands. Side of things. Um, so obviously brand is an umbrella term. It could be your brand strategy. It could be your copywriting.
Um, but what we really fall under is the visual brand umbrella. Um, so that has all the visual touch points. Um, all the visual cues, what we like to call our visual toolkit that will really help identify you. Especially in the online space. Um, so yes, it's colors, it's fonts, it's your logo, but it's really a lot more than that.
It's all of the visual brand elements you're using. So like your patterns, your icons, even your language. I like to say language is a part of the visual brand, just because, you know, it's using all that other stuff. Um, so when people come to me, I think a lot of times they're like brand logo. Okay. I know to ask for that because I see a logo being used.
But then all the other stuff kind of falls off because they don't understand how that would work in their brand, but it's all just as important than just a logo. Um, and we have like a sane over here that we think like a logo is the least important part of a grant. Um, because in the example I like to use is for example, in the online space, you're scrolling on Instagram, they're going to see the colors and the fonts you're using.
First and based on what you picked, it will start to evoke a certain sort of emotion and a
certain sort of feeling for your brand before they even see the logo or read the words, you can take the same logo and put it into three or four different designs. Maybe one is more like seminal, floral pink, one's more black and white and edgy.
And that logo is good to community. Two very different feelings to two very different people. It's the same logo, but those other elements that are around it, like the colors, the fonts, the brand elements are really, what's going to help you stand out and communicate who you are as a brand, which is really like the most important thing at the end of the day is communicating that emotion visually.
Erika Tebbens: Yeah. Yeah. I loved how you described that. And I feel like it's the, um, like even when you just think about really. Iconic brands that have evolved a little bit over time, like Starbucks. I know a few years ago they didn't necessarily do like a full rebrand. They still have their, their mermaid, their siren, but they like took the circle off, like around the outside.
Like they kind of made her borderless and things like that. And, but you still, like, you see that forest green. On a side of a cup, even if you're like a hundred yards away, you're like, that's a Starbucks cup.
Kaila Piepkow: Exactly. Yeah. And those brands are actually really good examples of like how successful branding can be.
Like, you can get to the point where you don't even really need to like put your logo on stuff. And you're just being identified by color, by font, by certain visual cues. And like you've owned that as a brand like Starbucks is a great example of that. They could honestly just have a green circle on the cup and you know what that is because they've done that great of a job with their
Erika Tebbens: visual.
Yeah. And even like you said, you've done work for target and stuff and I love target and I, I feel like even, yeah, just any, like, even just their they're huge like posters and visual things in the stores. You're like, even without the logo, it just has like a feel, uh, feel to them. So I love that. So when, um, you know, what are some things.
You like to have your clients start to think of, or that are helpful for them to already know before you get started on creating the brand for them. Yeah. So we kind
Kaila Piepkow: of have a formula that we use. Um, so we call it your brand vibe. Um, so kind of what your quote unquote emotion is that you're going to be portraying to your audience.
Um, are you going to be like a more beachy and relaxed brand? Are you going to be more modern? Are you going to be more edgy? You know, starting to think of it in terms of that, of like what your vibe is and a lot of time for the online creators or even the service providers, it's like who you are as a person, because it's your small brand for products.
It gets a little bit more down into like what the product features are and like what we want that to be. So, um, it's a little different for each, but it's the same formula. Um, and then on the flip side of the coin of that is your role. Um, so we like to say and challenge our clients,
which is really hard for them.
Um, I will always get someone who comes to me like, well, I like sky blue because it's my favorite color. And I'm like, that's great. But that could be the completely wrong color for your brand based on who you're trying to target as well. Um, so really thinking about your audience and who they are as a person, what other brands they're attracted to, what they wear, what music they listen to, like thinking about it in terms of like who your audience is, and really starting to dig down deep with that will help guide those visual decisions and make them a lot easier because.
Um, especially thinking about like where they already shop or like what other brands that already follow, you can kind of see where your brand fits in there, but then you can make it more unique and stand out by bringing in that, that brand vibe side of things. Um, so you kind of have some parameters there when you're thinking about your audience, but then you can make yourself a little different by thinking about who your vibe is.
