Kat Simpson

4 Tips for Creating an Authentic and Memorable Brand

Kat Simpson · February 12, 2019 ·

Are you struggling to build an authentic and memorable brand? Are you finding it difficult to find your tribe? What if I told you, the difference between a successful brand and a not so successful one might be as simple as 4 things? Read on my friend.

I had a client who was having an issue building her audience. She did “all the things” you’re supposed to do. She had an Instagram page with lots of pretty pictures. She had a beautiful website with testimonials. She had lots of valuable freebees. She even had a YouTube account with tons of views. But she had a tiny amount of real engagement and even smaller sales. So, what was she doing wrong?

No consistency!

Her Instagram feed was filled with food, beaches, animals, journaling pages, quotes about entrepreneurship and personal growth, sewing tips, and jewelry. Her website had blog posts like choosing the best restaurant in Dallas and creating a morning routine. Her YouTube channel’s most popular videos were how-to’s on sewing and painting and vlogs about the importance of Mindset. Do you have a clear idea of her niche? Would you guess a life coach?

When I asked her about the inconsistency, she told me something that I have heard from a lot of business owners. “I thought if I covered my bases with a lot of things, more people would find me, and I could build my brand faster.” But she couldn’t be further from the truth.

She got a lot of eyes on her pages, but they weren’t the right eyes. They weren’t looking for a life coach. So yeah, they liked the photo or the how to’s, but they didn’t need her services. The bigger issue with this strategy was that the ones who needed a life coach were confused about what she really offered and who she really was. They were looking for an authentic brand, and my client wasn’t providing it.

So how did we fix it? We implemented these four simple, but effective strategies, three of which are found in my new Branding Workbook. Which you can download here.

Consistent Written Content

There’s a reason that words are the first area in the Branding Workbook. Words are impactful and tell your market who you are, what you’re about, and how you can serve them with your product or service. Words convey your message and your mission. But more than that, the words you choose show your brand in everything you write. When those words are incoherent or scattered, your target market doesn’t see a clear picture and may become confused about who you are and what your message truly is.

For example.

In one post you start out Hey Y’all! And show a picture of you and your kids by the pool drinking lemonade to talk about how you understand the importance of family, but in the next post, you have a picture of a bunch of men in suits and talk about statistics of leadership turn over. Are you a family-focused business or a corporate/numbers driven one?

Consistent Visual Content

We are a visual world. The most popular posts on Facebook are those with photos or videos. Instagram is growing by thousands of users weekly and Youtube is becoming the go-to space for self-education, entertainment, and growing your brand. This trend is not a fluke. We love visuals! But if your visuals don’t paint a clear and consistent picture, they don’t build a consistent audience.

Remember my client? Her visuals were all over the place! No one knew who she really helped or what she helped them with. But once her visual message was consistent, her impact increased and so did her number of clients.

Consistent Colors and Text

Keeping your colors and text consistent is one of the biggest tips I can share for building an authentic and memorable brand. Let’s look at some of the biggest brands to prove my point. When you think of Disney or Coca Cola, what is your first thought? Without a doubt, you think of their distinctive fonts and certain colors come to mind like maybe a blue sky/background (for the iconic Disney Studios logo) or red and white (for those enticing cans).

You don’t have to invent your own font to build an authentic and memorable brand, but you do need to make your font and colors consistent to give you that “knowability” factor that these companies have created.

Have Fun and Show It!

My last tip for building an authentic and memorable brand is all about loving what you do. Of course, I would have to mention love in February. But you don’t have to make chocolates and flower arrangements to be in the “love business”. You just need to make sure that your business shows that “fire” in you for what you do.

My client wasn’t telling her potential clients anything about why she got into the industry and she certainly didn’t show them how much she enjoyed working with clients and seeing their lives changed. But once she shared those things and started showing how excited she got when a client saw real growth, they were hooked. And if you do the same, your audience will be hooked too!

The Branding Workbook

Now it’s your turn. Download my free branding workbook and use it to keep all of your branding details in one spot. I’ve included places for all of the areas I’ve covered (except the fun part, that’s up to you!). Use my examples above to complete your workbook with your information. Plus, I’ve included a bonus spot for Hashtags as well. I recommend writing these in pencils since they seem to change so much!

