Episode 15: The unexpected impact of building a personality-led brand that brings your values to life WITH KAYLEIGH LLOYD

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What’s this episode about?

Creating a brand is about so much more than colours and logos. It's about creating something that feels authentic and true to who you are. It's about making your brand an extension of your personality, your core values, and deeply connects with your audience.

In this episode we cover:

• Sophie's experience of working with Kayleigh including the process they followed and the impact it had on her business

• The importance of creating a personality-led brand that aligns with you and your values

• How important it is to develop a confident brand when transitioning from freelancer or side hustler to a CEO, and the critical role it can play in your mindset and business growth

• The unconventional questions Kayleigh uses to dig to the root of your personality, story and brand mission

• Why bringing your brand to life, and using it consistently, can release time and headspace every single day

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INTRODUCING… KAYLEIGH LLOYD

Kayleigh is an independent brand specialist and design guru, on a mission to help go-getting female founders create personality filled brands and thriving businesses

From game-changing workshops to bespoke design packages and VIP days, Kayleigh works her magic to help her clients level up their branding game with confidence. She's all about creating powerful, personality-led brands that are aligned with her clients' core values and vision in mind.

If you want to find out more about Kayleigh, the best places are via:

Email: kayleigh@lloyd-creative.co.uk

Website: kayleigh@lloyd-creative.co.uk

Insta: https://www.instagram.com/klloydcreative/

Links mentioned in this episode:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lloyd-creative/

Download Kayleigh's brand guide or book a discovery call here: https://lloyd-creative.co.uk/quick-links

If you enjoyed the podcast, here are some ways you can be a part of my world:

Social:

Love Instagram? Good, me too! Come say hi & access plenty more inspiration and bold marketing strategies on: @sophiegriffithsco

More of a LinkedIn fan? I'm there too! Come and follow me here: Sophie Griffiths

Free Resource

Grab the (highly recommended!) Customer Journey Audit. It's the first step to a seamless system which built your authority, attracted your kind of people and guided them seamlessly towards you...without you having to do anything more than you are already doing.

Work together:

Ready to go from scattergun marketing to slick AF? What if you could bring your kinda people in to your world and take them on a joyful journey through a repeatable, high performing system that oozes your personality and brand? Find out how here

Got questions?

DM me on Insta or LinkedIn

Email me here: hello@sophiegriffiths.co

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Read the transcript:

NOTE: This podcast was transcribed by an AI tool. Please forgive any typos or errors. Kayleigh Episode 3/10/23 === [00:00:00] Sophie: Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Lionhearted [00:01:00] Marketing. Today I'm here with Kaylee and Kaylee is an independent brand specialist and design guru, and she's on a mission to help go getting female founders, create personality filled brands and thriving businesses. From game changing workshops to bespoke design packages and VIP days, Kaylee works her magic to help clients level up their branding game with confidence. She's all about creating powerful personality led brands that are aligned to her clients. Core values and vision in mind. And I should say as well, she did my branding. So if you've seen that, that launched in June now. So I worked with her on that and absolutely loved working with her. So thought it would be a good idea to get her on the podcast to talk about it. So welcome Kayleigh. Kayleigh: Thank you! So nice to be here. Absolutely. Sophie: so excited for you to be here. Kayleigh and I are, I mean, I would say almost best friends from afar. And when I asked her to let me know what she wanted to talk about today on my form, she said the best gin [00:02:00] flavors and top biscuits for dipping in tea. So if you're here for branding, you're in the wrong Kayleigh: absolutely. It's all about rich teas right now. Sophie: yeah, I mean, Kayleigh and I both tea fanatics. So you can imagine most of our conversations are all about that. So we are going to be talking branding today. But before we jump into that Kayleigh, go on. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Kayleigh: A little bit about me. Well I'm Kayleigh, and I'm a brand designer for female founders. I do like gin and tea, that is true. But I also like to make amazing brands which are generally for the more quirky, a little bit like Sophie, those with big personalities that just need to be shown off. And I started this in lockdown, like many. Many of us did with our businesses. I was put on furlough and I had two kids at home which were driving me up the wall and I just needed to take that mum hat off and I needed to put a creative [00:03:00] hat on to stop me from going a little bit crazy. And that was the beginning of my business and the rest is history. We're at a year three now and doing loving it, loving every second and wouldn't go back. Sophie: Amazing. I didn't know you started in lockdown, actually. We, so were you, you were employed doing design work, were you? Before Kayleigh: Yeah. Yeah. I've been with agencies, For 15 years London and Bristol. And then, yeah, lockdown. I was with an agency and I was put on furlough for a year, which was nice when obviously starting your business 'cause the money side of it didn't matter. 'cause I had all the time in the world I was getting paid, you know, a wage and so I could just work for whoever I wanted instead of anyone that kind of asked. And I could kind of, yeah, just enjoy it a little bit more without that pressure of I need to find my next client right now kind of thing. Sophie: That's incredible. And that is so, I think that's so amazing because it's really helped you be, I guess, fine. I'll start that again. [00:04:00] I think that's so interesting because you have got such a clearly defined style and the type of people you work with. Like, I knew straight away when I saw your Instagram and your website and everything that you were for me. Because you're so colourful, exactly like I am, and But I think sometimes it's hard, isn't it? With lots of things, actually this is something that comes up for my clients sometimes whether it's florists or cake makers or whatever. If you've got a style and a a way you want to work and the kind of clients you want to work with, but you need the money, it can be really hard to stick to exactly what you want to do, can't it? And then you end up just doing whatever pays, but it can actually make your portfolio. A little bit sort of schizophrenic, where it's just a little bit all over the place and clients can't get a real feel for what you do and what your kind of speciality is. So that's really amazing you had the opportunity to do that. Kayleigh: Yeah, I was really lucky, and it was one of those things that if I don't take advantage of it now, then I'll be an idiot kind of thing. And it, I mean, it's not like I knew what I wanted to be as soon as I [00:05:00] started. It does always take that bit of, kind of, try and give things a go, and see what works and what doesn't work. But I did, I seemed to attract. Similar people throughout and it's not like I still don't attract sometimes people that I know I wouldn't do as good a job for, like people that don't want to really embrace who they are. They still want to have that kind of very corporate blazer on, and they're not ready to take it off to show their, you know, unique style and things like that. And sometimes I find that quite hard. But yeah, I did a very early on for a lot of people work out who, you know, my target were, which definitely helped grow faster. Sophie: Yeah. Amazing. So I thought what we will, what we wanted to do today was kind of take you from end to end of when you might think about [00:06:00] having branding done, like the next level up maybe of your branding. Like what, at what point do people tend to have that done? What are the trigger points? When might it be a good time to think about it for your business? Then through the, like the whole process, cause this. To be honest, it was like a total mystery to me when I started working with Kaylee, I had no idea what how I would kind of transfer anything that was in my head, like to get like into her world. So I thought we'd take you through like what that looks like, the steps we went through, the kind of things we explored and then how we sort of