Erika Tebbens: That's really cool. And what if like, um, what if you're sort of. Newer ish or you're like, God, I don't even know how to think about like where my people shop or anything like that. Are there other. Things that they can kind of think about or imagine to come up with those answers. Yeah. So,
Kaila Piepkow: um, I also like to say like for the online brands, like I said, it is kind of a personal thing, but you want to, you want, there's a fine line between you're just like picky.
Your favorite things and still making sure it makes sense for you. Um, but I do think that's a good place to start too, is like you personally, like what brands do you see yourself fitting in with? Like, especially with like your competitors, like, what are they all doing? What you like, what they're doing, what do you not like that they're doing?
What can you do differently? Like maybe all of them were like super clean cut and like really educational, but like, you're like, you know what. A lot and like I'm tattooed up. I don't really feel that tattoos. So I like to use that as an example, like I'm a little bit more of an edgier coach. So like I already know I'm going to like put this edgy, like spin on it a little bit.
And those are the types of people I want to attract. If you start thinking of it like that, that would definitely help. But again, you want to be like you're in that zone, but then start thinking about it in terms of your audience, because, okay. You're like I'm edgy. So it makes sense for me to go more edgy, but I don't want this to be.
Just everything I personally like, know there's a lot, there's definitely a line.
Erika Tebbens: Yeah. And I think it's, it's kind of interesting too. Like, uh, cause I know that my, my brand is like, you know, it's fairly bold and you know, it's bright and like a little bit edgy and everything in there. Um, but that is not always like my actual clients.
Do you not necessarily like, look like me and, um, yeah, but I don't know
Kaila Piepkow: they're a Trek. So yeah, this is where I'm saying where you get the line. It gets a little different with the online brand, but they came to you for a reason because that's who you are as a person and that's your brand. And they saw that in your branding.
And like, they might not necessarily be like, I mean, Different. We're not all like carbon copies your audience. That's why I said there's a line because like your audience generally, but like, everyone's different. Like we all have our own like, quirks about us, but like at the baseline of it, like they were attracted to you for a certain reason.
And it's because of the way you were portraying yourself and whether you knew it or not, you were doing a little
Erika Tebbens: bit of that exercise. Totally. Yeah. And I, and I think too, like, it would be, it would be different if like, if I was a lot more like. If I like infused a lot of like spirituality, let's say into my coaching or my strategy, then I almost feel like, oh, my brand would be more like, maybe like soft or like, you know, flowy or like a theory will, or, you know, it, it might like if that was my.
Like core personality of my business or something. And then, and then it would attract people, more people who want, who like, you know, are like, yeah, I want somebody who is going to teach me how to grow my business. But through this very like spiritual, intuitive lens versus like what I do. So, yeah, it's just, it's interesting to think about.
How even, yeah. Even when you have that and it's, it's like very iconic to you, it doesn't necessarily mean that the people at attracts are at those sites. Carbon copies. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I love
Kaila Piepkow: that. That's a good point. I love it.
Erika Tebbens: Yeah. It just it's. I mean, it's interesting because truly when I started, I was very, just like, I need something and my brother does graphic design and I was like, yeah, I I'm like, I don't even know.
I like yellow and blue. And he was like, great here. You know, it was super, super, super simple. And then a little ways then I was like, okay, yeah, this is, this doesn't feel aligned. Like it doesn't. Doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel like, yeah, well,
Kaila Piepkow: I don't think you're alone there. I think a lot of people start out like that where they kind of throw it together, but then you quickly realize, especially in the online space with so many people out there, it's very easy to get lost if you're using the same exact free Google font that everyone does.
And the same, like blue color that everyone is, you know what I mean? Like being able to differentiate yourself with some of these visual tools is a very powerful.
Erika Tebbens: Yeah, absolutely. Um, and so I know like one thing I, I absolutely want you to talk about because I, I know that, you know, money is the whole reason that we're here.
