97: Small Shifts to Achieve Brand-Life Alignment
Traditional branding advice would tell you to rebrand every 3-5 years. Invest big, campaign the hell out of it, and then rebrand when you need to reimagine your business. But how well does that model work for small businesses?
On this episode I’m joined by Xanthe and Frank of Oh Sierra to talk about a more sustainable (and life-giving) way to view branding.
We spend our time chatting about:
- The difference between what you want and what you’re aligned with,
- Letting go of things you’re not good at…even when you want to be good at them,
- How to let go of the fear of being boxed in by your brand, and
- Serving a client’s full needs without having to claim expertise in every area.
MEET OH SIERRA CREATIVE
Oh Sierra is a brand agency grounded in passion, empowerment, dreaming, an unabashed boldness of being, and a balance of work and play. Founded in 2017 and recently relocated from Hamilton, Canada to Tulum, Mexico, Frank and Xanthe Appleyard created this business to achieve freedom and autonomy over their lives, to connect more deeply with the humans in their community, and to travel the world while bringing their dreams to life, every day.
They’ve built a team of experts who know that you can achieve so much more for your business and your life when you have people in your corner who give a shit. They aren’t interested in charging a fortune to create something that you don’t understand or can’t realistically apply.
Through immersive branding experiences and educational resources, they exist to show you that by having a passionate, deep understanding of who your brand speaks to and what it represents, you will achieve greater success and build a stronger community.
They work with motivated entrepreneurs and aspiring leaders, serving not just as your creative team, but as dedicated collaborators, compassionate leaders, and a powerful hub for education, online community building, and connection.
TOP TAKEAWAYS
- You can constantly evolve without being overwhelmed worrying that your brand isn’t keeping up.
- Alignment comes from making the right small steps every day.
- You don’t necessarily have to work hard. You just have to work in the right direction.
- Gone are the days of making one huge investment and just leaving it there on autopilot.
OH SIERRA QUOTED
“By joining up to run a business together it’s let us shed some of the things we weren’t that good at that we were holding onto in old roles and refocus on unexpected strengths.” – Frank Appleyard
“The word pivot has this really frantic connotation that it has to be a sudden shift 90 – 180 degrees, but it doesn’t; you can pivot 1 degree.” – Frank Appleyard
“The desire to experiment and explore is human nature and when you have a brand that’s well established you can sometimes feel like, ‘Well, I’ve invested all this money in this and I can’t stray.'” – Xanthe Appleyard
“What we see is people are building their entire momentum off of this initial branding experience and there’s nothing to carry it through.” – Xanthe Appleyard
“Our goal for our agency is to be a hub for our clients’ experience and be able to bring them all of the professionals they need to get where they want to go.” – Xanthe Appleyard
“I want to be known as somebody who has built a very well-managed and thriving small agency who can help others do that as well.” – Frank Appleyard
“I want to be known for giving people a reason to dream, something to hope for.” – Xanthe Appleyard
FOLLOW + CONNECT
RESOURCES MENTIONED
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