worked on the brand and evolved it from there. And then right through to launching it and what that looked like and creating then, I guess, using the brand day to day, because, the actual sort of static branding, if you like, it's quite different than when you actually have to start using it and applying it to a website and social media or email marketing. So talking a little bit about that as well. So to kick us off, I thought we'd start with like, what are the main reasons people come to you and say like, right, I am ready to. [00:07:00] So kind of look at my branding and work with you on it. Kayleigh: Okay. Well, the biggest one. And somebody I literally talked to this morning was they were embarrassed by what they were creating what they were, you know, what they were giving to their clients, whether it was like a proposal, whether it was a contract, whether it's just a social media post, they were embarrassed to put it out there to be seen. And that's the biggest thing like you need to be proud of what you're giving people, you need to really love it. and feel that connection with it, like it's showing you off. Otherwise, you're not going to do it as much as you should be doing it. The second one is having that alignment with who you are as a business, but not just who you are right now, but where your business is going. If it doesn't reflect the growth and the direction that you intend to be making, then it's only going to hold you back. And especially if it's... You know, [00:08:00] past you, like if it's what you used to be like a year ago or three years ago, which, you know, we change a lot, especially at the beginning of our journeys, you know, creating these businesses, the first one to three years can be really like evolutional. We transforming constantly by working out who we want to be, what services. We want to do what people we want to work with. So that transformation is huge within the first three years. So it's usually between three to five years where we get to that pivot, where I find my clients are coming to me and they're like, My brand does not reflect me. It doesn't reflect what I do. I don't like it. You know, I'm embarrassed by it. People don't understand how good I am. You know, they need that kind of credibility and trust. Whereas if you've got a brand that doesn't align with who you are, then the trust is gone straight away before, you know, people have even clicked a button on your [00:09:00] website. So that's usually where I find my clients coming from. Sophie: And I've, I mean, a lot of that really resonates with me as well. And I think I see it a lot as well when I'm looking at clients or just generally browsing, to be honest, what you often see is the, the website has your sort of core branding on it. Cause it's quite a static. Often the website, you spend quite a lot of time, you know, creating it and it's sort of there. And then you go over to the social media and you see much more of that, that evolution process, don't you, of where someone starts. Yeah, started with like the branding that's very similar to their website, but then over time when you've just got like a logo and colors it's quite hard often to make an interesting grid or, you know, use the logo and colors in different interesting ways. So people then start experimenting and painting this and doing that and adding different elements in. Kayleigh: it. Like the new shiny thing in Canva. Oh, that looks good. I'm gonna try that. And it, you know, people will see that and they'll be attracted to you. They think it, this looks like the person I want to work with. Then they go [00:10:00] to your website and it looks completely different and it'll just break that client journal and that trust. They'll go, wait, is this the same person? And, like, if they have that hesitation, that's the difference between them booking with you and then getting distracted by something else. Sophie: Yeah, I'm looking for, finding someone else. I mean, just personally, I think my, like, light bulb moment was when, I've talked about this on a previous podcast as well, I had my, my previous podcast which was Growing Pains and I decided I wanted to rebrand it and I was like, right, I'm going to rebrand it. I'd chosen a name, which wasn't this name by the way I chose a name and decided that That's it. Right. Okay. Now what I need to do is just create some artwork for it. Like the front, literally like the front cover thing. And I sort of looked and I was like, well, okay, I've got this sort of. Sort of sort of baseline design and some colors and a logo. How the hell do I make it different to the last pod podcast cover? Because I don't, [00:11:00] I still want it to feel like it's part of my brand. Like I don't want it to look totally. I always wanna go choose a load of different colors, but also I need it to feel, look, and feel different. So then I was like, okay, well actually what I don't have at all is. I don't have this feeling of cohesion between what my services are, the name of my business, the names of my, like the name of my podcast, it just. We just felt totally like disjointed. Every element was just like a bolt on an add on like, Oh, okay. You know, I've got my, I'm going to call my business, which was the social pod. And then I sort of had some services and then I'd created a podcast called growing pains, which was nothing to do with that. The services didn't have names or a date. And then I had a course called bloom, which again was nothing really related to anything. So it just. For me, and then I'd kind of used the same font maybe for like the Bloom logo, but it was just literally Bloom written in that font because I just didn't, I didn't know how to evolve it because I didn't have a baseline. I just didn't, I couldn't work [00:12:00] out how to create the cohesion. So yeah, what started as a podcast cover? Ended