April 12, 2022
My guest today is Sapna Pieroux, Founder of brand consultancy InnerVisions. Designer, author, speaker and mentor, Sapna Pieroux is the multi-award-winning founder of brand consultancy InnerVisions ID, helping ambitious, ethical and purpose-driven businesses stand out sothey can make a bigger impact.
Her book Let’s Get Visible! will help you 'Get brand clarity, Stand out in your Industry and Superchargeyour Business Growth'. It hit #1 best-seller status in four categories on launch (January 2020) and wonan award at the Business Book Awards this March.
Sapna also won the Women in Business Rising Star Awards (October 2019), Creative Entrepreneur ofthe Year 2020 (Be Your Own Awards) and is currently shortlisted for the National Business Women’sAwards 2020 for Service Excellence.Sapna is also the Brand Mentor for a national programme Shifts to Success, helping police officersinto a life of entrepreneurship and a business mentor for Westmont Enterprise Hub at the University of West London.
The Fearless Business podcast welcomes Sapna Pieroux, a brand expert, the founder of multi-award-winning brand consultancy InnerVisions ID, and author of Let’s Get Visible! Here’s a look at some of the things Sapna and Robin discussed.
A lot of people think that when it comes to brand and branding, you get a logo and you are ready to go. Your brand is not your logo though. Your logo is a part of your brand, and a visible part that allows people to recognise your brand, but it is only the tip of the iceberg. Your brand is across every touch point of your business. It forms the whole customer experience, from when they first discover you to your website to when they fill out an enquiry form with you.
More than that, your brand also incorporates your promise to your customer. How will you transform their lives? People don’t decide to work with you based on your logo, they want to work with you because they feel an emotional connection to your work. The visual side does play a part because you want people to notice you, but what matters is feeling connected. You want to be aligned with one another. You are not going to want to work with someone if they have completely different values to you.
From a visual perspective, you want your logo, colours, fonts, graphics and any other visual element to be consistent and represent your brand. This is where branding comes in. If a brand is a set of values, experiences and promises, then your branding is the visual representation of these.
Sapna has a three-part model called ‘Do Say See’ which looks at how people interact with brands. The three parts are linked in a Venn diagram style layout.
At the top of the model is ‘do’. This is the foundations of your business such as what you do, how it will work, what services or products do you offer, what equipment you need and more. You are setting out the groundwork of your business.
You then have the next step ‘say’. If you don’t tell people about your business, you won’t have a business. Saying is about communicating and getting your message out there whether that is through a blog, podcast, social media or public speaking.
The last part is ‘see’. This is the visual branding side of your business. It is easy to spend so long honing your skills and working on your business, but if people can’t see and connect to your content, then this will jeopardise your business. Seeing is also about making a great first impression, how you come across, and the environment in which you run your business. It is about how you conduct yourself and whether that connects to your brand messaging and experience. You could have an incredible product or service, but people won’t know that if you don’t have a strong first impression.
Now more than ever, there are so many businesses starting up all the time due to the advancements of the internet. Unfortunately, among these start-ups, you see many going out of business quickly. How do you stand out and catch someone’s eye?
You have to be serious about your business and be willing to invest in areas such as brand and branding. You need that drive and determination. Investing in your brand and entire branding is a sign that you believe in what you do and in the long run, this will lead to more success. As Sapna describes, “Branding is dressing your business for success.”
As your business grows and the world around you changes, it is important to regularly review your messaging and if you make any changes, to update your brand and branding in line with these. During the pandemic, many businesses went bust or tried to pivot and didn’t make as much money. Whenever you pivot or adapt to a new way of working, you need to communicate how you want to be seen in the new world going forward.
Feeling clearer on the difference between brand and branding? Listen to the full episode to hear more of Sapna’s wise words.
Connect with Sapna on LinkedIn for a free copy of ‘Let’s Get Visible’
>> www.linkedin.com/in/sapnapieroux/
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/sapnapieroux/
Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/InnerVisionsID/
Twitter: www.twitter.com/InnerVisionsID/
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>> https://facebook.com/groups/ChargeMore
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>> https://fearless.biz