Riding Tandem

Vivian Kvam (00:01)
Hi there, welcome to Writing Tandem. I'm Vivian Kavam, the co-owner of Tandem Works, and I am here to talk with you today about marketing mindset shifts. All right, so let's talk about something that might ruffle a few feathers, but in the best way possible. If you have been telling yourself, I need the perfect logo or the most polished website and the slickest branding before I can really start marketing my business,

I need you to hear me loud and clear today. You are hiding and that needs to stop today. The truth is people don't buy from brands. They buy from people and no amount of fancy fonts, color palettes or professionally designed websites will build the trust the way that you do by showing up authentically.

So in today's episode, we're diving into the fourth mindset shift every entrepreneur needs to embrace, and that is to stop hiding behind your branding or your lack thereof. And I'm gonna break down why branding, though important, is not what makes people buy and what you should be focusing on instead. So I'll share some real life examples of brands and entrepreneurs who built success before their branding was polished.

And I'm gonna give you some actionable steps because as you know, we are very much about action around here at Tandon Works to start showing up as you today, not six months from now when your website is perfect. And I'm gonna air quote perfect because the website is never perfect. So if you're ready to ditch the excuses and connect with your audience on a deeper level and start marketing with confidence, then this episode is going to be

a fantastic one for you. And it might feel a little heavy hitting just because for so many of us, especially those of us who like good branding, this can feel, it can feel a little bit like, what are you talking about? But all right, let's dive in here and we'll get to the meat of it here. So we're diving into the fourth mindset shift for marketing as an entrepreneur. Stop hiding behind your branding.

because people connect with you more than your branding. And they connect, when I say you, that doesn't necessarily mean like a solo entrepreneur, it's literally you, but they connect with you, the people of your brand, of your organization, of your business. So if you have ever thought, I can't mark it yet because I don't have a perfect logo or a mark or a website or the sales page for that product,

or brand colors, this episode is definitely for you. And here's the key takeaway for you. Branding is important, okay? But it is not what makes people buy. People buy from people, real, authentic, relatable humans who connect through story.

So if you haven't caught some of our other mindset shift episodes yet, be sure to go back and check out episode, with the mindset shift, number one, number two, and number three. And that's going to help set you up for what we're talking about today. So be sure to check those ones out because at the end of the day, this is really about people and stories. And if you're waiting for your branding to be perfect before you show up, you're holding yourself back.

and it can be the literal downfall of your entire business or of your organization succeeding. Okay, so I try to be real as I can here with you all. And I have a couple of stories around this for sure, but I can vividly remember many times where I have spent weeks and weeks tweaking a website, figuring out colors, obsessing over a logo, being worried about a name.

instead of actually talking to potential customers. And the spoiler here is the colors didn't make me money, conversations did. Now I'm going to say I have definitely fallen into this pit, this pit, if you will. But I also have seen very successfully where I haven't had it all together along with my business partner, Michaela, and we were able to book work.

In fact, when we first started Tandem Works, so it was birthed out of our photography company, which is now called MackinVee Photography. And that is our background history there. You could check out some earlier episodes where I talk a bit about how this all came together, this whole wild ride. But Tandem Works was a new company in 2019 in the fall. And we were just getting started with it.

We did not have, we had picked a name, but we did not have a bank account. We didn't have a logo. We didn't have colors. We had none of that. However, I had a relationship with a past client who was very excited to work with us. And so we were already in conversations with them and their company about working together with them. And it was a very large sizable contract that we were putting together.

So we were having this conversation with a potential client for our new company, Tandem Works. And I remember thinking and even laughing with McKay, I'm like, we don't even have a logo. And it was like, what does it matter? These folks want to do business with us, not because of our logo, they wanna do business with us because they know and trust us and we have a good story and connection and we have a product, a service to offer them that they...

need that fits their pain points where they can see the transformation happening, which I talk about that in the episode prior to this one in that mindset shift. So be sure to check that out. Mindset shift number three. So the funny part of the story was this client did decide to book with us and we actually, speaking of branding, we didn't even have a bank account set up. And so in order to receive their payment to get started, I had to like hop off the phone.

quickly set up a PayPal account. was Michaela's idea. She's like, well, we don't have a bank account yet for this, so let's just set up a PayPal account. And we actually received their payments through PayPal. So again, no logo, no colors. We didn't have a website. There was no slick advertising. There was no slick anything, not even a bank account. And yet we were able to book work. And that's because we didn't allow those things to hold us back. Though I will say it was in the back of my head.

