792: The Who, What, Why and How of My NEW Brand

0:01How do we want to tackle this and how can we just make sure that everything that is carried into this new brand is exemplary of what we want people to feel, but also at the standard that we want this brand to be at. And so I've just been loving that challenge. It's actually been so much fun for me. I'm Jenna Kutcher, your host of the Gold Digger podcast. I escaped the corporate world at the age of 23 with nothing more than a$300 camera from Craigslist and a dream. Now I'm running a seven figure online business that feels even better than it looks all from my house in small town, Minnesota with my family.

0:37Here we value time as our currency. We mix the woo and the work, and we are in the pursuit of building businesses that give us the freedom to live lives that we love. I've always loved turning big goals into reality, and I'm here to help you do the same. This isn't just a peek behind the curtain. Come along with me and my guests as we tear the whole curtain down. Every week we tackle practical, no fluff marketing strategies and host honest discussions on what works and what doesn't. Join me and my expert guests for actionable insights to help you grow your dream business with confidence. Pull up a seat and get ready to be challenged, inspired and empowered.

1:16This is the Gold Digger Podcast. I feel like it's time to reintroduce myself and my brand. It is wild that I've been an entrepreneur for over 13 years. And that what started as this little idea, this little dream, it has turned into all of this, what you see today, what you feel today. And frankly, it was time for an update. There have been some massive shifts and changes in myself and my life, but I wanted these changes to not just be seen by you, but also to be felt and experienced. experienced. So today I'm going to peel back the curtain on what went into my new brand, why it came about, who played a role in helping get it done, if I think it was worth it, and how we went about it.

2:06Whether you are building your first brand or your brand is in need of a makeover, this episode might give you a different take on branding overall, and we'll let you into our process and hopefully spark some creativity for you. So let's dive on in to the show. more to do is less time and an infinite number of tools to keep track of gold diggers you ever feel like doing business has never felt harder well the good news is you don't need a miracle to hit your goals you just need hubspot they're all-in-one customer platform can make growing your business so much easier imagine this high quality leads fast closing deals wildly happy customers and more benchmark breaking quarters.

2:48It's not a miracle. It's HubSpot. Visit HubSpot.com to get started today. That's HubSpot.com. All right, branding. This is literally one of my favorite topics. It is something I've been talking about on this show since the very beginning of it years and years and years ago. And I'm so excited about today's episode because it feels like an entirely new take on this topic that I love because it's the announcement of my rebrand and I'm sharing everything that went into it, which included a lot of firsts for me. Now, before we dive in, I want to talk about something important and really explain what I believe a brand truly is.

3:29Because I think oftentimes as entrepreneurs and especially as creative human beings, we get so excited about the way a brand looks. We're talking about fonts and logos and colors. And it is all of those things and it includes all of those things, but it doesn't just stop there. When we think about it, a business is a product, service, or an offer that someone can purchase. The brand is the personality behind your offers. Now notice it's not just saying like your brand is what color you choose or what your logo looks like. Your brand is what makes people feel something. And it's not just about seeing something.

4:06It's about feeling something. And when we went through this entire rebrand, of course, we were very excited about what things looked like. But we also wanted to really focus on what is the personality? What is the vibe and the vision? How do we want people to feel when they encounter and experience our brand? Your brand is your copy, your images, your website, your content flow, all of the things that help give your offers a true and recognizable personality. And so I just want to differentiate those things because we're going to be talking about all the aspects of branding today. But I wanted to kick off the show with that important reminder because we often forget it and we lean more on what is pretty and we can forget about how our brand actually makes people feel and what their experience is with it.

4:53So I want to share some of the interesting stories from my brand throughout the years because it's had a lot of iterations. When you think about being in business over a decade and having a business that is really, truly just centered around who you are as a human. I have evolved and changed so much in my journey as an entrepreneur. I recently heard this quote that said, like, if you want to heal yourself, become an entrepreneur. And I smiled and almost laughed because it's so true. I think my journey in entrepreneurship has been a lot about healing and just expanding and learning and growing and imperfectly leading.

5:30And I've had a lot of different vibes throughout the years. Now, most of you probably have joined my journey later on. But let me start at the very beginning. When I first started my business, I was a photographer, and I had a free WordPress site. And I actually hired a graphic design student to create a logo for myself. And I remember the vibe was whimsy. It was anthropology. ecology. It was these muted colors, just beautiful like teal and pink. There were florals involved. I actually still really like that brand. It was hand-drawn. It was beautiful. And that was my first brand. And one of the things that I think is really interesting about my branding journey is that when I first started out, when I had$0 to invest in my company, I chose to invest in a logo.

