Brilliant Ideas

#31: How to Create a Million-Dollar Brand with Heather Schaefer

• Alyssa Bellisario • Season 1 • Episode 31

Share episode

What if your brand isn't broken, it's just misunderstood? Heather Schaefer, the bold brand strategist, explains why most business owners are doing branding backwards and how to fix it.

• Understanding the critical difference between branding and marketing
• Why branding must come before marketing to avoid wasting resources
• How a proper brand strategy saved a client 77% in revenue in just 60 days
• The importance of a comprehensive brand strategy (not just colors and fonts)
• Why your brand may need to evolve as your business matures
• How a complete brand strategy document streamlines team operations
• Standing ALONE versus just standing out in your industry
• The post-pandemic reality: it now takes 15 visuals before someone notices you
• Creating a brand that positions you as THE expert others chase

Connect with Heather:

Facebook

Instagram

YouTube

LinkedIn

Website


Send me a text if you loved this episode!

Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts

Your feedback helps me reach more solopreneurs like you.

It’s super easy—just click here, scroll to the bottom, tap those five stars, and hit “Write a Review.” I’d love to know what resonated most with you in this episode!

And don’t forget to hit that follow button if you haven’t already! There’s plenty more coming your way—practical tips, inspiring stories, and tools to help you grow a business that makes a real difference. You won’t want to miss out!

Let's Connect on Instagram
yeslab.ca
Search your favorite episodes HERE

This podcast is produced, mixed, and edited by Cardinal Studio. For more
For information about how to start your podcast, please visit www.cardinalstudio.co
Or e-mail mike@cardinalstudio.co

Alyssa:

What if your brand isn't broken, it's just misunderstood. Welcome to Brilliant Ideas, the podcast that takes you behind the scenes of some of the most inspiring digital products created by solopreneurs just like you. I'm your host, alyssa, a digital product strategist who helps subject matter experts grow their business with online courses, memberships, coaching programs and eBooks. If you're a solopreneur with dreams of packaging your expertise into a profitable digital product, then this is the podcast for you. Expect honest conversations of how they started, the obstacles they overcame, lessons learned the hard way, and who face the same fears, doubts and challenges you're experiencing, from unexpected surprises to breakthrough moments and everything in between. Tune in, get inspired and let's spark your next big, brilliant idea.

Alyssa:

This week on Brilliant Ideas, I'm joined by Heather Schaefer, the bold brand strategist. She's not here to tweak your logo or help you pick a prettier font. Heather helps powerhouse female founders like you go big by anchoring your business with a brand strategy that's built to convert scale and leave a legacy. She helps you turn confusing, chaotic marketing into a confident, cash-generating brand presence. Heather shares why most business owners are doing branding backwards and how to fix it. If you're tired of throwing money at ads, spinning in content chaos or wondering why your audience just isn't engaging. This conversation will be the compass that finally points you in the right direction. Let's dive in. Welcome to the show, heather Excited you're here.

Alyssa:

Yeah, I'm really excited to be here. Thanks for having me, of course, and you know, I think this is going to be a really great conversation, as we're going to be diving into branding, marketing and what it means to create a distinct brand that stands out. You did mention something that caught me off guard. You mentioned a mantra. It said don't just stand out, stand alone, which I think is interesting, because it's one thing to be a little different from competitors, like choosing a unique color palette, but I think it's another to own a space completely that no one else can compete with. So, with that in mind, what do you see as the core differences between branding and marketing? As if I was someone who had a business, I'm kind of like a solopreneur with kind of like no idea where to start first. Where would you start with that?

Heather:

Yes, Well, that is actually the very first place that we should start is let's just first talk about what's the difference between branding and marketing, because you know what it can be kind of confusing. Let's just be real. People are throwing the branding word around in so many scenarios and you know, I've been in this industry for 30 years and it's taken on a lot of different terms and phrases and buzzwords, and so really to break it down in a really I would call it a cliff note version, if you're familiar with cliff notes, it's like the shortened part of the long story. So your brand is really what captures the emotion and the values of the company. The marketing is what is going to implement and promote that brand message across a variety of channels. So the marketing is the how and the brand is the why.

