Project Profile: Art de Vivre

by Every day I'm Branding | Mar 10, 2021 | On My Mind, PROJECTS

Project Profile: Art de Vivre

I haven’t shared a project profile for a while, so I thought I’d throw it back to one of my favourite projects of 2020, the brand development and website design for Art de Vivre, Death Doula Practice.

Background

Our work with Art de Vivre started as a branding project, just under a year ago. I met practice owner, Veronique Brideau, at a networking/branding event literally the day before the world shut down.

Veronique is an assistant professor and Social Work Program Coordinator at University Saint-Anne and is currently pursuing her PhD of Social Work in complex grief.

Art de Vivre is the birth of her private practice as an End-of-Life Doula, also known as a Death Doula. She is truly one of a kind and we have since formed a very dear friendship that has been of great comfort to me, especially as I navigated my father’s terminal illness and eventual passing through the latter part of last year.

Her approach focuses on creating safe spaces for those left behind and also for those preparing to exit by helping to remove some of the weight and burdens that come with a passing, allowing for an intimate and meaningful experience with loss and recovery.

It was imperative that this brand not only encompass the true joys in living, but also draw upon the importance of creating and storing memories to draw on throughout the grief process.

Technical Approach

The combination of a sans serif and script font families was used to emphasize the fluidity of life; highlighting the various stages of rigidity and flow. The use of capitalization for the word ART was used to symbolize strength and stability. The inclusion of the open R was used to represent room for expansion and growth. The subsequent ‘de vivre’ text in lower case script was used to showcase the more laissez faire aspect of living, further emphasising a lifespan’s fragility and movement.

Using this same framework, the website was designed to focus on the beauty of life and in that, the beauty in death. The use of impactful quotes and artwork throughout gives the user a feeling of calm and peace, of knowing that they are safe, supported and, most importantly, that they are not alone.

Gallery

Are you ready to take your brand to the next level?

Let's Get You Out There!

Knowing your Brand Seasons

by Every day I'm Branding | Nov 29, 2020 | On My Mind

Knowing your Brand Seasons

Most business owners are familiar with the product lifecycle, but did you know that your brand also has a cycle of its own? For new business owners, understanding the ebb and flow of your brand as it matures, can be wildly enlightenting. The elements of each of the brand seasons might not be as pronounced or as routinely structured as those within our annual calendar, (especially here in Nova Scotia ?), however, each has unique characteristics and an important place along your branding journey.

The four seasons I will outline today include:

Launch Season

This is the springtime of brand seasons. Everything is new and fresh. The true magic of the launch season is the smell of hope in the air. You’ve worked for months putting together your business plan and corporate identity, in the launch season, you’re setting all of these elements free. Launch season is both scary and exhilarating all at once

Formation Season

After launch, your brand will move into the formational season. Here, you’ll take a moment to reflect on the roots you put down in the launch season and watch them grow into the pillars of your brand. This is the summer of your brand seasons. It isn’t exactly carefree, but you’ve gained some awareness and carved out a space for your brand to cultivate.

Growth Season

The fall of your brand seasons! New starts, changes and big moves. You’ve spent some time in your launch and formation seasons, now it is time to grow! Most businesses require growth periods to be sustainable. By now, you know what is working and what isn’t, you likely know how to reach your customers and what they are looking for. Use the knowledge from the previous seasons to expand or refine your offerings.

Mastery Season

In the final season, you’ve paved the path, laid down the foundation and nurtured the design, structure and offerings. In the winter of your brand seasons, you are establishing yourself as authority in your field. Focus on offering the best product or service you possibly can. This is also a great season to give back, offer value added products or services to your audience. As an expert in your field, be sure to wield your expertise (blogs, interviews, podcasts, etc.) as much as possible, you’ve earned it!

All that said, every business is different. You may spend a different amount of time in each season, you may skip one entirely and come back to it in a different order or not at all. Depending on your path and offerings, your business may also run through each of the seasons several times throughout your brand journey.

Have questions about your branding or wondering where you fit? Get in touch, I love to chat branding!

What is a Corporate Identity?

by Every day I'm Branding | Nov 7, 2020 | On My Mind

What is Corporate Identity?

A company’s corporate identity is the driving force behind how they interact and present to their target audiences. Successful organizations have carefully curated how they show up for their audiences, ensuring that their corporate identity is in line with their corporate culture. This post will answer the following:

What does corporate identity include?

For many organizations this conversation comes back to branding, which is a great place to start, but it doesn’t end there. Companies with a strong corporate identity are instantly recognizable by their branding elements. This includes everything from logos to social imagery to stationary and other collateral. However, true corporate identity is driven by how the company is wired internally. When the values and intentions of the business are driving the brand strategy, corporate identity will shine through.

How do you build a strong corporate identity?

1. Get clear on your brand strategy:

If you haven’t taken the time to determine your company values, vision and mission, start here. If you have an established set of internal guidelines, review quickly to determine if they are still relevant. Next to consider is your corporate messaging, brand voice and positioning. Lastly, look at your visual assets, logos, typography, colour palette, etc.). Ensure that everything matches up with your values, vision and mission. When you lay it all out, you may find elements that no longer drive your brand vision, be sure to adjust as needed.