How funny this was when in years prior with previous businesses I would have been so hung up on whether or not we had all those things in place I probably wouldn't have even been having the conversation with this gentleman and his company to begin with because I was like well my business isn't ready So a really good example that paid off big time for us So that's what we're talking about today. Let's dive in here a little bit more

The myth here is that you need a cool logo, a slick website, or a polished something, A polished everything, as I say, to make, to market your product and services. And that's not true, but it feels true. Here's why it feels true. We're bombarded with gorgeous branding on Instagram, for example, or thinking that...

That's what makes people successful. We see their slick branding, marketing logos, and it looks really cool, and it is cool. And so we assume then that people won't take us seriously if we don't look 100 % polished. And the reality is that branding is very much like an outfit. It might make a good first impression, which is important, but it doesn't build relationships. It's just an outfit at the end of the day.

And at the end of the day, people don't buy because of a logo. They buy because of trust and connection and personality. So again, I'm not saying that having solid branding in place is a bad thing and just to run around willy-nilly, you know, forever with, with no branding, with no nice branding put together, but it is easy, especially if you are just getting started with your business to allow yourself, because there's so many things to fear.

when you get started with business and the branding and all of that is really fun. And it's an easy myth to fall into that if you don't look 100 % put together that you are not ready. And so I want to give you a couple of examples that you're going to relate with. Let's think about Apple and Steve Jobs. Apple has beautiful branding. A lot of folks think of branding. go like one of the first things they think of is Apple because they've really done branding well.

But what made Apple iconic at the beginning wasn't its cool logo or its slick packaging. was Steve Jobs standing on stage, personally sharing his vision and the stories and the transformation and making people feel something. That is really what it was all about, right? That was what got Apple started. And sometimes I think about this too, like it takes

that real authentic connection to be able to create the business, to generate the checks and the income to be able to pay for the slick of branding, right? So sometimes we put the cart before the horse, as they say. Another example might be, let's think of like a business coach who might be hiding right behind branding. So poor marketing would be to think or a mindset, a poor mindset when it comes to this idea is,

thinking that you have to have a slick website or gorgeous social media posts and perfect branding, but you never actually show your face or talk to your audience. This is really important, especially if you are service-based business coach or a mindset coach or a health coach or somebody who is connecting at a very personal level. It is easy to think that you just need to have a really snazzy

you know, PDF or website or sales page, but at the end of the day, it really is about showing your face and talking to your audience. Great marketing for somebody in a situation like that would be that you show up consistently, that you're sharing your journey, that you connect with your audience even before your branding is perfect. And I'm gonna air quote perfect again. So if you're one of my YouTube friends, you're seeing the air quotes, you're just tuning in, just know there are air quotes there. Because the fact is,

there is never going to be perfect branding. So the big takeaway here is your brand's most valuable asset isn't your logo, your colors, your website, your snazzy print materials, it is you. And it is the people who work within your business or within your organization. So again, this doesn't necessarily just mean literally you only, but if you work with a team, you have employees.

It is all about those people and how they are connecting that is going to drive your business and your marketing forward. So the shift, people buy from people, not just pretty brands. So the key here is instead of obsessing over branding, you want to be focusing on showing up, sharing your voice, telling your stories, connecting with people because the why there is why people connect with you more than your branding.

The reason that is is because people trust faces more than logos. And especially in this day and age. And again, it's not to say that a logo isn't helpful or beneficial. It absolutely can be. Our first logo, that story I was talking about is we did throw a logo together to put onto our PayPal account. So we looked a little more official, right? And I simply threw a logo together in Canva.

And frankly, I was like, it looks pretty good. We really liked it. We rolled with it for quite a while as our logo until we were able to, you know, sort of upgrade it. And we hired a designer to do it. And then we loved the designer's logo even better. It made my other logo definitely not look so great. But the fact was when that was a logo that we had, we were perfectly pleased with it and we we booked projects off of it and the money spent just fine. So that's the thing to think about there.

It's really important to remember that people relate to personal stories and that transformation more than perfect aesthetics and authenticity is really what builds long-term brand loyalty. Your brand is going to shift and change. You're going to go through rebrands. You're going to change your colors. You're gonna pick new fonts. And if you're waiting to figure out what the perfect one is or you're not launching your product or you're not talking, let's say you're a nonprofit, you're not talking to donors,

about your story and authentically what you are trying to do, then at the end of the day, your logo just does not matter. It makes zero difference at all. You cannot wait to get out there with your story, with your vision, be having those conversations. And I have seen both nonprofit organizations and for-profit businesses fail here, where they just kind of petered out because they just never...

felt good enough or they didn't get that, you know, together or they spent so much time and effort on the perfect aesthetics for their brand that they missed the opportunities to be able to sell their product or fundraise properly or sell tickets for their event. And at the end of the day, some of them had some really beautiful design work or logos or colors or websites.