Heather:

Why do I believe, why am I doing what I'm doing? What is at the core of my values, my mission, my vision, my voice, what does all of that sound like? So that my marketing can bring the ROI? I mean, that's what we're paying for, right, and so that's really a great place to start. So I really appreciate that you started that right off the bat, because that is really important, so that you really know where you should be spending your money, because if you don't have a brand strategy, you don't have a brand.

Alyssa:

I agree with that, and you know, what I find also interesting is there's a lot of coaches, people in the industry, who are selling services for branding and marketing, but it's like I think it's leaving people more confused because they don't know which to focus on first, and what you're saying is to focus on branding first, before you even pour money and time and energy into marketing across channels, because it is, would you say, branding is more of like an identity.

Heather:

Absolutely, absolutely. And just think about that. If you don't, if you don't know what your identity is and you start throwing it out there and start throwing money at it, I mean, you're just throwing money out the window, because if you don't have that really set where you know it, your team knows it, the marketing people know it. It is so clear then you're going to keep throwing spaghetti on the wall to see what sticks when it comes to your marketing, and that is just not a discerning and wise way to run your marketing as a CEO.

Alyssa:

And just now, just to think about this for a second, if let's say they choose a branding strategy, they've you know, they've chosen an identity that they want to show how they want to show up in their business, and then a few years go by Now this is a real issue that I've found with some clients is a few issues, a few years have gone by and their brand has evolved or business has evolved and they don't really they don't really like who they're showing up, as you know, like the branding strategy doesn't really match how you know their business, and so I'm just wondering, you know, what do you do in that situation?

Heather:

That's a really great point and that is real. And and without sounding maybe too trite, what I would say is that, in the first place, if, in three years or whatever this time frame is, your brand strategy doesn't sound at all like your business, like your brand, like what you want it to be, chances are you didn't go deep enough in the first place so it didn't really stick. So it didn't really stick, and before I lose everybody now on this call, I'm just going to say you know what, as entrepreneurs, sometimes we just have to start, and I totally understand that. And so what happens? Like? I'll just give you an example I had a client who came to me and she had been in business for almost 10 years and her business had taken, she'd been very successful, she built a multiple, six-figure business.

Heather:

But she noticed, for the last three years she kept kind of hitting a wall when it came to growing her revenue. She kept hitting that same six-figure, multiple, six-figure mark, figure, multiple, six figure mark. And we really started to identify and go through on a much deeper level. Because here's the thing is that once you've been in business for a while, you, you just know more, you're just like you know. It's kind of like how we mature as people as we get older, we just know more about ourselves, right? We're not teenagers anymore. We've lived life. Her brand had lived some life. It started to not necessarily change, but get deeper and more clear. Does that make sense? So it's not like it was totally off the wall, it's just we started to really hone in more. So once we really did the client research, the industry research, we started doing an analysis on all of that and really asked her deeper, tough questions Like who do you really want to work with? Like who's the client? That just lights you up and let's just talk to that person all the time. And we just got really, really clear. And what happened as a result is, within 60 days of implementing her brand strategy with her team that I led her through, she increased her revenue by 77 percent, yeah, I know. And so she is on pace for seven figures this year because of it. That's super impressive. It's super impressive and so.

Heather:

But it's not as if she like had a really terrible brand and it's not not as if we you know what sometimes, alyssa, it's like the smallest things make the biggest difference. So you may not have, you know, so somebody who might be listening to this. It might not be that your brand is totally different. It might just be you know what might just need to be honed in a little bit and gone a little deeper. And an expert to come in and do that so that you can go deeper with it is really helpful, because sometimes we're just too close to it, right. It's like. It's like right here, we just can't see any further and that's okay. That's okay, it's not all for waste. It got you this far, but it's not going to get you where you want to go.

Alyssa:

And it's not black and white either. It's not as if you go and build a brand and you're saying this is what I have to have in the next 10 years or for the rest of my entrepreneurship career. It's not as if that it's not set in stone. Like we, you evolve your brand as you evolve your business and little things can change, be tweaked, modified, you know, but I think the core value stays the same, right Core values, the emotions, yeah, absolutely.

