From the Yellow Chair
From the Yellow Chair
Beyond the Logo: Building a Brand That Lasts
Ever wondered why some home service businesses become household names while others remain forgettable? The secret isn't just clever digital marketing or a fancy logo—it's building genuine community relationships that transform customers into raving fans.
Crystal, founder and lead strategist at Lemon Seed Marketing, pulls back the curtain on what truly separates market leaders from the competition. With passion and practical wisdom, she challenges the common misconception that your brand is merely your logo. While visual identity matters, it's only the introduction—not the relationship. True brand building happens when your technicians roll trash cans up driveways for elderly customers, when your mascot high-fives local kids, and when your team shows up consistently as positive community members.
The harsh truth Crystal delivers? Most contractors won't commit to genuine community marketing because it demands sustained effort and creativity. But those who persevere gain tremendous advantages. Rather than simply writing sponsorship checks and slapping logos on banners, successful brands customize their community presence in memorable ways—transforming putting greens into branded experiences, creating signature charitable moments, and generating authentic content that resonates long after the event ends.
This approach creates what Crystal calls "the top of the funnel" marketing that builds brand awareness and trust before customers ever need your services. When market demand fluctuates or digital advertising falters, companies with strong community relationships maintain stability through word-of-mouth and brand loyalty. The key is layering these community efforts with digital marketing, direct mail, and other tactics for a comprehensive approach where "2+2=5."
Ready to transform your home service brand from a forgettable logo into a beloved community fixture? Take Crystal's challenge to think outside the box, show up consistently, and create the kind of authentic connections that competitors can't easily replicate. Because when market conditions get tough, it's not your logo that saves you—it's the relationships you've built one community interaction at a time.
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From the Yellow Chair is powered by Lemon Seed, a marketing strategy and branding company for the trades. Lemon Seed specializes in rebrands, creating unique, comprehensive, organized marketing plans, social media, and graphic design. Learn more at www.LemonSeedMarketing.com
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All right, guys, have you ever been really wondering how you can set your company apart from everyone else in your market? Well, buckle up. Today's episode is all about that. So what's up, lemonheads? Welcome to another episode of From the Yellow Chair.
Speaker 1:I'm Crystal and I am the founder and lead strategist co-founder, I should say, and lead strategist at Lemon Seed Marketing, but today I'm going to be talking about going beyond the logo for your company building a community-driven home service brand that will definitely put you above the rest. I can't wait to talk about this. Y'all know this is my passion. Let's sit down and let's sip some lemonade, all right? So I want to talk about a couple of things here. So, when we talk about branding and we talk about community engagement, most of you I'm just going to like give a little warning label to this episode Most of you are not going to do what it takes to get this done. Most of you will start out really strong but not be able to really complete this challenge, Because you know why. It gets old, it gets tiring, sometimes it can get expensive, it gets a little daunting, just like everything that is hard. Always, anything that's good can be a hard challenge up front. So that is what is kind of more difficult about the community marketing side of things. But today, as I kind of dive into these three things that I want to talk about, I want you to understand that when I say that most of you won't do this, what I mean is you have to dig in deep, right. You've got to find the time, you've got to find the people, you've got to find some resources. So it does not come without its own set of pain and sorrow, as I say, but what it does come with is great reward tons of brand building, lots of brand authority, but, more than anything, some residual and long-term lasting brand building will change the trajectory of your overall marketing spend, if we can do it right and if we can do it well, which you totally can. But I want to get your mindset right to where I know you need to be to be able to tackle community marketing and engaging in your market.
Speaker 1:So let's get started with the number one thing of our three things. Your logo, friends, is only the introduction to your brand. It's not the relationship. People do not have a relationship with your font, people do not have a relationship with your hierarchy, all of those things that are cool, to designers and brands and logos. Listen, that is a super integral part. Don't underestimate the value of having a good logo and a good look and a good font and good colors, all that stuff. Yes, it is super important. Don't look past that. But what I want you to do is understand that is your calling card, that is your business card, that is you putting yourself out there for the world to see, but it's not the relationship, right? The relationship is what comes when your brand is out in the market and you are rolling in trash cans that are out along driveways of elderly patients, that you come. That's when your technician changes the batteries in a smoke alarm. That's when your mascot is high-fiving the kids in the local basketball team. All of those things are what you are doing that build relationships and build engagement. So what I want you to understand is, as we go beyond the logo, it is important that your logo be good and be solid and be modern and be refreshed on a fairly relatively consistent basis. I mean years, but still make sure that you're kind of keeping your eye on the ball there. But it's only the introduction, right? It's only what people see and what they interact with visually. I mean those of you that have jingles and mascots, like there's some auditory things that go on there, but mean those of you that have jingles and mascots, like there's some auditory things that go on there. But remember, that's the introduction, it's not the relationship. So your relationship building has to come from what you are doing. I call it the shaking hands and kissing babies. Right? How are we doing that? Where are we to be seen? And I'll tell you this it is one of the biggest secrets of growing a brand quickly to me.