And a lot of my clients, uh, you know, struggle with raising their rates or knowing, you know, kind of like, like feeling comfortable and confident around that, even if they know that they need to when it's time. So I definitely want to talk about. How branding correlates value and higher value. Because I think that like that is even, uh, more challenging to conceptualize than just like even branding in general.
I love that. So I do
Kaila Piepkow: have a few examples. I'm like a analogy person, which I love it because, because branding is so abstract. So I use two examples all the time. So one is when you have a cool professional, consistent brand and establishes trust, you're a legit business. So I use the example of like going to get your car fixed if you go to a mechanic and they're like, building is like rundown and they have like a tapped up paper sign.
And like you go in and all the employees are like mismatched and like not, yeah. Clean cut or whatever you're going to be like. Do I really trust them with my car versus where if you went to a more put together building that had a nice fun branded sign, you open it up. Maybe their walls are the same color as their brand, all their employees.
Um, brand swag and it kind of just all is a more cohesive experience. You're like, oh, okay. Yeah. I understand. Like I trust them not, I'm going to ask a lot of questions. Wait my car there. I mean, it's the same thing with branding. Like if you are going to be investing a lot of money into someone you want to know they're legit and they're an expert and it's like your website.
Heartbroken has a bunch of different colors and your images are blurry and there's typos and your social media graphics have watermarks on them. And it's not even the same color. And they can't tell if the website is even the correct one from going to the social media post to that. Right. You don't have a consistent visual experience and they might not trust you as much as they would trust the more put together brand.
Um, and then the flip side of that is also, like you said, the premium pricing, like being able to justify being a more premium brand and raising your prices. And I will go back to the coffee example here because you brought up Starbucks. Um, and I like to say, you know, when you're on a road trip and you go into a gas station and you go in there and be grabbed like a dollar coffee from the gas station, It's a necessity, whereas you would maybe seek out going to Starbucks and you would be willing to spend a little bit more.
And then we could take that even a step further. I have a local coffee house over by us called mudra house. Um, it's like a beautifully branded coffee shop that I love to go to probably like $2, more expensive than Starbucks, but I don't care because it's beautiful and I love going there and the experience is great.
And then I also will always snap a picture with my coffee cup because it looks good. And I'll post it on social media. So you're taking it even a step, further being a premium brand and you can, you know, raise your prices, but you're also creating loyal fans. They're posting about your brand. They're sharing it because it's beautiful and it's put together.
Erika Tebbens: Yes. I love, love, love the coffee example because it, it is, it's one of those things where. If you have, like you and I met at, uh, cultivate, which has an Ypsilanti, um, which has like a very, um, like, like boutique coffee. Yeah. We have shot hips. Yeah. Um, like it, it has a vibe, right? Like it's, it's got the vibe and, um, and it really is a place where.
You would go and like, hang out, like you would meet friends, you would, you know, uh co-work you would have immediate like yep. It's, it's one of those places. And. So like to the
point where I have their like annual loyalty card and stuff like that, like, I want to give this brand like an extra 50 bucks at the start of the year to, I mean, yes, I get it like a little bit off, like, you know, every drink I purchased, but it's like, that's, I mean, you know, you're not necessarily doing that at your local like gas station.
Um, and I know that, you know, Like a place like that is not trying to convince somebody who wants $1 gas station coffee, why they need to have $5 small batch roast coffee. So it's like they know their target audience and they're speaking directly to their target audience. Whereas like the gas station isn't selling it.
On quality there's their whole shtick is it's above. Yeah. And it's yeah, it's going to be that like, that is their whole brand. It's like we have the lowest coffee price in town. The most delicious with the best atmosphere. Exactly.
Kaila Piepkow: And I bet you, if collect created like a merchant line or something like that, you wouldn't even think twice, it would probably buy some of their products.
So it's like when you're able to, to craft that brand like that, like it not only gives you like ability to charge privately like higher prices, but also grow and like going to different markets and to really grow that brand. Like you are a brand at that point, you're not just like the gas station coffee yet.