But they had a shell of a business, right? Or they didn't actually have success with their fundraising event, et cetera. They just had a lot of pretty stuff. And that is not where you want to be. The goal of what you are doing and putting your business together is not just to create a bunch of pretty stuff. If you just like that piece, then become a graphic designer or have a fun hobby that you do on the side. I love to do watercolors.

And so, you if you need that creative outlet, that's great, but don't let your business stall out just because of your branding. Another example I want to give you is I want you to think a little bit about like influencers, personal brands, traditional branding. So think about some of the biggest influencers or entrepreneurs that you know. Do you follow them because of their logo? Do you even know what their logo looks like?

So picture in your head some of your favorite people to follow, those influencers, those entrepreneurs, people who have those success stories. Do you even know what their brand colors are? Do you know what their logo looks like? Is that why you're following them, even if you do know what it looks like? Or is it because of who they are? So a great example here would be Gary Vaynerchuk.

His brand is him talking to people. That's his brand. That is really his branding. It's who he is, not some fancy logo. In fact, I know I've seen like some brand marks and things, but I could not for the life of me tell you colors or anything. But I know the Gary Vaynerchuk brand really well because it's him, right? It's about him building relationships. Another example to think about is like,

Think about like in your community, the local business owners who show up versus those who don't, right? So let's take just, this is a hypothetical, right? I'm making a story up here, but let's say you have a yoga instructor with a basic Instagram, but they post daily videos, right, of her teaching. She is going to get more clients than one with a super polished brand, but no personal presence. So,

You might have somebody who has like just the most beautiful Canva created templates, putting out content, but at the end of the day, it really is going to be about the quality. If you have a yoga instructor who's putting out daily videos of her teaching, she is going to have more clients in the end than somebody who's just putting out pretty graphics every day, or maybe it takes so long to make the pretty graphics. They only getting it posted once a week, right? So you start to see.

how there can be a difference here. So instead of waiting for everything to be perfect, the mindset shift here is to ask yourself, how can I start showing up today with enough quality that I'm not 100 % embarrassed, that's not the goal, but how can I start showing up today? And then with the most basic viable product, as they say, right? What's the minimal viable product I can get out right now today? And that's true with your marketing.

And then I can always iterate on it and I can add to it and change and enhance it. But if I'm not getting it out today, I'm not marketing today and I'm not making any dollars today or anytime soon. All right, so let's talk a little bit about how you can do this, right? How to show up and build connection without hiding behind your branding. Here's some practical insights and ideas for you. So some action steps to stop hiding.

Well, one of the first action steps I would say is to show your face and your voice more often. People do need to see and hear you. So start posting videos, go live or share personal insights. And if your brand is a team, if you have employees, make sure that you are giving voice to your team, to your organization.

so that people are starting to get to know the face, right? The faces maybe in your instance of your brand and of your company. Your face and your voice do matter. They are important to have out there. And then tell your story instead of just posting graphics. This would be number two. So swap the generic kind of like, you know, I don't know, follow your dreams quote or a...

Kind of generic, look at our last event, you like there's, you know, there's generic posts. You see them, you've probably done them. Swap them out for a personal story about a time that maybe you took a leap of faith or that client testimonial and transformation that happened. Start peeling back the layers so that people can take a peek into your business so that you're not just hiding behind slick branding. All the beautiful graphics in the world are not going to help people connect with your brand.

in the long run. It's okay to have beautiful graphics, but you do want to be sure that they're not holding you back, right? If you're stuck on making something beautiful and perfect and that's holding you back from getting your story out there, then you're sunk. That is not where you want to be. Another idea is to engage with your audience directly. This is something I talk about as a whole module in our social engagement method. And I believe we're actually working on putting together, it's a little behind the scenes here,

We're working on putting pieces of that together, their social engagement method and making them evergreen content that you can actually purchase one off. And one of those modules that will be coming up is about engaging with your audience directly, like how to take it to the next level. So for example, like direct message people, DM people, like for real, get into your messages and start direct messaging with people, ask questions.

