November 4, 2025 • 39 mins
Is your brand holding you back from your next level of growth… and you don’t even realize it?
If your brand visuals feel a little disconnected from the business you’re becoming—that’s a sign it’s time to evolve.
Today, I’m joined by Maria Platusic—award-winning brand strategist, designer, and messaging expert—who’s here to break down the top signs that it’s time for a rebrand… and what to do about it.
Maria has over 25 years of experience helping businesses evolve their brand identity—from Fortune 500 companies to coaches and consultants ready to scale.
If you’re trying to reach the next level in your business but feel stuck or out of alignment with how your brand shows up online, this conversation is exactly what you need.
Connect with Maria Platusic
Maria Platusic is the Founder and Creative director behind Platusic Design Creative Studio. An award winning branding designer, brand strategist, messaging expert and Wordpress magic maker, she has been at this game for over 25 years. She started her journey working at corporate agencies, helping fortune 500 businesses develop their brands. Now she focuses on helping small business owners, such as, coaches and consultants, at the scaling phase. Starting with an effective brand strategy, and then crafting gorgeous branding visuals to achieve their big vision goals.
Free Logo Effectiveness Guide: https://platusicdesign.com/free-logo-guide/
Free Brand Clarity Session: https://calendly.com/platusicdesign/clarify-your-message/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Carrie Saunders (00:01):
Is your brand holding you back from your next
level of growth and you don'teven realize it?
If your brand visuals feel alittle disconnected from the
business you're becoming, that'sa sign that it's time to evolve.
Today I'm joined by MariaPlatusic, award-winning brand
strategist, designer, andmessaging expert who's here to
break down the top signs it'stime for a rebrand and what to
(00:23):
do about it.
Maria has over 25 years ofexperience helping businesses
evolve their brand identity fromFortune 500 companies to
coaches and consultants ready toscale.
If you're trying to reach thenext level in your business but
feel stuck or out of alignmentwith how your brand shows up
online, this conversation isexactly what you need.
Let's dive in.
(00:44):
Struggling to turn websitetraffic into real sales, you're
not alone and you don't have tofigure it out all yourself.
Welcome to Smarter OnlineBusiness, the podcast for course
creators, coaches, ande-commerce entrepreneurs who
want their websites to convertvisitors into buyers without the
tech overwhelm.
I'm your host, Carrie Saunders,a website strategist and
conversion expert with over 20years of experience.
(01:07):
Each episode delivers simple,proven strategies to help you
generate more revenue and makeyour website your smartest sales
tool.
Welcome back to the show.
So today we have a specialguest with us today, and her
name is Maria Platusic, and sheis the founder and creative
director at Platusic DesignCreative Studio, which is an
(01:28):
award-winning brand designer,brand strategist, and messaging
expert, and a WordPress magicmaker.
So welcome to our show, Maria.
Maria Platusic (01:38):
Well, thank you so much for having me, Carrie.
I'm happy to be here.
Carrie Saunders (01:42):
So I just gave a little bit of a snip of who
you are.
So tell the audience a littlebit more about who Maria is and
what you do and how you servepeople.
Mar (01:52):
Maria Platusic
So I'm a textbook case.
I started, I went to school foradvertising, graphic design,
um, then worked at corporatedesign agencies across the
Toronto GTA area.
And from there, um, I starteduh doing some freelancing on my
own.
And I haven't looked back.
It's been about almost 15years, me kind of um helping
(02:14):
small business owners at thatsame caliber, that same level.
Uh when they came to me todesign some items, um I realized
there's a big gap here becausewhen I would ask them, okay,
what is your branding?
What is your visuals, yourcolors?
Um, and then the bigger pictureof why are we creating this
piece?
Who's it for?
And what's the bigger mission?
They wouldn't have thoseanswers identified.
(02:34):
So it was more so, okay, weneed to push pause, take a step,
a few steps back and build outthose strategies for them.
So I start with strategy first,then I do the actual visuals
based on data and facts, and notbecause, you know, someone
likes the color blue, but moreso what we're what we're trying
to trying to create, that biggervision.
(02:55):
And then from there, weimplement everything across all
platforms.
So their websites, socials, anymarketing collateral they need
created, I can help them throughthat.
So I become their essentiallytheir partner on the rebranding
journey from start to wheneverthat finish line may be.
And um, it's just somethingthat I love supporting small
(03:15):
business owners through and withbecause it allows them to have
the voice where the people whoare really good at marketing,
who are not necessarily as goodas what they do at their job, um
get all the noise and get allthe attention.
So I like helping those thathave the actual talent receive
that same caliber and that sameattention.
Carrie Saunders (03:35):
I love how you like have such an
all-encompassing view of likewhat branding is and how you
want to help them be successful.
And you we sound likeparallels, like similar
parallels, whereas you'rebranding and I'm the web
technology behind it.
And it sounds like we bothenjoy just kind of wrapping our
arms around our clients, itsounds like, and really making
(03:56):
sure they have a holisticsolution that's going to benefit
them a lot.
And and as you're talking, I'mthinking, you know, there's
probably a lot of listeners outhere that are thinking, well, I
didn't really do quite a brandoriginally, or or maybe I did
and it was kind of rushed.
And so, how for the listenerslistening, how would they know
if they're ready for a rebrand?
(04:18):
Because it sounds likesometimes you're helping people
realize they didn't even have abrand to begin with, but then we
also have the flip side of theymight have had a brand or
thought they did, but they needa rebrand on it.
So, how do you know when you'reready for that?
Maria Platusic (04:30):
That's a great question.
And um, I think it starts tobecome very evident.
There's a lot of signs thatstart to surface and show up for
the business owner, and theymight be scratching their head
as to why are these things, youknow, why do these things keep
on happening on repeat?
You know, I'm trying all thethings, and and yet these issues
or these struggles are stillarising.
(04:52):
Um, but it's that overallfeeling of you know there's room
or space for more, but you'renever able to attain or get to
that next level.
Something's kind of holding youback, and you're not sure,
you're not quite sure what itis.
Um, it's that overall feeling.
But there are some good tells,and I'm happy to share at least
(05:14):
these are the top three thatI've witnessed.
And I there's a plethora ofthem, but these are mainly the
top three that I'm happy to toshare with you if you want to
dive into those.
Carrie Saunders (05:24):
Yes, I'd love to have that because that I
think that'll help reallyconnect, you know, something
that might seem abstract to somepeople to a bit more of a
tangible, you know, here here'shere's what I when I see these
things, I know I need a rebrand.
Maria Platusic (05:37):
So the the first item on the list is one that
most might not like to admit to.
So, because it is it is a bitof a challenging one, is that
they're actually embarrassed.
They're embarrassed to sharetheir web page, they're
embarrassed to share theirsocial media pages, they're
embarrassed to share any oftheir marketing collateral or
(05:58):
any of the spaces that they'represent online because they feel
that it doesn't represent thembest.
They feel that it doesn't umhold water, they feel that it
just kind of it started off andit was it appears amateurish, or
they're just not proud.
Because when you are proud ofyour business and proud of your
brand, you're like, go check outmy website and you'll like
(06:20):
share it with pride.
And when you're hesitating,you're like, oh, and you say, my
website's under construction,or we're gonna be fixing that
soon.
That's the hesitation.
That's when you know thatsomething needs to be repaired.
Um, and that's one of thebigger signs.
Um, and it's it's just one ofthose things that when you
(06:41):
aren't putting your best footforward, it's like you have one
foot in your business and onekind of sitting out of it, and
you're not all in.
And then that becomes veryevident when you get on sales
calls, when you get onpromotional calls, when you're
trying to speak about yourbrand, but you're hesitant to
share the website URL.
Um, there that actually can bea big hindrance for your
(07:04):
business growth and it kind ofstops you in your tracks.
So that's definitely one signis that you're kind of
embarrassed to share it withyour audience.
So I think some may be able torelate to that one.
Carrie Saunders (07:18):
Um, actually, I know that we can actually
definitely relate to that onebecause being web developers
ourselves, we don't have timefor our own website.
And sometimes I'm like, it's alittle dated, but it's got
different decent information onit.
And like, you know, I honestlyam a bit embarrassed on our
main, you know, core business,BCS Engineering's website,
because it is dated.
(07:38):
It's it's something that wehaven't um put the time into.
And I know we should, and Iknow we can, and we have the
resources to do it.
It's, you know, just makingthat a priority.
And and I think peoplelistening, you know, it's a I
feel like we should, you know,acknowledge that, you know, even
if you are embarrassed aboutit, you can still do something
(07:58):
about it now.
And it's it's your foundationof your business.
So it is something that we doneed to address.
And it's it's definitely in myquarter four to quarter one top
of my list for my for our site.
So I feel like we need to, youknow, give the permission that
if they are embarrassed, thenthen let's let's set a date,
let's set a time frame when youare going to fix this because
(08:21):
when it's a someday, it's anever day.