Alright, are you ready to build your authentic and memorable brand? Download your free branding workbook and get started!

5 Questions to Ask

Kat Simpson · February 5, 2019 ·

5 Questions To Ask Before Adding Anything to Your Schedule

New opportunities can be incredible blessings. They allow us to grow and improve. They can provide new avenues for our businesses or increase our ability to reach our customers. But they can also add a lot of stress to your life when they aren’t necessary. If you’re wondering “how do I determine if something makes the cut?” Read on my friend. I have five questions that will help you decide if that new opportunity or task makes it into your already packed planner.

#1 Is this necessary?

The first question you need to ask is, is this necessary? We all have those tasks that seem like they’re important, but when we really look at it, the task does nothing to move our business forward. For example, is posting every day on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter really reaching your audience? Or should you be concentrating on just Instagram since that is where your “people” are?

#2 Is this the best option for fulfilling that need?

If this is necessary, is this the best option for fulfilling the need? Let me put it another way. Is there another option that is easier, faster and cheaper? If so, do the second option. Here’s a great example of this. A friend needed to design graphics for social media. She had herself convenience that she needed to purchase an expensive software and the latest camera to start. After I introduced her to Canva and Pexels.com, her eyes were open. She could start with little or no money until she proved her business idea. Later, she invested in a camera to take her own photos, but she still uses Canva for social media graphics.

#3 Can someone else handle this?

The next question to ask before adding something new to your schedule is all about delegation. Can someone else handle this task? How about hiring a virtual assistant for a few hours a week to answer social media inquiries or respond to comments? That would open up your schedule for other tasks like creating content or serving more clients. So why not let them add social media to their schedule instead of yours?

#4 Does it bring me joy?

Although not everything in business is joyful, asking does this task or opportunity bring me joy can help narrow down new things to add to the schedule. Whether it’s creative or analytical or growth centered or just something for fun, if it brings you joy, it can energize you and help you go further than you thought you could.

#5 What do I need to say no to, to say yes to this?

We all have the same 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week, and 365 days in a year. We don’t get to add more time to our lives because we want to add something to our schedule. So the last question makes sense when you think about it; “what do you have to say no to, in order to say yes to this new opportunity?”. Every time we say yes to something new, we have to say no to something old. What we need to ask is, “is the new thing worth leaving behind the old?

Wrap Up

New opportunities are great indicators of growth but growing too fast can be overwhelming and unsustainable. Choose new opportunities wisely to allow for sustainable growth and a pace that won’t burn you out.

If you need help cleaning up that packed planner, contact me. I would love to help you build the business you love in the time your family has.

*Please note that I no longer coach on time management. I strictly focus on branding and website design to provide my clients with the highest level of service. – updated 3/18/2020

Three Time Management Rules that You Should Break Starting Now

Kat Simpson · January 29, 2019 ·

#1 Stop writing down everything

I know you have probably heard to track your time to insure you’re spending it on the right activities, but you can take it too far. I once worked for a corporate company who required their employees to keep a detailed log of all hours worked. This was great for upper management to get an idea of what their lower level employees were doing, but it didn’t give the complete picture.

Their employees spent roughly 30 minutes each day filling out their tracker, but that didn’t include how much time spent writing notes down during the day or the activities they “didn’t think to log”. Also, it did not communicate the hit to moral this caused. The employees saw this as just another thing on their growing to-do list for the same pay they had always made. This of course caused them to work slower on vital tasks and even make more mistakes.

At the end of the day, all of that data didn’t move the ball forward and didn’t help with time management. So, the company stopped this practice. But is there something that works better than tracking every minute spent? Yes! Start a time budget!

A time budget is exactly that, before the day begins, write down a rough outline for your day and keep it close. This can help you stay on track and not loose focus of the activities that are important.

#2 Forget attacking the “low hanging fruit” first

Have you heard the phrase, “low hanging fruit”? It simply means, the easiest items, activities, etc to get to. In business these are activities or tasks that are simple and cause little effort to get done. Well, stop going after them first. I know this sounds counter intuitive but let me explain.

Let’s say Sarah, a mom of two and an entrepreneur, has a goal of growing her coaching business by three monthly clients and launching her first planner. She gets up each morning at 6 to get her kids ready for school and out the door by 7:30. She has 7 hours before they get off the bus and must spend her time wisely.

