[0:00] Y'all, I want to tell you about two places I've been lately and the difference in the experience I had at both places and how we can apply that to your brand and creating the best touch points for your business that will get customers coming to you again and again and again.
[0:19] You're listening to Aesthetically Speaking. On this podcast, we're talking about all things branding, logos, colors, fonts, and the strategy behind it all. Seems like these days it's easier than ever to build an audience, but harder than ever to stand out online. My name is Rebecca, and I'm a brand strategist and designer. Together, we're going to talk about how to bring your brand to life.
[0:44] So first of all, let me say that in some ways, I am kind of high maintenance. I will admit that. I get my nails done. I have short hair, so I get a haircut like every five weeks. And I know that's a little bit extra. In some ways, I'm not high maintenance, right? I really like to be super comfortable. I like comfy clothes. I have like two pairs of shoes because I know what I like. So not that it matters, not that it's good or bad, but it's relevant to this experience because earlier this year, I was like, I want to get regular facials, which I've never done before because my skin, I've had these dark patches since pregnancy and I just feel like my skin is not as clear and glowy as it used to be and TikTok has convinced me that it needs to be. So I had kind of had it on my mind that I wanted to get a facial. And I had been looking around, you know, I live in a suburb. There's tons of spas and little waxing studios and things. And I was just kind of looking for the right place. And I drove by this office that was kind of tucked away and it was called All the Things Med Spa. And I thought, oh, I bet they do what I'm looking for.
[1:54] So I look them up on Google. They have great reviews. I look at their website. Like I'm the kind of person when I make a purchase, even if it's fairly reasonable, I like to do my research. I like to know what I'm getting. So I'm looking at all the things. And one of the things that people mention is like the experience at this med spa is so great because it's not a really clinical environment. They were like, the office is super chic. Everyone is super well dressed.
[2:21] And I was like, okay, cool. So I call this office and I tell them, you know, I've never had a facial. I don't really know what I'm asking for, but I have some.
[2:31] Spots that I would like removed. I have some dry patches and oily patches, kind of telling my thing. And this receptionist was so friendly and so clear. She walks me through like, okay, you have a standard facial. That's what that does. And you have the hydrafacial. And then we have dermaplaning with your facial and extraction and kind of asks me what I want. And then says, why don't you book this? She says, instead of coming in just for a consult, why don't you book the hydrafacial. It includes extraction. And that way we can get you at a really good place to, if you want to do it again, you can just kind of maintain it, right? Maybe it's a sales technique, but I felt like she was really genuine. She walked me through what I needed. And so I was like, okay, great.
[3:13] So I book my appointment and I go in the next day and I had the best experience. Okay. I really should be giving the shout out. All the things med spa, look it up. I go in, the office is all like black and white, very chic, very cute, kind of editorial style. Everyone is wearing, like I did walk in and I was like, wow, I'm the ugliest person here. Cause I was like, you know, fresh faced wearing my like jogger outfit. And everyone was like heels, makeup, lashes, leather pants, like cool, kind of glittery, like shawl things. I was just like, wow, like this, it felt like a cool environment. I walk in, the receptionist, who I'm embarrassed, I can't remember her name, like greets me at the door and she's like, let me give you a tour of our facility so you can see everyone and see everything that we do, right?
[4:08] I'm not an idiot. I know that this is part of a sales experience, but it was also nice. I've never been to a spa before. I don't know what to expect. And I felt a little out of place. So she walks me around. She introduces me to everyone by name. She introduces me by name. Hi, this is Rebecca. She's here for a facial. This is so-and-so. She does all of our permanent makeup. This is so-and-so. She's our nurse practitioner who does our fluid IVs, whatever it is. Anyway, walks me around, explains everything. And she says, what can I get you to drink? Here's our menu with a list of options. We have champagne. we have water we have soda and I'm like could I get a Dr. Pepper please she's like would you like some warm nuts and I'm like yeah I would I would love some warm nuts I'm like why do they need to be warm I don't know I'm not fancy but that sounds great so I sit down she gives me a magazine to read while I wait, brings me a little dish that has little chocolates, warm nuts, which were delicious, by the way. Dr. Pepper, I'm dragging this experience out, but there's more to it. When I go back with Courtney, she was the one doing my facial. She's also the owner of the spa. I was already sold, right? I already loved this experience. I go into the room. She gives me undivided attention, says, what do you need? Tell me about your skin.