You know, we need to make surewe give ourselves a deadline on
fixing that.
So then what would be whatwould be the second big thing
that you see?
M (08:32):
Maria Platusic
to raise my hand and say, hi,I'm also the cobbler and the
shoes.
And if I can just be honest andfrank, it took me almost like
eight years.
I I just recently rebranded mybusiness and I'm a rebrand
strategist.
So like I just want to come outand say it.
Um, I've been building, I don'tknow, hundreds, if not
(08:55):
thousands of different brandsand websites and launching them
on repeat.
And I can get them done to fourto six weeks, 10 to 12 weeks.
But when it comes to our own,and you said it, Carrie, it's
like you, it's always pushed tothe back burner.
It's so hard to put the CEO haton and take the time to get
your own work up to snuff.
And I was just at the pointwhere it's like, this has to
(09:17):
change.
This hat like the messagingdoesn't relate to any like where
I'm at and who I'm helping.
It still worked and it wasstill functional, and people
were like, oh, your website'sbeautiful.
But to me, I knew it needed tobe updated.
And now I'm in love with mybusiness and my brand all over
again.
So I just want to share thatpiece too, is it can rekindle
that love for your businessagain if you're so proud of it
(09:39):
and you're in your enamored byit once again.
And that does happen.
And I've witnessed my ownclients, and it was I was
excited because I did my ownquestionnaire and I went through
my own journey and I wentthrough all of I'm like, darn, I
should listen to my own advice,and I'm sure you're the same.
Like, maybe I need to listen tomy own advice, and it's really
good at sound advice.
It's a great questionnaire thatyou go through.
(10:01):
So sometimes we need to gothrough our own process and push
pause and take the time to doit.
And what made me do it was Iinvested instead of myself doing
it, I invested in a copywriterto help polish up my copy for
me, and I invested in adeveloper to do the back end.
So it wasn't me myself doing it.
And so sometimes when you putskin in the game, it gives you
(10:23):
that motivation to actually getit done.
And that was the motivation Ineeded.
So the first quarter of theyear, it's been, like I said, on
the back burner for almosteight years.
The first quarter of the year,we got it done, and I was so
excited.
So now I love it.
Go visit my website.
I love it.
Um yeah, okay.
So the second um common sign,sorry, I just wanted to share
(10:45):
that because it's veryrelatable.
Carrie Saunders (10:47):
No, I loved it because yeah, it's totally
relatable.
And like I feel like it givespeople permission to be messy
sometimes, but just recognize itand then that's okay.
Acknowledge it, recognize it,and then just set that deadline
for yourself.
Yeah.
Maria Platusic (11:00):
Yes, it's good to have those hard deadlines to
just keep that, keep momentumgoing and and not let things
fizzle away.
So yeah, that's for sure agood, a good side note in all of
this, anyways.
Um, so the second item is alsoa common sign.
Um, and then sometimes peoplehave a hard time figuring out
why it continues to happen.
Um, but it is mostly when youare not attracting the ideal
(11:25):
audience um or you want toattract a new ICAA, a new ideal
client avatar, um, and it's nothappening, right?
So you need to ensure that allis in alignment and the right
people um um you want the rightpeople to find you, but it's a
hard piece to rectify andisolate this problem.
(11:46):
Um, for example, when youcreate a post or you put
something for sale or um you'reputting an offer out there and
the wrong people keep on chimingin or paying attention, um,
that's a big sign right there.
When you're like, why are thesepeople paying attention?
I don't even offer thisanymore, or I don't want them, I
want this other tier ofclientele to be working, uh
(12:09):
looking for me and for myservices.
And that happens for a reason,um, because there is a
misalignment in the messaging,in the visuals, um, via
everything that you're puttingout there.
There's something that you'reputting out there that's
attracting the wrong audience.
Um, and that's something todefinitely pay attention to.
So, for example, if it's aflorist who originally worked
(12:31):
with budget-friendly brides, um,but now you want to get like
higher-end packages and offerhigher-end packages, the
messaging you originally hadwill not serve that higher tier.
So, we do have to take a pushpause and go back and revisit
all of the brand strategyfoundational pieces and make
(12:52):
sure they're in alignment toserve that new ideal customer.
Um, and that's something thatyou have to pay attention to.
So, if you constantly aregetting the wrong influx of the
clients that you don't want tobe serving or you want to target
a new audience, that is anoptimal time to revisit your
branding for sure.
C (13:12):
Carrie Saunders
And as you're talking towardsthat, you know, I'm thinking
about our business over the past20-some years.
And, you know, we originallywere helping um, you know, more
of the smaller businesses andthings like that.
And then I had a goal of notleaving them behind because I
still wanted to help them, but Ialso wanted to make sure that
(13:33):
I'm also attracting the moreenterprise type of people
because you have a bit morestability there.
And and I do like to recognizethat the ones that are just
starting out may get there too.
So I wanted to serve them too.
So like I had to find how do Ibalance this?
How do I market to kind of both?
Like I wanted to market mostlyto the more enterprise, but not
(13:56):
feel like I'm leaving the othersbehind.
So I feel like when you knowwhat who you want to market, you
you can get there, butsometimes it can be tricky on
figuring that out and figuringout how to do the messaging
right and the the colors and theyou know, the aesthetics and
the feel of it.
Um, would you say that's kindof the case where it can
sometimes be a hard balance ifthey want to target more than
(14:17):
one?
Because I do run into a lot ofpeople who like to target more
than one type of people.
Maria Plat (14:22):
Maria Platusic
So um there's two things aboutit there.
One is like if you'reempathetic and you're like, I
don't want to leave the startthe startups behind or those at
the beginning phases behind, butI also need to create a
sustainable business for myself.
And I know that this modelwon't necessarily serve me.
You have to be realistic, right?
(14:43):
Like you really have to think,comes down to numbers and um it
comes down to, you know, we'reall into business to make money,
like, you know, great, we canserve a greater purpose and all
those things, yes.
But at the end of the day, wedo want to make money and we're
not doing that, we're nonobody's a charity here unless
you are.
But um, this is that's thegreater purpose.
So you have to be realisticwith is it sustainable for you
(15:05):
to support certain demographicsor certain tiers of businesses?
And when I was first startingout, I did have different tiers
and I had multiple tiers to helpmultiple people.
And then as I was progressingand growing, I realized I am an
all-in personality.
I can't gatekeep stuff and putsomething behind a paywall.
If you ask a question and Ihave the answer, you will
(15:28):
receive the answer.
What I was doing for my toptier, I was still giving to my
base tier.
There wasn't the, I suffer withboundaries, so there was no
boundaries there.
So I realized I can'teffectively and sustainably and
ethically do this because I'm anall-in-personality.
So I had to draw the line andsay, here are my offers, here's
who they for, who they are for.
(15:49):
But I do have freebies,opt-ins, um, courses, things to
serve and get those at the lowertier ready to eventually work
with me.
And so there's ways to go aboutit.
There's absolutely, so you saidwhat if you have multiple
audiences?
Majority of my clients havemultiple offers and they're for
different audiences.
So you do create different uhuh ICAs for each of them.
(16:13):
The key piece is to understandthat overarching message.
So if your main brand and thatoverarching message that you're
sharing has to be able to fillall the buckets underneath.
So they all have to be related.
One can't be completely farright or far left if they aren't
related or correlated.
So that overall arching brandmessage has to feed all the
(16:35):
buckets, and then you can haveunique messaging for each of
your offers to target to thosespecific audience.
And you absolutely would wantthat because this particular
offer is for XYZ, you want tocall them out directly.
And this one is for a differentaudience, you want to call them
out directly.
So you have to have TA1, TA2.
Sometimes I have TA3.
There could be a variety.
(16:56):
I try to limit it realisticallyto three, because then you will
confuse the heck out of youraudiences, and you're gonna be
left with confused non-biers inyour pool of things.
So it you have to be verystrategic with the messaging for
each of the dialed-in audiences.
But that's a great question,yes.
Carrie S (17:15):
Carrie Saunders
Well, and I think that's veryhelpful to hear you say too,
because it's it's definitelysomething we've struggled with.
And and I feel like we're doingit in the manner you're saying.
So, but I think that it's greatfor listeners to hear how do we
do that?
Because a lot of people we dorun into have, you know,
multiple target audiences, orit's it might be the same target
audience, just at a differentstage of their business or their
(17:38):
whatever journey they're on.
So I think that's really greaton how you um put that all
together for us to help makesure we're understanding how it
all fits and how all the piecesfit together.
So that being said, then whatis your main third item?
We we covered, you know, thefirst two, which I thought were
great, where you know, you'reembarrassed, um, and then the
second item, and then so what isthe third item that you think
(18:01):
is a really, you know, hot redflag for them?
Mar (18:05):
Maria Platusic
business so far from where youoriginally started, that is a
big red flag because it a coupleof things happen.
There's overlapping thingsyou'll see.
