Taking Your Brand to The Next Level With Kim Russo

Everyone possesses a personal brand, often unconsciously, and authenticity is the cornerstone of its development. To construct a compelling brand, delve into understanding your target audience, studying competitors, and identifying the unique aspects that set you apart. But the question remains: how can we embark on this journey? In this week's episode, I sit down with Kim Russo, Founder of On Brand Designs. We explored her journey, starting with packaging design and transitioning to a full focus on branding. We discuss the lessons she learned along the way about establishing systems and processes to run a successful business. Additionally, we delved into the importance of connecting with people and joining a mastermind group that can help take the business to the next level. Tune in for insights that will elevate your branding designs! --- Listen to the podcast here: Taking Your Brand to The Next Level With Kim Russo Welcome to Action’s Antidotes, your antidote to the mindset that keeps you settling for less. Today, we’re going to generally talk about branding. I think we’ve all heard the phrase, “You are your own brand,” or some kind of iteration on that. My guest today, Kim Russo, is founder of On Brand Designs and also an expert in transitioning people from one level to another in general. --- Kim, welcome to the program. Thanks for having me. It’s great to be here. And thank you for taking time out. So what is that phrase, I know I didn’t probably say it right, the idea that each one of us is a brand of some capacity? Basically, what we’re saying is we’re all our personal brand so when you’re talking about small business, especially when you’re growing a business, building a business, and being the face of your business, your brand is your personal brand as well, and that’s something that I do strive to bring into account with my clients. So I do a whole strategy process. And, in that, I’m looking at target audience, I’m looking at competitors, but I’m also looking at you, what are your likes, what do you love, who as you as a persona, that shows up in your brand. So, does it ever work out that someone is trying to be a brand that just isn’t them? So, for example, someone might say, “I wanna do this,” but if it’s too much in conflict with their natural personality, you kind of have to tell them, “Hey, wait a second, I know this is the brand that’s gonna sell this product but, sorry, that ain’t you. That’s not who you are. You might wanna go back to the drawing board and think it through again.” Yeah, and I think it goes both ways. There’s that and there’s also pushing too hard to be like somebody else. Yeah. So it’s maybe not following your own brand but it’s also trying to mimic somebody else without pulling in your own self to it is sometimes something I come across, because, at the end of the day, you have to love it and you have to feel it and you have to live it. It definitely helps with the cliché, like know and trust. They’re going to get to know you and know and trust you with how you’re showing up in your brand.Share on X I do often work with a lot of uplevels so when people are kind of stagnant in where they are with their brand and need kind of a refresh or there’s too many things going on with it that’s confusing, too many fonts, too many colors, and you’re just confusing who you’re trying to attract and who you are, is a lot of times, I am going to have to come and kind of simplify and really hone in on who they are but also I like to keep an essence of their original brand. So I always say to people who are starting out there’s going to be something in your brand that is going to hold true to you, to be cohesive and give you longevity, but you can always uplevel it, you can always change it. So, if I’m redesigning something that is just not working for somebody, it’s not who they are, it’s not even attracting who they want, I always find some sort of --- maybe it’s the way that their logo was originally stacked, for example. I try to have that look like it’s --- it’s just an evolution. It still looks like it could be part of the same brand but it’s an evolution of it. Or, although I do you like to do many different variations of a logo so that you have it for different uses and elements but holding on to some sort of essence, whether it’s a color that now is just like a tiny accent color, still keeping something to carry through for your brand to keep it that cohesive and longevity while still refreshing it, keeping it new. And also people change. Even myself. I’ve kept my logo since I’ve started because I’m still in love with it and that’s one of the perks of being a brand designer, although sometimes it can be hard to design for yourself. I really understood me more than anybody else could and still love it but my brand has evolved immensely since I started five years ago and so I’ve added things to my brand but still keeping it on brand. And when you say keeping on brand, does that also includes some of your, say, outside of business personal behavior? Like is it possible to ruin your brand if, say you have a bunch of social media posts or even have interactions with people within your community that are extremely inconsistent with the brand that you’ve built? I don’t think I’ve come across anybody as extreme as ruining your brand. As far as maybe getting involved into politics or social issues, that would be something that could. As long as you’re consistent and I’m always a pro for neutral, appease to everybody so you won’t hurt anybody so I definitely --- I mean, even me, I have a separate, not that I post much but I have a separate personal account than I do my business persona and so I do keep some things separate. But at the end of the day, I’m pushing my brand and so I do cross over a lot, but I do tell people like keep personal issues, keep political and social issues out but also be authentic. This whole year too, we’re coming into it where people don’t want the cookie cutter, they don’t want the fake, they want the real, they want the stumble your words, you’re not perfect but you’re doing better than I am so how can I work with you? How can I be in your space, in your sphere? But people want to see what are you doing on the weekends. They’re intrigued by all the things that you do. So as long as you’re keeping on brand, so, for example, I have a client who’s a great social media. She is a female contractor construction, interior designer, she does all of that. Above and beyond just interior design, she’s doing the actual renovations. And so, typically, that’s a male-dominated industry but she’s also taking her social media and she is sharing baking cookies at home and because it’s this whole holistic way that you show up where it’s the caretaker of the home, it’s the aesthetics of baking in a beautiful kitchen, it’s also showing that you do more things in life than just work. Yeah, because I know for a while it seemed like there was this temptation to be about one thing and only about one thing and to have everything you ever post, everything you ever do, everything you ever present to anyone all be about the same exact thing. And what you’re saying is now people want to see your whole self, even if your whole self has a completely different aspect. Maybe you have your job and you’re doing something similar, graphic design, something creative, but maybe you also just, I don’t know, going on bike rides or doing certain activities with your friends that are like so different but it shows a whole person. Yeah, and you want to be relatable. People want to have things in common with you too and be able to relate. I say --- so every day, I have to sell because I’m working with clients, but I don’t consider myself a salesperson at all. I consider myself a relationship builder. So, if I’m going to get on a call with you, I’m going to research a little about you on your social media, on your website, I want to know about you so when I’m getting on the call, I’m communicating something that we have in common and that’s kind of like that icebreaker to make somebody feel comfortable with you and the same vice versa. They’ll come on to me and be like, “Oh, I just saw you posted for this live webinar that you have going on. I saw this about you. What’s going on? Tell me about it,” and it just opens up conversation to feel more comfortable with somebody. And a lot of times, I don’t even have to show my work, it’s just showing up with personality and that’s all it is. Another thing that I do, I’m a big proponent of is like having good photos. So, having a really good brand shoot to show you in that side too so your professional side. So it’s having a mix. You don’t want to just be all no style, no knowing what you actually do, you want to have a mix of it too. So setting up a brand shoot of the person that you’re trying to attract, the person that you are so, for example, I just did a brand shoot and went to places that I love, I wore my favorite outfit, I kind of exhibited this lifestyle that I want my audience to also live and that’s how we’ll connect and relate. And side note, as a web designer, having great photos makes my job a little easier. And so, on your website or on anyone’s website, you recommend having photos of yourself, someone having photos of themselves, because I see a lot of websites that you don’t or you see one photo when you click the About section or something, but I even see some that have no photos of specific people behind the website, it’s just information about what the service is. Yeah. Well, it also depends on what you’re offering and what your service is. So, I like to do a mix of showing up your face in different settings. I don’t really love to use stock photos so something that I always recommend to you if I have a client