2. Take a look at your current corporate identity:

Take an honest look and determine whether the way you are being perceived by your audiences (externally and internally) really lines up with the strategy you outlined in step 1. Remember, image and identity are not always the same. Your image is how the public perceives you, your identity is how you wish to be perceived. If the two do not match up, you may have to make some changes to your corporate structure and then go back into step 1 to adjust as needed.

3. Create your corporate personas:

Understanding how your customers want to interact with your company should be one of the key factors in creating your corporate identity. The way to ensure this is to get really clear on who your audience is. Creating brand personas will give you a firm outlook on who you are trying to reach and how to effectively reach them.

4. Do a competitive analysis:

Pay attention to what your competitors are doing in terms of how they are showing up. Analyze their language, positioning and branding. Look for opportunities to stand out.

5. Bridge the gap:

Lastly, take all of the research from the first four steps and find the opportunities for growth. Look for gaps between your image and your identity. Your corporate image is how you are perceived, your identity is how you show up. Are there spaces in the marketplace you can fill? Filling those gaps may mean you’ll need to further refine your branding and messaging.

What are the Benefits of a Strong Corporate Identity?

Companies with a strong corporate directive have a defined road map that each stakeholder can rely on. This ensures that your outputs are consistent regardless of who is generating them. Internally, it creates a framework that drives all messaging and decision making. Externally, it provides a predictable and familiar platform for clients and potential clients to engage with. Consistent outputs build trust and promote loyalty.

Have questions about determining your corporate identity or growth opportunities? Let’s chat, I love to chat branding!

Social Content Planning with Ease

by Every day I'm Branding | May 12, 2020 | On My Mind

Social Planning with Ease

Three ‘e’s to be exact.

Let’s just say it, it’s a weird time to be creating and planning social content.

Regardless of industry, niche or intended audience, we are working within unprecedented circumstances. As a result, many businesses are in a holding pattern; unable to open at all or innovatively pivoting operations to stay afloat. With so many people experiencing financial uncertainty, health anxiety and the fall out of global unease, knowing what to say socially can be overwhelming, to say the least. The good news is, it doesn’t have to be.

The point of all social content is to create connection.

Whether you’re offering advice, telling a story or delivering a call to action, the ultimate goal should be connection. If you haven’t built a relationship with your audience, the ability of your content to convert is very unlikely.

This is why I use the 3 Es of content development in my planning. Each ‘e’ is based on a type of connection.

Let’s chat a bit about types of content.

Most content will either fall into two buckets: curated or created, with a few variations of each mixed in. Curated content is material sourced externally, meaning you didn’t create it. 80% of your social feeds is likely curated content. User-generated content, where you share content about you that was posted by someone else, is a sub-set of curated content. Created content, on the other hand, is original content, created, generated and written by you. Earned content, where a news source or publication quotes or features you is a sub-set of created content.

In this article, I’m going to take you through the 3 Es of Content Development. The 3 Es are actually a content creation tool I use quite regularly when creating content plans for my clients. I used them in pre-crisis times and will return to them in post-crisis times as well. They take on a bit of a different vibe now, but the concepts behind each one can help build a strong content strategy regardless of the global atmosphere.

Essentially, the 3 Es are based on the Know, Like, Trust principle of running a business.

Now, let’s get into it.

#1: Emotional Connections

Emotional Connections for social content planning

The Know. Emotional connections are those that elicit a shared emotional response between the viewer and the poster. It is important to note that not all of your audience will connect with everything you post. That is OK.

Look for something that elicits the type of emotion in you that you’re trying to provide for your audience.

During times of crisis, people are looking to sources they trust to help justify their own feelings. In this particular crisis situation, people can be feeling any number of emotions. These may include fear, sadness, anger, hopelessness, gratitude, feelings of overwhelm, worry or any number of additional emotions within those spectrums.

The types of curated emotional connection content that work best are:

Strong and impactful, yet supportive quotes
Photos/images that elicit positive responses (beautiful places, happy memories, likeable activities/actions
Local and national feel-good stories

If you’re looking for examples of curated emotional content, you can check out my Pinterest board here.

The types of created emotional connection content that work best are:

Personal messages via video or photo with caption
An impactful and supportive original quote
Behind the scenes photos of how your team is supporting each other or others within the community

#2: Educational Connections

Educational Connections for social content planning

The Trust. During this uncertain time, many businesses have adopted a ‘serve, don’t sell’ methodology for their social content planning. In other words, they have opted to deliver content that is aimed at enhancing their audience’s feeds. For many, this will include supplying and directing educational resources.

Sharing impactful sources of information can help to establish you, and by extension, your business, as an expert within your niche. Therefore, it is important to ensure that you are sharing from trusted sources. Be sure to thoroughly read and verify sourcing before sharing educational resources. Share direct links, do not make your audience search for content from your source.

