Beyond the Logo: The Importance of a Strong Brand Strategy and Identity

Today’s episode of the podcast is an interview with Katie Caldwell, where we explore how the world of branding, websites and SEO can hugely increase the confidence and visibility of a small business - and most importantly can attract your ideal clients. Katie founded Geek Boutique in 2015 and has helped over 150 businesses define and perfect their visual and digital presence and helped them to elevate their brand to that all important next level. Her passion is helping smaller businesses who DESERVE agency level design but can't necessarily afford the agency price tag.   KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST Why branding is so much more than a logo How to know when you need to review your brand SEO tips to help you optimise your blogs   LINKS TO RESOURCES MENTIONED IN TODAY’S EPISODE Free Download: How to write blogs to make your SEO zing Check out Katie's website Connect with Katie on Instagram Check out Tiny Shell Media's Website Get a 30 day free trial with Kajabi Connect with Teresa on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter Transcript Teresa: Hello and welcome to this week's episode of the Your Dream Business Podcast. How lovely to have you join us this week. I hope you're good. So I have another interview. I'm just doing straight up interviews now for a little while, just like to mix things up. Change is as good as a rest. And as I've done 300 and odd episodes, I think mixing up is not a bad thing. So this week I have another amazing, wonderful human on. Now. Most of these amazing interviews I've done happen to be members of my executive club. And now I didn't just bring them on because they're members of the executive club. They all are very good at what they do or otherwise they wouldn't be on. But it also means I know them really well and hopefully it makes fun interviews. So this week I have the amazing Katie Caldwell. She is the founder of Geek Boutique, from 2015. She's helped over 150 businesses define their perfect, visual and digital presence and help them to elevate their brand to the all important next level. Her passion is helping small businesses who deserve agency level design, but can't necessarily afford the agency price tag. And she works with them to develop their strategies, have a crystal clear idea on who they want to attract and how they do it. And she helps them create beautiful brand identities. And when she says beautiful in her bio, I can holy attest to the beautiful of it, they are stunning and I have had Katie do some stuff for me and she is just awesome. So please welcome to the podcast, the very lovely Katie Caldwell. Katie: Hello, I'm very happy to be here. Thank you. Teresa: I am happy to be here. We were just laughing because Katie's in exec club and there was a whole conversation going in. Basically, this is how, this is the level of humor that my exec club have, which is perfect. Someone put in the club, I have a question. And one of the other members replied saying cashew nuts. They're always the answer. And it just. Katie: I agree. I do agree. Teresa: It just went crazy. I mean, you know, we. If people are ever thinking about joining my world, they need to know this is kind of some of the levels you get. But that's how you get through. Exactly. Yeah. If you can't talk about cashew nuts, we're probably not for you. But this is how, like, it needs to be like this sometimes. Cause if we just all just did works up all the time and we're all serious all the time, we would lose our minds. I swear. Yeah. We need to have fun. Katie: That's what I love most about it. It gives you an amazing community to be ridiculous with. And they are funny people. They are funny people. Teresa: We laugh a lot, which is good. Which is good. Katie, I've done your little bio there. I hate, I hate reading them, as you well know. But just tell us a little bit of backstory because you have a fascinating work history. So tell us kind of what you've done and how it got you to what you're doing today. Katie: So, I have had so many different types of jobs over the years. I started as an actor. So, I, after leaving university, I basically ran away to the circus and joined, went to drama school and became an actor for the best part of 10 years. But of course, as a relatively unsuccessful actor, which I was, there was lots of time. Teresa: Some good stuff. Katie: Around the acting jobs. Yeah, yeah, no, no. I, and I loved my time as an actor. It was really, really, really enormous fun. But there's, there's always lots of time around acting jobs where you have to find other work just to be able to pay the rent, pay the mortgage. And you have to be pretty creative about that. So it was during that time that I started to get really into marketing, really into design, which was always a massive passion of mine in a way, and into web design, which actually one of the amazing companies I work for, really supported me as an actor, paid for me to... To learn how to develop websites. And it was when I was pregnant, decided to put acting a bit more on the back burner and start my business doing the thing that over the years had given me the most joy and fun, which was working with, with people to develop their brand identity and, and websites. I haven't really looked back. It's and a lot of the, what I used to love about acting was really getting under the skin of a character. So you, you start to play, you've got a certain number of lines in the script, and around that idea of who this character is, you've got to build up a full life. You've got to find out what their fears are, their loves are, their ambitions are, and you, you build a story for them. And it's a really similar process, believe it or not, working with brands because you, you, you you go under their skin, you find out what they really want to represent, how they really want to present themselves. And there's a lot of kind of psychology involved with putting out a visual identity that really matches those values. So there are, I think there are overlaps. Bit tenuous. Teresa: But I think that makes perfect sense. And I think one of my skills that I've always, accredited myself is that I can do that pretty easily in terms of when someone starts to describe a customer, I can put myself in those shoes and go, how would I feel? What would I think? And that is exactly what you did. obviously we just have to like have a brief moment of where did you act that people might know names or recognize things or people want to know that surely that is the number one question like. Katie: I was mostly a theater actor so unless you saw some you know oh gosh what are my favorite parts I am it's coming up to christmas i played the snow queen once up at the stephen joseph theater in in scarborough which is alan akeman's theater which was a always a big wish of mine to act there. And, I wore this incredible long length white gown, full white make up. That theatre's in the round, so it's got steps leading down to the stage. And on my first performance, I appeared at the top in a spotlight, at the top of the stairs and took a step and fell. Teresa: You did not! Katie: Oh my goodness! It just, it was, it was dreadful. I got up and carried on, but I'd lost all of the fear that the children should have been feeling about me at that point. Teresa: Oh my goodness, that is, that's everyone's nightmare. That's my nightmare of speaking, is that I trip on the stage and fall over. Because I would go down like a sack of potatoes. Like, it would be a very dramatic thud if I fell, I'm absolutely positive of it. But that's awesome. So can you sing as well, Katie? Katie: I think I can sing. Teresa: Have you had to sing for roles? Katie: I have had to sing for roles. Teresa: Well, you must be able to sing, because they wouldn't have you do that. Katie: That's debatable. Teresa: I love it. I love it. Do you miss it? Katie: I miss, I really miss rehearsals. That, that kind of creative process where you're working with a team of people, because the one thing about, and that's, you know, one thing I value really strongly about being in your club is that you have this...