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Design & Build Your

Brand Authority

WELCOME

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Maribel Aburto

CEO and CoFounder at CREATIVA

Branding and Web Design Expert

I help women in business and service providers, feel proud and confident with their brands and websites, transforming their businesses with simple and elegant designs.

My Agency

https://wearecreativa.com

My Consultancy Website

https://maribelaburto.com

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About this webinar

What is Brand Authority?
Why it’s important to small businesses
Go through the 3 key elements to Design and Build your Brand Authority
How all connect to each other
Q&A
Offer and Prize!

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What is

Brand Authority?

Brand authority refers to the level of influence, credibility, and expertise that a brand has within its industry or niche.

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Is Brand Authority relevant for

Small Businesses?

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Is Brand Authority relevant for

Small Businesses?

It will build your reputation (expertise)
It will build your brand trust (credibility)
It will position your brand in your industry (influence)

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Recognizing and working on the main elements that build your brand authority, will not only help you grow your audience but also grow your business.

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Three Elements to

Design and Build

Your Brand Authority

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The Brand Authority

Framework

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1.

Identity

“First impressions never have a second chance.”

— Charles R. Swindoll

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What is Brand Identity

Brand Identity is how a company presents itself and how customers perceive it.

It includes all the visual elements that are associated with a company’s brand, including its name, logo, tagline, colours, packaging, messaging, and more.

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The Brand Authority

Framework - Part 1

Identity

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Working on Your Identity

Discover Your Essence

Brand Research

Define your values and mission
Define your Mission
Define your personality as a brand
Who is your ideal client
How I want to be perceived

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Working on Your Identity

Discover Your Essence

Brand Research

Define your values and mission
Define your Mission
Define your personality as a brand
Who is your ideal client
How I want to be perceived

Create Your Emblem

Logo Design

Design based on your research
Start with a moodboard
Create 2-3 different concepts
Define your basic brand elements: fonts, colours, graphics, icons, etc.

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Working on Your Identity

Discover Your Essence

Brand Research

Define your values and mission
Define your Mission
Define your personality as a brand
Who is your ideal client
How I want to be perceived

Create Your Emblem

Logo Design

Design based on your research
Start with a moodboard
Create 2-3 different concepts
Define your basic brand elements: fonts, colours, graphics, icons, etc.

Define Your Manual

Branding Guidelines

Logo Design variation and usage
Brand typography
Brand colours (with codes)
Imagery/graphics style
Any relevant instructions on how to work with your brand style

Define your manual > Branding Guidelines

A Visual Brand Guideline is a concise and easy-to-read document that covers everything someone needs to know to create on-brand content for your business.

It could be as simple as a one page brand board, to a comprehensive 20-50 pages book.

The basic four key areas you need to cover in a Visual Brand Guideline:

Logo design with variations and correct usage
Typography
Brand colour palette
Imagery and graphic styles

A strong brand identity is important because it helps to establish a strong image and reputation for your company, even from the start.

So it doesn’t matter if you are just starting out or you are rebranding at the moment,

paying attention to your brand identity will build a strong foundation for the future.

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Moodboard

Sample

(Pinterest)

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Brand Board

Sample

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2.

Connection

“To have great poets, there must be great audiences.” — Walt Whitman

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What is Connection?

How we bring your brand to your audience and build a strong and genuine relationship.

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The Brand Authority

Framework - Part 2

Connection

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Working on Your Connection

Build Your Platform

Design and build your website

Choose your platform
Incorporate your Brand Identity
Define what your audience need
Define the (3) goals of your website
Plan your sitemap
Make it simple to use!

Your website’s not just a pretty thing to show off how beautiful your brand is…

Your website should connect with your audience, it should invite them to know more about you, to learn about your services, and ultimately convince them to do business with you!

