Branding is all of your organization logos, colors, fonts, and any other marks used to depict the organization. It is your mission, vision, and your values. It is your staff, marketing material, customer service, and online persona. It’s how your organization handles itself. Everyone who represents you has an impact on others’ opinions of the organization and even THAT is your brand.

To recap, your brand is visual, audio, written, perception, and implied assumptions. It is first impressions, customer interactions, and professional presentations.

Below is an example of my own branding | logo, brand colors, headshots

Why does branding matter?

Branding is crucial for several reasons, especially in today’s competitive marketplace. Consistent branding provides: identity and recognition; trust and credibility; emotional connection; customer loyalty and retention; differentiation in the market; increased business value; consistency and focus; and attracts talent and partnerships. Basically, branding is a long-term investment that influences customer perception, drives engagement, and fosters growth.

Let’s dive a little deeper…

• Ownership: Consistency of use ensures ownership of the logo, colors, and any other mark. If you misuse your logo or branded colors, another person or organization can build a case that you don’t own the brand image. For instance, if your organization has two primary colors but begins using a wide array of colors for apparel, on your website, or marketing materials, then you are no longer using your brand consistently. All of a sudden someone else can start using your brand colors and you can’t prove that you’re still using it because you have been inconsistent in the use. The same concept applies to your logo — if it was created a certain way and you start adding elements to it (words or designs) and someone starts using your original, then you may not have a case for that original mark. All of that to say, be consistent with your brand! Don’t be afraid to update it or revise, but be consistent with how you use it to represent you. Guidelines are the best way to ensure consistent use if more than a couple people will be using your logo and colors.
• Storytelling: Consistent use of your brand logos, colors, and fonts will build a story that is recognizable. These are the building blocks that point back to you. The more visible and seen your marketing materials, social channels, newsletters, or events are, the more people will connect your organization to the logo/font/colors. We connect things visually and when adding a story to the visual element, you become memorable. All of a sudden, your branding has the ability to sell your story without you interacting with each customer.
• Pride: When you build a brand that is recognizable, you are unknowingly creating pride around your brand. When put together correctly and consistently, it is YOU and exudes your mission, vision, values, and how you treat others. Pride comes to your employees, contractors, vendors, and users.

Basically, branding is a long-term investment that influences customer perception, drives engagement, and fosters growth. It happens in the day-to-day and we have the chance to influence it with little effort when we consistently tell our message, use our colors, and have a logo.

One of the rules I live by…social media content should have a purpose. When accounts start sharing or creating content that doesn’t relate to their business or industry then they become “noise” in the social media world. We’ve all followed people or businesses that just create noise on social media. You don’t want to become that account.⠀

Here’s a quick and easy checklist to ensure your social media content is telling your brand story. Why is that important? Because you want all of your marketing material – print, digital, and web – to tell the same story and share the same visual identity. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Top 6 Best Practices for Creating Social Media Content

1. Educate – create content that provides an educational aspect.
2. Entertain – content that connects to your industry or business that has a humorous element. This can most often be used in stories. Be careful not to create content that is disrespectful or insensitive towards anyone.
3. Inspire – motivational content is typically a quote or something that inspires your audience.
4. Promote – you created your account to promote your product or services, so make sure you do that!
5. Connect – connect with your audience, but also make sure your content connects back to your marketing goals.
6. Approachable – write your content in a manner that your audience will understand and also find you approachable. You want your audience to engage.

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We all get to choose what social media platforms we’re on and what content we follow. Give your audience a reason to follow your account! Create your own content or share content that checks these boxes. We always want to promote our offerings, but if that’s all your account is then your audience may get bored with your 24/7 sales pitches.

When you scroll through my social media feeds, you should see the same colors, visual style, and content should tell the same type of story. I’m here to help others learn more about marketing. I don’t often mix in personal content in post format, but I do share more of that on stories. While I am a person behind an account, this account is known for marketing. I am a mama to three very active boys, but you don’t come to my feed to see what my kiddos are up to. You come to my account to learn something or see how I’m applying a tip to my socials. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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I know social media management can be overwhelming, but you really can make it easier if you break it into smaller pieces. Today, look at your content and see if it meets some of these best practices.⠀

• Likes & Comments show how engaged your audience is with your content. It shows if they relate to what you’re saying.
• Shares show if your audience thinks your content is relatable to THEIR audience. If they find your content helpful, funny, or relatable to share with others.
• Impression is how many people see your content. The same person can be counted multiple times. The key is actual people seeing the content.
• Reach is the potential number of people who could see your content. The key is potential – who COULD see your content.