up with a full name change of the business, new podcast, new website, new services, new names. I mean, I just threw the whole baby out with the bathwater, Kayleigh: Go big or go home. Sophie: well, exactly. I mean, why not? Right. If you're going to do it, do it well. And that's really what I. Like my aim was to achieve was that cohesion. So I changed my you know, business name to my name and then I've got my, but the Lionhearted Marketing podcast obviously then flows through all of my services. I also know, like, if I want to add a new service or I can, I know, like, I'm like, my other ones are called like Raw and Conquer and like, they're all about Pounce and Leap. So they all have that kind of feel to them. If I added a new one, I know what kind of name I would Kayleigh: Follow the theme, isn't Sophie: Follow the Kayleigh: yeah, the energy. Sophie: Yeah, exactly. And, and I mean, gosh, creating [00:13:00] social media posts isn't really an issue anymore because I have insane amount of brand elements, which we will come on to later, but it has made it a lot simpler because I'm not, I'm not a designer. I always used to joke, like I failed like art. I didn't even do art GCSE art. What's it? Year nine sats. I'm sure it was awful. I don't have a creative, like artistic bone in my body, but, so actually, like when I was kind of designing Canva posts or, you know, like social media posts, it was just torture because I either stuck to really regimented templates. Of other people's templates or Canva templates so that I knew it looked okay. Or if I tried to do something myself, like outside of those boundaries, it would just take me forever and be really stressful. And, and Kayleigh: time consuming, isn't it? When you're not sure what you're really going to put together. It's Sophie: oh my God. Yeah. And just, yeah, you'll start to feel like you're starting from scratch every time. Like, right, what am I going to do for this one? Whereas now I have this, you know, the brand guidelines, I have the brand elements and actually it's just putting them together. In a way that kind of then feels cohesive on the grid, but [00:14:00] it feels like definitely a time pressure and, and stress has been taken off because I just have have it there. So I think as well, another thing for me is I pivoting like, you know, go like going from being a. You know, Oh, I run my own business or I'm a freelancer to actually, I'm going to, I'm leveling up this business. I'm scaling this business and I want to step into more of that CEO kind of feel like, is that something people talk about when they come to you as well? Kayleigh: such a big part of it. It's that kind of moment when you realize, wow, I'm actually doing really well. I've got clients coming out my ears. They all love what I'm doing. I'm actually really good at this business. Like it's that feeling of kind of triumph and just confidence that you can make this. you know, business and work and work for exactly how you want it to be. [00:15:00] And it is that kind of taking control of your business and therefore taking control of your brand and how people perceive you Because that's what a brand is at the end of the day It's what they think about what they remember From where they're working with you, or what they've heard about you from other people. And yeah, confidence is probably the biggest thing that my clients leave with. Taking their bra their company to that next level, and stepping out of that kind of mindset of, Oh, it's just, you know, something I've done, it's a side hustle, it's a freelance kind of gig, Oh, it's just, you know, a small business. It's that moment where, actually. you know, this, I've created this amazing thing and I am a CEO and I'm going to do great things and I can grow as big as I want. And it's, you know, it's really stepping into these new shoes and recognizing your potential and showing it off to the world. Sophie: Yeah. Yeah. I totally, that totally, totally resonates with me. And I think as well, like that [00:16:00] feeling of. Okay, I'm ready to be more visible, but if I'm going to be more visible and I'm going to grow this business and even like, just kind of coming back to clients that come to me who are doing ads, like, you know, saying, right, I'm going to go out and do ads. I'm going to bring a lot of people into my world. I'm going to grow my email list. I'm going to have more clients where I'm going to start a group program. I now know that I need to bring more people into my world, having that confidence that bringing more people in are all going to see this new brand and these, it feels like you can convey. So much more about who you are, what you offer, how you do it with that kind of cohesive brand. Then if someone just kind of lands on your page, it's like, Oh, she does Facebook ads. Okay. Whereas now, if someone lands on my page, it's like, if they don't like bright colors, that I think that, you know, they're not going to be for me. I like, if they're looking for someone that's, you know, an introvert who, you know, is like really numbersy and analytical. I am actually quite numbersy and analytical, but [00:17:00] I'm much more about the connection and the, and the personality and the, yeah, that feeling of like energy. And that's what we were kind of aiming for with my brand, wasn't it? Kayleigh: 100 percent and it's all about showing what makes you different and it's those different things that will make people choose you or choose somebody else if you're not the right fit. So it's more, it's, you know, just as much about putting off those people that you wouldn't enjoy working with as it is finding your people and attracting them as much as you can by showing off these, you know, quirky parts of you and the bits that, you know, do make you different and stand out. That's, that's what builds these connections