Beyond the Bio Ep 3 : Brand Identity & Brand systems with Blyth

We're live. 🎙️
Post-pivot, Think Brand. Talk Brand kicks off with Blyth—a systems designer who makes clients feel like superstars. We go deep on how brand identity only sticks when your brand systems back it up—because consistency creates trust, and trust fuels growth.

In this episode we unpack:
• Trust signals your brand should show (not just say)
• Blind spots that quietly erode credibility
• Blyth's gems on "Fix the Flow"—the simple ops shifts that make your identity perform in the wild

Hit play, take notes, and don't miss this one.
Connect with Blyth: @quicksilksolutions on Instagram or quicksilksolutions.com

#ThinkBrandTalkBrand #BrandSystems #BrandIdentity #BuildTrust #BusinessGrowth #Operations #CreatorEconomy #FounderTips

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Thank you so much for joining me.

SPEAKER_01 0:10

Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here.

SPEAKER_00 0:13

Alright. Blythe is in LA. She is a systems designer for her clients' journey dedicated to making her clients feel luxurious before they even deliver results. So the rant, so they rant and rave about you, bringing in referrals and reviews, amazing work that you do in systems. And today's topic is all about that. You know, systems and uh brand identity, how they go hand in hand. And that's why I thought you were such a perfect guest for having you here. And I'm also doing a little bit of pivot on my podcast and creating new content. So thank you. You're the first one coming here with that. Woo!

SPEAKER_01 0:50

Yay! I'm happy to be the first one and pave the way for some more excellent speakers.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

Yes, yes. No, I'm so excited. And it's and talking about pivot, I know that you yourself had a pivot in your career, right? Like you were, you got into this business uh journey recently. So tell us a little about that. How did that happen? Sure.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

So I was a full-stack developer for a medical software engineering company. We built interfaces between two large suites of software, which is a very niche field to be in. And I noticed while I was in there that there was a lot of doctor's offices that didn't really put the patient first. And you get symptoms like, um, you know, you're not getting reminder messages, or you're not really understanding your bill, and you're left waiting for 40 minutes inside of the waiting room. These are things that can be really easily solved by fixing systems on the back end and putting the client first. And this goes outside of just the medical industry and probably well into every industry, honestly. So, my goal when I left my job as a software developer was to try and elevate the client journey by building systems that will support the client's experience. And I think honestly, what ties great in with branding is the fact that when you have happy clients, that's part of your brand, that's part of your image, and that's what gets talked about.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

Exactly. I, you know, have so many examples, and we were discussing something like this in our last call, and also something that I experienced recently that a lot of times there's a lot of branding and marketing that goes into promoting who you are, what you do, and uh what do you stand for. But what happens is like, for example, this there was this coach that I was following, and they were selling something about some program that they had, and I was on their website and I clicked and I was like, okay, let me check out. And then as you scroll down, there's an events page with events six months ago, right? Like, that's part of their page, and that's when you realize that you know something at the system back end didn't, you know, didn't go well because of course they're promoting this. I'm seeing this ad, they've spent money on all of this stuff, but something at the back end is not working. And for me, as a you know, when I talk about funnel marketing, a top of funnel, I am seeing your stuff for the first time. I have an impression that this person is probably just in it for the revenue and like not necessarily a very cohesive, well-built brand, and that's it, that's my out. I I don't wanna further work on it. So it's so important brands and systems work together because systems are signals of how well you take your business and how well you actually care about it. So, what do you think when there are broken systems and you know, the what do they say to your clients uh about who you are?

SPEAKER_01 3:41

Yeah, so a similar story to what you had. I was visiting, I got an offer in August for uh the front of somebody's pipeline. And I'm I'm a curious person. I like to look at things not just from the perspective of, oh, I'm somebody who knows nothing, but also was this tested? Was this vetted? You know, and so one of the things I noticed on their landing page was, you know, this deal ends in March. Which March? The March that just happened or the March of 2026? So I'm seeing a recycled page, which means somebody didn't test this pipeline. That's part of a system check that you can do. You can implement that as something so simple before you go to launch, is just can I experience this from the journey of my client? And does everything make sense? And a great thing we call uh we call it rubber ducking when we're trying to solve our problem in doing software development. But another one is can you explain this to grandma? And these are really easy checks that you can do that just say, if I go step by step, does grandma know where the button is? Does grandma know how to enter in the credit card properly? All of these small little things that we always attribute to somebody who's low in technology, help you walk through your own process and know, do I need to make adjustments, do I need to make changes or make something easier? Because for every friction point that you have in any of your funnels, whether that's onboarding, during, or off of your services, um, those friction points are what create that erosion of trust for your brand.