You'll still you'll beattracting the wrong audience
because they still think youoffer X, but you don't
necessarily offer it anymore.
Um, so if you've pivoted theproduct or services that you
(18:28):
originally started out with anddon't offer those items anymore,
um, and your your messaging andyour positioning and your
website and all of your meth,everything is the same, that's
where you will get severeconfusion um in your audience
because you have to actuallyacknowledge the pivot,
acknowledge the change.
(18:49):
And a lot of the times peopledo, I call it silent rebranding,
where they're like, I'm justgonna test out this new offer in
the background, which is great.
I'm not gonna downplay umtesting because you absolutely
need to test things.
But once you're like, no, no,I'm gonna be offering this from
now on, you need to shout itout, you need to share it, you
(19:09):
need to actually embrace it intothe rebrand and make it a part
of your, I guess, evolution ofyour business.
Um, so a lot of the times theydo the pivots happen, but we're
still trying to keep everythingthe same when in fact it's not.
So the people who know you fromfive years ago, um, offering,
for example, if you offered um,you know, one-to-one uh coaching
(19:34):
or consulting, but now youdon't offer one-to-one anymore,
you only do group programs andgroup coaching and offer in
group settings, then they'll besadly disappointed because
that's what they know you as.
And and a lot of the times whenyou're known for X, it feels
like we're cemented here foreverand we can, we're not allowed
to leave.
And I've witnessed that happentoo.
(19:54):
Like that's the other casewhere it's like you've done
really well.
People know you for X, they'rereferred to you, you're highly
renowned for providing X, andyou're like, I actually don't
want to do this anymore.
How do I get out of here?
And I've had clients come to mein that scenario as well.
And I'm like, you're actuallyat the perfect spot.
This is a great place to bebecause it's not all about, and
(20:18):
and you get that feeling likemajority want to kind of burn it
all down and start over becausethey're just overwhelmed.
And I'm like, I'm here to tellyou, please don't ever do that.
Don't ever burn it all down.
Um, unless it's like badrapport and you purchased a
business that has, you know, badPR or whatever, and you need to
rechange the name and startfrom scratch.
(20:39):
Very rare instances and fromcorporate to individuals.
Um, but when it comes to yourindividual business, you're in a
beautiful spot because now youcan take your audience along
with you on that new journey, onthat rebranding journey, and
let them know of your pivot andlet them know of the changes
they're gonna be seeing in theupcoming months and what to
(21:01):
expect.
And people can discern forthemselves.
Do I want to continue following?
Cool.
I think this is great.
It's exciting.
I do want to see what'shappening, or oh, I don't want
to be a part of that anymore.
And they weed themselves out,which is the exactly what you
want to have happen.
So you get to take thatgorgeous audience, they get a
weed themselves out, you invitethem along the journey of your
(21:22):
rebrand, and then you get alaunch to an audience that's
actually excited to be there, asopposed to one that's like,
what's going on?
I don't understand what youdon't offer this anymore.
You're letting them be informed.
Um, and rebranding grants youthe permission to televise,
share, launch, express all ofthese things.
So that's where it's like oneof the most important times to
(21:46):
rebrand is when you fullypivoted, you need to let your
people know that you did.
Carrie Saunders (21:52):
And I love how you said you you let them be
informed.
And when my mind, after yousaid that, what came to my head
was like, you're letting them beinformed, not let down.
I think is what I feel likeyou're implying.
Yes.
Right?
Because like if you don'tinform them and you don't offer
this thing anymore, and then andthen they find out, they may be
very disappointed.
Whereas if you brought themalong on the journey as you're
(22:16):
discussing, they can eitherdecide for themselves that they
want to keep going along thejourney.
Maybe they're a good referral.
Even if they're not a goodmatch, maybe they're a good
referral, you know, and they canrefer somebody that would be a
good match for your new journey.
So then I think that helpscreate brand loyalty and trust
when we're very upfront with a arebrand like that and a change,
(22:37):
because then the people who'vebeen following you for a long
time can feel supported, even ifyou're not the perfect match
anymore.
They still, you know, see youas this, you know, human being
that's being, you know,forthright and you know, letting
them know here's here's mythoughts, here's where I'm
going, and and why.
And then they can follow thatjourney and be excited with you,
(23:00):
no matter whether they're stilla good fit or not.
And then they could either weedthemselves in or weed
themselves out.
Um, I love how you give uspermission to do that because it
can be very scary, especiallyif you had something successful
that's no longer serving you andyou want to jump to another,
you know, market or whatever.
It's it can be scary.
So giving that permission tobring them along with you, I
(23:21):
think is very important forlisteners to hear on here.
Mar (23:26):
Maria Platusic
rebranding is never, as Imentioned earlier, it's never
burning and starting from theground up.
It's actually building off ofeverything you've created and
done this from for this thiswhole time, right?
So, like everything you'vebuilt and created, you're
building off of that.
(23:47):
So you can take what you needand bring along with you.
And the stuff that's notserving you, you can leave
behind.
It's actually a beautiful wayto refine all the pieces of your
business and and createsomething that doesn't have to
stand start at zero, it doesn'thave to start at year one.
And that's something I explainto a lot of my clients too,
(24:08):
especially when you'retransitioning from one place to
another.
If you're a former therapistwho's now becoming a life coach,
or you're starting you had a uhuh you worked at a facility and
now you want to create your ownprivate practice or whatever it
may be.
They're like, oh, well, I'm I'mstarting at ground zero, I'm
starting at year one.
And I'm like, no, no, no.
You have 25 years experience.
(24:30):
It's year 26.
You're starting at year 26because you're not leaving all
that behind.
Everything, all the knowledge,all the everything that you've
learned, like the plethora ofeverything that you've grown and
learned and become, that's allcoming along with you.
You're not, you're gonna bringthat to the table with your
clients.
You're not leaving it behind.
So that's I just like to rereframe that for them as opposed
(24:54):
to starting at year one.
No, you're starting at year 16,year 25, year 26.
I mean, it's not, it's notground zero, it's not year one.
So, um, and that they find thatpiece helpful.
Car (25:05):
Carrie Saunders
helpful for a business owner tohear that because I feel like a
lot of um branding strategistsdon't help them with their
mindset.
I mean, that's kind of more ofa mindset shift to give them
that confidence to do thisrebrand.
And I feel like that's soimportant that you have that in
(25:25):
your, you know, business andyour company to help support
their mindset.
And that's one of the things wedo here with the technology
side is I try to help them withtheir mindset around the
technology because a lot ofpeople are afraid of technology.
And and once we become unafraidof whatever it is new we're
doing, whether it's a rebrand oror technology trying to
(25:45):
implement something on ourwebsite, we be we can see the
ways of it being possible.
We can see the ways of itsucceeding.
So you putting that in theirminds, I think will help them
see the ways that their rebrandwill succeed and that this new,
you know, thing that's comingout of whether it's a refresh or
a total new rebrand, they willbe able to see the possibilities
(26:07):
from it, which will help thembe more successful.
So I think the fact that yourcompany has that mindset behind
the strategy of the rebrand isvery key for success in the
rebranding process.
Maria Platusic (26:21):
Yes, it's it's not something that I advertise
or share, but what the mainpiece after the rebrand and what
people extract after having it,you get clarity, you get
cohesiveness with your brand,absolutely.
And the main piece isconfidence.
So when we started from thebeginning, we're like, oh, we're
(26:43):
not, we don't want to share ourbrand because we feel
embarrassed, we feel like we wewant to hide it, it's it's not
making us proud.
After the rebrand, and we gothrough all your accolades,
everything you've achieved, allthe things that you've been
amazing at, and we kind ofrevisit all that and share that.
Um, the confidence is thebiggest piece they walk away
(27:03):
with, and they're proud to sharetheir brand, proud to share
their website.
They have all of thisinformation and data and
messaging that they can now comeout and share with everyone
that it becomes um just like abig sense of pride.
And it's it's hard to knockthem off their horse because
they're really up high on there.
And I love that because itgrants them permission to play
(27:27):
at that higher level right away.
They do not have to wait.
They can play at that highestlevel right away, which is
amazing.
Like we're working towardsthose big pictures and goals,
but they have permission to playthere right away.
Um, and it in it and that showsitself in a lot of ways too, in
regards to um, you know, askingfor a certain uh pitch deck or
(27:49):
a to pitch on a podcast wherethey may have been hesitant to
share before, but now they feelconfident enough to request to
go on that podcast where theynever would have requested that
before.
Or it's just it's it'sdifferent ways that it shows up
in regards to being able toimmediately, I want to say
almost 90 to 100% of my clientsimmediately charge higher for
(28:12):
their services.
After their rebrand, theimmediate ROI is now that
they're look completely polishedand professional and they're
confident and they know thatthey can deliver what they
deliver, they increase theirprices for all of their
packages.
And I'm like, well, there'syour R ROI right there, right?