Speaker 1:So, quick story back in 2014, when I went to McWilliams, my brother called me and said come and work for me those of y'all that have heard the story, come back to work. I'd work there as a kid, but come back to work there as a professional, if you will. And one of the first things I did was just go out into the community. I literally just like, took off into our community, engaged with our local chamber of commerce, and I just started literally shaking everybody's hand that would shake my hand, telling anybody that would listen what McWilliams did. I started, we started creating a mascot when we started private labeling equipment. We so we created Sailor Mac, which is based around my grandpa, so then I wanted to take him everywhere.
Speaker 1:But I wanted to be where the people are. I was Ariel under the sea, sebastian, all the characters. I was trying to get out there and be where the people were, because I knew my logo was good, people saw it. We had vans everywhere, we were putting our logo places, we were advertising. But I wanted to build relationships, and that's where the community involvement became so super important was not only was I engaging with the people that were attending these events and festivals and fairs and all of that stuff, but the coordinators, the volunteers, the chamber staff those also became raving fans of our brand out of kindness and goodness. But I had built relationships with those people, and so today's episode is really about that number one piece.
Speaker 1:How can we really build relationships with your community that go past a good looking wrap? And again, remember what I told you at the beginning. Many of you are going to be like I'm not going out, I'm not doing all that, and you don't have to. But what you have to understand is that if someone like me comes into your market, give me six months and I'm rolling with you on brand recognition because I put in the work, I invested in the work. I had boots on the ground strategy. So right now a lot of you that are listening the majority of your advertising is spent in digital. You know what digital really needs to perform well Need, and so when there's no demand for things, it really means your digital is going to drop off. Well, if that happens for me, I've done a lot of brand building right. So I've done a lot of awareness things that make me more of a household name, and so I'm working now at the top of the funnel. So if your advertising strategy overall does not have a top to bottom funnel strategy, you are missing the boat because you now have put all of your proverbial eggs in a basket of an advertising tactic and you're just got both fingers crossed that. Please let the weather help me.
Speaker 1:Instead of building a brand for long-term things, creating some short-term wins and investing in a digital strategy and all the extra things, go back and watch my episode called 2 plus 2 equals 5. I talk about the importance of layering that marketing. So do not sleep on community-driven home service brand building. Don't sleep on it. Number one why your logo is only the introduction and not the relationship Number two. So do not sleep on community driven home service brand building. Don't sleep on it. So, number one why your logo is only the introduction and not the relationship Number two what are some real, actual ways that we can embed your brand into the community?
Speaker 1:So let's talk about Crystal. What the heck does that even mean? Well, you have to go deeper. Let me tell you what most of you do, or at least most of the contractors that I've interacted with, which is a lot. What you do is you're like well, you know my cousin. He was the coach of the 12-year-old all-star team. So I paid him $300 and put my logo on their banner. Okay, good for you. But like we failed the test of really engaging with people during that brand, okay For your brand. Really engaging with people during that brand Okay For your brand, I'm sorry, really engaging. So the basic people put a logo.
Speaker 1:The pro tip here, the pro tip for this community engagement, is I invited that team to my office and I had my mascot go to their practice. Maybe I made my own banner that says you know, sailor Max supports the 12 year old Daball All-Stars or Lufkin All-Stars. Right, I made that. I also had a cooler full of drinks for them, or I made some snack packs. So, yes, I gave them $250 for the banner, but I now have pictures of me and every player, me and the team I am picked. I want somebody there videoing me high-fiving the team. Put your hand in the middle. One, two, three, go Lumberjacks right. All of those things needed to happen because that is engaging. What's not engaging is my logo and 15 others. So I just added 50, a hundred bucks to my 250. So for $350, I now have video footage, picture footage, pictures. I have some little fun B-roll shots that I need to be putting on social media and encouraging everyone to go support those kids. In the meanwhile, I'm building my brand, one event at a time, and I will fly past people that refuse to invest time, energy and effort into building those things. So that's one way of doing it.
Speaker 1:Another way is looking for opportunities to not just sponsor something but really own that. So, for one thing that Lemon Seed did is when we were sponsoring a local golf tournament for Habitat for Humanity. We like to practice what we preach, so of course, habitat for Humanity builds homes, and so that's what our contractors do, and so we love to support things that support and fuel our own industry. So they have the putting green sponsorship, basically, where you know you put and all these things. And so of course we went back to them and we were like well, can we call it the putting yellow? And they were like huh. And I was like we're going to bring like yellow rugs down for them to put off of. And they were like this is genius, because it was all fun anyway, but what I needed to drive home is lemon seed. Right, I needed to drive that home.
