👋 Hello branding enthusiasts. How are you doing today?
I hope January is good to you and your brand. Branding is linked to a balance of ease and actions that lead to a level of traction at the appointed time. Your efforts are valuable, and they speak volumes about the vision you have for your brand. As the vision is evolving, those efforts will be accelerated, tempered and find equilibrium along the way. Keep up your efforts and nurture that joyful vision!
The mission of Your Branding Letter is to demystify the ''big word'' branding. I wish for everybody to understand its paradoxes and truths. But also, implement them within their version of branding. Here, you will find a collection of an eclectic panel of definitions alongside visions of what branding is and implies—showcasing those who do, use, and expand branding: Brand Revealers.
Let's discover our new Brand Revealer of the month!
Wise words from Brand Revealer Dustin Hyden
You can create your own opportunities, either small or big. Dustin reached out to me by email after discovering my newsletter. His email was engaging and proactive. After looking at his space, I thought he could be a good fit for the newsletter. His tagline, Helping feel-good brands feel better, caught my attention by highlighting the feel and the betterment of branding.
☕ Grab some tea or coffee and let’s go!
Who are you?
My name is Dustin Hyden, and I am the owner of Hyden House, a website development and media buying agency.
Using specific words and images, to build a specific emotion, with the goal of changing someone's perception towards your product.
A brand is something that lives in the minds of your consumers. You don't own it, and everyone has a different brand perception of your product. Your hope is to help push them towards the emotions and attachment that you are after.
Dustin
Branding is made of trial and error. The positioning takes effort, time and dedication. How can entrepreneurs recover from a branding that doesn't resonate yet with their audience?
It is as you say, something that takes time and effort. Being consistent is what builds the brand.However, you need to take a hard look at your "darling" and see if the colour choices, fonts, messaging, etc. are actually effective or if they are working against you.
A/B testing it key.Try small tweaks with all your emails, Meta ads, and anywhere else where you can A/B test. This allows you to optimize and tweak over time to get your desired results.
Dustin
What are the repeated words you hear about your Brand and Branding from your audience, teams, and people who discover you? (3 to 5 keywords)
Responsive • High quality • Professional
Dustin
What is your best branding story from clients, yourself or an iconic brand you look up to?
It is a subtle story. Suniela is one of our clients. She had a website with many hard edges (as most websites are), but nevertheless, her logo and product are anything from hard edges. So, we took elements from the logo and turned them into sections of the site. Rather than a rectangular banner, we opted for an arched banner directly above the logo. Her industry is filled with palm tree clip art, and she wanted to dissociate from that imagery. We decided to create a pattern of half circles and circles that resembled her product and the sun. In a nutshell, there were a lot of small, playful pieces that added up to a much greater whole.
Dustin
Do you have any recommendations for mastering branding, such as books, podcasts, conferences, etc.?
I watch and study constantly. I mix in-person business events, mentoring sessions and YouTube. For those sitting at a computer or phone: • I would say the best thing you can do right now is go on YouTube and watch 20+ videos from different creators, all talking about branding. • Note any similarities and differences. • Then try to assess why they may have different takes.
Every creator has tips that they have learned from their own scenarios. But what might work in one industry might not translate into another.
Dustin
No-code is a growing norm that allows brands to bring to market a prototype or product quickly. What is your opinion on AI-generated websites? And their perceived value for a brand's audience.
• No code and AI-generated are two different topics in my industry. My agency has moved to a 95% no-code world. Where our WordPress websites utilize Elementor (a page builder) and Crocoblocks (a suite of plugins that handle everything a dev would need to manually type). These solutions are much slower than manually programming a page, but they are quicker to edit after the fact.
• AI-generated websites are a no-brainer. And I believe in technologies that speed up your process. Now instead of hiring a web developer, you will be hiring a web developer who is proficient with AI tools. The code AI produces is verbose at best; it sources places like GitHub, where you have all levels of developers writing code. Essentially, a company will still need human capital. Someone who understands programming, is good with AI, and will handle the development of your app. I am sure we have all played around with DALL-E for hours trying to get a specific picture to be slightly modified. The same holds with AI-generated websites.
Dustin
We are in the era of democratization of design and development tools. What are your thoughts on the role of designers and developers in the creative process?
Many of these tools produce results better than those I could have with my traditional software. Everyday users can use things like Canva and create really nice work. These users are unknowingly becoming designers themselves. They learn not only how to create effective designs but also tricks to achieve specific effects, etc.
A designer was once not a designer.
However, think about a house. You can paint it, and you can buy all sorts of things to fill your bedroom. But someone who specializes in home decor will do a better job. Thousands of hours of thinking about something typically means you have thought through quite a few more scenarios and options.
Dustin
As an engineer with development skills, how do you leverage your background to stand out as a brand?
I pair data science with art to achieve results. For example, I will make several variations of the same AD, and test them all. See which one is performing better, and create theories as to the ''why''. I then test those theories on the next campaign. Perhaps it was the location of the main catch or the use of specific design elements. Eventually, you build a clear picture: "For this brand, putting a logo here and putting text there resonates with their audience.".
Dustin
You can connect and discover more of his work and mindset @Dustin Hyden
