93. 7 Branding Choices That Feel Small But Make a Big Impact

The brands that stick with you usually aren’t doing one huge thing differently. They’re making dozens of tiny design choices that all work together.

In the episode we cover:

•  The 7 brand touch points most people forget about
•  Why repetition in these small, low-effort moments builds more recognition
•  What to actually put in these spaces
•  A quick audit you can run on your own brand this week

Grab my free email signature template → https://solbritestudio.myflodesk.com/email-signature

How to create a branded email signature blog → https://solbritestudio.com/2026/07/15/how-to-create-a-branded-email-signature/ 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hello, and welcome back to another episode of Inspired by Design. Today we're going to be talking about brand touch points that you may not have thought of. And the reason why I wanted to talk about this today is because a lot of people think that branding just lives on your website and your Instagram grid and uh is just like your logo and things. But there's so many opportunities to have little details and little touch points that tie back into your brand experience across so many things. And your brand is honestly showing up or not showing up in dozens of places that you're not paying attention to. So if you're not aware of it, then your brand is probably lacking in a lot of these small touch points. Um, or maybe you have stuff, but you're not actually really, really leaning into what you can do here to really amplify your brand. And the whole idea of this episode is that I really want you to recognize that every single touch point is a chance to remind someone what you do and start becoming known for something really specific. And that's what we're gonna talk about and dive into in today's episode. Or people just think it's easier to just like have something basic, but that is your email signature. And I want you to take a good look at your email signature and what does it say about you and your brand? Does it just have your name? Does it have your business name? Does it have like your title? Does it have a line that reinforces what you do? Does it have easy acts, easy accessible links to click? A lot of people I find in any industry, just like throughout sending emails back and forth to people, I see a lot of email signatures. And I think that we don't really think about email signatures, but think about how often you send emails and how often you get emails in a day-to-day. And every single time you get an email, there's typically some sort of sign-off. And you should not just be signing off like best, comma Sarah, or warmly, comma Sarah, or sincerely, comma Sarah. You should have a one final touch point, your brand signature, that really encompasses everything. And it just makes you look so much more professional. So a really good brand signature has a photo, typically of you, where you can see your face. It adds more personality, it adds more humanness to the email and gives someone a face to reference back to. Um, you should have your full name and your title, whether you're, you know, a nutrition coach or a life coach, you're the founder, um, the owner, lead designer, whatever it is, have the title. And then you also want to have direct links to your main things. So that could be your should be your website first and foremost, um, and any prominent social links that you're active on. So we don't need to link everything under the sun. You don't need to link your Instagram, your Facebook, your Twitter, your TikTok, your Pinterest if you're not active on those things. Only link the ones that are necessary. And one other bonus thing that you could do that I've seen some people do that's really nice, is to have like a book a call link with me. And so if you're ever like communicating with someone, the link is really easily just like in your um footer in your signature, and people can grab that link if they want on their own, or you can say like reference the link in my email signature. Now, I see a lot of people create like an email signature on Canva or something, um, and it's just like a photo, and then they upload the photo into whatever email platform they use. But the problem with that is that it's a photo and it's not actually embedded into your email. And so that doesn't translate very well across a lot of different email servers, and some email servers will not download images directly, and so if you're using that, your signature is probably not even showing up. So you definitely want to test and make sure that your email is coming through and that your email that your email signature is coming through when you send over an email. And I actually created an email signature template. Um, it's a Google Doc that has a boxes set up for you to plug in your information directly in there. I have a free download to this email signature template. I will throw it in the show notes if you want to grab it. It's completely free. Um, and you can import your own information right into the template. This is the exact template that I use for my email signature, and it works really great, and I have no issues with things loading. I also have an instructional in how to set up your email template in my blog. So I will throw the link to that in here so you can kind of follow along and utilize my template at the same time, if you so please. Um, the second touch point that people forget is your Instagram bio. And a lot of people just have something very generic, like for example, in my industry, something generic would just be brand designer. Or in coaching industry, it would just say, you know, life coach, health coach, business coach, um, yoga instructor, just something really bland and general, and that doesn't really draw people in. So we want it to say something really specific and something that is action-oriented and kind of proves like the result that people are gonna get from that experience. And you want it to be something that's like keyword searchable. So when people are searching for things, um, so keep in mind like terms people would actually be looking for when looking for a service in your industry and utilize that in there as well. Another one that's not super common and is only applicable if you have this, have a um phone number is your voicemail greeting or your answering machine message. And that could be if you have a physical space or maybe you have a business phone. But if you have a phone number, absolutely having a voicemail greeting, especially because you're not always going to answer the phone. Um, and your voicemail greeting should really