Speaker 1:Mcwilliams, now we sponsor the ball drop every single year at any golf tournament. That'll, let us do it, because we're going to drive our van up, sailor Mac is going to get on top of our van and we're going to use flex duck and we're going to dump all the balls into that flex duck and point that duck towards the hole and whoever's ball. So you purchase a ball as an attendee and whoever's ball lands in the hole wins the prize. But y'all, it is like a shining moment, like people love to see this character on top of the van. So there's my van, there's my mascot, there's my marketing team, there's videos happening, people are cheering. It is wonderful, organic, feel good content. That's way better than me having my name on a yard sign stuck on hole six, right? But see, we think easy, we think inside the box. Well, this is what the people had as sponsorship.
Speaker 1:Y'all push a little bit harder. If you have a brand that has a particular animal as a mascot, why is everything not around that animal? If I have a fast animal, I'm sponsoring every race. If I have a slow animal, I'm also sponsoring every race, just because it's kind of fun. If I have a character, I'm going to have a rhyme to it. So if I've got perfect pat, it might be perfect pat, perfect raffle sponsor. I'm going to connect all the dots for the consumer. And listen y'all, the consumer doesn't even know that we're doing it. This is not like, hey, everybody, we're doing it in a quirky and fun way, but it's going much deeper and much outside the box, other than I put my logo on the back of a t-shirt and on a banner and most of you are like rolling your eyes right now because that's what you do now, because it makes you feel good, which I'm here for.
Speaker 1:But what I want you to switch your brain around is how can you actually use this investment that is out of the goodness of your heart to help you build your brand. You don't have to get out there and be like who wants a system, who needs a water heater. That's not necessarily my style either. My style is much more like hey, we are so excited to be here. Thank you so much for participating in our ball drop. You know we're not comfortable till you are All our tagline and cool stuff like that.
Speaker 1:So as you're doing things in the community, you really want to make sure that you are doing something cool, that's memorable, that works. The funnel, the marketing funnel. So remember, we have people at the top of the funnel that aren't ready to make a decision. So the odds of people being on the golf course, when you're the golf chair sponsor, that are ready to buy a unit or a new water heater or a new electric panel right, this moment is not there. That's not what's there, right? What's there is people that you can leave a lasting impression with because you had a cool water station, you had a cool cooling tent, right? So if you sponsor a golf tournament in the middle of the summer and you have a cooling tent, those are things that people walk away and are like dang, you know, you remember who had those cooling towels, that lemonade, whatever.
Speaker 1:And so just think outside the box here. Let everybody else the peanut gallery, as I call it let that, let that competitor, you know, sponsor something like you do. But you stand out and you be different. That's what you can do. So my encouragement to you is really own what you do. Own thinking outside the box. Own thinking through how everything needs to be above par. No golf pun intended there, but just take it deeper than that and look for opportunities that match your brand, and so these are real ways that you can embed that. Opportunities that match your brand, and so these are real ways that you can embed that.
Speaker 1:Also, you know doing things that are outreach based. So this is when my crew from Comfort Control went and worked at the food bank and you distributed food or you worked at the animal shelter. Things like that are so endearing. They make you real, they make you an actual like the community starts, making you feel like an actual person. So I really encourage you to think through, like my sponsorships, are they deeper than my logo, than just my logo on a banner or a t-shirt For local events? Am I present? So do I have a booth there? Am I shaking hands, kissing babies, giving out balloons, high fives? Is my mascot there? How am I going above and beyond what people expect to happen? How can I think deeper than that? And then, outreach is also a part of like just honestly being a good citizen and giving back to your community through things like I mentioned, the food drives and things like that. But again, be more intentional. Feel the back of a truck or partner with a local grocery store. You can do lots of things that really drive that home.
Speaker 1:And our third thing today is let's talk about measuring trust, right? So a lot of people are like I'm never going to be able to quantify me, my community involvement, like if I go hire someone that their job is to be out in the community representing my name, my brand, my company. How do I pay for that? Well, listen, it is about customer retention. It's around brand awareness. And the third thing that I really want to push on. So you know what. Number one, why your logo is only the introduction, not the relationship. Number two, real ways to embed your brand into the community through those sponsorships that we talked through, local events and outreach and, last but not least, measuring trust, like how your community engagement really leads to that long-term customer retention. So what I want to tell you here is you know you are building a brand that has long-term, long-lasting effects, and so when you do this and you embed yourself in your community and you again y'all are going to get tired of me saying it, but you shake hands and kiss babies.