Erika Tebbens: Completely. Yeah. And so I feel like that really ties into loyal fans, like raving fans, which I'm so glad we're going to talk about this because I think I've mentioned on the podcast before, but funny enough, like when I started this business, my whole focus was helping people get raving fans until I realized that people were like, I don't know how to sell it.
I'm terrified. And I get a pivot and I was like, oh, I can help you with that. And, but, but that was like, literally my whole, um, My whole, like reason for my business at the beginning was I was like, Ooh, like when you get raving fans, it's a game changer for your business. So let me help show you how to have a great customer experience and everything so that you can get those raving fans.
So why don't you explain a little bit how, like your brand really make that happen,
Kaila Piepkow: but you said customer experience. So actually, um, where I went to school, our big focus on our design was user expense. Slash customer experience. So branding plays into that. It's just the visual senses of the experience that you're doing.
Um, but we all have our favorite brand that we are a loyal fan of. I mean, mine is glass CA I will buy any makeup product they put out, they just did like a collection with BarkBox. I'm like, yep. Go to buy all the dog toys that are like, seemed after their makeup when you have a loyal fan like that, because your brand is so strong because you were strategic about the visual choices you made to communicate to that target.
The emotion you wanted to communicate to. It creates that loyal fan base that is going to pretty much want to buy anything you're selling. And at that point it's more of like, I hate to say like, lifestyle. Cause I feel like that got a little overused, but it is more of like a quote
unquote lifestyle.
Brand that you are creating at that point, um, where you just did such a good job with your brand name that people want to support you. They want to buy what you're selling, whether that be a product, whether that be a service, like it just really opens up the doors for you there being able to have that group of people to call on.
Erika Tebbens: Yeah. And it really is like part of why I. I love it is I feel like it's a way to almost build community around your brand, even if you're not like, even if none of your offers are like community containers, right? Like even if you don't have a group program or a membership, whatever, like one of my top values is community.
And I love how you can like. Create that sense around your brand where people are like, oh, like, oh, we both like to follow and learn from this person. Like we probably have similar values. Like we would probably get along. Like, I, it makes me super pumped. Actually. I just did a, uh, free training, like couple of weeks ago.
We could have go something like that. And. Midway through, like in the chat. I don't even remember how it came up, but people were like, oh, like, I think we just started talking about like coffee chats or something. And people were like, yeah. Oh, my gosh, I would love coffee chats. Am I like legitimately in the middle of the training?
And it was so fun and it made my heart so happy. I sort of had to like pause because everyone was like putting their contact info in the chat and was like, reach out, let's connect, whatever. And I was like, whoa, like all of these people who, some of them already knew each other. But like a lot of them were strangers.
And then through my training that really didn't have anything to do with like setting up coffee chats. People were making connections and like following each other on Instagram and emailing and, and part of why that made me happy is because I feel like they know, like, If they vibe with my brand, they probably vibe with each other and they would be good connections to have.
And that makes me feel really good because I'm like, oh, well now they like, it makes that like online community or that like loneliness of being an entrepreneur that much less, because you've kind of met like kindred spirits under the umbrella of some other person. And that's just added
Kaila Piepkow: value to your community.
I mean, if you have something similar, I don't have a group program or anything like that, but I do have a free Facebook group. And then obviously like my Instagram and stuff, I can't tell you how many times, especially our product, like companies end up following each other and working with each other.
And like, that's just an app. I'm like, oh, this vendor or this retailer connected with this product person and is now holding their product. Or my service provider found this online coach that we branded and now they're working together and the coach is helping her, like he needs to do that all the time with our own community.
And it's great. And it's just an added value that people will come back to because of it.
Erika Tebbens: Yeah. And then I feel like it also, the like additional thing is. It's like when you have those raving fans, is people start doing marketing for you? Yes. That was kind of
Kaila Piepkow: like the coffee example. I even, even like just simply posting on their Instagram story or something because they love it so much.