like tie into that brand experience by really explaining what it is you do, how long it will take for you to get back to them, just like having that personal side of hearing your voice and your passion and your personality. Another one is your Zoom background or your virtual meeting setup. And so this is something that I need to work on. Um, but I don't really have a specific office space. So I'm making do with what I can. But if you have an office space, absolutely like curating the background to fit in with your you, your personality, and your overall experience, and kind of have that added like personality and touch points. I know so many people when I will get on like a virtual coffee chat. I've seen so many people have such really, really cool backgrounds and it's it's talking points. Like I always want to be like, oh my god, I love your wall art or I love the color of that or this, and it kind of just starts the conversation and it allows us to connect. And so I think that's a missed opportunity there for people to like kind of tie in your brand in your background. Um, there's another designer that I'm friends with, and she has this really cool like mural on her back wall. And every time we're on a Zoom call, I'm just like staring at it. And it's very like representative of her design style, and it's just so cool. And I've been on calls with her and other people, and multiple people have like commented on the wall. And so I just feel like that is just a really cool brand touch point that you don't always like think of, but definitely adds to the experience and makes a difference. Um, another is your out of office autoresponder. So anytime I'm going out of office, even if it's just for like two days, um, if it's gonna be business days, I will set up an autoresponder and just have it be like a quick, you know, I'm out of office. I will get back to your message when I return on this date. And then giving easily accessible links. So if you're interested in Brandon Webb, you can book a consult with me here or fill out my contact application here. We have these open start dates. If you are coming for the podcast, you can listen to the most recent episode here. You can fill out our guest application here, and just making it so easy to then be able to reinstate what it is you do and the things that people are coming to you for. It's just like another way of you to be like, these are my core offerings, these are the core reasons that you would be reaching out to me and just kind of answering them immediately. And you'd be surprised, like I will go out of office for two days or so and my autoresponder will go out. And I've gotten guest podcast episodes like applied and booked without even being around because they guided themselves through the process from my autoresponder. And that's another good brand touch point because it adds to your client experience. And even if it's not a client, obviously my podcast people coming on are not clients, but it just adds to the overall experience of just being in my world, in my brand world. Another one is your invoice and proposal templates. So I am a huge proponent of sending out something custom after every consultation call. And I think that you should do this no matter the industry that you're in. I have been on a lot of calls as the consumer looking for a service for VA or for an OBM or just to like hire someone within my business and having a having a consultation with them, kind of talking through things. And then after the consultation, I just don't hear anything back from them. And I just know my process, and I'm always assuming that I'm gonna get a custom laid-out proposal with more information, with pricing, just kind of going over everything we've talked about. And obviously, we did talk about things, so I could take that information and go with it, but you have to think about like it's not always fresh on your mind later on, and you just want to give people no reason to second guess or doubt why they would want to work with you. And so sending a custom proposal doesn't have to be anything crazy, it can just be like a two-page PDF. The first page can be a pretty picture with custom proposal, or just you can even have it just say follow up for and then insert the client's name or the business name or whatever it is. And then the second page, this can all be templated too. Like you can use the same thing over and over. Um, but then the second page is just a breakdown of your specific service, and even it doesn't have to be a custom offering for them. It can be like a package that you offer, but just like what you think is the best fit for them and giving them options and laying out all the details, all the information and the pricing. And I think that that is just so so helpful because it's really clear, it's really concise, it doesn't give the person any second to like doubt or question and think about. I can't remember what she said on the call about this, but everything's just laid out for you. And one of my past clients who owns a mobile Ivy and wellness clinic who now has a specific um location, she reached out to me because she was looking for some sort of proposal or like onboarding thing that she could send over to her clients. So together we created a custom client intake PDF that she can send to clients after they have their initial call together, breaking down their specific goals, what they talked about on the call, the specific services services and offerings that she planned for their specific needs, answering any questions that they might have had at the end of the PDF and kind of going into next steps. So it's all broken down for them. And it feels really, really personal for the client, like, oh, this person really listened to me, they really assessed my needs, and now they're offering me a custom offering based on what I need specifically. And that is huge, and that's something that people are really gonna love and that they're gonna take note of when they're referring other people to you because of the easeness of working with you and because of that brand touch point. Another thing is your business cards. I know business cards kind of seem like they're on their way out a little bit, just in the way that there's a lot of like, you know, um, scanning things now, like QR codes and just like trying to get people directly on the phone. But I think sometimes it gets lost. And so I think having business cards are just a really good second thing to have. So I definitely think, you know, swapping email, swapping phone number, like scanning their QR code and following them on Instagram. But once you follow them, it's very easy to