Depending on your social media goals, one of these metrics may be more important to your business strategy. If you’re looking at overall effectiveness, it’s important to keep track of all metrics. If your reach increased 10x but your likes/comments/shares don’t change at all, then you need to re-evaluate the content.

Use your data to determine what type of content your audience engages with the most.

• Are certain themes not getting attention?
• Are types of content (story, reel, carousel, static image) getting better engagement?
• Compare your efforts of creating content to engagement then move on to another idea.
• Do certain visuals attract more attention?

Remember, you won’t normally get a wide swing in one direction or another for metrics. When you make changes, give yourself time for your audience to come along with you.

Are you wondering how to show up in your social media channels during the COVID-19 global pandemic? It can feel be overwhelming to figure out what the perfect message is during times like this. I’m here to tell you anything with sincerity is better than nothing at all. Now is the perfect time to share your message. I’ve put together some tips on how you can show up with care.

It’s smart to step back and use the crisis time to refocus, create a new plan, and get the necessary training…but it’s also a time to connect with your audience. Your audience doesn’t expect perfection during a crisis, they want to see that you’re still around and still pushing forward…even if it’s in a new and completely different way.

1. Keep your mission at the heart of your messages. Show how you’re handling the crisis. Share how you’re pivoting your goals or services. Remind your audience what the why is for your organization. Tell how you’re serving your audience during the crisis. Do all of these things with your mission at the forefront. Communicate your mission – verbatim, through visuals, with stories, and any other way you can to continue showing up with your mission at the center of your messaging.
2. Focus on progress, not perfection. Your social media channels don’t need to be a highlight reel of perfectly staged and Photoshopped pictures. More than ever, people are craving real life. They want to see that their favorite brand is run by humans just like them. Parents struggling to find work-life-homeschool balance. Or someone single trying to find new ways to keep themselves busy. They aren’t discouraged by piles of paperwork in your newly created “home office” or the new “crisis hair style” that resembles so many all over the country. In times of crisis, people have ample grace to give and are looking for shared experiences with others.
3. Know your message is needed. Remember, it doesn’t need to be fully polished or completely vetted. It needs to be real and honest and connect with your audience. In times of crisis, everyone is looking for a connection with others. If you’re trying to connect with your audience and form lasting relationships, speak from the heart of your organization. Remove all the barriers and buzzwords and focus on your why. There’s someone who is searching for that message and looking for you.
4. Help the world find joy. In times of a crisis, people are looking for joy. They are looking for humor, looking to see the good in the world, and looking for an escape from the crisis. Joy can be showing the employees behind the company. Show the reality of what your company looks like during this crisis – the workers wearing full PPE gear or a video conference call or someone working from home. Limit the memes or GIFs as they don’t typically fit into your brand image. Instead, use real pictures with positive messages.
5. Give people content to read when they are scrolling. During a crisis, people use social media to stay current. As we’ve seen, people consumed A LOT of information in rapid-fire and then needed to be surrounded by happy things. Be a source of non-crisis content. As they look for content to read, give them something!

If you wait for the perfect time and perfect message, you’ll never hit publish. Let your audience know you’re still out there, working in whatever capacity you’re able. Start small, be consistent, and offer them a glimmer of hope. Take them along on your journey of re-discovery and you both navigate the world during a crisis.

What tips would you add? What brands have you admired during the crisis?

Seven years ago, we decided to be different and took Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University course. We learned that it’s ok to be weird with your finances and we wanted to be different. We made decisions about our future and our financial goals. We’ve been faced with a few tough decisions over the years, where peer pressure felt pretty strong. Admittedly, it’s a struggle in the beginning with wants over needs versus long-term goals. Our long-term goals have us living a future life that we get really excited about. It can be really hard to pass up a fun opportunity now for a future that you can’t quite touch. But, after some time to really think about it we both come to the same conclusion…most temporary things aren’t worth the financial setbacks when we think about our long-time goals. Sticking to a budget and our financial “morales” of not spending cash that we don’t have will always be the right thing for our family. If we really “need” it, we can save up for it.