So there's a lot of ways thatrebranding provides so much
(28:32):
positiveness towards businessownership that I know it can
feel scary and daunting in acertain light, but my my goal is
to remove all the trudge,unnecessary trudging that you
you don't have, there's so manyparts you don't have to trudge
through.
If we can remove those for you,I'll absolutely try my best to
do it.
Carrie Saunders (28:51):
It sounds like you have such a great holistic
approach, I feel like, torebranding, just listening to
you talk and getting to knowmore about what you and your uh
business does.
Um, now I know that somelistening might be thinking,
well, they might be thinkingnow, well, maybe I need to
rebrand.
Um, and I know you have a freeguide on how to check how
(29:12):
effective your logo and yourbrand really is, attracting the
ideal audience.
So tell us a little bit moreabout that free guide that
people can use to determine isit the right time to rebrand now
or not?
Maria Platusic (29:23):
Yeah, so this is um mostly for the visual aspect
of things because sometimesit's like I hate to be the
bearer of bad news when you whensomeone's like, Well, how does
this look?
My friend designed this logo.
And I'm like, I I did, I justdidn't want to take ownership on
letting people down and saying,Oh my goodness, it's actually
not that good.
Um, so and I just I hateconfrontation.
(29:46):
So I created a freebie to dothat for me.
So what it does is there's sixeasy questions, and you go
through it and it gives you ascaling grade.
Like you can grade yourself inregards to ask the question, and
in and it gives you a scalinggrade of like, you know, how is
this appearing?
What would you grade your logoon this front?
Is it clear?
Is it um responsive?
Is it um is it straight to thepoint?
(30:07):
You know, like all of thesequestions it goes through.
And then you get a score at theend.
So you can see for yourself.
Well, I don't have to tell you,you can see for yourself if
you're if your brand and yourvisuals are representing you and
your business best.
And then from there, you can belike, oh, I got a pretty crummy
mark.
I need to maybe look work atthis again.
Or someone's like, you knowwhat, I'm doing pretty good, but
(30:29):
I know there's room for formore support.
Of course, I can support youthat way too.
Um, so it's just like I said,this is my it's like a guide or
a key to be able to check foryourself.
So you don't have to wait forsomeone to c tell you, because I
know it can feel kind of ickyum for someone to share their
their tree.
And and I and the problem is Ican't like I've learned I cannot
(30:52):
lie.
I'm a terrible, terrible liar.
So if someone flat out asks methat and they do it on purpose,
they know that I'm gonna tellthem the truth.
So this way it does the hardspeaking for me, it does the
hard work for me.
So that's what this guide willget you.
You can do it yourself.
So yes, that's brilliant.
Ca (31:11):
Carrie Saunders
And I'm going to I'm gonna tellyou listeners right now, I'm
gonna be going through it forboth of my brands.
So the link to that guide willbe in the show notes at
smarteronlinebusiness.com.
Um, and then you also offer abrand clarity session for those
who want to check in withbranding efforts, and I'd love
(31:31):
to hear about that because theguide, it sounds like it does
more of the visual.
Um, what is your brandingclarity, the free session?
How does how does that work?
Maria Platusic (31:39):
Yeah, for sure.
So this is more of me taking alook at your messaging and how
you are showing up online viathe messaging and positioning.
And we all in our brains, weknow what we want to say, we
know what we do, and it's veryclear to us.
But sometimes when we're tryingto relay that message to our
audience, it can get jumbled orfragmented and might not be as
(32:03):
clear as we think it is.
So I invite you to share, likethere's a couple questions when
you fill out the form.
I invite you to share a littlebit more about you and your
business and what you do andwhat your overarching message is
to your audience.
And then I take a look at someof the places where you're
showing up and how that messageis being perceived.
And then I review it.
And a lot of the times it'sactually just, you know, we can
(32:25):
tweak things.
It's like minor suggestionsthat I'd offer up, and it's
minor little tweaks that justreword it or reframe it in a way
that makes it a little bit moreclear.
And some sometimes it's like alittle bit disjointed.
I'm like, well, when you'resaying that, what are you
actually meaning?
And then when they tell me faceto face, it's clear.
But when it's written, it's not.
(32:46):
So it's bringing that alignmentback.
And so it's this quick littlecheck-ins that I do and I offer
those up for free.
Um, I have a limited amounteach month that I do.
This, these, so these are thethings I do as my little give
backs for those um that are, youknow, looking for a little bit
of support.
So I do do these for my giveback.
So yeah, so that's what thatcheck-in call is.
And I'm happy to take a look atanyone else's uh messaging when
(33:09):
they when it's out there andgive you some quick pointers on
that.
Ca (33:13):
Carrie Saunders
And we'll have that link to inthe show notes at
smarteronlinebusiness.com.
And so to wrap up, Maria, likeI just feel like we've had such
a great conversation about whatwe're what rebranding is, why
you might need to do it, and thesigns about it.
Is there any one last thingthat you want to um share with
(33:34):
the audience about rebrandingand when you know it's the right
step, or how to pick the rightum person to help you rebrand?
Either of those would be greatas to help us wrap this up to
help people who are listeningand are like, oh, I think I
might need to do this, um, theirnext steps and what they should
do.
M (33:50):
Maria Platusic
I actually have a link to ablog post I just created because
that was a question that cameup a lot is how to select the
right brand and website designerfor me.
So I I can send you that link.
It's on my website, it's a blogpost and it highlights the you
know the three ways to determinethe best fit for you.
And I even share these on myown strategy and consult calls
(34:14):
because I want, like I'm alwaysabout the best fit for the job
and the best person for the job.
Um, so um I share these openlyon my consult calls, but I don't
want to take up too much timethere.
So there is a blog post forthat one.
And then overall, I just I wantpeople to realize that you
needed to start somewhere.
So don't be feel like you didanything wrong.
(34:35):
Like we all need to start.
We all needed that quicklittle, you know, Fiverr Canva
logo that we created.
We all needed that quickwebsite that you either did it
yourself or paid someone, youknow, quickly to get it done.
That's how you built yourbusiness.
That's how you created andgenerated money.
And that's 100% okay.
Just realize that when you getto a certain point or certain
(34:57):
level, it might not be able tosupport you at that next level.
And that is the optimal time torebrand.
That's the optimal time tospeak to someone and figure out
your best approaches torebranding your business to make
sure your messaging is clear,to do a competitive analysis, to
see where you are on theplaying fields and are you lined
(35:17):
up with that to review youroffers, review your audience,
um, get to your core values,make sure they're enlisted
there, see how sustainable thisis over time, um, and to see,
you know, what is it that youtruly want from your business,
that bigger vision and mission.
Sometimes we need to push pauseand go back and figure out what
(35:37):
was the main reason that westarted this.
And are we are we veering fromthat?
Are we even happy anywhere withwhat we've created?
So I would say your permissiongranted to start at some point
and do the thing, and it'sperfectly fine.
And in I'm a logo and brandingdesigner and website designer.
I'm like, you don't actuallyneed a logo to start your
(35:58):
business.
You can go ahead and do itwithout.
But when you get to that pointwhere it matters, where people
will be paying attention, that'swhen you need to, you know,
before that point, you need tostart um figuring things out.
Ca (36:13):
Carrie Saunders
I love how you gave peoplepermission to be okay with what
they decided in the beginningbecause you're right.
It's it you were the steps youknew and could take at that
point in time.
And when you're at, you know,when you're ready to take that
next level, you know, it's fineif you need to rebrand and
there's really no shame in it.
And it's just part of business,it's just the next steps that
(36:35):
are here for us.
So I love how you did that andhelped with that.
Thank you.
So thank you so much for beingon our podcast, Maria.
I really appreciate it.
And um, I I'm looking forwardto trying out some of your free
guides myself and uh just assessmy my own branding because I
(36:55):
know it is out of date and Iknow I need to get that, you
know, on my calendar and dothat.
So I totally appreciate all theinformation you've given us
today.
Maria Platusic (37:04):
Well, thank you so much for having me.
This has been fun.
And as an introvert, I alwaysfind it like I get a little bit
of anxiety before I do thesethings, but now when it's
speaking about things that youwant to speak about, um, it
makes it much easier.
And you made the conversationflow easily.
So thank you.
Car (37:21):
Carrie Saunders
So good to have you.
I hope you found thatconversation with Maria as
eye-opening as I did.
I know that I want to dig intoour website.
I know it's definitelysomething that's been needed for
a while, and I think this isgoing to give me the gumption to
do so.
And if you're feeling thattension between where your
business is going and how yourbrand is currently showing up,
(37:43):
like I do, this might be theperfect time for you to do a
check-in as well.
Maria has two amazing resourcesto help you take the next step:
her free logo effectivenessguide, as well as her free brand
clarity session.
So be sure to grab those at ourshow notes website,
smarteronlinebusiness.com, andjust search for Maria.
And as always, if you want moretips like this, you can always
(38:06):
join our newsletter while you'rethere, and we send out weekly
tips each week to help you havea smarter online business.