6:21And I will never forget one of my favorite business classes in college ever, we talked about branding. And I just was so intrigued by this idea that someone could be looking at 20 different wine bottles in a shop and a logo would speak to them in a way that would make them purchase it without ever having tried the product. And I am someone who, when they say like, don't judge a book by its cover, I'm like, we all do. Like when we shop, we buy off of beautiful logos and things because they make us feel something, right? Whether it's luxurious or fancy or fun or flirty or whatever it makes you feel.

6:58And so I will never forget being in that business class and learning about branding. And we were learning about things like product placement and planograms of like where products sit on shelves and how that impacts somebody's purchasing decisions. And I was so fascinated. To this day, I think it is such a fascinating art. And when I worked for Target, I was just so intrigued at how the corporation would plan out what goes where on the shelves and just the thought behind it. I thought it was so interesting. And so I've loved branding from the very beginning. And when I first started with this anthropology-based brand, I was pretty wise in one, having a beautiful logo that made it look more legit, but two, kind of picking a lane and going into it.

7:43And so when I launched my photography business, I went straight to being a wedding photographer. There were a few months before I had anything formal set up where I was taking pictures of basically everything. I did a boudoir session. I took photos of somebody's cat. I was doing all the things. I was like, very quickly, I was like, I want to photograph people in love. And so my brand very much hit on those emotions. And I will never forget, I was on this phone call. And now I smile at it because I was like, Jenna, you were so naive. But I was talking to an account representative for this company that wanted me to advertise with them.

8:17And I remember her like wooing me with like, oh, your brand is so anthropology. And I was like, yes, yes, she gets it. She gets the vision. Now looking back, I'm like, she was just trying to flatter me so that I paid for advertising, which I did. After that era, because it was photographs by Jenna Lee, which was very formal, we moved into the Jenna Kutcher era. And that was years. I mean, I was a wedding photographer for seven years before I fully transitioned out of being known solely as a wedding photographer and into the new era of Jenna Kutcher. And it's kind of funny, and I don't necessarily know why this happened, but I ended up just doing my logo myself.

8:59So for the last seven-ish years, I have just been going off of a logo that I made myself. And it's so funny because we've had different things come up over the years where they're like, Hey, you sent us her logo. And I'm like, we don't really like have one. We kind of have one. I don't know. It's just my name. And so it's interesting to me now, having been through this rebrand process formally, I'm like, wow, we've really been like operating kind of just like rogue these last seven years. The thing is, is that I don't think it ever felt super rogue because I have always been a stickler for consistency and cohesion.

9:38But when I look at all of the assets across the brand, we had a lot of different things going on. We had a lot of different colors. We had a lot of different fonts. We had a lot of different templates, which said a lot. And I think that my style continued to evolve and change, but we never really sat down and said like, okay, these are the fonts. This is the headline, the sub headline. This is the copy font. These are the sizes. This is a spacing. And now that I've been through this process, I'm like, this is actually really helpful to have like a brand guide where we know exactly what everything should look like so that everything is cohesive.

10:13And I've got to give a shout out and I'm going to shout her out in just a bit too, to my web designer, Jen Olmsted of Tonic Site Shop, because essentially she's been carrying these rebrands year after year when she refreshes my website for us. And so she's kind of been the one leading the charge in what the brand feel vibe colors are without necessarily saying, okay, this is the new brand. It was like, here's the new website. But in reality, the new website was dictating all of the other pieces. So shout out to Jen. When I look back, I'm like, wow, this is wild. We haven't really formally ever done this.

10:49And this also goes to say for you, my listener, if you've never done an actual formal brand, this might be something that you just want to explore, even on your own of sitting down and making a style guide of like, okay, what do I want this to look like so that everything cohesively can make people feel something so that when they see A, B, C, or D, all of them, whether it's a website, a free guide, an email, an Instagram post, they all kind of project that same brand and that same feeling that you want it to. And so if you don't have that, this is something looking back where I'm like that probably would have been incredibly helpful for me, for my team, for a graphic designer to have those stipulations so that everything that came out of the brand felt cohesive.

11:36Because now that we're looking at all of the pieces of brand, we're like, wow, we were kind of all over the board. So first question is this, what prompted the decision to rebrand? So obviously, looking back, I've never really had this like super formal brand. I have always been the brand. And so as I've evolved and changed over the years, we've had different looks and feels. I never really had this solid brand identity, but the brand just kind of was like following along with my life. Let's be real. As business owners, we know a reliable connection isn't optional. I've had my fair share of slow and lagging internet.

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13:26We met donkeys, goats, and pigs, and the kids got to pick peppers in their greenhouse. Watching them run around the farm, getting their hands dirty and laughing the whole time was such a joy. It was peaceful. It was full of those little moments that literally just make you pause and feel connected. That trip reminded me why I love using Airbnb. It connects you to places and experiences that really stay with you. If you've ever thought about hosting your home on Airbnb, it doesn't take much. Whether it's your entire house or just a spare room, your space could offer that same feeling to someone else and even earn you some extra income.