One of the things I’m most proud of is our focus. We haven’t gotten distracted by exciting new things. We may not always create a monthly budget and we may have months we spend more than we realize, but our focus doesn’t change. We have multiple savings accounts with automatic monthly transfers to ensure we continue to fund our dreams. From 401K to college for the boys to car fund to holidays/gifts and even a basement fund. {Another thing I’m REALLY proud of. Paying outright to finish our basement. The majority of it has been done by my husband, but the things he has hired out came from our basement fund!} We both have wants and it can be a bummer when we “can’t” buy them, but after a few days of wanting you realize that you don’t actually need it. We have a house full of stuff that I’m constantly putting away, sorting, organizing, and cleaning. We aren’t deprived of anything.

The latest fashion or car isn’t something we need. Yes, we have our wants for a giant SUV vehicle. We’ve wanted it for more than five years {and maybe I’ve wanted it for most of my life}, but we don’t need it. Right now, a minivan {also not in my original life plan} works perfectly for our family. One of my children has spent the past year crashing his door into my van every time he gets in or out of Bryan’s car. Both of our vehicles are used and we’ve had them for more than 5 years. If they were new, we’d both be sick about it. But instead, it’s part of living with small, reckless children. And also proof of why one of our vehicles doesn’t have doors they can open…We’ll get our dream vehicle one day, when everyone in our house can appreciate and respect the vehicle. But also after we’ve saved for the vehicle. Because those are the things that are important to us. Living a life that’s a little different and maybe not as fun now so we can truly live a life we deserve later.

You won’t always find yourself surrounded by people who share the same opinions. The beauty of life is that everyone gets to make their own decisions and live the life they want. I do hope you are surrounded by people who respect you and your “weird” life choices. You can swap out “finances” with anything – type of school, health beliefs, fitness, food, clothing, anything. It’s important to surround yourself with people who are supportive of your dreams and lifestyle – no matter how weird they are.

Do you have any lifestyle preferences that make you different from your friends? Or do you surround yourself with like-minded people? 

People connect with you – or your business – because of what you post. More importantly, how you say it. It’s like the old adage, it’s not what you say but how you say it. If your business account is unprofessional or even one giant sales pitch, people will probably keep scrolling or unfollow.

Providing quality content is crucial to your organization image in all situations, but the type of content is really important when it comes to social media. Here are a few of my top tips for a business account.

1. Humanize you content. Give your organization a brand or image that someone can relate to. Show your staff in their work environment, highlight volunteer or charity work that is important to your organization, show team building activities or how your staff takes a break from the work day, and highlight personal and professional staff accomplishments. Pictures don’t need to be staged or professional, but do pay attention to what is shown. You never want to show confidential information or intellectual property. You humanize your company by showing real life. Telling a broader story helps people see and feel your company values.
2.  Engage with your audience. To keep your audience engaged, it’s important to speak to them on their level. You can do that with the type of language you use or by the content you post. Stay away from buzzwords that may not mean anything to your readers. Just as your marketing materials shouldn’t make your audience feel like you are smarter than them, your social media shouldn’t either. Your social media content should speak to them on their level, relate to their problems, and give solutions that they can imagine in their own organization.
3. Think about your daily image. Whether someone follows your posts daily or looks at your account in bulk, the combined image that you present will determine what people think about your company. This also applies to how little you post. If you post twice a month, people will form an opinion about you based on those two posts. They may also assume that your organization doesn’t value marketing or social media or even technology.
4. Don’t argue or post negative comments. A business account should never be used to replace a customer conversation, whether its good or bad. It should also not be used to express personal opinions as posts or as comments on someone else’s page. Your company social media accounts should mimic your company ethics. If you wouldn’t want an employee to say something to a customer or peer, it shouldn’t be posted to social media.

These tips are for business accounts, but they also apply to a personal account. The posts you write, pictures you post, and things you share all help others shape an opinion of your beliefs. It’s really easy to set up a social media account, but no one tells you that what you do with that account will determine what people think about you or your organization.

Let’s chat! What social media tips do you have for managing a business account? Or, what personal account tips do you think relate to business accounts?

Things I’ve stopped doing over the past few months:

• Following a workout plan or even exercising regularly
• Eating healthy
• Cooking meals – sorry fam
• Meal planning
• Going to bed early
• Reading
• Writing
• Being organized

Basically, when things get busy I bail on myself. In an effort to survive, I suppose. The irony is that when I stop doing these things, I stop taking care of myself. These are all the things that fill my happiness bucket and when life gets c-r-azy the last thing I should do is empty my happiness bucket.

