St. Clair Brand Workbook

C U R A T E D S T Y L E

interiors

E S T A B L I S H E D 2 0 2 2

The St.Clair Brand

Brand Pillars

Brand pillars are meant to differentiate your brand and when you’re communicating your brand well, these pillars are often the essence of what is being received. If ever you get lost along the way, come back to your brand pillars and remind yourself why you’re here.

The reason your business exists; your mission; why you started. All decisions, from big to small, are connected to this pillar.

STC Purpose: Inviting and intentional interior design for the modern home owner

How your customers perceive your company/brand.

STC Perception: Down to earth and creative

Who you are as a brand. Your overall personality as a company.

Purpose Perception Identity Values

Communicating your overall position to your audience. Expressing what’s important to you as a company?

STC Identity: Where fun meets functional

Brand Experience

Defining your perceived personality and reputation. The overall experience and feelings you want your customers to have.

STC Values: Honesty, integrity and dependability

STC Experience: A unburdened process resulting in customers falling in love with their home again

Full logo

Secondary Logo brand identity

Horizontal variation

Submark

Logo on colored background

Sample

brand plan & strategy

Brand Plan

Now that you’ve got your brand identity built, it’s time to get a handle on all the other pieces of this big puzzle that are essential to your brand’s foundation.

A strong brand foundation is vital to success (and your sanity) and can help you avoid some major headaches down the road.

Business Basics

You most certainly should seek tax and accounting advice from your local certified accountant, but here is a list of business considerations that may need to be set up straight away.

*Please note: This is a guide and does not cover all business requirements

File DBA/LLC/Sole Proprietor paperwork

File sales and use tax (if necessary)

Ensure any additional tax forms are filed

Here are the few key areas that are important to think about next as you continue building your brand and setting up your business.

There is no right or wrong order. Every industry has different needs and tools. Use these next few pages as a guideline in your planning process and adjust according to your business needs.

What’s next?

• Business basics

• Client Process

• Website

• Brand and marketing essentials

• Social media

• Launch Plan

“A good brand understands that their brand is everything that they do as a whole, not just their logo.”

a. krahling

Set-up a business bank account

Determine how you’re going to process payments

Set-up financial software (for expenses, payroll, etc.)

Plan your pricing structure

Research contract systems (if necessary)

Acquire business insurance

Determine what additonal software is needed

Notes:

Client Process

It’s important to assess your client process as it can make or break the overall brand experience.

Put yourself in your clients shoes and walk through your entire process from start to finish. Seeing things from their viewpoint can help you determine what areas need improvement and/or what tools need to be implemented before booking your first client.

This step can be especially helpful in preparing your website as it can function as a valuable sales and delegation tool for both you and your clients.

QUESTIONS AND THINGS TO CONSIDER:

• How will potential customers inquire about your services?

• Will they book an appointment online or over the phone?

• How will you generate leads?

• How will you manage clients?

• Do you need software to carry out your services?

• Do you need scheduling software?

• What is your response time?

• What information do you need from clients to get started?

• Will you need to meet face to face?

• Will you require a deposit?

• What is your total project turnaround time?

• How will you provide deliverables?

• What is the off-boarding process?

• Is there an opportunity to book other services before the process is done?

• Can you lock them in as a repeat customer?

• How many customers can you service at a time?

Website

A website is your digital office/strorefont online. It’s the one platform that YOU can control for your business. Yes, social platforms are valuable, however, you aren’t in the driver’s seat when it comes to visibility and social followers can be gone in an instant (but that’s a TED talk for another day). We highly recommend a website no matter how simple. Ultilize the check list and notes below to begin planning your website.

Home page

About page Services/products

Portfolio/gallery Shop/Store (e-commerce)

Contact page

Member area Scheduling

Other Notes

brand plan & strategy

marketing checklist

Brand & marketing tools

Assess all the places your brand will exist. This will help you narrow down what’s most important to your business.

You won’t need all of these items but consider what might be important to your brand, now and in the future.

Cross out anything that you know you won’t need. Check all the boxes that you know you need to work on. From there, you can develop a timeline of developing and implementing these tools.

Media & advertising

Brand video Commercial Outdoor advertising Publications other:

Print/collateral

Business cards

Postcards/posters Brochures Product packaging Promotional items other:

Photography

Headshots

Candid work shots

Conceptual shots

Brand shots/Interior space shots other:

Digital ebook/ecourse

Downloadable worksheets Newsletter template Newsletter workflow Webinars/Presentations

Online advertising

In-person

Trade show Presentations Workshops Personal style Promotional items other:

Space

Interior design (paint, lighting, layout

Interior decor

Interior experience (music, smell, sounds)

Exterior signage/Interior signage other:

Social media platforms

The social media landscape is ever evolving, but as it does the exponential growth and reach it provides can be extremely valuable for business.

Consider your target demographic and the social channels that resonate with them in relation to your business.

Social media & content

Blog Podcast Videos Facebook Twitter Instagram

Pinterest TikTok Linkedin Youtube Snapchat other:

Content/Video ideas

• Share your story/ your “why”

• Behind the scenes of what you’re working on.

• Talk about the services you offer

• Show photos of your work

• Before and afters

• How can you help people

• Funny quotes

• Inspirational quotes

• #reallife

• #dailystruggle

• Motivational monday

• Tip Tuesday

• Wisdom wednesday

• TBT

Once you decide which social platforms will be best for your business, start planning content.

There are a variety of social tools that allow you to schedule post daily as well as business tools within each platform that gives you insight into your followers and what posts are most successful. Utilize those tools as your following grows and adjust your content as needed.

We’ve created a list to kickstart your content planning.

• Freebie Friday

• Ask your audience questions

• Host a giveaway

• Team up with a business you partner with or work

• Ask your audience relavant questions to your work

• What are they struggling with when it comes to...

• What tools do they wish were available to them when it come to “interior design?”

build out

launch planning

Brand Launch

First things first, pick a date and make it official.

Launch Date:

Launch Goals

Brand awareness

Build an audience (give me all the followers)

When it comes to launching your business, it’s important to think about what you realistically want to happen next. Of course, you want to make those millions, but you need a customer first. Creating a strategic plan and setting realisitc goals will help you hit those bigger goals and milestones more frequently in the long run.

Utilize the goal list and notes area to zero in on the necessary initial goals you need to reach when your business launches. Once you make your first big splash, you can assess and set the next phase of goals.

Launch Planning Notes

Launch your website and build web traffic

Build an email list

Have people join a waiting list

Book 5 clients/Book 1 long-term client

Visualize the launch

Once you have an idea of your initial goals, start making final preparations for your launch.

Prep your story

Plan your content

Create a launch calendar

Start creating content & graphics

Finalize website/landing page

Set-up your email list

Set-up social channels

Consider a linktree for mulitiple channels

Start scheduling posts

Start a countdown

Plan a giveaway

04 03 02 enter to win

Plan a time frame to revisit your initial goals and asses your launch results. Did you reach your goals? Do you need more time? Pinpoint what’s working and what’s not and adjust the sails. Evaluate the launch

What’s working/what isn’t?

What needs to be adjusted?

What’s the next goal?

What are the next steps?

launch planning