Heather:

You know what I mean. Think about big companies. Think about, you know, big brands like McDonald's. You know they've evolved. Yes, they've kept very similar color and visual logo, but their messaging looks different. 're talking to is what evolved and changed, you know, like I mentioned, is that most of the time when I'm working with entrepreneurs, they're not first time, they're not in their 20s. Let's just say that, okay, they've done life and they know more, and so that's really all it is is. It's just you know more and you're able to take your brand to that next level, and that's a good thing too, really good thing.

Alyssa:

It is. And so you mentioned this branding strategy, and so, uh, we often, you know, think of you know, creating a brand strategy takes a lot of time, resources it takes, you know, think of you know, creating a brand strategy takes a lot of time, resources it takes, you know. Oh, you know, let me just do ads first and then I'll worry about my brand later. But I think the opposite is true, and I think you would agree. How do you think a branding strategy can actually save you money and time in the long run?

Heather:

Oh gosh, let me count the ways right, but I guess I would focus on you know for sure two main things. The first thing is is that when you have a clear, thorough, comprehensive brand strategy, you are going to know exactly where to put your money. And it's just like shopping at the grocery store without a shopping list. If you go to the store right, if you go to the store without a list you are going to spend way more money. You're going to buy things you didn't need, you know, buy things you already had in your pantry that you thought you needed when you were there. It's the same. You are going to spend more money on, whether it's ads or just even and not even just money, but time. You're going to put time on, maybe, a social media channel where maybe that's not where your audience is. When you have that strategy, you know exactly where you're going. It's the compass, it's the roadmap to success. Get you to where you want to go, and traveling without a roadmap is just going to spin your wheels on time and money. I think that's pretty logical. The other way that a brand strategy is going to really help you and save you time and money and get you the ROI is as a CEO who has a team maybe you've got one or two people, maybe you've got a VA, maybe you've got an admin, maybe you've got a marketing agency or social media when you have a brand strategy that has been completely thoroughly done, I mean when I'm putting together brand strategies for my clients. When I say complete, I mean like 35 plus pages of thorough documentation. This is not just a mood board, right? This is not just like here are the fonts and the pretty colors you use, like we're talking research, grounded analysis and design visuals, all those things. Okay, so I'm talking about this white glove experience I give to my clients with this brand strategy.

Heather:

Guess what happens? Then they can hand it off to their marketing team, to their brand photographer, to their admin, and as a CEO, you are no longer the CMO also, and so when we're wearing multiple hats and we're like, okay, I'm going to onboard this new team member, gosh, it's going to take me a little while because I'm going to have to keep saying the same things. I'm going to have to kind of explain what my brand strategist told me and now, all of a sudden, it's the game of telephone right, where it's like things get lost in the translation. But you're the CEO, you're the creative, you're the idea generator, you're the income maker.

Heather:

You don't need to be the CMO and doing all those things and onboarding and re-explaining your brand when you can deliver a thorough strategy that spells out the voice, the values, the vision, the mission, the mood board, all of this, all of the technical things that need to be delivered. In there you can just say, great, no problem, I've got it for you, I'll just hand it off, send you the PDF, and that is so valuable it's going to save I mean, that's, there's ROI right there on just not having to onboard and train your team in an area that you're not the expert in.

Alyssa:

It is. I agree with that. I think it's such a headache for and it slows down the efficiency of the team because you're the one having to explain and send over, you know, instead of just having it in one big file that just you give off, like I've. Actually, I was working with a client a few years ago and she had, like for onboarding. She had, she had done this branding strategy like very comprehensive, in depth, and every time that there was someone new that she had hired, she just gave it off to them and said here you go, here's the fonts, here's the messaging, and it was just, it was so organized, it was such a smooth onboarding, I didn't have to do anything. I was like this is amazing, you know, and it's like, yeah, like, and then you don't have those repeated questions from your team and you know, you go into Slack and you're just like whoa, like you know, I don't have to explain anything, it's all in there, just refer back to it and it's great. And so I think it does save so much more time. It reduces a lot of that headache that you get with like the constant back and forth. And so now, um, I just want to switch gears a little bit. Um. I just want to talk about um.