Choose your platform�There are many platforms out there, many of them easy to use, different price ranges, different features, etc�My platform of choice if Wordpress.�
Incorporate your Brand Identity�It is really important that when you build your website you have a clear idea of your brand identity, to make it easy to design and style consistently to your brand.�Your website is the place where people will end up to know about you, so make sure it is consistent with your brand so it build trust, ot creates a strong link between who you are ��Think about some of the biggest brands in the world. You immediately know the colours, logos, and tag lines for those brands. That kind of recognition is valuable, and it’s all the power of branding. And this is what you want to build in the mind of your audience. and it’s all about consistency, everywhere your brand it’s shown.�
Define what your audience need,�We did this when we were defining the essence of our brand, we know our audience, hopefully we know what they need and what are their struggles…�Based on these, we can start thinking about what pages we want to build, what information and content we need to provide, and any features that will help our visitors get what they need when they come to our website.�
Define the (3) goals of your website,�This is really important. Many people start their websites without thinking about their goals,.�We want a website that works for our business, that has a purpose beyond showing up in the internet.�I recommend you set up around 3 goals for your site (get information, book a call, make a sale, brand awareness, or positioning)�Just make sure you have some goals line up so your web designer can plan your features and your design around these goals.�
Plan your sitemap,�A sitemap is a visual representation of your website’s structure, illustrating the relationships between pages. You can create a simple diagram using pen and paper, use digital tools or a simple Google Docs or Google Slides. This visual guide will serve as a roadmap for building your website.

�By planning your website’s structure and creating a well-organized sitemap, you can ensure that your content is easily accessible, your navigation is intuitive, and your visitors have a great experience.�

Make it simple to use!�It’s very easy to feel tempted to stuff your pages with every little detail that comes to your mind, and it’s easy to think that that is what people need. �But when it comes to design and information, simplicity is key for people to understand what your website is about and getting to know you.��People won’t stay too long if they need to read an essay about you or your business, they are in your website to quickly see who you are, what you can do for them and if you are a good fit. That’s it. After they make contact and want to talk to you, then you can provide more information. ��Simplicity will also help you provide a great user experience, which will cover soon…

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Working on Your Connection

Build Your Platform

Design and build your website

Choose your platform
Incorporate your Brand Identity
Define what your audience need
Define the (3) goals of your website
Plan your sitemap
Make it simple to use!

Tell Your Story

Write authentic content

Define your narrative
Put your ideal client front and center
Don’t forget to tell your story
Use relevant media to support the story
Keep it concise and focused

Hot Tip: Go back to your Identity work!

Tell Your Story > Write authentic content

Your website should connect with your audience, it should invite them to know more about you, to learn about your services, and ultimately convince them to do business with you!

Define your narrative, (go back to your identity work)�Before you start writing, identify the core message or narrative you want to convey through your website. Understand your target audience and what emotions or experiences you want to evoke in them. Consider the central theme, the tone you want to set, and the key takeaways you want your visitors to remember.

Put your ideal client front and center,�Remember you are building all this for your clients, so share their challenges, their paint points, desires, and how your offering transforms their lives for the better. Makre sure is clear what you do for them and how you solve their problems,

Don’t forget to tell your story,�Telling your story and what you do what you do is also important. �Your ideal client wants to connect with you, they want to know who you are and your why… �Why you are the person or the business to work with.��When potential clients are browsing your website, they’ll want to know more about you, and if they can trust you. When you share your own story, you’re building that all-important connection that tells them how you became the expert, and why they can trust your support and advice over that of others.��You can do this with words, images, and even a short video!

Use relevant media to support the story�A compelling story is enhanced by visual elements. �Include relevant images, videos, infographics, or other multimedia content that complements your narrative. �Visuals can be powerful tools to reinforce the emotions and messages you want to convey, making the overall storytelling experience more impactful.

Keep it concise and focused

While storytelling is essential, remember that website visitors tend to have short attention spans.

Balance the storytelling elements with clarity and brevity to ensure that your main points come across effectively.

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Working on Your Connection

Build Your Platform

Design and build your website

Choose your platform
Incorporate your Brand Identity
Define what your audience need
Define the (3) goals of your website
Plan your sitemap
Make it simple to use!

Tell Your Story

Write authentic content

Define your narrative
Put your ideal client front and center
Don’t forget to tell your story
Use relevant media to support the story
Keep it concise and focus

Hot Tip: Go back to your Identity work!

Lead The Way

Define your customer experience

Draw your customer journey
Create an easy navigation
Optimise for mobile experience
Focus on website usability

Lead The Way > Define your customer experience

You can use your website, to not only show who you are and what you do, but you can build your website in a way that guides your visitors into a journey, and experience with your brand.

Customer Journey�Map out a clear and intuitive user journey that guides visitors through your website step by step. �Start from your homepage that clearly communicates your value proposition and from there direct your users to their desired destinations. �Users scan your homepage to quickly find the information they need.

