An awesome benefit of having brand clarity is knowing exactly what you need to do to strengthen your brand. Actually, that’s kind of the whole point. To get clear about where your brand is and where you want it to go so you can take the right steps to meet your goals.   Every business has areas that could be better aligned to their brand. The brand audit you survived last week should have revealed those areas in your business. You now have a list of awesome brand-building changes to make! Progress!    Knowing how to move forward from here […]

Once you have your brand statements and tone boards, you should also have a really really clear understanding of your brand. The next step is to zoom in on every part of your business to see how you can better align everything to this awesome brand.   Most small businesses start off kind of winging it, and that’s ok. You do what you need to do in order to get started. But there comes a time when winging it just doesn’t cut it any more. You want to attract more of your ideal clients, start charging what you’re worth, and […]

With your brand statements down and your tone words selected, it’s finally time to start thinking about the visual aspect of your brand. If you’re anything like me, you’ve been dying to get here!   Everything you’ve written up to this point is super important. It serves as the foundation you’re building your brand on. But words alone can be a little tricky.   Words are by nature abstract and open to interpretation. Take one of Wild Olive’s tone words for example. “Energizing” can bring up so many different connotations. Some people might think of a loud concert full of dancing […]

You started this journey with only a vague idea of your brand. By now, you’ve gotten clear about your business, your ideal client, and your place in the market. You’ve even distilled everything down into brand statements.   But maybe now you’re at that place where you’re not sure how to start aligning your business to your brand. You have these awesome statements, but you’re stuck about how to turn them into real changes for your business.   Don’t worry. I’ve got you! The next 4 posts are all about using your newfound brand clarity to set a direction for your […]

If you’ve been following this series since February, you’ve already put a ton of work into getting clear about your brand. If you’re new, don’t worry. You can get caught up on Journey to Brand Clarity at the blog.   Even when you’ve invested a lot of time into figuring out what your brand is all about, it won’t always be easy to remember all the specifics. And how can you build an intentional brand if you can’t remember what your brand is about?   There are a lot of pieces to keep track of: your story, goals, challenges, ideal […]

We all want to stand out and be able to describe our business as unique. The problem is we often struggle to identify what really makes us different. You might say your hand-made soaps are unique because you make them in small batches out of your kitchen… until you find the hundreds of other businesses doing the exact same thing.  The best way to figure out what makes you different is to stop staring so intently at your reflection and start to also look outside of yourself. You’ve already started doing that by figuring out who your business fits in with […]

It’s been a rough day. All your time was completely taken up taking care of a bedridden 3 year old with a bad cold. As much as you wanted to tackle your to-do list, there was no way fit anything in between making chicken soup, wiping boogers, and cuddling your sweet baby.   The house is finally quiet and you swipe on your phone before heading to bed. Your heart sinks as you scroll through your Instagram feed. All your competitors seem so put together. They all posted new product shots, glamorous selfies, and exciting news. And here you are, […]

You’ve done a lot of work to get specific about your ideal client and have learned a lot about her. Having all this information is awesome, but if you’re anything like me, it might have turned into jumbled mess wreaking havoc on your mind by now.   You’ll get the most value out of the information you’ve gathered if you organize it. This week’s one-page client profile will help you make sense of everything and create a useful summary. When you’re finished filling it out, you can print it out and post it someplace visible for easy reference. So when you sit down […]

You’ve identified your ideal client and got really specific about her with the help of social media. Now, it’s time to do something a little scary and take this out into the real world! You’re going to actually talk to your ideal client face-to-face.   It’s one thing to think up an ideal client and make theories about her passions, challenges, and habits. It’s another entirely to actually ask her about them. You already know a lot about your ideal client, but until you actually reach out and talk to her, you won’t know whether your profile is on target […]