We recently connected with Tiffany Kenyon and have shared our conversation below.

Tiffany, appreciate you joining us today. Often outsiders look at a successful business and think it became a success overnight. Even media and especially movies love to gloss over nitty, gritty details that went into that middle phase of your business – after you started but before you got to where you are today. In our experience, overnight success is usually the result of years of hard work laying the foundation for success, but unfortunately, it’s exactly this part of the story that most of the media ignores. Can you talk to us about your scaling up story – what are some of the nitty, gritty details folks should know about?

This is such an important question because it’s rare that a company is an “overnight success”. The media tends to gloss over the nitty, gritty details that form the middle phase of a business journey because it’s less buzz worthy than launch day or achieving success. For my branding business, the most crucial part of the middle phase was remaining consistent in everything that I set out to do.

One strategy that scaled up TK DESIGN was identifying my dream clients and optimizing my service offering to suit their needs. When I first launched TK DESIGN, my service offering included one comprehensive brand package that still exists today, the brand identity package. It includes a primary logo, alternate logo, submark logo, favicon, custom color palette, and typography pairing. This brand package suits most of my ideal clients as they require multiple logo variations to uphold the integrity of their brand in many situations online and offline. To learn more about why most businesses are better off with a few variations of their logo, head over to the blog where I dive into the topic.

After speaking with a few of my dream clients, I realized this package didn’t suit a small subset of founders I enjoyed working with. They understand the importance of elevated and strategic branding, yet this comprehensive brand package was more than they required. I decided it was time to begin testing the success of a simplified brand package, known today as the foundations package. It includes a primary logo, one logo variation, custom color palette, and typography pairing.

Had I not tested the foundations package, I’d miss the opportunity to instantly resonate with a portion of my ideal audience. Once you’ve identified your dream clients, it’s crucial that you listen intently to their needs to optimize your service offering.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m Tiffany Kenyon, owner of TK DESIGN, a branding studio for passion-led founders that specializes in elevated and refined design rooted in strategy. I craft bespoke brand identities for businesses across many industries including interior design, therapy, finance, law, telehealth, fashion, beauty, event management, and agriculture. If your business is outside of these industries, don’t hesitate to reach out as this list is always expanding!

My entrepreneurial path began when I discovered my passion for logo design and branding. It was at the end of a full day of designing that I noticed I felt energized, rather than exhausted. From that moment forward, I began looking into the process of launching an LLC in California.

Clients come to TK DESIGN for my refined aesthetic, focus on strategic design, and thorough design process. Whether a founder is gearing up to launch or rebrand their business, TK DESIGN guides them through the process. The design process begins with a discovery call (20-30 minutes), an in-depth brand questionnaire call (1 hour), followed by the design and refinement phase. If you’re interested in starting the process, you’re welcome to complete the inquiry form on our website (linked below).

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

There are many ways to reach potential clients, but I’ve found that it’s important to focus my energy on tactics that connect me with my ideal clients (not everyone). I firmly believe in niching down and gaining clarity about who you want to work with as soon as possible. For TK DESIGN, here are two effective strategies that have grown my clientele.

One tactic I use to attract my dream clients is posting my branding portfolio online. When potential clients inquire about my services, they often say the reason they trust me with their company’s branding is because they have seen many examples of my work applied to various industries. Building brand trust is essential for business owners and one of the best ways to achieve this is by sharing your work publicly. For this reason, I’m constantly updating my website to showcase my latest work. Since most of my clients are in their 40’s or 50’s and can be found on Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn, I’ve also chosen to share my portfolio on these platforms.

Another effective strategy includes personally connecting with business owners to share my services. For small business owners that wear many hats, branding their business can be an overwhelming task that gets pushed further down their endless to-do list. Anytime I come across a business without a cohesive brand identity, I introduce myself. It can be scary to reach out to someone you’ve never met before, but I’ve found that my message is well-received. In most cases, it’s met with founders expressing relief that they’ve finally found someone to take on the task of branding their business.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

At TK DESIGN, I pride myself on having a design style that lends itself well to a range of industries. Additionally, each brand identity is backed by strategic design decisions tailored to the client. I believe the combination of my design style and brand strategy has helped build my reputation within the market.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.tiffanykenyondesign.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_designbytk/
• Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/company/tiffanykenyondesign
• Other: Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/TiffanyKenyonDesign/