Thanks for listening, and wewill see you next week.
Is your brand holding you back from your next
level of growth and you don'teven realize it?
If your brand visuals feel alittle disconnected from the
business you're becoming, that'sa sign that it's time to evolve.
Today I'm joined by MariaPlatusic, award-winning brand
strategist, designer, andmessaging expert who's here to
break down the top signs it'stime for a rebrand and what to
(00:23):
do about it.
Maria has over 25 years ofexperience helping businesses
evolve their brand identity fromFortune 500 companies to
coaches and consultants ready toscale.
If you're trying to reach thenext level in your business but
feel stuck or out of alignmentwith how your brand shows up
online, this conversation isexactly what you need.
Let's dive in.
(00:44):
Struggling to turn websitetraffic into real sales, you're
not alone and you don't have tofigure it out all yourself.
Welcome to Smarter OnlineBusiness, the podcast for course
creators, coaches, ande-commerce entrepreneurs who
want their websites to convertvisitors into buyers without the
tech overwhelm.
I'm your host, Carrie Saunders,a website strategist and
conversion expert with over 20years of experience.
(01:07):
Each episode delivers simple,proven strategies to help you
generate more revenue and makeyour website your smartest sales
tool.
Welcome back to the show.
So today we have a specialguest with us today, and her
name is Maria Platusic, and sheis the founder and creative
director at Platusic DesignCreative Studio, which is an
(01:28):
award-winning brand designer,brand strategist, and messaging
expert, and a WordPress magicmaker.
So welcome to our show, Maria.
Maria Platusic (01:38):
Well, thank you so much for having me, Carrie.
I'm happy to be here.
Carrie Saunders (01:42):
So I just gave a little bit of a snip of who
you are.
So tell the audience a littlebit more about who Maria is and
what you do and how you servepeople.
Mar (01:52):
Maria Platusic
So I'm a textbook case.
I started, I went to school foradvertising, graphic design,
um, then worked at corporatedesign agencies across the
Toronto GTA area.
And from there, um, I starteduh doing some freelancing on my
own.
And I haven't looked back.
It's been about almost 15years, me kind of um helping
(02:14):
small business owners at thatsame caliber, that same level.
Uh when they came to me todesign some items, um I realized
there's a big gap here becausewhen I would ask them, okay,
what is your branding?
What is your visuals, yourcolors?
Um, and then the bigger pictureof why are we creating this
piece?
Who's it for?
And what's the bigger mission?
They wouldn't have thoseanswers identified.
(02:34):
So it was more so, okay, weneed to push pause, take a step,
a few steps back and build outthose strategies for them.
So I start with strategy first,then I do the actual visuals
based on data and facts, and notbecause, you know, someone
likes the color blue, but moreso what we're what we're trying
to trying to create, that biggervision.
(02:55):
And then from there, weimplement everything across all
platforms.
So their websites, socials, anymarketing collateral they need
created, I can help them throughthat.
So I become their essentiallytheir partner on the rebranding
journey from start to wheneverthat finish line may be.
And um, it's just somethingthat I love supporting small
(03:15):
business owners through and withbecause it allows them to have
the voice where the people whoare really good at marketing,
who are not necessarily as goodas what they do at their job, um
get all the noise and get allthe attention.
So I like helping those thathave the actual talent receive
that same caliber and that sameattention.
Carrie Saunders (03:35):
I love how you like have such an
all-encompassing view of likewhat branding is and how you
want to help them be successful.
And you we sound likeparallels, like similar
parallels, whereas you'rebranding and I'm the web
technology behind it.
And it sounds like we bothenjoy just kind of wrapping our
arms around our clients, itsounds like, and really making
(03:56):
sure they have a holisticsolution that's going to benefit
them a lot.
And and as you're talking, I'mthinking, you know, there's
probably a lot of listeners outhere that are thinking, well, I
didn't really do quite a brandoriginally, or or maybe I did
and it was kind of rushed.
And so, how for the listenerslistening, how would they know
if they're ready for a rebrand?
(04:18):
Because it sounds likesometimes you're helping people
realize they didn't even have abrand to begin with, but then we
also have the flip side of theymight have had a brand or
thought they did, but they needa rebrand on it.
So, how do you know when you'reready for that?
Maria Platusic (04:30):
That's a great question.
And um, I think it starts tobecome very evident.
There's a lot of signs thatstart to surface and show up for
the business owner, and theymight be scratching their head
as to why are these things, youknow, why do these things keep
on happening on repeat?
You know, I'm trying all thethings, and and yet these issues
or these struggles are stillarising.
(04:52):
Um, but it's that overallfeeling of you know there's room
or space for more, but you'renever able to attain or get to
that next level.
Something's kind of holding youback, and you're not sure,
you're not quite sure what itis.
Um, it's that overall feeling.
But there are some good tells,and I'm happy to share at least
(05:14):
these are the top three thatI've witnessed.
And I there's a plethora ofthem, but these are mainly the
top three that I'm happy to toshare with you if you want to
dive into those.
Carrie Saunders (05:24):
Yes, I'd love to have that because that I
think that'll help reallyconnect, you know, something
that might seem abstract to somepeople to a bit more of a
tangible, you know, here here'shere's what I when I see these
things, I know I need a rebrand.
Maria Platusic (05:37):
So the the first item on the list is one that
most might not like to admit to.
So, because it is it is a bitof a challenging one, is that
they're actually embarrassed.
They're embarrassed to sharetheir web page, they're
embarrassed to share theirsocial media pages, they're
embarrassed to share any oftheir marketing collateral or
(05:58):
any of the spaces that they'represent online because they feel
that it doesn't represent thembest.
They feel that it doesn't umhold water, they feel that it
just kind of it started off andit was it appears amateurish, or
they're just not proud.
Because when you are proud ofyour business and proud of your
brand, you're like, go check outmy website and you'll like
(06:20):
share it with pride.
And when you're hesitating,you're like, oh, and you say, my
website's under construction,or we're gonna be fixing that
soon.
That's the hesitation.
That's when you know thatsomething needs to be repaired.
Um, and that's one of thebigger signs.
Um, and it's it's just one ofthose things that when you
(06:41):
aren't putting your best footforward, it's like you have one
foot in your business and onekind of sitting out of it, and
you're not all in.
And then that becomes veryevident when you get on sales
calls, when you get onpromotional calls, when you're
trying to speak about yourbrand, but you're hesitant to
share the website URL.
Um, there that actually can bea big hindrance for your
(07:04):
business growth and it kind ofstops you in your tracks.
So that's definitely one signis that you're kind of
embarrassed to share it withyour audience.
So I think some may be able torelate to that one.
Carrie Saunders (07:18):
Um, actually, I know that we can actually
definitely relate to that onebecause being web developers
ourselves, we don't have timefor our own website.
And sometimes I'm like, it's alittle dated, but it's got
different decent information onit.
And like, you know, I honestlyam a bit embarrassed on our
main, you know, core business,BCS Engineering's website,
because it is dated.
(07:38):
It's it's something that wehaven't um put the time into.
And I know we should, and Iknow we can, and we have the
resources to do it.
It's, you know, just makingthat a priority.
And and I think peoplelistening, you know, it's a I
feel like we should, you know,acknowledge that, you know, even
if you are embarrassed aboutit, you can still do something
(07:58):
about it now.
And it's it's your foundationof your business.
So it is something that we doneed to address.
And it's it's definitely in myquarter four to quarter one top
of my list for my for our site.
So I feel like we need to, youknow, give the permission that
if they are embarrassed, thenthen let's let's set a date,
let's set a time frame when youare going to fix this because
(08:21):
when it's a someday, it's anever day.
You know, we need to make surewe give ourselves a deadline on
fixing that.
So then what would be whatwould be the second big thing
that you see?
M (08:32):
Maria Platusic
to raise my hand and say, hi,I'm also the cobbler and the
shoes.
And if I can just be honest andfrank, it took me almost like
eight years.
I I just recently rebranded mybusiness and I'm a rebrand
strategist.
So like I just want to come outand say it.
Um, I've been building, I don'tknow, hundreds, if not
(08:55):
thousands of different brandsand websites and launching them
on repeat.
And I can get them done to fourto six weeks, 10 to 12 weeks.
But when it comes to our own,and you said it, Carrie, it's
like you, it's always pushed tothe back burner.
It's so hard to put the CEO haton and take the time to get
your own work up to snuff.
And I was just at the pointwhere it's like, this has to
(09:17):
change.
This hat like the messagingdoesn't relate to any like where
I'm at and who I'm helping.
It still worked and it wasstill functional, and people
were like, oh, your website'sbeautiful.
But to me, I knew it needed tobe updated.
And now I'm in love with mybusiness and my brand all over
again.
So I just want to share thatpiece too, is it can rekindle
that love for your businessagain if you're so proud of it
(09:39):
and you're in your enamored byit once again.
And that does happen.