Alyssa:

I've worked kind of with clients in the past where they've also run ads as well. They've spent an insane amount of money on campaigns with very little return on investment, and the biggest thing I think with them is that they don't have that distinct brand that sets them apart from their competitors, and so when doing that, they're really wasting much of their marketing budget, which is scary in itself, because many of these clients are like solopreneurs or they have a really small team, so it's not like they're like McDonald's, where they have like an unlimited marketing budget. And so my question for you is what advice would you give somebody who may not have a brand strategy yet. Maybe they're a solopreneur or they're an established business, but branding hasn't really been on their radar yet. But they're already marketing their business, they're paying for their ads. They're just not seeing a return on investment that they really want to see. So what advice would you give there?

Heather:

Yeah Well, I love this question and I definitely want to answer it Before. I just want to go back to one thing you said a minute ago about time. Sometimes people don't want to take the time, and it also relates to the question you just asked is that sometimes we have to slow down for a hot second so we can speed up, and oftentimes people assume that a brand strategy is going to take too much time, so they don't do it, and so I would just argue that it can be done with speed, it can be done really efficiently and quickly so that you can go really fast into your goals for the for the quarter. So I'll say that, and so with that, what you just asked, you know how. How do you? Can you rephrase that? Can you tell me again?

Alyssa:

how, now that I got on that tangent, I don't want to go down that road too far.

Alyssa:

Yeah, no, of course. So you know, I'm just saying, like my clients have, you know they've run ads. They, you know they're, they're spending money on, they're spending an insane amount of money on campaigns and so, but they don't realize that they need that branding strategy before they can go and market across their channels. And so what advice would you give someone who may not have a brand strategy but are already marketing their business? They're paying for their ads, they're just not seeing an investment of what they want to see because they don't have that brand.

Heather:

Well, what I would say honestly is I would say stop paying for ads. I would to stop. You have to stop spending, and so that's the first thing. I would just stop and regroup. You know, like I just mentioned, we have to take a pause, take an inventory, sit down and get really deep with your brand strategy, or find somebody to help you get really deep quickly and quite honestly, when I'm working with my clients my client I talked to you about that had the 77% increase. That was all organic, that was not paid ads, and so I firmly believe in the landscape, the digital landscape that we are in today.

Heather:

It's not that I'm totally opposed to paid ads.

Heather:

However, if you're just starting out like this scenario that you're talking about, just starting out, you're trying to get your business and your name out there the best thing you can do for your business to scale and to grow is to take the time and invest it in getting your brand strategy set so that you can move a lot faster, because that is going to help you speak really clearly to your audience organically and grow, and actually, with the algorithms and ads and all of that, you're actually going to grow faster once you do have more people that feel attracted organically.

Heather:

That's going to scale and just multiply with paid ads a lot better. I mean, quite frankly, most of my clients. They're just exhausted from the paid ads because it's changing so quickly and I really teach my clients to do it so that the marketing is effortless. It's just so simple once you have this brand strategy and you don't feel stressed, you don't feel overwhelmed, you don't feel like a hamster on a wheel spinning and spinning and spinning, trying to find the next algorithm or AI or this or that, and it's just when you're just starting out as an entrepreneur and you're really building and scaling and wanting to grow. That's gonna help you give the best to your business by having that brand strategy. It really is essential. It's not just a nice to have anymore, it really is essential.

Alyssa:

It is. I agree with that and I love what. I love your advice on that because they should. You know, if something is not working, you know spending more money is not going to fix the issue either. That is so true, yes, yeah, so stop and regroup, as you say, and go back to the drawing board and think and hire a brand strategist, you know. So, um, and I really like the idea of the branding strategy, even if you're already established. I think it's important to have, because your brand will evolve, like my brand, I have to say, has evolved quite extensively, only because I think I've grown Like as a business owner, I've worked with many clients.

