Red Shoe Diaries and the Power of First Impressions

Your Biz Squad Professional: Stephanie Grabow

👠Lucky Dorothy. Her homemade blue gingham dress got a glow-up when she put on glittery ruby pumps.

Those shoes had superpowers that transported her to where she most wanted to be, into the circle of the people that she most wanted to be with.

When she clicked those shiny shoes together, they helped her shortcut out on the flying monkeys, the creepy guy, and the perils of a witchy-witch.

Am I advocating for you to wear gingham and glitter together? Not unless you’re doing a whole cosplay thing and that’s another conversation.

I AM telling you that shoes can change your life.

🙈Or at the very least, they can speed you forward toward your goals and avoid tangling with pesky flying monkeys.

There’s solid research that documents that we really are judged from the ground up.

🤯In the Mid-South, where I grew up, you’re taught from an early age that you can determine whether someone is worth your time by looking at the heels of their shoes.

Scuffed-up heels, frayed shoelaces, and, worst of all BORING SHOES? Those are clear signs that the other person is not serious about your time.

Because:

she lacks self-awareness about the vibe that she is sending off.
she doesn’t pay attention to details.
she doesn’t care what people think about her.

Actions taken on first impressions are real and you can use them to your benefit or your detriment. You get to choose.

Sitting at your desk, looking down at your feet and thinking,

“Huh. I wonder what these turquoise rubber flip-flops I bought at Whole Foods say about my professional capabilities?”

Maybe you’re also making this face? 😳

Am I advocating for this outdated system of judging each other?

Hard no.

But what you and I both know is that business interactions can move so quickly that snap judgments are made, and in that quick second you want every detail you can control to be working in your favor.

Your client has 21,000 unread emails and a text notification bubble that’s on fire.

Make their job of choosing YOU easier.

You’ve heard a thousand times that a large part of communication is nonverbal.

If your prospect sees you as not pulled together, or worse yet, someone who doesn’t care about perceptions? They’re probably not going to feel confident trusting you to come into their inner circle and help solve their business problems.

Why make connecting with clients or co-workers harder than it has to be?

Put on a pair of shoes that will get you in the door using these 4 guidelines:

Opt for color. An outfit built from neutrals gets a punch of excitement when you finish your look with shoes in one of your ideal colors. Wearing dark denim and a neutral top? Grab a pair of flats in your best green or pink. Your outfit will look more intentional and great shoes are an easy conversation starter.

Choose a modern silhouette. Those round-toe ballet flats from 2015 have seen better days. Choose an almond-shaped or square-toed version to look more current.

Choose comfort. I promise that you’ve never had the best day of your life in shoes that hurt your feet. Make sure that you can walk a city block in your shoes without getting a blister.

If sustainability is your thing, choose a brand that uses recycled materials. Every season, there are more great choices that check this box, so you’ve got lots of options.

Dorothy’s red shoes changed her life. Maybe your next pair of shoes will too!

Always cheering you on!

Xo-

Stephanie 💋

Stephanie Grabow is the Founder and CEO of Stephanie Grabow Style+ and SG Style Collective. She is a style coach for female entrepreneurs and leaders, a speaker and a curator of beautiful things. It is her goal to make nailing your look the easiest 10 minutes of your day. Follow her at stephaniegcabowstyle.com.

Brand Refresh Versus a Rebrand: Which One Do You Need?

This month, we are talking about branding. If you missed our first blog about the foundations of a cohesive brand, make sure to check it out. Now, we are going to dive into something a bit more nuanced … a brand refresh versus a rebrand. At some point in the life of a business, one or the other is necessary. How to choose?

What is a brand refresh versus a rebrand?

When clients come to us as an established business, but they have shifted their offerings, we consider rebranding or refreshing the brand. Research into the evolution of their specific business as well as changes among competition begin the process. Ensuring their brand message, promise and pillars align with these new developments is a second step that leads to a revised visual brand. A new logo will often be prescribed, especially if they are hoping to capture a different market segment. A new brand messaging guide as well as a style guide will help them to disseminate information to their team, so they can begin to send out the new, cohesive message to consumers.