and emotional responses. Sophie: Yeah, no, absolutely. So in terms of let's have a think then about, so someone's come to you. These are like, these are really common reasons. How do we, how do you get that from them? Like what's this, you know, what's that kind of relationship or process or way you kind of work with clients that helps? Cause I didn't come to [00:18:00] you knowing that I wanted lions and it, I mean, I came to you knowing I wanted it to be colorful, but not the colors, not not anything else really. And it wasn't even like, Oh, I don't know how to tell her this. It's like, I don't even really know. What that looks like. I just know the kind of feel that I'm going for. Kayleigh: Yeah, but that's, that's the thing. I work from feelings and I don't know, it must be my magical gift, but I can turn feelings into something visual. That's how I work and it is about the feel of the brand that I really want to kind of make perfect. But the main thing is to ask questions. People don't really ask themselves questions. People, we're very good at asking other people questions, but we don't ask ourselves maybe the right questions. So the first thing I do when I meet a new client is to try to understand where the, where their brand doesn't work. And that's usually by asking them, [00:19:00] Oh, you know, what do you intend to do with your business over the next like few years? What do you find tricky when you. Try bring like elements together, create marketing materials, things like that, you know, what kind of person are you? What makes you different? And then trying to, you know, ask them, okay, so what, where's that reflected in your current brand? And, you know, really picking out where their brand is to where they are. And. getting them to recognize those differences. But then also obviously leading on, I send them a questionnaire, which, you know, has the usual kind of business related, typical questions like what's your mission statement? What are your values? These kinds of things, which as business owners, we've probably done one of these free online courses or something that. Makes us question ourselves with these questions. But then I like to throw in a few curveball questions, which gets you thinking more about the [00:20:00] personality and the feeling of the brand, the story behind the brand, the kind of emotion side of the brand, and what, yeah, what people are going to feel when they see it. And you had some great answers to these questions. Sophie: I loved this questionnaire. I was like, I mean, first of all, give me a bit of homework and a deadline. And I'm like, I'm your girl. Like, I love a boundary. And like, right, I've got to do my questionnaire. There's nothing more exciting to me than like, Yes, right. I can answer questions because I don't feel like I'm very good at getting like what's in my head out. I once, someone once told me I'm clear, but not concise. And that stayed with me. Maybe that's why I love a podcast because I can talk as much as I like. But yeah, that being able to then like having to distill it into words, I think really sorry, onto like paper really makes you think about. Okay. Yeah. What is it that I want to be known for? What is it that, you know, and like the, like you say, like the value stuff and[00:21:00] is stuff I've kind of done before, but yeah, the questions you asked really made me sort of stop and think, and some came really easily. So let's give some examples cause they are fun questions. Like I love them. What was one, what was the Kayleigh: So where would your brand hang out? This is not like, Oh, well, I'm always on LinkedIn or on my website. I'm talking about if your brand was a place and a kind of experience, what would it be like? And. I, I mean, I've got your answer here, Sophie: Oh, go read out. Yeah. Kayleigh: it's a mid morning, it would be a modern cafe with lots of space. I'm kind of seeing wood and more of an industrial feel rather than sleeping glossy, splashes of color, amazing cakes, yummy brunch, and a buzzy feel, which was such a good answer. You really get a feeling of what your brand needs to kind of have in it. And that's going to be like this warmth, this kind of. Feeling comfortable, this feeling of, [00:22:00] you know like trust and just relax and, you know, things are being taken care of, you're in a nice place, it's a friendly place. It really, really gave a clear view of what your brand needed in it and just like, was that easy to answer? Did that come quite easily, that one, or not? Sophie: one came really easily. Like I. I loved that one. Like I can, and I can imagine, I've never been to that place, but I can, like, it's like a combination of my favorite things. Yeah. I guess where I feel the most happy and comfortable, like food, drink around people in an environment, like you say, that's warm and comfortable and feel safe and but also kind of fun and exciting. Kayleigh: yeah, you like, add splashes of colour, you know, it's quite modern. And again, that's what your logo is, we, well not logo, your brand. It had all these modern elements, it obviously had splashes of colour, and it's super yummy and buzzy. Sophie: Yeah. [00:23:00] Oh, I love that one. I found the the celebrity one and the, what they wore harder. Kayleigh: Well, your, the one you wore wasn't too bad. I mean, I think you basically wrote what you generally Sophie: Yeah. Kayleigh: which is, which was chunky knits, bright coloured trainers, wide leg trousers or bright print leggings, Alice bands, chunky colourful necklaces, simple plain basics paired with pops of colour. Which, I took a lot from that, actually, for your brand. Yeah, absolutely! Sophie: my wardrobe. Kayleigh: Well, yeah, like, you know, the, the print leggings and the chunky, colorful necklaces. It was all about the kind of accessories on top of something really grounded and strong. And