Or like, it doesn't even have to be like, oh, physical product, like the coffee, but like maybe even sharing a quote that you put on Instagram because they like it. And naturally those people who, like you said are kindred spirits are going to be attracted. B like that messaging even is going to like resonate with them and then they're going to want to follow you.
And you're just like continuing to build that community.
Erika Tebbens: Yeah. It's, it's super, it's super rad and it's super fun. And I feel like, yeah, it's just, then it's almost like your, your brand becomes this living, breathing thing that is like outside of you that. Again, it's like, yeah. It's, it's like people are, when, when people are advertising for you going back to what you said about like a cohesive, strong brand builds trust, it's like, and, and that free advertising also builds trust because we totally go off of.
Word of mouth. So it's like, then if somebody says like, oh, I meet a mindset coach and you are a trusted mindset coach. They're just going to, they're going to tag you in a Facebook group that you're not even in and potentially land a client who is already warm and ready to buy because you came so highly recommended and then they go check you out and everything looks legit.
And like they're practically sold before they even get on the call. Love it.
Kaila Piepkow: You just nailed on the head. Exactly. And that is the power of branding folks,
Erika Tebbens: power branding. But yeah, it's like, yeah, it's, uh, it's. It is really like, it's, it's super interesting how. It's so like subconscious and like subliminal almost, but it's really powerful.
Yeah. I think a
Kaila Piepkow: lot of people too, they'll be like, oh, don't be branding, but they don't even realize that they're actually doing it subconsciously. Like they're already starting to make some of those decisions. Maybe you didn't consciously make them, but when you start to consciously make them is when you start to see the actual results.
Erika Tebbens: Yeah, absolutely. So what are some, like, I definitely want you to talk about the way that you work with people. Yeah. But if people are thinking about like, okay, it's time for me to like, get this professionally done and not go to Fiverr or one of those five years to do it. And you know, or they're ready for a rebrand.
So what are some things beyond, like what we already talked about in terms of like who they are and who their audience is? Like, what are some other things that you really suggest people. Look for in like a good brand assigner or even like red flag,
Kaila Piepkow: red Flint. Okay. Yeah. This is a really good example. Well, red flag number one is like, don't go to fiber.
If your designer is primarily using CAMBA, that is a giant red flag to me. Like you cannot be designing logos and brands and CAMBA, like. There is ways around it. But if they're saying like, that's the primary way they're going to want your brand to you? That's a red flag to me. Um, I think when you're looking for a designer, obviously first you want to find someone that you're going to vibe with.
I mean, that's like the most important thing I think. Second making sure that they have a portfolio that they are legit, like check out their previous work, make sure they actually have like clients they've worked with before. I have testimonials of saying that, you know, the work is actually going to get done.
Unfortunately I've seen clients be burned in the past where they will hire someone and the results are just not. What they thought it was going to be, and they've lost money and time because of it. So I do thinking I'm looking for testimonials portfolio is really important. Um, but beyond that, just making sure that they're going to have a comprehensive brand packet, that they're not just going to throw you a logo, three colors and some fonts and be like, good luck that they're going to actually take the time to think about you.
Think about your brand, build that entire thing. Give you a brand guideline that tells you where you can download the fonts, tells you your hex code. So you can actually use the colors, like finding a designer. That's actually going to give you the tools to be set up for success. And isn't going to like quickly throw you something and then like leave you for the wolves.
I think, um, that has also a lot of things I see with clients is maybe they'll hire someone that kind of tailors off the implementation stage. And then they're like, okay, I have these files now, what? And they don't know how. Um, um, so just making sure you're asking those questions of like, when the brand's done, what are the final deliverables?
What am I going to get? Are you going to explain this to me and making sure that they actually care that you're set up for success with your
Erika Tebbens: brand? I love that. And I, I imagine too, you know, with things being so online and, and like social media and everything like that, there are problems. Other deliverables that are good to think about now versus several years ago, like, uh, I G templates or even like slide decks or depending on the type of assets.
Yeah,
Kaila Piepkow: yeah, definitely. Yeah. Are a branding package actually. That like template side of things. So I just think that should be a no-brainer with really any sort of Brandy package that you should be, at least at the very minimum, getting some sort of social media templates. Um, yeah, I definitely think that's important to look forward to you.