[5:28] It walks me through, okay, you're going to change your clothes. You're going to put this towel on. There's a TV screen that says, welcome, Rebecca. Thank you for choosing all the things med spa. I lay back on the table and it's covered with a blanket. It's heated. And then she gives me another blanket, which I appreciate because I'm always cold in these situations. Anyway, then she does my facial. It was fantastic. The facial was great, but that's honestly not what I remember about the experience. I remember the way I was treated. I remember how I felt as a new customer. I remember feeling comfortable. I remember the environment. And all of those things make me likely to come back. Oh, and during the facial, Courtney said, I'm noticing that you have a lot of dry skin on your cheeks. Would it be okay if I did dermaplaning? Let me just throw it in for you. No extra charge. I just think you'll get such a better, smoother result.
[6:23] I'm like, sure, of course, I would love that. She proceeds to shave my entire face, which I was like, oh, I don't know that I was prepared for that, but it did feel really great. Then as we're leaving, she walks me to the front, thanks me so much for my time, invites me to come back. As I'm checking out, they give me a brochure that has a list of options for regular services. So you can get like a monthly facial, you can get your Botox, you can get your things or whatever. So I pay, I tip, I'm happy. I leave, I keep that brochure. I haven't signed up for some kind of recurring membership, but I'm absolutely sold on the experience. I'm mentioning it on my podcast. I've told like 10 people about it. What was so powerful about this experience? Was there any one specific thing? No, it was the combination of all of these things that made it such a well-branded experience for me. Now, I want to contrast that.
[7:19] I want to contrast the experience I had at the med spa with the experience I had at the ENT two days later with my daughter. My kids all have terrible recurring ear infections. So I scheduled an appointment at the ENT for my daughter to see if she would need to get those tubes in her ears. And we've been to this ENT before, and I don't have any strong feelings about them. I trust the ENT as a doctor. The staff is fine. They're usually able to get us in. That's great. But the building for the ENT is on the other side of the building from the med spa, which I didn't realize. So as I'm driving over there, I'm driving past the med spa and I'm contrasting one experience with the other. So we go into the ENT. First of all, I go in. It's behind a glass pane. She's like, hi, do you have an appointment? I'm like, yes, I'm here for Dr. Hull, blah, blah, blah. She's like, okay, great. Do you have your insurance card? I'm like, no, I don't have my insurance card, but it's the same insurance that we've been on for the past five years and nothing has changed. And she's like, okay, I'll try and look it up. I'm like, okay, thanks. and then I just stand there.
[8:25] And she's like, you can go sit down. I'm like, oh, okay. So we go sit down. She wasn't rude by any means. I'm not trying to make it out like she was a jerk. It was just standard doctor experience, right? We go sit down. We wait for 20 minutes, even though we were right on time for our appointment. The doctor calls. Oh, they have us fill out more paperwork because y'all always have to fill out more paperwork.
[8:46] And as I'm filling out the paperwork, I'm laughing because the clipboard that I'm using is a clipboard for like a construction company down the street. And then the pen that I'm using is a pen from the med spa so I'm like putting all this together you know I pass it back they take us back nurse comes back she takes SJ's temperature she checks in her ears she's like okay so this is just like you just want a consult for the tubes I'm like yeah you know kind of trying to tell her she's like okay great I'll pass like I'll tell the doctor doctor comes in you know 20 minutes later the whole thing takes way longer than it should by the end the baby's fussy, I'm fussy, we're both hungry. The doctor doesn't really give us any clear answers. They were able to get our insurance card, but I forgot to fill out some paperwork. Anyway, just a standard doctor experience. And as I'm leaving, I just thought, man, what a difference it makes to go somewhere where they have carefully, intentionally created a brand experience versus just somewhere where they're just delivering a service. And I know that the standards are different. Everyone has to go to the doctor. So there's less competition. There's less of a need for a doctor to really create a branded experience. But I'm like, you could make it a delightful experience. Instead, it was pretty on par with every other doctor's experience that I've had, which is like unnecessary evil.