And I've witnessed my ownclients, and it was I was
excited because I did my ownquestionnaire and I went through
my own journey and I wentthrough all of I'm like, darn, I
should listen to my own advice,and I'm sure you're the same.
Like, maybe I need to listen tomy own advice, and it's really
good at sound advice.
It's a great questionnaire thatyou go through.
(10:01):
So sometimes we need to gothrough our own process and push
pause and take the time to doit.
And what made me do it was Iinvested instead of myself doing
it, I invested in a copywriterto help polish up my copy for
me, and I invested in adeveloper to do the back end.
So it wasn't me myself doing it.
And so sometimes when you putskin in the game, it gives you
(10:23):
that motivation to actually getit done.
And that was the motivation Ineeded.
So the first quarter of theyear, it's been, like I said, on
the back burner for almosteight years.
The first quarter of the year,we got it done, and I was so
excited.
So now I love it.
Go visit my website.
I love it.
Um yeah, okay.
So the second um common sign,sorry, I just wanted to share
(10:45):
that because it's veryrelatable.
Carrie Saunders (10:47):
No, I loved it because yeah, it's totally
relatable.
And like I feel like it givespeople permission to be messy
sometimes, but just recognize itand then that's okay.
Acknowledge it, recognize it,and then just set that deadline
for yourself.
Yeah.
Maria Platusic (11:00):
Yes, it's good to have those hard deadlines to
just keep that, keep momentumgoing and and not let things
fizzle away.
So yeah, that's for sure agood, a good side note in all of
this, anyways.
Um, so the second item is alsoa common sign.
Um, and then sometimes peoplehave a hard time figuring out
why it continues to happen.
Um, but it is mostly when youare not attracting the ideal
(11:25):
audience um or you want toattract a new ICAA, a new ideal
client avatar, um, and it's nothappening, right?
So you need to ensure that allis in alignment and the right
people um um you want the rightpeople to find you, but it's a
hard piece to rectify andisolate this problem.
(11:46):
Um, for example, when youcreate a post or you put
something for sale or um you'reputting an offer out there and
the wrong people keep on chimingin or paying attention, um,
that's a big sign right there.
When you're like, why are thesepeople paying attention?
I don't even offer thisanymore, or I don't want them, I
want this other tier ofclientele to be working, uh
(12:09):
looking for me and for myservices.
And that happens for a reason,um, because there is a
misalignment in the messaging,in the visuals, um, via
everything that you're puttingout there.
There's something that you'reputting out there that's
attracting the wrong audience.
Um, and that's something todefinitely pay attention to.
So, for example, if it's aflorist who originally worked
(12:31):
with budget-friendly brides, um,but now you want to get like
higher-end packages and offerhigher-end packages, the
messaging you originally hadwill not serve that higher tier.
So, we do have to take a pushpause and go back and revisit
all of the brand strategyfoundational pieces and make
(12:52):
sure they're in alignment toserve that new ideal customer.
Um, and that's something thatyou have to pay attention to.
So, if you constantly aregetting the wrong influx of the
clients that you don't want tobe serving or you want to target
a new audience, that is anoptimal time to revisit your
branding for sure.
C (13:12):
Carrie Saunders
And as you're talking towardsthat, you know, I'm thinking
about our business over the past20-some years.
And, you know, we originallywere helping um, you know, more
of the smaller businesses andthings like that.
And then I had a goal of notleaving them behind because I
still wanted to help them, but Ialso wanted to make sure that
(13:33):
I'm also attracting the moreenterprise type of people
because you have a bit morestability there.
And and I do like to recognizethat the ones that are just
starting out may get there too.
So I wanted to serve them too.
So like I had to find how do Ibalance this?
How do I market to kind of both?
Like I wanted to market mostlyto the more enterprise, but not
(13:56):
feel like I'm leaving the othersbehind.
So I feel like when you knowwhat who you want to market, you
you can get there, butsometimes it can be tricky on
figuring that out and figuringout how to do the messaging
right and the the colors and theyou know, the aesthetics and
the feel of it.
Um, would you say that's kindof the case where it can
sometimes be a hard balance ifthey want to target more than
(14:17):
one?
Because I do run into a lot ofpeople who like to target more
than one type of people.
Maria Plat (14:22):
Maria Platusic
So um there's two things aboutit there.
One is like if you'reempathetic and you're like, I
don't want to leave the startthe startups behind or those at
the beginning phases behind, butI also need to create a
sustainable business for myself.
And I know that this modelwon't necessarily serve me.
You have to be realistic, right?
(14:43):
Like you really have to think,comes down to numbers and um it
comes down to, you know, we'reall into business to make money,
like, you know, great, we canserve a greater purpose and all
those things, yes.
But at the end of the day, wedo want to make money and we're
not doing that, we're nonobody's a charity here unless
you are.
But um, this is that's thegreater purpose.
So you have to be realisticwith is it sustainable for you
(15:05):
to support certain demographicsor certain tiers of businesses?
And when I was first startingout, I did have different tiers
and I had multiple tiers to helpmultiple people.
And then as I was progressingand growing, I realized I am an
all-in personality.
I can't gatekeep stuff and putsomething behind a paywall.
If you ask a question and Ihave the answer, you will
(15:28):
receive the answer.
What I was doing for my toptier, I was still giving to my
base tier.
There wasn't the, I suffer withboundaries, so there was no
boundaries there.
So I realized I can'teffectively and sustainably and
ethically do this because I'm anall-in-personality.
So I had to draw the line andsay, here are my offers, here's
who they for, who they are for.
(15:49):
But I do have freebies,opt-ins, um, courses, things to
serve and get those at the lowertier ready to eventually work
with me.
And so there's ways to go aboutit.
There's absolutely, so you saidwhat if you have multiple
audiences?
Majority of my clients havemultiple offers and they're for
different audiences.
So you do create different uhuh ICAs for each of them.
(16:13):
The key piece is to understandthat overarching message.
So if your main brand and thatoverarching message that you're
sharing has to be able to fillall the buckets underneath.
So they all have to be related.
One can't be completely farright or far left if they aren't
related or correlated.
So that overall arching brandmessage has to feed all the
(16:35):
buckets, and then you can haveunique messaging for each of
your offers to target to thosespecific audience.
And you absolutely would wantthat because this particular
offer is for XYZ, you want tocall them out directly.
And this one is for a differentaudience, you want to call them
out directly.
So you have to have TA1, TA2.
Sometimes I have TA3.
There could be a variety.
(16:56):
I try to limit it realisticallyto three, because then you will
confuse the heck out of youraudiences, and you're gonna be
left with confused non-biers inyour pool of things.
So it you have to be verystrategic with the messaging for
each of the dialed-in audiences.
But that's a great question,yes.
Carrie S (17:15):
Carrie Saunders
Well, and I think that's veryhelpful to hear you say too,
because it's it's definitelysomething we've struggled with.
And and I feel like we're doingit in the manner you're saying.
So, but I think that it's greatfor listeners to hear how do we
do that?
Because a lot of people we dorun into have, you know,
multiple target audiences, orit's it might be the same target
audience, just at a differentstage of their business or their
(17:38):
whatever journey they're on.
So I think that's really greaton how you um put that all
together for us to help makesure we're understanding how it
all fits and how all the piecesfit together.
So that being said, then whatis your main third item?
We we covered, you know, thefirst two, which I thought were
great, where you know, you'reembarrassed, um, and then the
second item, and then so what isthe third item that you think
(18:01):
is a really, you know, hot redflag for them?
Mar (18:05):
Maria Platusic
business so far from where youoriginally started, that is a
big red flag because it a coupleof things happen.
There's overlapping thingsyou'll see.
You'll still you'll beattracting the wrong audience
because they still think youoffer X, but you don't
necessarily offer it anymore.
Um, so if you've pivoted theproduct or services that you
(18:28):
originally started out with anddon't offer those items anymore,
um, and your your messaging andyour positioning and your
website and all of your meth,everything is the same, that's
where you will get severeconfusion um in your audience
because you have to actuallyacknowledge the pivot,
acknowledge the change.
(18:49):
And a lot of the times peopledo, I call it silent rebranding,
where they're like, I'm justgonna test out this new offer in
the background, which is great.
I'm not gonna downplay umtesting because you absolutely
need to test things.
But once you're like, no, no,I'm gonna be offering this from
now on, you need to shout itout, you need to share it, you
(19:09):
need to actually embrace it intothe rebrand and make it a part
of your, I guess, evolution ofyour business.
Um, so a lot of the times theydo the pivots happen, but we're
still trying to keep everythingthe same when in fact it's not.
So the people who know you fromfive years ago, um, offering,
for example, if you offered um,you know, one-to-one uh coaching
(19:34):
or consulting, but now youdon't offer one-to-one anymore,
you only do group programs andgroup coaching and offer in
group settings, then they'll besadly disappointed because
that's what they know you as.
And and a lot of the times whenyou're known for X, it feels
like we're cemented here foreverand we can, we're not allowed
to leave.