the things that were strong in your brand are like these. big blocks of color and then the accessories are all these patterns and prints that we threw in there. So yeah it was really clear like how we needed to layer up this brand and what kind of elements we needed to throw in to get this kind of [00:24:00] style and you know and it is based a lot on what you wear because I've got these clients which you know they go to these really corporate places and But they don't go in a suit or anything, they go in as they are, and I think this is like a new thing, it's like, go in You know, wait, how you feel comfortable, go in your bright coloured trousers, your fluorescent yellow heels, and you know, and if that's if they've booked through your website, which is colourful, then they're not expecting someone to turn up in a, you know, blazer and black and things like that. And If you did, they'd be like, oh, you're, you're not what I booked. And the other way round, if you've got a black and blue website, and then you turn up in these bright colours with this quirky kind of approach, they'll be like, well, I didn't book you. I booked this, you know, plain boring person. So yeah, so [00:25:00] it really helps me, these questions, which kind of give you a different perspective of what feelings and styling the brand needs within it. Sophie: Yeah. And I think it just took me a bit out of my own head as well about like, Oh, I have to tell her like what I want, like to, you know, give you some direction of like what I want. And it helped me just like, you took so much from that, that I wasn't like consciously thinking about, like I wasn't thinking like, Oh yeah, core brand within like, you know, patterns to accessorize. So yeah, I didn't realize how much you kind of got from that, but it was nice just to sort of be like, well, actually, yeah, I want my brand, like, and also like when I have my like brand photo shoots, like I want to be able to wear clothes. I would normally wear, it looked like me in those photos so that it fits with my brand. It would be really odd if there was that real like disconnect between like what I was wearing and branding shoots or what I had to buy for branding shoots. That was not really me in real life. So, and then what was the other one? The celebrity. Kayleigh: Celebrity. Is there an actor or [00:26:00] actress who would be perfect to play your brand and why? Well, you chose Reese Witherspoon, which I think was a really good choice, because she's what, she's got the edge of bright, warm and colourful, but also she'd kick your ass. Sophie: Yeah, I mean, I love Reese Witherspoon, like, I have such a massive girl crush on her, and I think she is, she is someone who is warm and friendly, like, I feel like you would totally be wrapped up in her warmth and her friendliness and like, I'm assuming she is how she seems, you know, in my mind anyway, and but also she's just incredibly smart Kayleigh: She's so clever. Sophie: so clever and she's got all of, you know, she runs all these different, you know Sorry, she produces all these different series and stars in them and has this her own production company and like, and has these like female led series that she creates. I just think she's incredible. So yeah, I was like, that's that, I guess that's that balance between yes, I want to come across as soft and warm and friendly, but I don't want [00:27:00] to come across as I still want to come, no, I should say I should still want to come across as an expert and trust, trusted Kayleigh: it. Credible, trust. Sophie: Yes. Yeah, because I think you can go too far one way, can't you? It's like, yeah, it's all very well being friendly, but like, do you actually believe I can help you with what I'm saying? I'm going to Kayleigh: yeah, definitely. Sophie: Amazing. So we do all the questions. We go into our inner psyches and then I mean this next bit was one of my favorite favorite jobs I've ever been tasked with doing. Tell everyone what it is. Kayleigh: Pinterest. It's where we get that kind of alignment between all these crazy answers you've just given me in the questionnaire and see if they actually match the type of imagery that you feel a good connection with. So I asked you to fill a Pinterest board full of images that inspired you, whether it was pattern, colour, font, style, [00:28:00] just, you know, even if it was a pair of curtains and you loved the pattern on them, then you had to put it in. And you didn't, what I don't want people to do in this bit is to overthink it, like, really, like, Oh, well, there's something about it, like, but, oh, actually, maybe not, maybe it's not me. Like, if you like it, pin it, and we will, like, even if you have a thousand pins, then we can't have too many, because it really shows all the themes that kind of stick together, and it makes the random ones a lot clearer. Like, if you were just thinking about what colour you wanted your kitchen cabinets, then I'd be able to see that within you know, the disjointedness of it, but it really brings together a good feeling and an emotion and, you know, the styling that you have a good connection with. Sophie: Yeah, and I mean, permission to spend ages on Pinterest, just, I mean, literally just going down these different, like, wormholes, I was like, oh my god, and going down, I went down a [00:29:00] whole nail art. A whole, I think, for a while. Then I went down, I definitely went down quite a lot of floral routes. And there's a lot of floral undertones in the brand as well, which we talked about a lot. Obviously there's like the animal print. But the animal print came through in so many different ways. It was quite a, I liked quite a lot of the mishmash of the pattern. That came through a lot, didn't it? Like things like cushions or crockery. Like, all sorts of things that had contrasting patterns in