Summary
Welcome to another episode of the Startup Junkies Podcast!
In this week’s episode, Caleb Talley and Jeff Amerine speak with Suzanne Tulien, the founder of Brand Ascension. Suzanne is an expert in establishing brand identity, and she talks with Caleb and Jeff about the importance of identifying, defining, and aligning with your brand. Tune in to hear her help Caleb and Jeff define their personal brands!
Shownotes
(0:55) Introducing Suzanne Tulien
(4:23) Defining your values to establish your brand
(9:47) Branding vs. Marketing
(16:00) Branding a region
(19:16) Advice for startups
(25:44) What is success to Suzanne?
(29:14) Creating personal brands for Jeff and Caleb
(36:51) Advice for the younger self
(38:05) Wrap Up
Links
Quotes
“I was realizing all the sudden that what I’m doing for you is a disservice – designing a look and feel on a logo, that was just really putting lipstick on the pig so to speak, and not helping you truly clarify and understand who you are as a brand.” (2:37)
“They should have been telling me who they were, as a designer, but instead I found myself telling them who they should be, because they weren’t clear enough. And so the DNA methodology came out of a desire to create a step-by-step process to help them identify, define, and align to who they’re saying they are – who they’re promising to be – and deliver.” (3:08)
“I have to consciously, strategically, and deliberately align myself to create the standards of performance that you do in business – or my standards of living for a personal brand – that I can actually step into.” (7:14)
“We’re going to start aligning – that’s the third thing – identify, define, and align. So align is what you have to do in order to deliver on your promise, and how do we make these core values in this style attribute tangible, so that it shows up in my actions and behaviors.” (7:56)
“Marketing might get your clients or prospects in the door, but it’s your brand that keeps them coming back.” (12:03)
“Everybody already has a brand. They already have a personal brand because a personal brand is just a perception, and you begin formulating giving off things that create perceptions from day one.” (22:10)
Uncovering Your Brand DNA with Suzanne Tulien
As we regularly work with startups, one of the most common mistakes we see is companies that don’t know who they are. They want to market themselves, but they don’t know what their brand is. Suzanne Tulien, the founder of Brand Ascension, joined this week’s episode of the Startup Junkies Podcast to talk about the importance of defining your brand, as well as the beginning steps on how to do it!
What Is Your Brand?
Before creating her own business, Suzanne worked in marketing, advertising, and graphic design. She was banging her head against the wall working with companies that were apprehensive about the visuals of new logo designs. In a moment of enlightenment, everything clicked for Suzanne – these companies were nervous because they hadn’t established and defined their brand.
“I was realizing all the sudden that what I’m doing for you is a disservice – designing a look and feel on a logo, that was just really putting lipstick on the pig so to speak, and not helping you truly clarify and understand who you are as a brand.” (2:37)
Instead of adapting their brand into a visual concept, she had to define the brand in order to represent it visually. Attempting to cover up an undefined mess with a logo was constantly putting Suzanne in an impossible situation. And so, she created Brand Ascension – an avenue to help brands establish their identity by defining what was important to them.
“They should have been telling me who they were, as a designer, but instead I found myself telling them who they should be, because they weren’t clear enough. And so the DNA methodology came out of a desire to create a step-by-step process to help them identify, define, and align to who they’re saying they are – who they’re promising to be – and deliver.” (3:08)
Identify, Define, and Align
Establishing an identity is not merely highlighting the attributes that are important to a business or personal brand. Suzanne explains that you have to dig deep and define what those core values mean to you. How do they impact the way that you do business? Do they separate you from your competition? In what ways?
“I have to consciously, strategically, and deliberately align myself to create the standards of performance that you do in business – or my standards of living for a personal brand – that I can actually step into.” (7:14)
Once a brand has outlined and defined what they stand for and what that means for them, they have to follow through. Deliver on the promises that your identity guarantees.
“We’re going to start aligning – that’s the third thing – identify, define, and align. So align is what you have to do in order to deliver on your promise, and how do we make these core values in this style attribute tangible, so that it shows up in my actions and behaviors.” (7:56)
Marketing vs. Branding
According to Suzanne, these two terms are commonly confused as interchangeable, but they are not! You market your brand. Your brand is your identity – it’s half of what you sell to your clients. If you haven’t established your brand, what exactly are you promoting through marketing? When companies try to begin marketing without establishing a brand identity, they will struggle to understand exactly what they are promoting.
“Marketing might get your clients or prospects in the door, but it’s your brand that keeps them coming back.” (12:03)
Do you want to establish your brand identity? Uncover your Brand DNA today!
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