Lately, I’ve felt this ache for a good book. I ended my summer binge watching a few TV series and now I’m finding myself bored at the end of the day. There’s nothing worse than being bored and exhausted at the same time. What do you do?! I don’t want to physically do anything besides relax and sit!

I recently made a detour to the library on my way home for lunch. I miss the library and the rows upon rows of books. I miss carrying around a stack of new books. I miss watching the librarian scan my books and put them in a neat pile for me to take home. I miss opening up a new book and having huge expectations that the words will sweep me away into a dream place. {This isn’t code for me escaping my life, I just REALLY enjoy stories.}

I looked over my new books and with great care, picked the first one. As I opened the pages and began to immerse myself in the story, I found myself being annoyed with the descriptions. I was frustrated that I was wasting precious minutes reading about yellow walls and fireplaces. It was at that very moment that I realized just how badly I needed those words. I needed the reminder that everything doesn’t have to go at the speed of social media and RIGHT NOW. It’s ok to sit a little longer and read a little more to get the full picture. It’s ok to immerse yourself in your surroundings. It’s ok if something takes a while to build up. {Am I talking about a book or a story from a small child?!}
I started a new workout plan, cleaned up my food the past couple of weeks, have made an effort to be in bed by 10:30, and have attempted to meal plan. I’m not sure why I do this over and over again every few months, but here’s to a reset! Oh, and I hope to spend a lot of time reading over the next few weeks! 

Like, maybe my sweaty boys stayed up too late riding bikes and fighting crime on the culdasac and we were lucky to get one shower a week. But we spent a lot of time at the pool and that’s about the same, I think. This summer we got rid of one set of training wheels and are on our way to another set. We mastered swimming without a floatie for one and putting our head under to swim for two. It looked like it was a lot of fun and games, but we were learning and growing. 

Maybe bedtimes pushed back later and later because no one can sleep when the sun is still up. Plus, there was all that crime to fight, stars to look at, and the occasional plot to sneak out at midnight to have sleepovers. I swear, no escape plans ever worked. Those kids slept like the dead, once they gave up on asking 7 million questions and getting out of bed 102 times. Every night. 

I promise that we’ll be on time {ish} now that summer is over. And I’m sorry to the summer crew who watched us walk in every day at 8:12 {probably actually 8:16}, but thank you for saving their favorites even though breakfast was over at 8:15. I’m confident that we’ll get our act together. By Christmas. But also, thank you for keeping it to yourselves on the days that it was obvious I hadn’t showered yet either. I promise that will only be a summer thing. 

My most sincere apologies for their clothing. We haven’t mastered the perfect stain fighter solution and boys are messy. I think 50% of the time they are wearing clean clothes, unless it’s the same outfit from yesterday. Not that it has happened more than twice a week for a certain four-year-old. It’s really hard to tell what clothes are clean or dirty since none of them make it to drawers or laundry baskets. I have tried to instill the idea that they at least change their underwear every couple days. 50% success rate might be a little lofty…A regular shower schedule should bring those odds up to 100%. Well, except for a particular four-year-old taking a head dive in the shower requiring five stitches. {A little too dramatic for a bedtime stall or shower boycott…} 

We might need to work on general hygiene as we work back up to 14 teeth brushing events per week. Don’t judge. Something has to give when it’s 9:30pm and PLEASE.JUST.GO.TO.BED or it’s 8:00am and FOR.THE.LOVE! no we don’t have time to do anything besides walk directly to the car! 

Don’t worry, I bought a $10 planner from Target to get me into the scheduling spirit again. I promise to stay current and advance the months in a timely fashion. I’m looking at you April and May. Boy did I boycott any form of organization in June. Just remember, I’m always a social media post or text away. 

There aren’t any fancy chalkboards or homemade anything, we’re winging the first day of 1st grade and we’ll wing 4-year-old preschool next week. We try to focus more on the moments than the stuff. {But-also I’m 0% crafty.} I can’t promise they’ll look put together, but I can promise they are both worth every bit of love and teaching you give them. Both in their own special way. They’ll bend and grow with you as everyone adjusts to sitting still and remembering how to use listening ears and raising hands before yelling out words. {I am very much looking forward to you getting them back into respectful human status!} 

To all those protecting and teaching our youth, good luck and thank you. And to all the parents, good luck with the shock of another school year. To the special ones teaching my boys, if you let them in they’ll love you forever! And when they love you, they give the best hugs. 

