Part 2: Brand Activation That Ignites Momentum | Beverly Cornell

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Welcome to Wickedly Branded: Marketing, Magic, and The Messy Middle, the podcast where real conversations meet real strategies. I'm your host, Beverly Cornell, founder and fairy godmother of brand clarity at Wickedly Branded. With over 25 years of experience, I’ve helped hundreds of entrepreneurs awaken their brand magic, attract the right people, and build businesses that light them up.

Halfway through Season 6 of the podcast, we tackle one of the biggest reasons entrepreneurs stall: getting stuck in “almost there” mode. Your brand might be close, but if it feels off, inconsistent, or outdated, it will hold you back from showing up with confidence. In this episode, Beverly shares the top three reasons this happens: misaligned voice and visuals, outdated branding, and lack of consistency, and how you can fix each one. If you’ve been hesitating to fully activate your brand, this is your sign to align, simplify, and step forward boldly.

Three Key  Marketing Topics Discussed:

1. When Voice and Visuals Don’t Match: If your Instagram is playful but your website feels corporate, you're sending mixed signals. Consistency across platforms is key to building trust.
2. Outgrowing Your Old Branding: As you evolve, ensure your branding keeps pace. Refresh your messaging and visuals every 12–18 months to reflect your current identity and future aspirations.
3. The Cost of Inconsistency: Differing fonts, colors, and styles can make your brand seem scattered. A brand kit and consistent templates foster cohesion, enhancing recognition and confidence.

Dare to be Wickedly Branded

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P.S. Take the first step (will only take you 3 minutes) to awaken your brand magic with our personalized Brand Clarity Quiz

Episode Transcript

Beverly (00:11):
So we are halfway through season six, and you've
been listening to our incredibleguests.
I'm sure you've picked up a tonof new ideas and inspiration,
but here is one thing that Iwant to make sure you
understand.
None of that matters if you'restill feeling in what I like to
call almost there mode.

(00:32):
You know what I mean?
Your brand is close, butsomething feels off.
It feels maybe a little stuffy,a little corporate, a little too
much chat, GPT.
Maybe it feels like yourcompetitor.
It doesn't quite click with youand who you are and where you've
become.
And because of that, youhesitate to put yourself really

(00:52):
out there.
You hesitate maybe to go on apodcast.
You hesitate to go to hand yourcard out at a networking event.
Today I'm gonna share the topthree reasons that this happens
and what you can actually do tofix it.
The very first reason is thatyour visuals and your voice are
not speaking the same language.

(01:12):
Maybe your Instagram looksplayful and super casual and
just like you, but your websitesounds like a corporate brochure
from maybe 2010.
Or maybe your colors are boldand edgy, but your coffee is
soft and underrated and you'renot really asking for the sale.
When this happens, your audiencegets mixed signals from you and

(01:33):
mixed signals kill your momentumand kill your sales period.
So here's a way to fix that.
I want you to audit all of yourplatforms, every word that you
show up.
So if you show up in an email,if you show up on Instagram,
LinkedIn, everywhere, you showup and ask yourself, if someone
looked at this and read mywords, would they feel like it

(01:54):
came from the same exact person.
And if the answer is no, then,it's time to start aligning.
So one thing I've seen here evenwith marketers is that they have
different handles on differentsocial media sites.
That's super confusing.
So what is one phrase, one word?
If it's your method, if it's thename of your business, what is
the thing that you can haveacross all of the platforms so

(02:16):
that it's the same no matterwhere they go?
That's a great way to start andthen to create a about us or a
description that is the sameacross all the different
channels as well.
The second reason is your brandhasn't kept up with you.
You've grown, you've evolved,but your branding is still stuck

(02:37):
in the early days.
I see this all the time.
You have refined, you have grownas a business person.
You have gotten a little bitmore sophisticated.
You understand the marketbetter, you understand what
you're doing better.
And you have so much moreclarity and maybe you've even
changed your niche.
You've gotten reallyhyper-focused on your customers,
but your website still lookslike your first Canva template.

(03:01):
Now what can you do to fix that?
Every year revisit yourmessaging and your imagery and
make sure they still match thebusiness you're running now, and
the one you want to become.
Not the one that you had whenyou first started 10 years ago,
20 years ago.
Yeah.
I see you.
I was that person a couple yearsago.

(03:22):
I look at my stuff and go, Ooh,actually, I just, I have my very
first business card here.
It's not bad, but it's not whereI am now.
And if I'd stuck with this.
It wouldn't look like we havebecome something that we are
today much more bold, much, muchmore daring to be able to exist

(03:42):
as wickedly branded versusBeverly Cornell Consulting as a
freelancer.
The third reason is a lack ofconsistency.
Your brand feels like.
A patchwork quilt that mygrandmother made.
You're using different fonts inevery graphic.
Your social media doesn't matchyour proposals, and your emails
have no visual tie to your brandat all.

(04:02):
So here's a way to address thattoday.
Create a brand kit in Canva.
There's a little section inthere that says Brand kit, put
in your colors, your actual hexcode colors if you have them,
the fonts you wanna use for theheading and the subheading.
Any logos and icons and rulesand examples of how you want
your brand to show up.

(04:23):
And then you have to actuallyuse it every single time.
We create template kits for ourclients all the time so that
they can take them and use themand maybe change their
background a couple times,change some direction We'll
build a kit, we'll build thetemplates so that they have them
ready to go to use them goingforward.
So if you need help with that,we can certainly help you with

(04:44):
that, but you can certainly dothis on your own as well.
I want to remind you, activationis not about perfection as a
recovering perfectionist.
It's about creating enoughalignment that you can
confidently show up.
Now the perfect brand does notexist.
If it did, gosh, we would be onthe hunt for it, but it evolves.

(05:08):
It's organic, it grows with youas you grow and evolve.
In my last episode of theseason, I'm gonna walk you
through a simple 90 day plan tofully activate your brand step
by step so that you stopstalling and start showing up
because your brand can't connectwith the right people that you

(05:30):
love to work with and love tohelp if it's hiding in what I
call the almost there mode.
So let's change that.
Let's be bolder.
Let's make those baby steps.
Let's get out of our own waywith perfection and dare to be
wickedly branded.