them. Which is when we then had a call to go through the Pinterest board. It was like, I loved it because it was actually like, what do you like about this then? And you were really able... To pick out those themes that I hadn't necessarily connected together. I was like, Oh yeah, I do seem to like it when it's, when the patterns are clashing or they sort of overlap each other. And I don't really like the distinct, clear, separate patterns, which is like, like that kind of informed our whole brand, the whole brand, didn't it? Kayleigh: hundred percent. And I was literally, I was just going through my Pinterest trying to find your board, and I couldn't [00:30:00] find Sophie anywhere. And then I remembered that you'd already started your board before we started Sophie: Mm. That's right. Kayleigh: and I found your board literally just then. seeing pattern, but broken up with like these strong colors. And I was like, Oh, there it is. Sophie: There it is. Kayleigh: and you're right there. You will, you go through these different kinds of wormholes, as you said, and there's like this botanical thing where you just got plants everywhere, which definitely led to that kind of tropical jungle element that we added to your brand. We've got all these kind of contrasting prints. There are those nail things, which is really random. But again, we could see the theme is this kind of pattern, but also a femininity side. Cause there were quite a few pinks and kind of natural colors in there. And we, it was getting that balance between feminine. But not like too girly and, you know, candy floss everywhere. It, it was a really nice blend of kind of this dusty [00:31:00] pink with kind of more exotic kind of greens and natural earthy elements. So there was so much that we took from this Pinterest board. How many pins did you do in the end? 211, which is a really good amount, actually. And I had someone the other day that only put four pins on and I was like, what? Sophie: no. Go back and do Kayleigh: I know, I was like, I'm so disappointed in you. But it was Sophie: taken, you haven't taken this seriously enough. Kayleigh: but as you know, you'd be surprised at how many clients come to me and they've never touched Pinterest before. I'm like, who are you? And, but you know what? I do love teaching them about Pinterest and they leave with a new addiction. So everybody is happy. Sophie: Exactly. Everyone's a winner. Amazing. And then from, and I think that point really as well, that we really talked about the, so I, I kind of knew that I wanted animal print involved because I wear a lot of animal print. And But it wasn't until [00:32:00] that point, really, that we talked about the... The lion element of I, like the lion heart and that kind of that feeling of, because my brand values are bold and courageous and warm and expert. And actually we, I just felt, I just always have felt real affinity to like lions and that, I don't know. And we kind of talked through that. Way of having that like the lion's mane, but still it feeling feminine That was something as we evolved through to the concepts that came through quite strongly, wasn't it? Like how can it be a lion and still have all of that but not feel masculine? I Kayleigh: Yeah, 100%. And that was something that we kind of explored and it kind of transformed quite a bit. But we found that by adding kind of more feminine elements to it, like we added pattern and more botanical kind of themes, it gave it [00:33:00] this feminine twist. And in that, that kind of unique thing, no one else has got a lion with a botanical vein to it. So it was, it all came together really nicely. And I remember you telling me that I think you were dreaming about it or something as well. You dreamt about this lion or something in one of our initial calls and, oh, didn't something come out? You were having a conversation with somebody or something. And I was like, oh, she really likes lions. Okay, like Sophie: really like that I mean, so I'm a Leo anyway So like the lion is obviously the Leo sign and then there's this yeah, there's a song called Lionheart, Kayleigh: Which came out in your questionnaire? Sophie: came up in the questionnaire and came out just before, and it's a real, it's not a song that I would normally, it's quite like dancey, but there's just something about it I think it says something like fearless like a Lionheart or something, and I don't know, you know when something just really [00:34:00] resonates with you, and I think it was just stuck with me at the time, and I was like, and then we evolved it so each of my services now has its own colour lion, and also like the lines are in different positions, like one's lying down and one's sitting up. And so just that feeling of being able to create this cohesive brand really then started to come together because, and then, and that's really what then inspired me to do more of the, like naming and the words around this kind of lion element because it just seemed to really felt like, well, what am I going to call and I was really stuck on it for a really long time. Like, what am I going to call my services? And it just, I kept coming back to this feeling of like, I just don't want it to feel like, I can't have, you know, this. Amazing brand and then call it, I don't know, like, Ignite or something. I didn't want to just come up with like a random name or even, you know, people have like the different levels of working with you, like the equivalent of like bronze, silver and gold. And I was trying to think of all these like different ways to kind of [00:35:00] talk about that. And I, before I had my group program called Bloom and I was like, well, maybe I could do like play on the botanical side of it more. And then the more we sort of played around with the lions and the print and everything else, I actually, do you know what I think