[10:13] And frankly, that makes me sad because I think these doctors are phenomenal and they do so much training and so much work to get where they are. And people feel pretty peeved when they go to the doctor. I don't know many people who really love their doctor experience.
[10:26] But the reason that I mentioned these two experiences is because I think you have an opportunity to brand the touch points in your business. And I also think it's kind of a necessity because the bare minimum isn't going to cut it anymore. There is so much competition. There are so many people vying for your ideal client's attention and trust and money that you really need to stand out. So that's what I want to talk about today. I want to help you see how elevating every interaction a client has with your brand will help you make more sales, create more rating fans, and grow your business beyond just products or services to a true movement. So I have six different categories of brand touch points that can be elevated. And I think the problem that we have nowadays is that everyone is focused on the first category, which is your lead generation, your marketing, and your connections, your relationships, right? So we spend a lot of time branding our social media, our website, our ads, our partnerships, our networking, right, like our content.
[11:38] And this is really important. I want these things to be branded because this is what will help you have that consistency in your messaging, in your visuals, in your voice across many different platforms. It will help you sign more clients. It will help you get noticed and become more known. But brands that only optimize the marketing touch points are missing out on an opportunity to really build strong connections with their clients. And that's what I don't want you to do. I also think it comes down to integrity. If you're going to create this amazing sales page to get people to sign up for your offer, I think you should also create an amazing landing page for after they purchase.
[12:25] I think you would be surprised how many people feel like I only matter as a
[12:30] client before I sign, before I purchase. Once I've purchased, I'm chopped liver. And I really try to avoid that in my own business. So when somebody books with me, depending on what the process has been, they receive a custom email from me with a video recording saying, thank you so much for trusting me. Thank you for purchasing. Thank you for being a client. And I say explicitly, you are my number one priority. As a one-on-one client, as a current client, you are my number one priority. I give them a welcome kit of what to expect, you know, all of these things. So the first category is one that I don't want to spend a ton of time on. So I don't feel like I want to talk a ton about the marketing touch points because you know that. You know that you need to have a brand so that your marketing is consistent, so that people know what you're selling, so they feel inspired, right? So there's a definite vibe. But let's go to the next category of branding touch points, which is the actual sales category. The post purchase and the onboarding. So some of the things that could be included in this category of touch points, your purchase process. So like the checkout process, you guys, oh, this is so important.
[13:42] If you have a clunky checkout, you are not going to be making sales. If somebody says, great, I want to start today. I want to hire you. And you have to say, okay, great. Send me an email on PayPal to send? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. You should say, great, here's a link to make your deposit. Here's a link to your invoice. It should be simple. They should be able to access it anywhere. They shouldn't need to get on their computer. They shouldn't need to contact their bank account. I mean, I'm working with big clients. Sometimes we're doing like wire transfers, that kind of thing. I understand that. But by and large, you need to make it so easy for people to purchase from you. Okay, look at Amazon. Buy now with one click. Why? Because they know that the longer it takes for you to actually purchase, the chances of you actually purchasing go down and down and down. You want people to sign up to buy immediately. Okay, make it really simple.
[14:42] Then you have the actual confirmation, right? Like the receipt emails, the confirmation emails. Don't overlook these.
[14:51] I'm surprised how many people don't even customize the emails on their invoices. But in the physical retail business, they have what's called point of sale. And that is what happens at the little cash register, okay? The point of sale is usually like the actual device where you put in your phone number and you swipe your card or you tap your card or whatever, okay? But businesses who understand branding have a branded point of sale area.
[15:18] So that includes what the cashier says to them as they're checking out, how they put things in bags, right? Think about the experience you have buying groceries at Trader Joe's versus the experience you have buying groceries at Walmart. Which one do you like better? That is branding. That is intentional. These aren't just things that happen. And these are things that CEOs and C-suite executives make powerful decisions for because of the way they know it will enhance their customer's experience and the overall sales. So after you have the actual purchasing, you have like your welcome message, your onboarding sequence. If somebody is purchasing a product and you're mailing it to them, an email that says, hey, we've packaged your order, it's on its way to you, is a great way to maintain that connection with your customers. So don't be afraid. I think sometimes we're afraid of like bothering people who've bought from us. And in my experience, that is not an issue. People actually want that level of communication. They feel most excited about their purchase right after they've purchased. A couple things.