Low Hanging Fruit Method

She decides to go after the “low hanging fruit” first, so she starts with answering emails. Today, there are 20 new emails, most for current clients with questions about their program. Three of those emails turn into phone calls with current clients regarding issues they are having. This takes her roughly two hours.

After that, she decides to answer direct messages on social because that’s “simple”. She ends up spending another hour on that before jumping back to emails because 10 more have come in. After another thirty minutes of emails, Sarah moves on to running her Google Analytics reports and her social media reports and reviews them to make a plan for her up coming social media campaigns.

It is now 1:30 pm and her kids are due home in the next hour. Sarah realizes that she hasn’t gotten to calling prospects or working on her planner design, so she begins to scramble to work on those tasks.

Big Goal Method

But what if, Sarah flipped her day? At 7:30, Sarah begins working on her planner designs and sets a timer for 2 hours. She works diligently and gets 10 pages designed by the time her timer goes off. Next, Sarah calls 3 prospects for her monthly coaching program. She speaks to one and is told that it’s just not the right time. Another tells her that she is very interested but would like additional information sent to her. The last agrees to a one-week trial period that Sarah has offered.

Sarah then moves on to emails, because she needs to email the second prospect her coaching program overview. After sending out her overview one-pager, she answers the new emails that came in over night and this morning, as well as speaks to three current clients.

At this point, it is 1:30 pm and Sarah only has an hour available, so she works on answering direct messaging and running social media and Google Analytic reports to review the next day.

Which version of Sarah’s day is more productive?

#3 Multitasking Is Not Always Better

Multitasking has gotten a bad rap lately, but I am not 100% against it. I multitask with the best of them, but I know where the line is. For example, I love listening to podcasts while running reports or formatting spreadsheets. Or I will design social media graphics on my phone while I wait for the chicken to brown in the pan or the muffins to bake in the oven.

On the other hand, you won’t catch me writing a blog post and filming a YouTube video at the same time. Or speaking to a client while I write up social media copy. When your attention is split, neither area gets you at your best and that means your business isn’t getting the best you.

Wrap Up

Time management is one of the most important skills you can master in your business and in your life. It helps you meet goals, spend time on what’s important and possibly most of all, it helps you become the person you want to be. But if you focus too much on the rules, you can lose sight of the reason you want to manage your time in the first place. Whether that’s a business goal or having time to spend with your kids, managing your time needs to be done authentically you.

Finding Your Authentic Brand Voice

Kat Simpson · January 21, 2019 ·

The Three Step Process

I’m going to tell you something that you’ve probably never heard before about starting a business. It is one of the most personal things you can do. I know that most people think that businesses are for the masses and that is true to an extent. However, a business shows the heart of the entrepreneur at its foundation.

But if it’s so personal, why is it so hard to build an authentic brand? Shouldn’t it be easy peasy? The reason it is such a difficult task is because sometimes it’s challenging to narrow down who we are on paper.

I know that I struggled with this for years. I was a free spirit/artistic type growing up. But then life happened, and I lost myself. It took a long time to rediscover that weird, artistic and entrepreneurial girl, but I did it. And now I’m excited to share with you the technique I used to find my voice again. I believe this will help you too.

Step One: It’s All About You

Write “me” in the middle of a plain piece of paper. I like using brightly colored printer paper, but that’s me. Any blank piece of paper will do.

Then put 60 seconds on your cell phone timer and for the next 60 seconds, writing every word that comes to mind when you think about who you are. For example, here is mine.

Step Two: Get Friends and Family Involved

Now that you have written down your thoughts, it’s time to ask others for input. Ask two or three close friends or family to take 30 seconds and write down the first 5 to 10 words that pop into their minds when they think about you. My husband gave tenacious, spiritual, caring, funny, and logical. While a friend gave words like strong willed, dedicated, reserved, loyal, and honest to a fault. Ok, the last example wasn’t a one-word answer, but you get the idea.

Step Three: Put It All Together

Finally, it’s time for the fun part. Look over the lists and see what words overlap. Do you and your friends or family use the word energetic or do they use the word reserved? Do the list say analytical or creative or maybe both! I am analytical and creative. I think that is why I enjoy making spreadsheets look bright and colorful.