And I've witnessed that happentoo.
(19:54):
Like that's the other casewhere it's like you've done
really well.
People know you for X, they'rereferred to you, you're highly
renowned for providing X, andyou're like, I actually don't
want to do this anymore.
How do I get out of here?
And I've had clients come to mein that scenario as well.
And I'm like, you're actuallyat the perfect spot.
This is a great place to bebecause it's not all about, and
(20:18):
and you get that feeling likemajority want to kind of burn it
all down and start over becausethey're just overwhelmed.
And I'm like, I'm here to tellyou, please don't ever do that.
Don't ever burn it all down.
Um, unless it's like badrapport and you purchased a
business that has, you know, badPR or whatever, and you need to
rechange the name and startfrom scratch.
(20:39):
Very rare instances and fromcorporate to individuals.
Um, but when it comes to yourindividual business, you're in a
beautiful spot because now youcan take your audience along
with you on that new journey, onthat rebranding journey, and
let them know of your pivot andlet them know of the changes
they're gonna be seeing in theupcoming months and what to
(21:01):
expect.
And people can discern forthemselves.
Do I want to continue following?
Cool.
I think this is great.
It's exciting.
I do want to see what'shappening, or oh, I don't want
to be a part of that anymore.
And they weed themselves out,which is the exactly what you
want to have happen.
So you get to take thatgorgeous audience, they get a
weed themselves out, you invitethem along the journey of your
(21:22):
rebrand, and then you get alaunch to an audience that's
actually excited to be there, asopposed to one that's like,
what's going on?
I don't understand what youdon't offer this anymore.
You're letting them be informed.
Um, and rebranding grants youthe permission to televise,
share, launch, express all ofthese things.
So that's where it's like oneof the most important times to
(21:46):
rebrand is when you fullypivoted, you need to let your
people know that you did.
Carrie Saunders (21:52):
And I love how you said you you let them be
informed.
And when my mind, after yousaid that, what came to my head
was like, you're letting them beinformed, not let down.
I think is what I feel likeyou're implying.
Yes.
Right?
Because like if you don'tinform them and you don't offer
this thing anymore, and then andthen they find out, they may be
very disappointed.
Whereas if you brought themalong on the journey as you're
(22:16):
discussing, they can eitherdecide for themselves that they
want to keep going along thejourney.
Maybe they're a good referral.
Even if they're not a goodmatch, maybe they're a good
referral, you know, and they canrefer somebody that would be a
good match for your new journey.
So then I think that helpscreate brand loyalty and trust
when we're very upfront with a arebrand like that and a change,
(22:37):
because then the people who'vebeen following you for a long
time can feel supported, even ifyou're not the perfect match
anymore.
They still, you know, see youas this, you know, human being
that's being, you know,forthright and you know, letting
them know here's here's mythoughts, here's where I'm
going, and and why.
And then they can follow thatjourney and be excited with you,
(23:00):
no matter whether they're stilla good fit or not.
And then they could either weedthemselves in or weed
themselves out.
Um, I love how you give uspermission to do that because it
can be very scary, especiallyif you had something successful
that's no longer serving you andyou want to jump to another,
you know, market or whatever.
It's it can be scary.
So giving that permission tobring them along with you, I
(23:21):
think is very important forlisteners to hear on here.
Mar (23:26):
Maria Platusic
rebranding is never, as Imentioned earlier, it's never
burning and starting from theground up.
It's actually building off ofeverything you've created and
done this from for this thiswhole time, right?
So, like everything you'vebuilt and created, you're
building off of that.
(23:47):
So you can take what you needand bring along with you.
And the stuff that's notserving you, you can leave
behind.
It's actually a beautiful wayto refine all the pieces of your
business and and createsomething that doesn't have to
stand start at zero, it doesn'thave to start at year one.
And that's something I explainto a lot of my clients too,
(24:08):
especially when you'retransitioning from one place to
another.
If you're a former therapistwho's now becoming a life coach,
or you're starting you had a uhuh you worked at a facility and
now you want to create your ownprivate practice or whatever it
may be.
They're like, oh, well, I'm I'mstarting at ground zero, I'm
starting at year one.
And I'm like, no, no, no.
You have 25 years experience.
(24:30):
It's year 26.
You're starting at year 26because you're not leaving all
that behind.
Everything, all the knowledge,all the everything that you've
learned, like the plethora ofeverything that you've grown and
learned and become, that's allcoming along with you.
You're not, you're gonna bringthat to the table with your
clients.
You're not leaving it behind.
So that's I just like to rereframe that for them as opposed
(24:54):
to starting at year one.
No, you're starting at year 16,year 25, year 26.
I mean, it's not, it's notground zero, it's not year one.
So, um, and that they find thatpiece helpful.
Car (25:05):
Carrie Saunders
helpful for a business owner tohear that because I feel like a
lot of um branding strategistsdon't help them with their
mindset.
I mean, that's kind of more ofa mindset shift to give them
that confidence to do thisrebrand.
And I feel like that's soimportant that you have that in
(25:25):
your, you know, business andyour company to help support
their mindset.
And that's one of the things wedo here with the technology
side is I try to help them withtheir mindset around the
technology because a lot ofpeople are afraid of technology.
And and once we become unafraidof whatever it is new we're
doing, whether it's a rebrand oror technology trying to
(25:45):
implement something on ourwebsite, we be we can see the
ways of it being possible.
We can see the ways of itsucceeding.
So you putting that in theirminds, I think will help them
see the ways that their rebrandwill succeed and that this new,
you know, thing that's comingout of whether it's a refresh or
a total new rebrand, they willbe able to see the possibilities
(26:07):
from it, which will help thembe more successful.
So I think the fact that yourcompany has that mindset behind
the strategy of the rebrand isvery key for success in the
rebranding process.
Maria Platusic (26:21):
Yes, it's it's not something that I advertise
or share, but what the mainpiece after the rebrand and what
people extract after having it,you get clarity, you get
cohesiveness with your brand,absolutely.
And the main piece isconfidence.
So when we started from thebeginning, we're like, oh, we're
(26:43):
not, we don't want to share ourbrand because we feel
embarrassed, we feel like we wewant to hide it, it's it's not
making us proud.
After the rebrand, and we gothrough all your accolades,
everything you've achieved, allthe things that you've been
amazing at, and we kind ofrevisit all that and share that.
Um, the confidence is thebiggest piece they walk away
(27:03):
with, and they're proud to sharetheir brand, proud to share
their website.
They have all of thisinformation and data and
messaging that they can now comeout and share with everyone
that it becomes um just like abig sense of pride.
And it's it's hard to knockthem off their horse because
they're really up high on there.
And I love that because itgrants them permission to play
(27:27):
at that higher level right away.
They do not have to wait.
They can play at that highestlevel right away, which is
amazing.
Like we're working towardsthose big pictures and goals,
but they have permission to playthere right away.
Um, and it in it and that showsitself in a lot of ways too, in
regards to um, you know, askingfor a certain uh pitch deck or
(27:49):
a to pitch on a podcast wherethey may have been hesitant to
share before, but now they feelconfident enough to request to
go on that podcast where theynever would have requested that
before.
Or it's just it's it'sdifferent ways that it shows up
in regards to being able toimmediately, I want to say
almost 90 to 100% of my clientsimmediately charge higher for
(28:12):
their services.
After their rebrand, theimmediate ROI is now that
they're look completely polishedand professional and they're
confident and they know thatthey can deliver what they
deliver, they increase theirprices for all of their
packages.
And I'm like, well, there'syour R ROI right there, right?
So there's a lot of ways thatrebranding provides so much
(28:32):
positiveness towards businessownership that I know it can
feel scary and daunting in acertain light, but my my goal is
to remove all the trudge,unnecessary trudging that you
you don't have, there's so manyparts you don't have to trudge
through.
If we can remove those for you,I'll absolutely try my best to
do it.
Carrie Saunders (28:51):
It sounds like you have such a great holistic
approach, I feel like, torebranding, just listening to
you talk and getting to knowmore about what you and your uh
business does.
Um, now I know that somelistening might be thinking,
well, they might be thinkingnow, well, maybe I need to
rebrand.
Um, and I know you have a freeguide on how to check how
(29:12):
effective your logo and yourbrand really is, attracting the
ideal audience.
So tell us a little bit moreabout that free guide that
people can use to determine isit the right time to rebrand now
or not?
Maria Platusic (29:23):
Yeah, so this is um mostly for the visual aspect
of things because sometimesit's like I hate to be the
bearer of bad news when you whensomeone's like, Well, how does
this look?
My friend designed this logo.
And I'm like, I I did, I justdidn't want to take ownership on
letting people down and saying,Oh my goodness, it's actually
not that good.
Um, so and I just I hateconfrontation.
(29:46):
So I created a freebie to dothat for me.
So what it does is there's sixeasy questions, and you go
through it and it gives you ascaling grade.