[16:27] Simplify and personalize your sale experience. So like I said, making it really easy wherever you can, making it unique, even if that means that you're putting in placeholders that will say their first name, right? But some way to make it feel personal.
[16:44] Make the post-purchase communications feel warm and engaging and not transactional.
[16:50] There's such an opportunity here to do special things because they are often overlooked. I'm gonna talk about that a little bit later, but just make it branded. Don't use the default. If I could encourage you to do one thing from this whole podcast, it would be go through the experience of buying from your own business and ask yourself, where am I confused? Where am I left hanging? Where can I make it a little bit better? Where can I brand it to be clear, to be consistent and cohesive with the brand experience people are getting in my marketing. So we've talked through the marketing touch points. We've talked through the sales touch points, the post-purchase touch points. Then we have the actual delivery of your product, service, and user experience. So this includes things like packaging.
[17:41] Customer support, ease of use. If I have a really amazing, well-branded offer called the rebrand experience, but my actual clients don't get results, they don't like their brands, they don't enjoy working with me, how long am I going to be able to sell that? Not very long. So when you sign a client, when you make a sale, I need you to tell yourself, I'm going to do everything I can to make this as positive an experience as possible. And even if you do it because you want to make more sales, that's great. But really we should do it because we want to be giving people the best experience that we can. So ask yourself, how can I ensure that the product or service meets or exceeds the expectations of my client? The more that you can anticipate their needs, the better this is going to be. That's one of the reasons that I include Voxer in my packages.
[18:42] Because I know that when I'm delivering designs, people want some insight. They want some back and forth. They want some collaboration. And I love to give that to them. I actually think that's one of my gifts, is communicating with my clients and helping them be involved in the process. So invest in those resources, the customer support, whether that's a chatbot or human touch or self-service resources, right? Make the interactions frictionless.
[19:14] I recently did this for Kaylin Priest. You know that I'm working with her as a creative partner and we have been branding her signature program, which is called The Greenhouse. And the goal was not just to sell the greenhouse better, to market it better. The goal was to create such a positive experience for the clients that were there that they would become advocates for The Greenhouse on their own. So we said, okay, what could that look like? Well, we went in and branded her entire Mighty Networks community. So you might be in groups where you just have like the default SPAC or you're on a Facebook page. Well, she said, I want this to be the best experience for my clients. So she moved the community to an online platform. It's called Mighty Networks, where she could easily have different channels, different topics. She could host calls. It would send reminders. And then we branded that. So everything is in her brand colors. It's in her voice, it matches her style. There's custom thumbnails for each of the calls that she has. We're creating an experience. So on top of somebody just signing up and getting good results, they're having a good time getting those results. And that's really important. So this next kind of category is one that I think is so important. And I call them the overlooked touch points.
[20:37] These are things like the receipts. They're the email signatures. They're the invoices. They're the waiting rooms. They're the trash cans. They're the bills. They're the pens. And the reason I think this is such an important part of your business is because this is where you can really create rating fans because you're doing extra little things that other people aren't willing to do. So many people are just setting up a checkout page on Kajabi and you get the default email and it's all in blue and that's fine. That's fine.
[21:11] But you're not going for fine. You're pursuing something more than that. So think about how you can add your personality to these kind of mundane touch points. Think about this. Have you ever called a business and they have some kind of like engaging hold music? Sometimes it's just, your call is very important to us. You're like, no, it's not. But I have called businesses where they have their own jingle. I've called businesses where they have recordings of their customers saying, I loved working with this business because this is what I got. Like that is a touch point. That's an opportunity for you to show your clients and customers that you really care about them. So think about those things. Another one of my clients, Nicole from Popcorn Tree Books is excellent at thinking about brand touch points. And she has a physical product, which is great because it's an opportunity for her to take some of the digital nature of her brand and bring it into the real world. So she could say, okay, I'm going to send out my books and I'm going to put them in a flat mailer and I'm just going to make it as cheap as possible. But she understands that her product packaging is an essential brand touch point. So she has green mailers. She has an embosser, right, with her logo that looks so good. Chef's kiss. I designed it.