Get in there, go take it beyond the comments, right? When people do put comments, say on your social media or on your blog, or maybe they send you an email back when you send out your email newsletter, be sure to reply. So you're not hiding behind the branding of, okay, well, I made the post or I made the email, but reply and reply back thoughtfully and be sure to ask questions. Make it a conversation. That is huge when you think about your brand. Don't get hidden behind, you know,

Having the perfect words, just ask questions and make sure you're not getting stuck behind your branding. Okay, and then another one I'm going to say is, launch before you feel ready. So you've heard it before, perfection is procrastination in disguise. So just start marketing now, even if your website isn't perfect yet, launch.

Get it out there. You are going to iterate on it again. You're going to change it anyway. So just look for typos, make sure there's nothing egregious on there and get it launched. You can add the extra pages later. You can fill out the piece where there's the contact form tomorrow. All of these things can be put into place as you go. Just get that website out there or get your sales, you know, brochure out there or start posting on your social media. Launch before.

You feel ready. You know, there was, I think about Jenna Kutcher actually is a great example of this. She started a wedding as a wedding photographer and she did not have any fancy branding. She really just use raw, real personal stories. And now she is a, she's a marketing powerhouse and she has a beautiful branding now. Right.

but that's not how it started. She got out there and she just got started. So that's just, you know, look around, you see all these beautiful branding on people's profiles and websites. I'm gonna challenge you, if they haven't taken them down, which many don't, go way back in their scroll, right? Like scroll way, way back to when they first got started and see what it looked like, right?

You could also check out like the founder of Whole30. She built a massive brand by simply showing up and talking to her community, not by obsessing over a perfect logo. So again, like a real life example of very successful businesses who just, they started, they got themselves out there and they just kept reiterating and reiterating and they didn't let their branding hold them back. So challenge.

because you know we like a good challenge around here. Your challenge this week is to post a piece of content that puts you front and center. No fancy graphics, just something that shares you, that's sharing your story, your insights or your face in some way. And don't worry if it isn't perfect. I can't tell you how many times I don't feel ready to do these podcasts, right? I don't feel like I have it perfectly outlined or...

You know, as it sounds, I forgot to wear my earrings and I feel like I love to wear earrings and it's a piece of, you know, my brand, if you will. And I thought about letting that hold me back today. Like I didn't wear my earrings today. I'm going to show up on video and I like to have my earrings. I was like, no, this is the time I have set aside for this. I have something of value to share. My earrings do not matter. Next time I will remember them.

But the most important thing here is not to hide behind the aesthetics of things, but to just start getting out there. Um, you know, I have a, I have a clean face and clean clothes on and we're ready to go. don't have to have the earrings to make a podcast today. Maybe that's a silly example, but it's one that came to mind right now. Okay. So a bit of a recap for you. This mindset shift is all about stop waiting for perfect branding. People connect with you, not just your aesthetic. So show up.

share your story and build real relationships. Okay, so in the next episode, we're going to be talking about mindset shift number five. And so that will be an exciting one too. If you're just tuning in, I'm going over the eight marketing mindset shifts that every entrepreneur needs to know. So mindset shift number five is all about focusing on the metrics that actually matter. And I love to talk about metrics that matter.

because they really do matter. So that's going to be an exciting one to be sure to tune in for. And we'll be just talking all about metrics versus vanity metrics. We don't want to get stuck in the vanity metrics. Okay, so speaking of engaging and being authentic and connecting, I invite you as always, please send me a direct message. You can get onto our Facebook. You can find me on LinkedIn.

The links to our socials are all located in the show notes here. And that's one of the ways you're going, that you could show up this week, right? That's one of the ways you could show up even if your branding isn't perfect. We can still have a great chat. And I would love to hear how you are going to show up this week without your branding being perfect. What is it you're going to do that maybe you've been holding yourself back on because you weren't sure about your branding. So be sure to direct message me.

And another great way to get ahold of me is to join our email list. And I send out an email. My aim is that it goes out every week. Sometimes we do get it missed, but I do aim to have it out every single week packed full of inspiration, ideas, tips, as well as for our locals, local workshops and classes that we're offering. And then for those of you who maybe like something virtual or don't live in the area, our online workshops and offerings as well.

So be sure to hop onto that. You can get onto our email newsletter by going over to thetandemworks.com and then just click on newsletter and sign up. I would love to connect with you there. I love hearing from you guys. I do get emails and I always love to respond to those. So if this episode was helpful, be sure to share it with an entrepreneur friend and leave a comment, give a rating, share it on your social media. That always helps us be able to continue to create great content.

All right, I will see you here for our next episode.