While a rebrand can feel like wiping things clean and starting from scratch, a refresh is more of an invigorating breeze that brings a tad bit of newness to a brand. We won’t overhaul anything, but we may help a client tweak pillars or messaging to ensure everything is streamlined. Sometimes, refreshing also requires a tweak to the original logo, colors or fonts … and sometimes it doesn’t. A refresh takes quite a bit less time than a full rebrand, obviously, but the payoff is big in repositioning the brand and ensuing growth.

Times, they are a changin’

As much as some of our clients would love to hold onto their logo and brand message for dear life, the reality is that we live in a rapidly changing world. Regardless of the industry, you are sure to see change taking place right before your eyes. A rebrand or a refresh helps our clients to keep up with the flow of their industry so they don’t get left behind. Customers may love the security blanket that is predictability, but they also love when a business delivers on its promises. If your brand promises and pillars don’t align with your capacity or business strategy, you will need to revisit the drawing board.

How do you know when you need a rebrand or refresh?

You may need a REBRAND if: Your core values are now out of line with the values of your target market, your company’s branding is outdated, or your brand messaging and logo provide no competitive edge.

You may need a REFRESH if: You want to maintain your core brand messaging and pillars, but you want to enter into new markets or attract new audiences. You may also want to update your messaging and logo or need support to remain a recognizable brand in today’s world.

We are here to support you!

Check out our website for more information about what we do, including client case studies in branding. Then, head over to our Entrepreneurial Path page to see if you need to launch, refresh or expand your brand. And follow us on social for more marketing fun!

Branding marketing rebranding

So, What’s the Deal With Branding?

If you think that branding is all about pretty colors and cool logos, this blog is for you. The importance of strategic branding gets lost in the dazzle of starting a new business, but it is one of the key components to ensuring successful communication with your target market. And without customers, well, you can pretty much call your business dead on arrival.

Branding is everything

A strong brand is built around a coherent and consistent message. This will be captured through your brand message and promise as well as your pillars and will be heard by your consumers through everything you do, including services, products, marketing campaigns, social media interactions and more. The three components of a strong brand include:

Brand message: The way your brand communicates its unique value and personality through both verbal and nonverbal messaging. It is the reason why your brand has a relationship to its consumers.

Brand promise: This is the unique value or experience a consumer can expect to receive every time they interact with your brand.

Brand pillars: These combine your message and promise to create the foundation on which your brand is built.

We call them “pillars” for a reason

Your brand’s pillars act as a support for your brand message and promise, therefore guiding all of your decisions. When you aren’t sure what to say, for example, all you need to do is consult your pillars, which are everything that make your brand tick. And when you are trying to align your customer service with your values, consult those pillars to make sure you are delivering!

Perhaps you are beginning to see why establishing a cohesive message is important before creating that show-stopping logo? Because everything, even your logo, will need to report to your brand’s message and the pillars on which you have built your business. And, best of all, your brand’s message will tell your consumers why they should choose your business over others. (All the more reason to make it a strategic one, you see.)

So, how do we find your brand message, promise and pillars?

Here at P&A, we believe in a hefty amount of research. We offer our clients a full spectrum of strategic marketing practices that will help them to build the brand message, promise and pillars they need to create a cohesive message. We collaboratively deep dive with clients to define the target persona of customers — not just a label or one-liner, but specifically identifying their lives, from hobbies to social media habits to daily routines. We meet clients where they are on this entrepreneurial path and help build the scaffolding that will support the growth of their business.

Once we have a clear understanding of a client’s messaging, we create a Brand Message Guide, a document for internal reference that is to be the starting point for everything, from graphics to news releases. With marketing support staff working from the same guide, it creates a common voice that consumers can begin to see easily when interacting with that brand. And then, yes, logos, colors, fonts, and other visuals are developed to support the brand voice.

Consumers trust brands with consistent messaging

With today’s throngs of new businesses, marketing, campaigns, scams and more, consumers are weary of anything that seems confusing. In fact, they want ease and some predictability. By doing the research and then creating a cohesive message, promise and pillars for your brand, you will be able to relate better to your target market and they will, in turn, become important long-term customers!

From our new Entrepreneurial Path to our Biz Squad, we are here to help ensure the success of your brand (and answer all of your burning questions)! Contact us to find out more.

Branding marketing