for them to just merge into the sea of everything else that you have, or every other follower and every other person you're following. And you can easily forget someone's name or forget, you know, a minor detail. And it's nice to just have the business card as a backup. And I think business cards are a really great brand touch point because you can spread business cards out randomly at coffee shops for free. You can tack them up on bulletin boards at local businesses. And the thing with business cards, though, is that there are millions of them usually everywhere. You want your business card to be memorable. You want people to it, you want people, you want your business card to draw people's attention to it. So they're like intrigued. The design is intriguing, the color is bright, I'm looking at it. Now I'm now I'm really getting involved. Oh, I see they do this. Oh, I could actually use that service. So you really want to make sure your business cards are grabbing people's attention and aren't just serving as another piece of paper that people are collecting and are going to discard or sit in a junk drawer for the next decade. So really making sure that you have those touch points, but also making sure that they are actually doing what they need to do and are captivating and intentional. And then lastly, this one's optional, but having a little bit of your business maybe in your personal social profile. So this depends on how separate you want to keep the two. But I don't think it's the worst thing in the world to like add your Instagram um tag for your business in your personal or to like have the links out, or just to have like a little piece of it to kind of connect the two back together. But again, that's optional depending on how much you want separate, or if you want them together, or really up to your own personal preference. And so all these things matter so much more than you might think because rep and repetition is what builds recognition. And it's not necessarily just doing like one big campaign or one big post or just like the full rebrand, but it really is the small things that add up. And once you have the rebrand, making sure that your brand is put across all of these touch points is so, so very important. And these are all very low effort, high reward touch points. And this is because people see them constantly. And this isn't really like you having to recreate things over and over and over. Once you create your email signature and it's solid, it is just there forever. Same with your IG bio, same with your voicemail greeting, same with your office setup and your out of office autoresponder. You can just go in and change the dates. You don't need to really tweak and do all these things over and over and over. And they have a good ROI. And then the compounding effect of this is that someone who sees the same tone, the same message, the same point of view in five different places actually starts to trust you because it builds in that brand remembrance and that memorability effect. So I want you to do a quick pass on all of your own brand touch touch points this week. So I want you to pull up each of the ones that I went over today. I'll go over them real quick after this. But just ask yourself like if a stranger saw this touch point, would they know what I do? Why I'm different? Are they drawn to it? Is it enticing? And just really ask, like zooming out from your business and putting on the consumer lens and looking at all these different brand touch points. And then I encourage you to pick just two to three to update this week. You don't have to overhaul everything at once. And if you are going through a rebrand, it's definitely important to pay attention to these. A lot of designers have these as add-ons. We offer so many of these brand touch points as add-ons when we're going through the brand experience. And uh they're really easy to just add on to have your designer just create everything all at once so you don't even have to worry about it. And all these touch points are completely covered. So to refresh your memory, the touch points are your email signature. If you want to work on this yourself right now, you can grab the free template. The link is in the show notes. And I also have a blog walking you through all that again. Um, and I'll put that in the show notes. The next one is your IG bio, your voicemail greeting, your Zoom background, or your virtual meeting setup. And if you don't actually like change your physical space, you can add a virtual background as well. Um your out of office autoresponder, um, your invoices, or having a proposal template, your business cards, and then lastly, your personal social profiles. So take a look at all of those, see what you have currently, what could be changed, and then pick two to three to update this week and slowly just start chipping them away. If you have a brand already, a really solid brand foundation, utilize your brand colors, utilize your typography, utilize what you already have, and really build it out into all of these different areas. So, all in all, having a solid, memorable brand isn't about doing these big drastic things all the time. It's about showing up consistently in the small, easy to overlook places and really just slowly but slowly but surely allowing people to really experience what it's like to work with you without actually working with you and just reinforcing what it is you do and your brand recognition. And I challenge all of you to update one of these touch points today and feel free to DM me on Instagram and tell me which one you changed, um, why you changed it, or to kind of talk through the things with me. I'm happy to bounce ideas off of each other. The biggest ones I would say would be the email signature. And if you don't already have some sort of proposal or follow-up template that you can send to clients after you have a consultation or a discovery call with them, I would highly recommend tackling that first because that's made so much of a difference for me with my clients. And I know has made so much of a difference for my clients who have implemented that in their process, regardless of the industry that they're in. Truly, it's so beneficial to follow up with leads and really nurture them and show them that you listened and that you have this particular custom offering specific for them, even if it's not actually a custom offer, but it's more so just tailored to fit them based on you your processes and your packages and what you offer, but keeping your clients' needs in mind specifically. So thank you so much for listening. And I cannot wait to be in your ears again next week.