Speaker 1:It is so that people make that connection. You know what the world is hungry for Connection. So hug them high, five them, smile at them, you know, wave and again, come and come back, be positive, be engaging. It's not about selling a water heater right now. It's not about selling an air conditioning unit at that moment. What it's about is real and positive and joyful interactions with your brand. So do not send your crotchety technician to go work your booth. It's going to be terrible. They're not great people communicators.
Speaker 1:If you've got a CSR or an office manager that's volunteering to work it and they just naturally do not have a joyful spirit, do not put them out at your booth. What you need are people that are active and engaged and smiling and all of the cool things, because you need your brain. You need to be a reflection of the brain that you're putting out there, right? So your logo is not the introduction, it's the relationship. Really embed yourself in out-of-the-box, cool ways of thinking around sponsorships, local events and outreach. And then, last but not least, like, really build out that long-term customer retention where you are doing branding continuously to get them to use your company. Once they use your company, how do you keep them engaged with you? And that's still like you want people to pass by your booth at the local blueberry festival, apple pie festival, whatever festival. You've got shrimp corn on the cob. I don't know all the festivals you want the people to be like that's my water company, or that's my plumbing company, or that's my roofing company, or whatever. You want people to naturally relax. Yes, I love my HVAC guy, right, I love my heating and air conditioning company. But to do that, you've got to start somewhere and you've got to build it there. So I want to go back to what I said earlier. I said that some of you won't do this. This is not for the faint at heart, this is not for the people that are scared to spend 50 cents. Okay, so it's not for you. This, and also this cannot be the only thing you do. Remember that whole. Two plus two equals five.
Speaker 1:Community intentionality the engagement piece is something that you layer on with other things. You layer it on top of your digital performance. You layer it on top of social media. You lay it on top of your direct mail. You layer all these pieces together, social media, you lay it on top of your direct mail. You layer all these pieces together because individually, things may not perform strong individually. It's the collection of all of those things, layered together perfectly and layered together well, that build your brand and leave you getting active leads very consistently.
Speaker 1:Most people are looking for the silver bullet. The silver bullet is diversification and consistency. It's when you put all of your eggs in that one basket. Well, I do direct mail. It doesn't work. Did you do it for $300 and did it take one time and you were done? That's not going to work.
Speaker 1:Marketing is a game of chess that you sit down and you never get back up. You've got to keep going. You've got to keep your eye out there. You've got to work out. Your customer service experience has to be reflective of the brand. So if you're out and you're smiling and they call your office the first time and you're like thanks for calling Crystal's Heating and Air. You know that is not welcoming, that doesn't match the vibe, right. We're giving bothersome, right? So what I want you to do, I want you to think through like your brand has to go from the truck all the way down through the technician in the home. Your brand is the story that that customer journey tells. So your logo is one thing, but your brand and who people think you are, what they know from you, what they know about you, how you make them feel that's from the truck to the technician, and all the interactions in between, including your install crews, right, all of those interactions. That's building your brand, right? So did they get to interact with you in the community? And then they saw you on social media and then they saw you in a postcard and then they saw you at the movie theater as a commercial. Before that they saw your band driving around, they heard your jingle. And then they got to use your company and the CSR was great and we showed up and we did a great job and we handed it off and the technician smelled good, looked good, was clean, cut. The engagement was very good, very wholesome. Then your install crew came out. They cleaned up when they started. They cleaned up when they stopped, cleaned up when they started. They cleaned up when they stopped. They got a package in the mail thanking them for the install.
Speaker 1:You did a follow-up call. That is your brand Not. Well, you know what I do, crystal. I do SEO and paid ads. That's not your brand, crystal. My brand is I have a really good logo, not your brand. That's your logo. That's the introduction, it's not the relationship. So I just want to tell you guys right now go beyond the logo, think outside the box, do what other people aren't willing to do. Be the differentiator in your market of the people as being known as the company that's involved and engaged and is lively and joyful and brings energy to your company or energy to your community. Don't give up, don't be distracted, and be intentional about consistently and holistically building an advertising strategy.
Speaker 1:So, just so y'all know, this podcast is brought to you by Lemon Seed Marketing. We're a full-service marketing agency that really helps you build your brand and organize all of your marketing tactics. So we're not a digital company, friends. We're a brand forward company and we're here to help you. So I would love to help you. Visit us online at lemon seed marketingcom and fill out that contact us form. Make sure you tell them that you heard us from the podcast and I have a little prize for those that come from the podcast. So thank you so much. Hey, and friends and family talk free, so schedule that discovery call. Let's chat about how you can use lemon seed to help your company go beyond the logo. Bye, guys, thanks for shipping lemonade. See you next time.