I'm just gonna go all in on that. Cause the whole feel of the brand is that sort of energy of the lion and energy of that Kayleigh: braveness, the Sophie: Yeah, and I think that's something that you pull through actually quite early on of this helping other business owners be fearless as well, like that, you know, doing Facebook ads, especially, you know, initially, or even when you're scaling and spending more money on them, like it can feel like a real leap and a real Kayleigh: And it's scary as well, and it takes a real brave step to invest that money into something that you don't really know much about, or into somebody that you know will, you know, will do a good job, but it's, it's always just that unknown, isn't it? Hmm. Sophie: yeah, exactly. And I think that's why I wanted the brand to feel like [00:36:00] this is for businesses that are ready to sort of take that. Make that move, take that leap, like have that brave big step. So yeah, and then, so we got to the point, we went through the different versions, poor Kayleigh, all my feedback. Like, well I really like that bit, but I want to combine it with that bit, and I like that, and So we got kind of to that point, and then really it was this, how do we, now I knew at this point that I would need extra support to kind of translate that into my website and my social media. Because as I said earlier, I have literally no creative thoughts in my head. So at this point I was like, I'm really clear that I want you know, the service that you offer where you kind of then transition brands into real life. Because for me, that was really important. Like it's all very well having a branding guide Canva, but I don't want to feel panicky about how that all comes together. So you helped me like create all of the launch material, all of like, you know, templates that I could then use and evolve over [00:37:00] time. And I mean, For me, that was just so incredibly important. And maybe it's cause I was like relaunching my whole business. It felt like everything felt new. I was like, Oh my God, how, you know, do most of your clients have, get your support to kind of make that transition or other, how do people go through that transition themselves, I guess. Kayleigh: Yeah, I think I have two types of clients. Some are really creative and they kind of want to take that control of their brand so they want me to create all the kind of the groundwork, the kind of foundation of the brand with all the elements but then they want to take control and. You know, see how they want it to work. But I, the majority of my clients are similar to you. They're very good once they've got that kind of structure in place, that template to kind of grow from and evolve from. Because I think, I think until you've worked with a brand designer, you don't realize how many elements you [00:38:00] can have to play with and the layers of a brand. And how they can work together. A lot of my clients. that do try to create things themselves when it's all fresh and new, like, you know, a new shiny toy. They just want to put all their brand elements on one page, like, ta da, this is me. And I'm like, no, no, no, no. Like we, we, yeah, literally heart attack moment. But we want, we want to, the idea of having so many brand elements is that your clients can kind of see these different layers of you. throughout like 10 different touch points or whatever, so they don't see it all instantly. They, you know, we kind of introduce your brand with this logo and like the main colors in this font to get a really good like starting point of personalities and stuff. And then we start to throw in a few extra layers like pattern to show off this like a quirky fun side. [00:39:00] Or we start to introduce like illustration to represent, you know, things that are important to you, your services, or you know, that you love a cup of tea, that kind of thing, you know, and you know, a brand is all about having a conversation with somebody and then learning more and more about you, the more they kind of see of you. So it's not about. Throwing everything onto one page. It's about really stretching it out and milking it as much as you can because the amount of content we have to make nowadays is ridiculous. So, yes, my clients that recognize this and recognize that, you know, when a, having a brand kind of kit. And having a template where the brand is actually brought to life are two really quite different things. Like, making a brand work in practice where, you know, it needs to actually do its job is, isn't as an easier transition as you would think. And it does take some practice to get right. And even [00:40:00] now, like, When I create a brand and I create, you know, certain mockups to show you how it would work in certain instances, until I create like a PowerPoint or something, I don't necessarily know how exactly it's going to look until I've explored it and played with, played with it a bit. It's not like an instant transition. Sophie: yeah. Yeah. No, I, and I'm still definitely kind of finding my feet with it and like testing out different types of posts and, and how to also integrate more of like my candid photos of me, like, you know, as well as my brand photos in with the brand as well. And like that kind of to make it still feel like. I'm there and I'm kind of, you know, present and there it's definitely just working out that different balance of, of posts and kind of what people respond to. So but no, I had an amazing foundation to start from, so, yes. Woo-hoo. Amazing. Well, thank you so much. That was so lovely to chat through that with you. I hope everybody I. I hope you all found that useful. Kayleigh [00:41:00] is on Instagram and LinkedIn, and I will put those links in the show notes. She also has a brand guide, which you can download from her website. And I will also put the link to that too.