[22:28] A sleeve that goes over the books. She has an insert that goes in them. Thank you for purchasing. Has a reminder of what their brand stands for, where you can get more books. She also includes stickers with every package. Sometimes she even includes a little sneak peek of something that she's releasing down the road. It is an intentional opportunity for her to create a branded experience.
[22:50] And I think this is really where you have to have a good brand. You know, if you don't have a great logo, if you don't have strong colors, if you don't know what your brand values are, it makes it really hard to customize these touch points. So that's where we say, okay, great. You want to elevate all the touch points. Let's start by elevating your brand as a whole so that we can take that brand
[23:12] and apply it to some of these really functional elements. Now, next category, I call this the surprise and delight. This is my favorite actually, because this is one thing that I think I'm really good at. And one of the reasons that I love what I do and I love working with clients one-on-one is I love being able to over-deliver for them. And one of the reasons that I advocate for raising your prices, if need be, is so you can surprise and delight your customers. So I have a custom client workbook that I designed. I had it printed. I had it wire-bound. It's gorgeous. I added lots of little details. You know, it has these curved corners, and it has the covers. I have my branded pens, if you haven't heard that story. I actually, This is another funny thing. I went to the dentist with my kids and another rate brand experience, right? They had a clear visual brand and they were applying that to everything in their business.
[24:10] Every single thing was another opportunity for their brand to shine. So they're like measuring my kids' heights and their whole theme is like beach theme. It's a kid's dentist, okay? Pediatric dentist, you can go for a beach theme, right? They have little fish and little starfish and all that kind of thing. You know, if you're another business or for adults, that might not work for you. But they're measuring my kids against the wall. Well, the little measurement is an octopus holding it up. Great example of surprise and delight. But getting back to my story, they had these pens and I loved them so much. I even mentioned that, right? I never steal pens, but I will compliment them. So I said, oh man, I love these pens. And they're like, oh, take one. I was like, oh, really? Thank you. So I take a pen. I'm like, this is the best pen. I love it. I lose it. We go back to the end again. I ask for another one. And I'm like, I got to buy these pens. So I look, I do this digging, you know, I use Google search. I'm like, what's the thing? Well, these pens are only available to buy in bulk. You can't buy just like a pack of 12 or a pack of two. You can only buy them in sets of 250.
[25:12] And this is one case where having a business is so helpful because I'm like, great, this is a business expense. So I buy 250 pens and now I get to give them to my clients in their welcome package. So they get this gorgeous client workbook that walks them through what we're going to be doing throughout the branding process, right? So it has elements for branding, website, marketing, creative direction, upcoming projects, space for them to write, because I know a lot of my clients will be taking notes as we're working on Binglin Boxer and all of that. It's not required. It's not expected. I don't include it in the list of deliverables, when you enroll in the rebrand experience, you get a custom client workbook. I give it to them because I want them to have the best experience.
[25:57] I also have a client gift that I send when we're finished working together. It's something branded. I have somebody that I work with locally who helps me create them. Again, not necessary, not needed, not even advertised. I don't even wanna tell you guys what it is because I like kind of keeping it as surprise. But the idea is that I can use these little surprise moments to build more brand loyalty. and I want my clients to know that I appreciate them, that I'm grateful for them. I say all the time, my clients are my business and without them, I would not be where I am and I'm really grateful for that. I try to engage with them, support them on social media, use my resources to lift them. It's not part of the deal. They don't sign up with me saying, okay, and you will comment on all my Instagram posts and share all of my stories and mention it. No, I do it because I want to delight them. And I think that when you can do that, especially when you can do it in like a personal one-on-one way, it makes those moments much more meaningful.