I thrive in social situations. I don’t do alone very well. I miss my friends and I miss my sense of togetherness. Life is getting consumed with work, taking care of a family and home, activities for children, and activities for adults. I’m exhausted by the end of the days and I don’t get rejuvenated during the one-hour of “free time” at the end of each day. I’m constantly forced to choose to spend that time on chores, something for myself, spending time with my husband, or attempting to catch up on sleep. No one warns you about the daily life. Or the constant groundhogs day.

No one warns you about all the tough moments life will throw at you, but no one really warns you about the awesomeness that comes with children. When my four-year-old goes through a phase where he gives air kisses and I know it’s his compromise of not having time to give me a kiss but he knows it makes me happy. Or when, even though he weighs 40something pounds, he asks to be carried into daycare every day and pets me as we walk. {Yes, I think these are strategic to get me to still love him through his orneriness.} My heart melts when my six-year-old goes to the back of the car to unbuckle his brother when unknown forces make a four-year-old suddenly not able to get out of a car seat. Or when Maximus tells me he saw Quinten during the day and gave him a hug. We have a lot of hard in our every day lives, but these little glimpses of sweetness help me wake up and do it all again the next day.

I know long summer days will help me feel refreshed and happy again. Afternoons spent at the pool relaxing and watching the boys play will calm my soul. And sitting in my favorite place on the deck in the slowness of weekend mornings will put me back in my happy place. It won’t slow life down or make us any less busy, but maybe a little more sunshine and warm weather and a lot of baseball and softball will right my world.

I was raised on summers at the ball field and it runs deep in my veins. It won’t solve everything or make anything easier, but I hope it will help me feel grounded again. That it will bring me a sense of peace and calm in this crazy busy time of life. Because at the end of the day, I know how to do the ball field. Playing and watching fills my happiness bucket. Even if sometimes I have the added stress of children who steal my Gatorade and throwing it at a tree until they can get it stuck.

No one warned me that I’d keep having the same day again and again, but they also didn’t tell me that it would make me a stronger person. I may not see the growth today or tomorrow, but I can feel it when I look back. When I pull myself outside of today, I can see how the repetition is propelling me forward. But, I’m still looking around for that easy today!

A while ago I read a post on default parenting. It was like someone smacked me upside the head. Why didn’t I put that together before?! The default parent is the one who the children come to. Even if it means walking right past another parent on the way to seek out the default parent. Even when the default parent is in the shower and can’t realistically help find something or help put something on. Children see no obstacles when it comes to finding the default parent to ensure all of their wants and needs are met. Immediately.

Labeling the default parent helped me understand why most days I fall into bed physically and emotionally exhausted. In our house, we share a lot of responsibilities when it comes to parenting. Or we try. Three times in one week, Quinten came into our bedroom at 1 am. He doesn’t say much, but he makes a lot of noise on his way in. He usually throws open the door and loudly makes his way up on my side of the bed. He takes over my pillow and falls asleep in 10 seconds. Each time, I wake Bryan up to carry our very solid preschooler back to his bed. {That’s what a default parent calls delegating.}

Being the default parent translates into being the default housekeeper, food maker, food shopper, and school schedule keeper. No wonder I want to faceplant into my bed most days at 6pm. It’s mentally exhausting to keep so many balls in the air all the time. Children don’t care how much sleep the default parent got. They don’t care if you have a headache or the flu, they have needs to be met on their timeline. To all you default parents, word. 

Nights out are extra special for a default parent. When you get together with other default parents, everyone is responsible and no one needs parented. It’s simply amazing!

1. You don’t get interrupted
2. You willingly go with others to the bathroom because it means there’s something to be talked about in private
3. Getting someone a drink isn’t a chore
4. No words are off limits!
5. We naturally take care of each other without noticing

This fall, we took a girls trip to Kansas City. We were basically gone for two days, but I still spent Friday doing all the things so my family was taken care of while I was gone. It’s exhausting being the default parent, even when you’re gone!

Here’s a glimpse into the going-out-of-town-default-parent life.