2. Meet Karen, your co-host
My name is Karen Swyszcz, the founder of Makinthebacon. It started off as a
personal finance blog back in 2012. I rebranded back in 2016 to focus more on the
blogging process and entrepreneurship. I now provide consulting services for small
business owners and teach them strategies for
● Blogging
● Branding
● Social Media
4. Branding
It’s more than just your logo, fonts and colours
Gives your business a voice, a certain look, a feel
Almost adds a human element to your business
It helps develop your business’ reputation
5. History Overview of Branding
Brand comes from the word “Brandr”which means “to burn” in the Ancient Norse
language
1500s - the meaning of brand had changed to mean “a mark burned on cattle” to
show ownership. “Individuals ranches each had their own unique mark so ownership
could be determined if animals were lost, stolen or mixed in with animals from
another ranch.”
In order to be identified quickly, each brand had to be simple and unique - essential
traits that are still common to today’s modern logos
Source: History of Branding by Matt Shadel, https://www.weareconvoy.com/2014/01/a-brief-history-of-branding/
7. Online Branding
●It can help you stand out from your competitors in a
crowded market
●Your brand is how people perceive you and remember
you
●It is what your business stands for
●Helps maintain consistency for your business
Why is a Brand Important
8. “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five
minutes to ruin it. If you think about it, you’ll do
things differently.”
-Warren Buffett
9. Online Branding
What’s in a name?
PLENTY
What makes a great name:
● Catchy
● Short
● Easy To Remember(Rhymes- ie makinthebacon, Alliteration -The Poise
Pursuit)
● Easy To Spell
Online Branding For Your Biz
10. Online Branding
What is unique about your brand?
Do you have a particular skillset? Quality? Experience or combination of
experiences?
How are you different to others in the same industry/niche?
Really take the time to think about what this is, because this will help you package
your brand in a certain way
Unique Selling Proposition
11.
12. Online Branding
Think of your content mainly as the voice of your brand
What kind of tone do you want to portray(Serious, laid-back, funny)?
What you write about, what you show, what you talk about, what you share should
all relate to your brand
Make sure it is relevant
Content
13. Online Branding
Does your brand/business have its own social media accounts?
Take a look at the profile description for each one
Is it the same message across all platforms?
Does it state who you are, what you do and how you can help people?
Social Media
14. Online Branding
These photos can help define the look of your brand and should reflect what your
brand is all about
If you have a logo and/or colours that relate to your brand, try to incorporate them
into your visuals
● Can be used in marketing materials
● Easy to identify online visuals
● Add to your authenticity and credibility
Branding Photography
15. Online Branding
Makinthebacon is a short, easy to remember, catchy type of name
It is unique because the name doesn’t describe exactly what it is, but can spark
curiosity
The overall look and feel of the site is fun and energetic
Target audience: small business owners with unique businesses and
Unique business ideas
USP: blog turned consulting business that thinks outside the box
Brand Analysis
17. Online Branding
Reasons to possibly look into a re-brand:
If you have a new logo with new colours and fonts
If your products and services have changed to something completely different and
unrelated to your current brand
If you change your name
If your niche has changed and your target audience has changed
Re-Branding
18. Online Branding
BOOKS
-You Are A Brand by Catherine Kaputa
- The Brand You 50 By Tom Peters
- Sticky Branding: 12.5 Principles To Stand Out, Attract Customers and
Grow an Incredible Brand by Jeremy Miller
Branding Resources
19. Online Branding
ONLINE BRANDING TOOLS
Canva - simple design software
Social media schedulers - Buffer, MeetEdgar
BLOGS
StickyBranding
Rising Above The Noise
Branding Strategy Insider
Branding Resources
My goal is to empower small business owners to increase their online visibility and potential to make more bacon.
Point one: and keeping them consistent
This quote resonated with me and is a reminder to be cognizant of how we present our brand to others
Online branding - Developing this and streamlining it across the board is essential. You don’t want to confuse your audience or your clients
Side note: once you have chosen your name, snap up the domain name while it’s available, even if you don’t have a site at the moment. It may never be available again. Just a side note, all my accounts I had to put a 1 in front of them because makinthebacon was taken and last time I checked the accounts were very active.
Note down your skills, experiences, your personality, your quirks
Social media can be very valuable tool for helping spread the message about your brand.
If content is the voice, think of social media as your megaphone, where the magnitude of your voice can be amplified
Use the logo in your promotion materials such as newsletters and in your client documents, proposals, contracts
You are a professional and your business is professional
So it’s important to have professional photos of yourself on your site
Quick analysis of my own brand
It sticks in your head and sounds different
Starbucks and Lululemon place emphasis on the community culture. Both pride themselves on the quality of their products.
Fun fact: Christine Day the former CEO of Lululemon worked at Starbucks during its early days and stayed on for 20 years.
Coca-cola is the oldest brand here and emphasizes enjoying the drink, enjoying it with friends and family. Holiday commericals with polar bear and baby polar bear.
The “fg” logo is a Canadian company called Fidel Gastro, they originally started as a food pop up business, then expanded to include a food truck. They believe food should be fun and that you have to be different to be memorable.
It’s important analyze your brand, do a brand audit every 6 months or so to see if anything has changed or you are thinking about changing something. In my case, I was fortunate to be able to keep my domain name and logo, but however I had changed niches, hence changed target audience, I changed the content I wrote and the content I shared
It sticks in your head and sounds different
Canva- to create marketing visuals for your brand and social media profile headers and all sorts of branded content
Social media schedulers can help automate and schedule your content out in advance
Canva- to create marketing visuals for your brand and social media profile headers and all sorts of branded content
Would love it if you could keep in touch. I am the most active on Facebook and Instagram.