[27:03] So the last category that I want to mention is what I call the exit touch points. And again, this is something that people just forget about. And I really want you to understand that like every time you have an interaction with a customer, just think through like when a customer buys from me and then what happens and then what happens and then what happens and keep going and make a big list of all the different touch points you have and say, how could I make these more branded? How can I make them fit my voice my style my image how can they better align with my values so the exit touch points these are things like the off-boarding process this is also things like returns or refunds or when a client right if I have a client who misses a payment how do I handle that that is a brand touch point so I don't immediately turn the payment over to collections and say, I don't like you anymore, go away. I send them a quick personal email. Hey, your payment didn't go through this month. Can you update that here? Right? And I have a system that works according to my brand voice, according to my brand values, my business standards, right? I have to create business integrity, which means I can't refund one disgruntled customer, or I'll have to refund everybody. So I have to set some standards across the board.
[28:28] When somebody finishes one type of service and I invite them to continue working with me and I try to consider what they really need, that's a great brand touch point. Now, these don't all have to be so serious. Here's a great example.
[28:44] When somebody unsubscribes from your email list, is there a way that you could make that a little more branded? Just to remind them who you are. Here's a great example. When somebody unsubscribes from your email list, what happens? Do they get a generic email?
[29:01] Do you send them an email that says, thank you so much for subscribing? I appreciate you. What does that look like? And it doesn't all need to be like this deep heartfelt thing, right? Not every brand has to be so serious. But again, it's an opportunity to engage with them, to create a connection. And you should make the exit of your brand as memorable as the entry. So here's a great example for you. I don't know if you ever signed up for Groupon's emails, but I signed up for them a few years ago and I was getting the bunch. And so I wanted to unsubscribe. So I hit unsubscribe and it takes me to a landing page that says.
[29:37] You've been unsubscribed, thank you so much, we're sad to see you go.
[29:41] And then there's a little blurb that says, this is Nick and it's a little picture of a guy. It says, Nick is the one who thought that you would like all of those emails and you didn't. Would you like to punish Nick? And there's a button that says, yes, punish Nick. And I'm like okay so I click punish and next pops up this little gif of Nick sitting at a desk writing an email and somebody it looks like a boss right somebody walks up to him shakes his shoulder chastises him pushes him out of his chair walks away and I was like what did I just watch and they said that was pretty mean do you want to resubscribe to our emails to help Nick feel better and I laughed so hard that I resubscribed I was like sure and then the next email that I got was like a personal thank you from Nick, right? I know that wasn't an actual personalized email, but it was a memorable experience and it helped me see, oh, this brand actually does provide some value to me. I'll keep letting them in my inbox. That's the kind of thing that you can be doing. And like I said, it is hard to elevate your brand touch points when you don't know what your brand is. And I know I say this all the time, but please, before you go in and try to customize the receipt page, it would serve you so well to just slow down, work with me to figure out the foundation of your brand. What are you all about? What is the core message? What's the tone? What's the personality?
[31:11] What's the vibe that we're trying to create? And once we have that solidified and documented and you've got all the assets in your Google Drive folder and everything's organized and you know exactly how to make things look good on Instagram.
[31:25] Then you can say, okay, great, now I'm going to take care of all these little touch points. And that's what we do in my creative partnerships. It's really about scaling your brand to make sure that everything you sell is well-optimized,
[31:39] both in a marketing sense and in a customer experience sense. So a quick recap. To ensure a consistent brand experience across all your touch points, the best thing that you can do is first figure out what your brand is. Second is to go through the experience of purchasing your signature product program or service. And just identify all of the different touch points a customer or client may have with you. Choose two or three to improve this week. And as you do that consistently, as you evaluate and improve these touch points, you will create a community of raving fans of people who cannot wait to buy from you and who love purchasing from you. Because the experience is so cohesive, so consistent, and so delightful.
[32:28] The best way to grow a business is to figure out what people want and give it to them. And that is what I can help you do. So if you would like help in figuring out what your brand is all about and creating that professional aesthetic so people recognize you anywhere, sign up for the rebrand experience. If you have a brand and you want to optimize it to increase your sales, to improve the customer experience, and scale your business beyond what it is right now, sign up for a creative partnership where we can work together for six months to build a scalable brand. Thank you so much for listening today, and I'll talk to you next time. Bye. We hope you enjoyed listening to Aesthetically Speaking. If you want to support the podcast, please leave us a nice review or connect with us on Instagram at Rebecca Peterson Studio.
[33:19] Music.