You don't just want like a logo, color and font because that isn't a successful brand. You really want all those other parts and pieces, so you can actually use it in a successful.
Erika Tebbens: Yeah, completely. So why don't you yet, like talk a little bit about, like, I know you've talked, you touched on the process and stuff a little bit, but like when you work with somebody, what that is like, and like what they get at the end.
Yeah.
Kaila Piepkow: So the main way that people work with us and our signature program is our signature branding program. Um, so that is really when we get to know the full brand and create the full thing. Um, so step one is just making sure they buy with us that they're in the right point in their business. Okay. For branding, um, that they're going the right direction.
Um, so once they work with us, we go through what we like to call our exploration phase. So that's kind of the strategy piece of things. Um, getting to know who they are as a brand, their competitors, who, their audiences, why they're redoing branding. Like, are they pivoting? Are they trying to go into a new market?
Um, so after we're all on the. In the exploration phase, we then move into actually sketching the brand, which is super fun. Um, so with our branding program, you get a whole logo suite. So we don't just do one logo. We do multiple variations because sometimes you do a vertical logo. Sometimes you need a smaller logo.
So we think through all of those, um, we obviously do the colors. Fonts. Um, but the big piece of our brand new package, which I think really sets us apart from other designers is what we call our visual toolkit. So all of our branding clients get some sort of illustration style. They get an icon pack, we do six to eight icons that they can use as like their Instagram highlights on their website, in their downloads.
Um, they get a whole social media template pack profile, and just highlight. Cover photos. Um, and then we put everything together in our brand guideline document, which outlines all the brand patterns and all the illustrations and the icons, and kind of all those special pieces that you need to really level up your brand beyond just like words on a blank.
Color backgrounds. Um, so we do all of that through a signature branding program. Then about 99% of our clients continue to work with us through our design lab. Um, so this is ongoing design support with our team where you get a day a month with us to continue to implement that brand. Um, so we will work on, uh, pretty much anything design related that clients need.
Slide decks. If they have packaging design website designs, which media graphics, blog, graphics, we even have a copywriter on our team. So we'll do all the copywriting and everything too. Um, so yeah, the first step though is definitely getting the foundation of the brand down, which is the signature brand new package, and then continuing to implement on it through
our
Erika Tebbens: design lens.
That's awesome. That sounds so cool. I love it. I love it. Yeah. And it's really nice. Like, I appreciate that you understand with like the online space and like you said, You know, digital,
like other digital assets, like the downloads, like PDFs, you know, like any of those things, because yeah. Such a common thing in the online space that I feel like is really unique to, to that world.
Yeah. And I feel like that's
Kaila Piepkow: where the visual toolkit really comes into play that we provide where like a lot of designers will kind of just stop at like logos fonts and like, maybe give you a pattern. And like, just having those things, like, it's really hard to lay out like a PDF on your own, if that was something you wanted to do.
So like our clients who decide not to move forward with us and design lab, a lot of the times we'll be like, Well it's because you gave me so many assets to work with that I like did not realize I was going to have this much. And like, I was able to design my PDs, like with ease, because I had like these icons and these call outs, like these little frames that you made me, it just like those little things that you wouldn't think about.
If you weren't a designer that helps to design all that stuff pretty easily.
Erika Tebbens: Yeah, that is so cool. I love it. Well, this was, this was really, really awesome. Everyone should definitely go follow you at docks designs. And I mean, everything's going to be in the show notes too, but you have super fun, like brand reveals and reels and everything that you do over there.
If you want to see me
Kaila Piepkow: dancing.
Erika Tebbens: And you have adorable dogs, so great. But yeah, this, I think this was really, really helpful, um, for people to just get a better understanding of, you know, their brand and why, why it is important and what it can actually do for them. So thank you so much for chatting with me.
Well, thanks for having
Kaila Piepkow: me on, and I hope everyone learned a lot about branding.