The types of curated educational content that work best are:

Niche supporting or locally relevant news articles, books, e-books, podcasts, or press releases
Infographics
User-generated posts showing how a suggested resource was helpful

If you’re looking for examples of curated educational content, you can check out my Pinterest board here.

The types of created educational content that work best are:

Niche-centric original blog or vlog posts
Original infographics
Original photos with educational captions/messages
Niche focused live videos/segments
Earned content pieces where you have been featured as an expert

#3: Entertainment Connections

Entertainment Connections for social content planning

The Like. This final E of social content planning, is the one where you can connect with your audience on a personal level. The type of entertainment content you post will typically reveal a great deal about your personality. Sense of humour is a common source of bonding between people and your connection through social humour is no different.

Many accounts are dedicated solely to this content sub-section. While it isn’t necessary for all of your posts to make your audience laugh, it is worthwhile to include posts that will display your personality.

The goal here is to create relatability with your intended audience.

Your likability factor will largely depend on how your audience feels when engaging with your content. Specifically, your entertainment connection content. Try to avoid polarizing content.

The types of curated entertainment content that work best are:

Funny (but respectful) quotes, stats, comics or memes (static images)
Interesting and amusing videos
Feel-good amusing stories, local or national

If you’re looking for examples of curated educational content, you can check out my Pinterest board here.

The types of created entertainment content that work best are:

Behind the Scenes photos or videos
Original infographics with an amusing content base
Timely posts based on viral trends

How to implement the 3 Es

Using only the 3Es can make a very impactful social content strategy. To have maximum impact, however, you will need to infuse promotional content and calls to action. Given the current crisis situation and the current status of your business offerings, including sales messaging at this time may not make sense. However, in the absence of a clear sales message, these social content planning branding prompts can prove very helpful in maintaining a relationship with your audience while on temporary hiatus.

If you’d like to discuss how to use the 3Es to build a social content plan for your business, or how to pivot your current strategy, please don’t hesitate to get in touch to book a complimentary meeting, I’d love to hear what you’re up to! If you do use any of the content in the Pinterest boards, be sure to tag me @everydayimbranding on Instagram or Facebook so I can share your posts!

Social media content got you down?

by Every day I'm Branding | Mar 25, 2020 | On My Mind, Social Media

You’re not alone if the thought of creating social media content makes you cringe!

Making a choice to create consistent social media content will have huge effects on your business, if you do it correctly, but building new habits takes time.

The most important step is getting started!! Here are a few tips and tricks to consider as you move forward:

Consistency is key

Don’t worry if you’ve already missed a few days of the month, in fact, don’t worry if you miss a few each week! Aim to post 3-4 times/week to start. Honestly, you may even find that is the ideal frequency for you forever. As long as you post consistently and stay on brand, the frequency is less important. Choose topics and post types that are easily executable for you and don’t be afraid to batch, ie. create content for several posts at once, which will save time and energy!

You don’t have to recreate the wheel

Look for curated content (content created by others that you can easily share), as long as you include a personal caption that ties it back to you or your brand, it will have impact! Try google searches for popular quotes, motivational quotes, memes or even search by platform, ie. Instagram images. You can find some pretty cool graphics this way! Make sure to give credit to any photos or graphics where source is stated.

Patience is the other key

It takes time to build an engaged following. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t get a lot of traction right away. The main thing is that you’re adding content, and whether people engage with it or not, they are seeing it and seeing you and your brand. Think of it this way, if you’re telling a story face to face, just because the recipient doesn’t interrupt at every pause to tell you they are listening doesn’t mean they’re not. Your audience is there and they are listening, just make sure you’re giving them enough of the story to keep their attention.

Get over yourself

It is daunting and overwhelming to post content that features you, but you have to do it! Think of your social platforms as virtual networking events. You wouldn’t show up at an event without showing your face, would you? Potential clients want to know YOU. While that doesn’t mean your entire feed needs to be your face, you should make regular appearances. The more informal the better! Let your audience get to know you, and chances are, they will like you too. People do business with people they like.

To get started, take a lot of selfies, delete them if you must, but get comfortable taking them. Start taking a few small videos, delete those too if you feel uncomfortable watching them, but keep doing it until you’re ready to start watching them, then start posting them. Remember, it shouldn’t be perfect! Think of the people you find the most influential on social media, chances are it is because you can relate to them!

So, that’s it, stop reading, grab your camera, take a selfie or a video, search for a cool quote or photo and get posting!

If you have any questions about any of these tips or tricks, please feel free to get in touch!

Happy posting!
Alix

East Coast Dance Academy

by Every day I'm Branding | Feb 11, 2020 | On My Mind, PROJECTS

Project Profile: East Coast Dance Academy

Andrea was looking for a total revamp of the ECDA site. Using footage from various performances, we created a dynamic video compilation to use as the featured slider, capturing viewer attention immediately as they enter the site.

The site also features several animated photo galleries, online registration, studio information, class descriptions and teacher bios. We brought in their instagram feed to bring more attention to their social media and also allowing for new content to appear every time a viewer revisits the site.

The look is clean and the punch of movement when you visit the site really brings the entire project to life!