Wrapping Up

This process is simple, but effective. By narrowing down the main words to describe your personality, you can create more authentic and consistent messages. If you are energic and creative, your Instagram posts should be bright, cheerful, and full of life. If your logical and analytical, your YouTube videos should logic driven with lots of details, possibly how to’s.

Remember, you’re the foundation of your business, so make sure you shine through in everything you do.

How to Find Your Most Authentic Target Market

Kat Simpson · January 15, 2019 ·

One of my favorite clients used to have issues with connecting to her target market. She didn’t understand what was at the root of the issue. She had large social media followings but little interaction. Her website analytics showed she had a lot of traffic, but her bounce rate was ridiculous. When I looked at her social media posts and her website content, I quickly figured out her issue.

Simply put, her message was all over the place. None of it was consistent or told a clear story. She seemed to be talking to no one and visitors saw that. Fast forward a year later and her business was successful and growing at an amazing rate.

What was the difference? She finally started targeting her idea client and created content that spoke directly to them. But you may be thinking, how did she figure out who she should target? Well, I’ve compiled a list of tips that you can use to find your target market, just like she did.

Use Your Product or Service

What problem does your service or product solve? Who needs that problem solved and what are their characteristics? This can tell you not only who to target, but what type of message to use. Let’s say that your product or service helps parents of kids with learning disabilities. This tells you that content centered around families or kids will go far. It will not only attract your idea market, but it will also repel the wrong one.
Look at how you are selling your product or service. Are you selling digital products online or physical products in boutiques? Are you service virtual services on a site like Fiverr or physical services like house cleaning? Look at who would purchase services or product through those platforms/means? For example, if your product or service that helps the parents in the first example is delivered virtual, chances are your clients will be younger parents. However, if your service is delivered in person in Dallas, Texas, your ideal client would be parents living in the Dallas area.
Now, look at your differentiator. This might seem like it would help target your ideal client but think about it this way. What type of person would value this difference? Let’s say that your differentiator is that you are dyslexic, and you created a system for teaching spelling using the techniques you used to become a regional spelling bee champion. Parents that value real world knowledge or hard work would be your ideal clients.
What is your price point? Is this a luxury item or a budget friendly one? This target market tip is a little more obvious. A luxury item or service will appeal to a different crowd from the budget friendly.

Your Existing or Ideal Customers Can Guide You

For those just starting out, list a few characteristics of someone who would need/want your service or product or someone who you think you would like to work with. Use this to guide your content creation. Would they be driven and extraverted? Would they be analytical and reserved? Would they spend their free time scrolling Pinterest or do they enjoy learning from YouTube videos?
If you have existing customers, try breaking them into groups. What are the similarities? Where did they encounter you? What are their characteristics? Let this data help you create website content, social media posts, and other content with them in the heart of everything you create.
But don’t stop with tip 6. Poll your existing customers or even the market that you think might be a fit for your product or service. Ask them exactly what they’re looking for. You can not only use that to help you talk about the right things, but also use the words they use in your content to connect even more.

Look at Your Competition

Have you heard the saying, don’t reinvent the wheel? Review your competition’s content to see who they are targeting. How is your product or service different and how is it the same? Does that make their market fit your product or service more or less? What platforms are they using to interact with their customers? Look at their most popular posts. What works well and what doesn’t? Your competition is treasury trove of helpful information!

Take Advantage of Tools

As must have for any business owner is Google Analytics. This powerful tool isn’t just good for tracking traffic. It can help you learn who’s visiting your website, what got them there (keywords, referring site (i.e. Facebook), etc), the pages they spent the most or least time on and so on. This information can help you target the right social media platforms or other websites. It can also help you plan successful ads using demographics and other information gathered. I recommend that my clients take advantage of this incredible resource.
With the advancements in social media platforms, platform insights are right up there with Google Analytics for narrowing down your target market. For example, Facebook Insights provides data about who’s interacting with your business page, like sources, demographics, page views, external referrers, and individual post stats.

I hope these tips and tools help you build your authentic brand with a market just as authentic as you. If you need help with reviewing your analytics or building your ideal client profile, I am here to help. Contact me to set up a discovery call to see if my coaching style is a good fit for you. All discovery calls are free and last between 10 and 15 minutes typically.