14:03Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.com forward slash host. Another thing that's really interesting about how we've kind of been branding things is that my business has so many different aspects and offers within the business. And we've almost been doing a bunch of these like sub brands so that let's say, for example, each of my courses has a different color scheme. So my Pinterest is really pink, red and yellow. And then my list to Launch Lab is blue and turquoise and navy. And we've always kind of tried to differentiate each offer just so that it's not super confusing to our customers.

14:43But in doing that, while it was interesting and kind of each little aspect of my brand had its own sub brand, it also lacked this solid through line throughout the entire brand. Now, on top of all of my courses and offers, I have my book, I have my podcast, I have my online shop, I have my blog. There are just so many aspects of it. And it's really exciting for me to have one main identity that houses all of the different things I have going on. Can any of my multi-passionate entrepreneurs relate to this? I refuse to just be put into a box. And so I want to do all the things, but I also want it to make sense.

15:22And I feel like we were lacking clarity. Now, beyond what I wanted things to look like, one of the things that prompted this decision was I wanted to almost reintroduce myself. I feel like I have been on such an interesting journey, especially these last few years, as I'm coming out of the weeds of having really young children and babies and kind of figuring out like, who am I? Again, I recently did an episode on like, who am I outside of motherhood and work? And I just feel like this is an area where I'm really exploring in my life. And it's really interesting because I feel like a rebrand almost is like this invitation to step out in a new light, to refine things and to have this like vision of like, this is where I'm going.

16:08And this is what I'm excited about. And I want to invite you into this. And so there are a lot of things that prompted this decision. I think we finally had the bandwidth as a team to take on a project of this size. I think I was excited of like, I really want a logo and an identity. And I want it to look and feel different than it's felt in the past. And so that was really exciting to me. And it was something that I started thinking about late last year. So going back to what I was talking about before in terms of what I wanted it to feel like first, and then we can talk about what I wanted it to look like.

16:43I wanted it to feel bright and vibrant and inviting. And I wanted it to feel alive. Like I wanted my brand to feel like it was growing and evolving right in front of your eyes. And what's interesting is that my mission statement has shifted over the years. For many years, I would always say that my mission was imperfectly leading women. And I still do that. And I love that. But I've really woken up to this mission that really drives me. And that mission is I want to teach women to build businesses that they don't hate so that they can live lives that they love. And that just resonates so deeply with me because not only do I want you to build a business, I want it to be a business that gives you life, that really excites you, that gives you the freedom that you desire.

17:30I don't want you to just build a successful business by the world standards. I want for you to redefine success on your own terms. This new brand is the introduction to this new mission. I wanted it to show the shifts that I've encountered over the years. I have stepped away from that season of loss. I have been stepping into this new season of life and identity. I am enjoying motherhood. I'm embracing my curious spirit. I'm loving life more than my work these days. And so I wanted my brand to somehow showcase and emanate that feeling so that other women know that it's real and that it's also possible for them too.

18:11And that's why I think it's so important to take a look at like, what are your core values? And who am I speaking to? Like, who is your target audience? Have they changed maybe in the last year or two? And then figure out what is the exact problem that my brand solves before you ever think about creating a logo. I know it's so fun to get to the pretty things, but I believe your brand is so much more than a business. It is this crucial way that you can connect with and communicate with your audience. And so if you aren't clear on what you are communicating and who you are communicating with, then it is really hard for your brand to connect in that way.

18:50So the next question is, what goes into a rebrand? And let me tell you, for us, this has been a colossal project. So for me, I actually wanted to start on the messaging before the feel. I think I've made that very clear. And I wanted to really get clear on like, what is the messaging? What is the vibe? And it's crucial that you start there, especially if you are bringing in a designer, because it is your job to clearly communicate it to any designer you are working with. Or if you are DIYing it yourself, you want to be really clear on the messaging because the messaging is going to dictate what the logo and the colors and the fonts look like, right?

19:32If you're not clear on step one, step two is going to be a really mushy. So once I felt really clear with the message, I went to find a graphic designer and I had a few options that I know and love amazing women in my life. And I reached out to two amazing graphic designers, both women who I absolutely love and adore. And I ended up choosing and hiring Brianna from Brighton Made. So Brianna was actually the designer who designed the cover of my book. And that was my first experience in working with her. And I loved working with her. I love her work. It was such a natural fit to hire her for this rebrand.

20:09Like everything she posts, I'm just like, it's so good. I just absolutely love it. And I also thought it was really wise to hire her because the design of my book is not going to change, right? Once you pick your cover, your book is going to look like that until the end of time, which is a blessing and a curse for people who are very creative. And so what was nice is, is since we've already worked together, we know that we can work really well together. We collaborate really amazingly. I love that she could also design the rest of the brand identity to fit with the design of the book without having to match it.