Like you can grade yourself inregards to ask the question, and
in and it gives you a scalinggrade of like, you know, how is
this appearing?
What would you grade your logoon this front?
Is it clear?
Is it um responsive?
Is it um is it straight to thepoint?
(30:07):
You know, like all of thesequestions it goes through.
And then you get a score at theend.
So you can see for yourself.
Well, I don't have to tell you,you can see for yourself if
you're if your brand and yourvisuals are representing you and
your business best.
And then from there, you can belike, oh, I got a pretty crummy
mark.
I need to maybe look work atthis again.
Or someone's like, you knowwhat, I'm doing pretty good, but
(30:29):
I know there's room for formore support.
Of course, I can support youthat way too.
Um, so it's just like I said,this is my it's like a guide or
a key to be able to check foryourself.
So you don't have to wait forsomeone to c tell you, because I
know it can feel kind of ickyum for someone to share their
their tree.
And and I and the problem is Ican't like I've learned I cannot
(30:52):
lie.
I'm a terrible, terrible liar.
So if someone flat out asks methat and they do it on purpose,
they know that I'm gonna tellthem the truth.
So this way it does the hardspeaking for me, it does the
hard work for me.
So that's what this guide willget you.
You can do it yourself.
So yes, that's brilliant.
Ca (31:11):
Carrie Saunders
And I'm going to I'm gonna tellyou listeners right now, I'm
gonna be going through it forboth of my brands.
So the link to that guide willbe in the show notes at
smarteronlinebusiness.com.
Um, and then you also offer abrand clarity session for those
who want to check in withbranding efforts, and I'd love
(31:31):
to hear about that because theguide, it sounds like it does
more of the visual.
Um, what is your brandingclarity, the free session?
How does how does that work?
Maria Platusic (31:39):
Yeah, for sure.
So this is more of me taking alook at your messaging and how
you are showing up online viathe messaging and positioning.
And we all in our brains, weknow what we want to say, we
know what we do, and it's veryclear to us.
But sometimes when we're tryingto relay that message to our
audience, it can get jumbled orfragmented and might not be as
(32:03):
clear as we think it is.
So I invite you to share, likethere's a couple questions when
you fill out the form.
I invite you to share a littlebit more about you and your
business and what you do andwhat your overarching message is
to your audience.
And then I take a look at someof the places where you're
showing up and how that messageis being perceived.
And then I review it.
And a lot of the times it'sactually just, you know, we can
(32:25):
tweak things.
It's like minor suggestionsthat I'd offer up, and it's
minor little tweaks that justreword it or reframe it in a way
that makes it a little bit moreclear.
And some sometimes it's like alittle bit disjointed.
I'm like, well, when you'resaying that, what are you
actually meaning?
And then when they tell me faceto face, it's clear.
But when it's written, it's not.
(32:46):
So it's bringing that alignmentback.
And so it's this quick littlecheck-ins that I do and I offer
those up for free.
Um, I have a limited amounteach month that I do.
This, these, so these are thethings I do as my little give
backs for those um that are, youknow, looking for a little bit
of support.
So I do do these for my giveback.
So yeah, so that's what thatcheck-in call is.
And I'm happy to take a look atanyone else's uh messaging when
(33:09):
they when it's out there andgive you some quick pointers on
that.
Ca (33:13):
Carrie Saunders
And we'll have that link to inthe show notes at
smarteronlinebusiness.com.
And so to wrap up, Maria, likeI just feel like we've had such
a great conversation about whatwe're what rebranding is, why
you might need to do it, and thesigns about it.
Is there any one last thingthat you want to um share with
(33:34):
the audience about rebrandingand when you know it's the right
step, or how to pick the rightum person to help you rebrand?
Either of those would be greatas to help us wrap this up to
help people who are listeningand are like, oh, I think I
might need to do this, um, theirnext steps and what they should
do.
M (33:50):
Maria Platusic
I actually have a link to ablog post I just created because
that was a question that cameup a lot is how to select the
right brand and website designerfor me.
So I I can send you that link.
It's on my website, it's a blogpost and it highlights the you
know the three ways to determinethe best fit for you.
And I even share these on myown strategy and consult calls
(34:14):
because I want, like I'm alwaysabout the best fit for the job
and the best person for the job.
Um, so um I share these openlyon my consult calls, but I don't
want to take up too much timethere.
So there is a blog post forthat one.
And then overall, I just I wantpeople to realize that you
needed to start somewhere.
So don't be feel like you didanything wrong.
(34:35):
Like we all need to start.
We all needed that quicklittle, you know, Fiverr Canva
logo that we created.
We all needed that quickwebsite that you either did it
yourself or paid someone, youknow, quickly to get it done.
That's how you built yourbusiness.
That's how you created andgenerated money.
And that's 100% okay.
Just realize that when you getto a certain point or certain
(34:57):
level, it might not be able tosupport you at that next level.
And that is the optimal time torebrand.
That's the optimal time tospeak to someone and figure out
your best approaches torebranding your business to make
sure your messaging is clear,to do a competitive analysis, to
see where you are on theplaying fields and are you lined
(35:17):
up with that to review youroffers, review your audience,
um, get to your core values,make sure they're enlisted
there, see how sustainable thisis over time, um, and to see,
you know, what is it that youtruly want from your business,
that bigger vision and mission.
Sometimes we need to push pauseand go back and figure out what
(35:37):
was the main reason that westarted this.
And are we are we veering fromthat?
Are we even happy anywhere withwhat we've created?
So I would say your permissiongranted to start at some point
and do the thing, and it'sperfectly fine.
And in I'm a logo and brandingdesigner and website designer.
I'm like, you don't actuallyneed a logo to start your
(35:58):
business.
You can go ahead and do itwithout.
But when you get to that pointwhere it matters, where people
will be paying attention, that'swhen you need to, you know,
before that point, you need tostart um figuring things out.
Ca (36:13):
Carrie Saunders
I love how you gave peoplepermission to be okay with what
they decided in the beginningbecause you're right.
It's it you were the steps youknew and could take at that
point in time.
And when you're at, you know,when you're ready to take that
next level, you know, it's fineif you need to rebrand and
there's really no shame in it.
And it's just part of business,it's just the next steps that
(36:35):
are here for us.
So I love how you did that andhelped with that.
Thank you.
So thank you so much for beingon our podcast, Maria.
I really appreciate it.
And um, I I'm looking forwardto trying out some of your free
guides myself and uh just assessmy my own branding because I
(36:55):
know it is out of date and Iknow I need to get that, you
know, on my calendar and dothat.
So I totally appreciate all theinformation you've given us
today.
Maria Platusic (37:04):
Well, thank you so much for having me.
This has been fun.
And as an introvert, I alwaysfind it like I get a little bit
of anxiety before I do thesethings, but now when it's
speaking about things that youwant to speak about, um, it
makes it much easier.
And you made the conversationflow easily.
So thank you.
Car (37:21):
Carrie Saunders
So good to have you.
I hope you found thatconversation with Maria as
eye-opening as I did.
I know that I want to dig intoour website.
I know it's definitelysomething that's been needed for
a while, and I think this isgoing to give me the gumption to
do so.
And if you're feeling thattension between where your
business is going and how yourbrand is currently showing up,
(37:43):
like I do, this might be theperfect time for you to do a
check-in as well.
Maria has two amazing resourcesto help you take the next step:
her free logo effectivenessguide, as well as her free brand
clarity session.
So be sure to grab those at ourshow notes website,
smarteronlinebusiness.com, andjust search for Maria.
And as always, if you want moretips like this, you can always
(38:06):
join our newsletter while you'rethere, and we send out weekly
tips each week to help you havea smarter online business.
Thanks for listening, and wewill see you next week.
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Ruthie's Table 4
For more than 30 years The River Cafe in London, has been the home-from-home of artists, architects, designers, actors, collectors, writers, activists, and politicians. Michael Caine, Glenn Close, JJ Abrams, Steve McQueen, Victoria and David Beckham, and Lily Allen, are just some of the people who love to call The River Cafe home. On River Cafe Table 4, Rogers sits down with her customers—who have become friends—to talk about food memories. Table 4 explores how food impacts every aspect of our lives. “Foods is politics, food is cultural, food is how you express love, food is about your heritage, it defines who you and who you want to be,” says Rogers. Each week, Rogers invites her guest to reminisce about family suppers and first dates, what they cook, how they eat when performing, the restaurants they choose, and what food they seek when they need comfort. And to punctuate each episode of Table 4, guests such as Ralph Fiennes, Emily Blunt, and Alfonso Cuarón, read their favourite recipe from one of the best-selling River Cafe cookbooks. Table 4 itself, is situated near The River Cafe’s open kitchen, close to the bright pink wood-fired oven and next to the glossy yellow pass, where Ruthie oversees the restaurant. You are invited to take a seat at this intimate table and join the conversation. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to https://shoptherivercafe.co.uk/ Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/therivercafelondon/ Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com