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Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been trying to develop a cohesive brand identity for my target audience. 

It’s not that I thought my brand identity has been wrong or thoughtless towards my ideal clients, but I see it as a living breathing thing that needs care and support. My small business’ brand needs attention and help to have a healthy and happy life as it were. And since I don’t have any pets or children, my brand identity can consume most of my attention over the day.

I joined a free workshop, virtual of course, that covered some of the basics with my brand identity over 5 days. The system was over Facebook, managed by Elisabeth Stuckey, owner of Raise Your Words Design and Raise Your Brand Course, and gave a great introduction into creating a communicative brand identity to your customers. 

My experience branding has mainly been on the design side of things: logos, colors, fonts, etc. With Elisabeth’s approach, I started with an aesthetic about my brand, rather than on technical formalities. 

Before I sat down and did these, I considered them reasonably tacky. I’d seen a few brands and businesses showcase their own in various groups, but I never did my own. I felt overwhelmed and never knew how to make something that reflected my personality.

One key point that I took away from these exercises was about how much I needed to shift my focus to my customer rather than myself. It surprised me how much I focused on my skills rather than my customers’ needs. 

Over the next 24-hours, it made me question a few other reasons why it was essential to find new ideas when making an inspirational quote board.

Why I made an inspiration quote board

I had never done many of the things Elisabeth asked us to do, like creating vision boards, quote boards, or going through our Instagram feed to connect our brands. I know it’s helpful but felt too overwhelmed to do it when I started my small business.

I started with a vision board, which helped me figure out what I wanted my brand to be or how it should resonate with my customers. Next came the quote board.

I was a bit skeptical at first. I love researching quotes, but I didn’t know how it could impact my business. It seemed tacky at first to compile all of these quotes, but it was more clarifying than I realized.

My business Pinterest account has a quote board, so I looked through my quotes to see what stood out. I did have reach outside of this board, but it was a good starting point. 

It surprised me how these quotes impacted my views on my business. I knew what my core values for my small business were at this point, but this put in perspective how I wanted my customers to interact with my business.

Related Content: 7 Ideas on how to create an inspirational vision board for your business start-up

Ideas on how to make an inspirational quote board

Even if you don’t think you need one, I suggest you have a few quotes that inspire your small business’ vision and values. These quotes don’t have to be lengthy or complicated or even really about your business. 

My inspirational quote board has about 14 quotes on it. Your quote board can have more or fewer selections, but I really wouldn’t go over 16. If you can simplify your small business with one quote, even better. Here are a few ideas for making an inspirational quote board.

It’s not about you; it’s about your customer

I say the word ‘I’ a lot in this post, but remember that your business is not about you, the business owner. It’s solely about your customer and client.

When you look through the quotes you’ve selected, try to read them as if you were a customer wanting to work with your business. If you are inspired or more inclined to learn or work with your company with that quote, you can keep it. If you can’t see yourself impacted, put it off to the side.

A great way I found many of my quotes revolve around what my customers do. I looked at creative and entrepreneurial quotes that would potentially resonate with them rather than focusing on my ambitions.

How do you help your customer

Helping your customer is particularly where a business owner and customer’s role can overlap in this process. I knew what I could offer my customer, but I also had to think about what my customer needed. 

I still kept my customer persona on during this phase of my quote board. You need to focus on your skills but understand that your customers will need to find your skills helpful for their own needs. 

Once I narrowed down my target audience and my ideal client, many things became more apparent. Finding my quotes helped me understand where and how information found my client and, most importantly, how they digested and used that information. I could offer things that my client would discover, making it easier to showcase my skills that might fit their needs.

Related Content: Book Review: Building a Story Brand

Identify core values in your small business

I would recommend finding 3-5 core values for your business. Some business models have fairly broad values, while others specify their core values. Most that I’ve seen tend to make an overall value but then make a subheading about how they uphold that value. 

Once you identify your small business’ core values, try to focus your quotes around those ideologies. One of my business’ core values is education, so I have a few about learning and using your knowledge in my inspirational quote board. 

Your core values show how you want your customers to feel and how they will be treated in your small business’s culture. 

It’s not enough to have technical aspects down pat for your small business to run smoothly. Learn more and more about your ideal client while you build and grow your business.

If you need more encouragement and advice on how to create an engaging brand identity for your business, please join my e-newsletter for new tips and ideas.