Alyssa:

I'm just, I know more, as you say, and so my brand has just been different. You know, every couple of years I learned something new and I'm just like I think I, I don't think I like I. I'll give you an example I am like not just colors wise, but like I had like pink, hot pink, and I was like this really girly girl type of branding. And then I was like you know what, that's not me. And then, as soon as I had changed the visuals, it's like I wasn't hitting a wall anymore, I could sell confidently and it was just. It was more me, like I was trying to emulate like the influencers I was seeing online emulate like the influencers I was seeing online. That's also. I think. Another problem with branding is that when I first started I was very much trying to adopt other people's brands and how they looked and their identity and thinking like, oh, I could do that, I can be a hot pink, girly girl. But deep down, that is not me. I'm more tomboy than anything else.

Heather:

Yeah, yeah. And you know what I think that is. That's so good that you saw that, because and you are not the only one that has done that where you just kind of you, you emulate what, what success. You look online and think, okay, they're successful, I'm going to emulate that and then I'm going to be successful. And so what's so interesting?

Heather:

When I go through this brand intensive process with my clients, it really is kind of funny because, like I keep saying, I go deep, I'm super intentional. I'm intentional in every aspect of my life and I'm definitely intentional when it comes to my client's brand. And so oftentimes when they walk out of a brand intensive workshop with me, they feel like they just went to the therapist, because and I mean, I giggle about it, but it creates a lot of emotions and when I'm delivering these brands, because I've done the research, we've dug really deep, we've gotten the core values beyond just what's important to you oh, my family, my friends, my faith, my whatever, you know what. No, that is not. And so, like, intention is one of my core values. Intentional, I am intentional in my personal life. I'm intentional with my adult daughters, with my friends, with my husband and in my business Intentional is what people know me for, and so that's just an example. But I just, when you go that deep, then you go to the colors and the fonts that represent the values, right, and so colors have meaning, fonts have meaning, and that's how you can already kind of see If you go with like a. I mean, I can spot a Canva template a mile away. I'm just going to say Because everyone's using it and that's, you know, to what we opened with. You know, if you want to be seen as the expert in your field I just get goosebumps talking about it If you want to be that expert in the field where you stand alone that's what I mean by stand alone, not just stand out, oh, I, you know, look a little different. No, no, no, stand alone, that's like at the top, you are seen as the expert.

Heather:

One of my clients, when we positioned her in this brand space for her brand, that was so unique, it was bold, it was confident, she looked totally different than her industry. She made the number one bestseller list for her book. She ended up on a billboard in New York City in Times Square. She ended up being asked to lead a very elite organization within her industry all because we notched up and we just put her in at the top as the standalone brand that other people were chasing, not like a bunch of people in the sea that everyone's just swimming along, you know, trying to make a difference.

Heather:

But that really is where the difference happens, where I'm talking about the standout brand, because you're not going to make, you're not going to build that million dollar brand just looking like everyone else. You're just not. You're just going to blend in. I mean, what is it now? The statistic is after the post-pandemic. This is how we refer to so many things. You know it takes what? 15 visuals before somebody sees you Before the pandemic, seven, yep. So we have a lot coming at us. Think of all of this we have coming at us. And so, really, you know, colors and fonts are the after effect of doing the research for the brand strategy, so that everything is cohesive and aligns, and that's what's going to make it all work together and really call out your best client. So your best client knows oh my gosh, she's totally talking to me, you know. So it's. It really just makes such a big difference for a CEO to really get to that place, and the sooner you can start it, the better.

Heather:

Um granted, sometimes I'm working with clients that already have a brand and you know what, sometimes we come in and we're like you know what. We just need to get more clear with our voice and our messaging. Maybe the colors are good, maybe they just need to be tweaked a little, maybe the fonts are good, but we don't know that until we do the research and really dig deep.