20:41And so it was really natural to be like, I don't want everything to feel exactly like the book, but I also want the book to feel like a piece of the collective of my entire business and brand. And so I reached out to her. Now, Brianna recently became a mom. And so it was interesting because I reached out last fall and we got on the books for the beginning of this year. The process of a rebrand takes a long time. And for people like me who are multi-passionate, who are manifesting generators, like I want to move fast. But I was excited to move a little bit slower through this process, even though the creative in me was like, get this into the world today.

21:24But it was awesome to move slow and thoughtfully through this, because it was a really big investment. And I wanted to make sure that I had time to sit with it. And so I actually really appreciated Brianna's schedule and how she laid it out. And I talked about her on a past episode, but man, this woman, I am so impressed with the way that her and her team communicate. So when you hire her and take notes, if you are a designer, if you are any sort of service provider, when we hire Brianna, her and her team send us a detailed calendar of like, here's when your first draft will come in. Here's when we need your feedback buy.

22:02Here's when we need your assets. Here's when your approvals will happen. And we knew step by step by step exactly when to expect everything. Everything was delivered on time, if not early. And I also knew when my time was going to be needed for feedback or to collaborate with her. And I just really appreciate it because one, it takes away so much of the back and forth. So if you are someone who you feel like your clients are constantly hounding you of like, Hey, when am I going to see this? Or is this ready yet? You need to create a better timeline and workflow and communication system because instead of emailing her team, I would just pull up that calendar and I would know exactly what was coming and when it was coming.

22:38And so there were a lot of like back and forth rounds, which was super helpful. So basically, I had to first show her inspiration, talk about the vision, the mission statement, how I wanted the brand to feel. I was showing her colors I loved. I was showing her different logos and brand identities that I enjoyed. And so that was kind of the first part of the process. So creating something like a Pinterest board can be super helpful here. and one thing that I loved is I was able to go through Brianna's work and say okay I absolutely love this that you did here like let's kind of take something stylistically like this but mix it with these sort of colors these are the kind of fonts I like and then we did multiple rounds back and forth where she would send over say a logo and then I would say okay I like this but I don't love this can we try it with this type of font can we try it with this color until we got to the end result.

23:30And one of the things that I really appreciate about her as well is that she doesn't just give a logo. I actually saw a post that she did recently and she was like, all of my professors would say, just give a logo and fonts and colors and leave it at that. She does not leave it at that. She was so incredibly helpful at almost even showing, here's what I would envision for a freebie. Here's what I would envision for your website. Here are different marks of like, here's a little hand-drawn microphone that you can use for things. Here are different sub marks. The folder of our Dropbox of all the different things she delivered, she delivered textured backgrounds and colored backgrounds.

24:11And she is amazing because what she does is so much hand-drawn work, which I resonate with and love, which also ties into my old hand-drawn logo. And our handwriting is eerily very similar. But I loved it because it wasn't just like, okay, here's your logo. Good luck. It was like, here's the vision. And what I appreciate about that is I think Brianna is just such a true artist at what she does. And so in doing that, it protects her work and the integrity of it. She knows how she wants it to look and feel. And so giving us this really solid brand guide that we could pass along to our team members allowed them to match that vision.

24:50She's amazing. And so Brianna from Brighton Made, we love you. You are amazing. Okay. The next thing that we did were brand photos. And it was so wise to wait on the photos until we had the initial brand direction because Brianna helped us nail down the color palette and the vibe of the photos. She literally had inspiration photos in there. This is how these photos would work into the new brand. and it was so helpful for me in choosing outfits and the color story. I had so much fun choosing outfits for my photo shoot because I know a lot of you know me as like sad beige girl. I've loved, I love neutrals.

25:31I love neutrals. I think they're amazing. There was a season in my life where I very much connected to like white linen shirts and made well jeans. If you've read my book, you know the story, but those days are gone. And that was a beautiful version of me. And I celebrate and honor that version of me. But this photo shoot was so colorful and it was so fun. And we went from having like super neutral backdrops to having like bright oranges and the shade of purple and blues and pinks. And like, it was just so fun and colorful and vibrant. And like this, the type of energy that I wanted this brand to be.

26:03And so what was awesome is that I worked with Jordan Quinn, who I have talked about as well in a past episode. And I got to work with her again. I've known Jordan for years and years and years. She's amazing. We really connect. Her son and Coco had a similar due date. And so we had really connected during my pregnancy. And I just, I love her. She's so good at what she does. And so it was amazing because we chose backdrops. I had everything at my house. We set up a little studio in my garage and we worked. I mean, we worked that day. We didn't even stop for lunch. I think we shot probably like 15 outfits, I told her, I'm like, let's just grind and go.