Create an easy Navigation,�Make it simple! Don’t overcrowd your menu with dozens of links, define the main areas of your website and from there you can add more sublinks if needed.�Create logical navigation that is easy to follow and implement clear CTAs.

Optimize for mobile experience�it is essential to provide a seamless experience for users on any devices, including smartphones and tablets. �Ensure that your website is responsive and adapts to different screen sizes. �This is part of your visitor experience as well, so it should not be overlooked. �If they have an great experience in your website, they will stay, and even better they will come back to you when they need more information or content from you

Focus on website usability, �A user-friendly website is crucial for a positive customer experience. �Keep the design simple, intuitive, and clutter-free. �Regularly test the website's usability and gather feedback to identify areas of improvement.

**

Even though a website can be very interactive, the way your structure your pages and internal links can help build a path for your visitors to follow. This is about making it easy for them to navigate your site and find what they are looking for quickly.

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3.

Positioning

“If you don’t give the market the story to talk about,

they’ll define your brand story for you.” �— David Brier

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What is Brand Positioning?

Brand positioning refers to the process of establishing a unique position for a brand in the minds of the target audience.

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The Brand Authority

Framework - Part 3

Positioning

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Working on Your Positioning

Optimise for Reach

Ongoing SEO

Make it easy for Search Engines
Know your keywords
Learn about On-Page Optimisation
Make it Mobile-friendly
Boost your site speed

Optimise to reach > Ongoing SEO and optimisation

A great way to position your brand and build authority is to keep optimising and supporting your brand and website efforts, so they can keep working for your business. �This includes an SEO ongoing plan

Make it easy for Search engines�Start by evaluating your website and ensuring that each page revolves around a specific topic. �This approach is crucial because search engines strive to deliver relevant information to users promptly. �To achieve this, they rely on comprehending the content of your webpages.��By structuring each page of your website around a single topic, you simplify the process for search engines to categorize and display your content when it aligns with relevant searches. �
Know your keyword�Keywords are the words and phrases that people type (or say) into search engines when looking for products, services, and information. If you want your brand to show up on the results page, you’ll need to optimise your website for the terms customers are actually searching for.�
Learn about On-Page Optimization:�On-page optimization is to the process of optimizing individual web pages to improve their search engine rankings and attract organic traffic by focusing on content, HTML elements, and website structure.��This includes writing descriptive and compelling meta titles and meta descriptions for each page, using header tags (H1, H2, etc.) to structure your content, and ensuring your URLs are user-friendly and contain relevant keywords.�
Make it Mobile-Friendly: �Ensure your website is mobile-friendly and responsive across various devices. �With the majority of searches now happening on mobile, Google really likes mobile-friendly websites. ��This is is also important to provide a good user experience, as we talked previously.�
Boost your site speed�If a webpage takes too long to load, you're less likely to stay.

Search engines interpret this as a sign that your site doesn't provide a satisfactory answers to users' questions, which leads to lower rankings.

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Working on Your Positioning

Optimise for Reach

Ongoing SEO

Make it easy for Search Engines
Know your keywords
Learn about On-Page Optimisation
Make it Mobile-friendly
Boost your site speed

Share Your Knowledge

Regular optimised content

Write for humans
Know where to place your keywords
Build your internal links
Show your expertise
Educate and nourish your audience��Consistency is key!

Share your Knowledge > Regular optimised content

Another great way to position your brand and build authority is to by providing great and regular content.

Write for Humans�We know that we are trying to Mr. Google to like us and put up at the top of the rankings, but we can’t just focus on this.

There was a time when SEO was all about keyword stuffing and writing for the algorithm, but things have changed a lot since then.��Now it’s more about quality content, its structure and how valuable and engaging is for your readers!

You need to really focus on answering those key questions your audience is looking for. ��Search engines are getting better each day at spotting the quality of your content, and how they answer the audience’s questions.

�Always write with your human visitors first.�

Know where to place your keywords�Once you have your keywords, you’ll need to naturally weave them into the content throughout your website.�Wherever possible, it’s good to use keywords in particular spots, which helps to let Google know what each page is about.��These include:� - The first sentence or paragraph of any copy� - Headlines and subheads� - Meta tags� - Image captions and alt tags�

Build your Internal Links�By using internal links strategically you assist search engines to understand the content on your website and its connections with other pages.