Alyssa:

No, that's really great. Advice, that's that's great, and I that's wow, that's a really that's a statistic. Man, that's scary that you need more visuals to catch someone's attention. And that makes sense, though, because we live, you know, I think, with our industry being online in that space, it is very oversaturated. You know, everybody's kind of doing the same thing, but like maybe in a different way, so it's even harder to stand out, and this is why your services are just so necessary. And so, as we conclude this interview, where can my listeners connect with you online? But, specifically, can you talk a little bit about your brand strategy service that you offer?

Heather:

Yeah, absolutely so. I offer so where you can find me online? Branding you Big is the name of my business. You can find me at brandingyoubigcom. You can find me there on Facebook and Instagram and LinkedIn and, yeah, can stalk me there all you want. Get connected, subscribe to my weekly wave newsletter. All those good things to get some good things.

Heather:

As for my brand strategy, like I've mentioned and I've alluded to a couple of times, I really, you know, I, as I've said, I've been in this industry for a long time and I've been through many iterations in my business and the way that I've been able to serve my clients, the best is in that, with this white glove, silver platter experience of brand, where I'm really literally doing all of the work and all of the foundation and handing off this complete brand strategy. And so that program is. It involves research, it involves competitive analysis, it involves brand messaging and voice the visuals. I go into KPIs and metrics and I also, because I'm a designer too, I kind of have this strategic design brain. It's kind of strange, but I create, I design your brand visuals, the mood board, the color, I direct the brand photography, and then I don't stop there, because I also have been doing that for a while and I noticed you know what.

Heather:

I don't want to just hand this off to you and say, okay, have a nice day, Hope it works. And so I don't stop with just the brain strategy. I actually am your creative branding officer for 60 to 90 days and I guide you and your team whoever you have working on it where I help direct the path so that your marketing does deliver the ROI that we've been talking about. So I don't just leave you hanging after that really intensive. But I also don't want to leave out that what's really different about my service with my Unstoppable Big Brand program is I do the brand strategy in two weeks, Two weeks. So you talk about speed. I am all about it, and entrepreneurs who are ready to go love this part of what I do, because you don't want to wait around, you want to meet your goals in Q2. So let's go.

Alyssa:

They want it done yesterday.

Heather:

Right, exactly, and you know what. You know why. Because I'm the same exact way. So I do the brand strategy, we do a brand intensive workshop, I do the research, I do the design, we're doing edits, live on the screen together. We're not waiting for drafts and get back to me with no, no, no, we're doing it, we're getting it done. And then I'm walking you and your team through the implementation through my executive 60 day implementation plan and that delivers the results that a laser focused female founder or entrepreneur is ready to go.

Heather:

So that's my favorite way to work. It really is the best way for my clients. I understand sometimes people might be at different stages in their business and they might just want a VIP day. So I do offer a VIP day where I do my creative, my brand intensive workshop alone as a standalone, and we can kind of get through a lot of things that way. Um, but it is another option, but really I know what they really need and that's that white glove, unstoppable big brand strategy with the creative brand officer attached to it. So it's a great way to really meet your goals and if you're ready for a million dollar brand, this is what the big brands are using.

Alyssa:

Amazing. Well, thank you so much, Heather. You know Heather's contact information. I will put everything in the show notes of this episode to make sure to check that out. And I love that you have the option of like a VIP day versus like a comprehensive branding session Because, again, like, it depends on where you are in your business and how much you need a complete reset on your brand strategy or just a few modifications, right.

Heather:

Definitely. Yeah, I like to deliver that.

Alyssa:

So it's been super fun to talk with you. I know it was such a great conversation, so everyone listening. Please make sure to follow her on Facebook, instagram, youtube and LinkedIn as well, and thank you so much, heather, for being on the show today. Thank you, thanks for having me, alyssa, yeah, and thank you for listening for today's episode. If you loved it, but you still have questions, head over to my Instagram, alyssabelsyriaobm, and share your thoughts. Would love to know how this episode landed for you. Thanks for tuning in and I'll see you next time on another brilliant idea. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Brilliant Ideas. If you love the show, be sure to leave a review and follow me on Instagram for even more insider tips and inspiration. Ready to bring your next big, brilliant idea to life? Visit AlyssaVelsercom for resources, guidance and everything you need to start creating something amazing.