We sort of did this on the sitemap for our website.��For example, I can create a blog post about website optimisation, and on the same post I can link to another article where I talk about why a responsive website is important for businesses. And then I can also link a page to my lead magnet ot-in, where I have a ebook about Website optimisation.�

Show your Expertise�The size of your business doesn’t matter if you are an expert in what you do, and what you know is very valuable to your customers (this is why they come to you in the first place!).��If you constantly provide valuable content, your audience will start seeing you as an expert in your field, which gives you a platform to show off your brand and build your authority.�
Educate and nourish your audience�The topics that are easy for you to talk about don’t come easy for others, which is why your audience will appreciate you sharing what you know.��People today want to connect to their service providers, and you must show that you care for them. A great way to do this is by sharing your knowledge with them, being open, helpful and generous. You will be surprised by the benefits this brings to your business and your reputation.

�As you build up a set of blog post about your industry, you build up your Brand Authority.

It builds your brand trust and positioning, and people will remember you when they need your services (here is where consistency is key).

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Working on Your Positioning

Optimise for Reach

Ongoing SEO

Make it easy for Search Engines
Know your keywords
Learn about On-Page Optimisation
Make it Mobile-friendly
Boost your site speed

Share Your Knowledge

Regular optimised content

Write for humans
Know where to place your keywords
Build your internal links
Show your expertise
Educate and nourish your audience��Consistency is key!

Enjoy the Peace of Mind

Maintenance and support

Choose a good hosting provider
Keep your site up to date
Have an expert looking after your website

Enjoy the Peace of Mind > Maintenance and support

And lastly, but not least, you need to make sure to maintain and look after your website.

Everyone is looking for services and products online, and having a website that is fast and offers a great experience to its visitors will increase your chances of converting a visitor into a client.

This is why keeping your website in top shape is crucial.

Choose a good hosting provider�A good quality hosting service provides a solid foundation for your website, ensuring optimal performance, reliability, security, scalability, and support. It plays a crucial role in delivering a positive user experience and supporting your business.�
Keep your site up to date�Keeping your website up to date is a critical aspect of maintaining a successful and secure online presence. ��An outdated website, or one that don’t work well, can negatively impact your brand perception.

Users may associate an unattended website with a lack of professionalism. On the other hand, a well-maintained website makes a great impression with your visitors.�

Have an expert to look after it�If you can, I highly recommend you have an expert looking after your website. �Why? Because it will save you all this time of trying to keep up with the technical stuff, when you can put this time onto your business and delivering to your clients.��An expert can also provide you with ideas on how to improve your website performance, your SEO, your content, your functionality, etc.��If you don’t have an expert looking after your website, make sure you learn how to look after it yourself.

Keeping your website up to date is not just about aesthetics or functionality. Regular updates make sure that your website is well-maintained, trustworthy, and focused on delivering the best possible experience to your audience.

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The Brand Authority

Framework

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The Brand Authority

Framework

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The Brand Authority

Framework

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The Brand Authority

Framework

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“Brand is the sum total of how someone perceives a particular organization. Branding is about shaping that perception.”

— Ashley Friedlein

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Thank you!

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Special Offer Alert

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Brand Authority Framework (x3)

Identity

Elevate Your Brand

Discover your brand essence
Create your emblem
Define your Branding Guidelines

Connection

Engage with your audience

Website Design and Development
Website Strategy
Content Strategy

Positioning

Become the authority

Website Care Plan
Hosting & Maintenance
Ongoing Website Support
Ongoing SEO

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Brand Authority Framework (x3)

Identity

Elevate Your Brand

Connection

Engage with your audience

Positioning

Become the authority

12 month Programme

(USD) $1,300 /mo - $500 off

(EUR) $1,200 /mo – €500 off

Discover your brand essence
Create your emblem
Define your Branding Guidelines

Website Design and Development
Website Strategy
Content Strategy

Website Care Plan
Hosting & Maintenance
Ongoing Website Support
Ongoing SEO

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Entry-Level Website

Mini Branding Kit (free)

Stunning templates to choose from
Customised to your brand
Up to 10-pages website set up by us
Easy to update content
Ongoing Maintenance and support (Website Care Plan)
Your peace of mind, we’ll look after you

Website Care Plan includes

Premium website hosting
Website Maintenance
Ongoing Website Support

12 month Plan

(USD) $350 /mo

(EUR) $300 /mo

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Entry-Level Website

Mini Branding Kit

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Prize time!