SPEAKER_00 5:17

Oh yes, you use the big word there, the buzzword, claws are out. So yeah, like exactly it's it's about the trust because uh your brand eventually in the long run is built on trust, whether it's trust online or it's trust offline. If you really are serious about what you do, you want to really serve people with honesty, and it could be as simple as you know, something was even if something is not delivered on time, how are you communicating about it? How are you really playing that out for everyone to be with you so that you're not like you've not ghosted your client or you've not uh left them looking for more and there's no support system? And you can have some support systems in place, but if you are not regularly checking on those support systems, what are the support systems for? So I really think brands and systems are such a beautiful combination because I really talk about brand a lot. I talk about how what's your substance, what's your positioning, what's how do how do we talk to our clients in the way they understand you? All of that. I can do that, but if beyond that, once the customer actually has an interaction with you, and this is what, as you said, this is what they've they feel they they they're being left at, then what's the point of all of this work, right? Because what's the point of all of this if this part is not taken care of, and that's why I really want people to understand that people are like Blythe, come in and do that system work for them, which probably not, and I'm sure not every business owner is adapted doing it themselves, so they need that support, they need that kind of you know, pillars pillar systems around them. So that's something that I really think that I want to talk to you more and more about how people can create it, and I also think that a lot of these brand owners, small business owners, come in with purpose, they are so purpose-driven, right? Like, for example, the healthcare example you spoke about. Obviously, the purpose is to serve their patients with the best intention that they have, but their back end is not reflecting it. So, how do you help them? It's not just about now that they have you realize the problem, how do you help them?

SPEAKER_01 7:28

Yeah, so whenever I come into a new system, like an ecosystem where you've got front-end funnels feeding into services, feeding into offboarding, which is your referral program and your uh, you know, reviews and testimonials and all that, yeah, I like to look at everything in the ecosystem as a whole and ask a lot of why questions. I almost get a little annoying because when I start asking those whys in the spaces where it becomes difficult to answer that question, we know we have to fix a system. Something's not functioning in a way that's going to support the whole process, the whole journey for that client. And I want to make sure that it is rock solid, that when we come in and we're building SOPs or we're making, you know, um, just any automation pipeline, I want to know the why behind what we're doing, what we're building, so that I'm building something that makes sense. If I just come in and you say, like, oh, we need to do reminders for a patient, then yeah, I can definitely send a reminder out to the patient. But why? What happens if the patient perhaps needs to start fasting before that? You have to let them know and maybe conditional. So a lot of people don't know that just because the even just like talking to somebody, interacting with your uh clientele has to have that brand voice and can be backed by a system. If we think about anticipating their top questions, anticipating their uh the answers that will make them feel most confident in their services, we build that into an infrastructure that somebody at the call center or that somebody, you know, can answer, like a VA can answer in an email template, as long as that matches that brand voice, that system goes hand in hand.

SPEAKER_00 9:14

Right, 100%. Like that's exactly what you want someone to come in and do it for you. Because sometimes we have we have a bit of a tunnel vision um in terms of as business owners, and and and I'm a business owner too. And I also sometimes feel I have that tunnel vision of it's all about, oh, I need to do X and that's about it, right? Like it's is it's those.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

So yeah, that let me just come in. Oh, I know I know the answer to that question. Let me just answer it real quick in a email. Let me just punch that out. Well, five to ten minutes later of you punching it out, do you have a consistent voice at the end of punching all of that out? Is that something that you can hand off to somebody when you're sick and they're gonna be able to maintain that voice for you? Or is it just gonna be slapped together and person A maybe had your great service on the day you felt good, but person B had a not so great experience that they're not gonna talk about, but they're also not gonna rave about.

SPEAKER_00 10:08

Yeah, absolutely. And that's what I think that's the delight factor that we are wanting to have for our businesses where that consistency is seen across, you know, it's and it's fed by the customers as well. And I think there's no bigger marketing than a referral or a word of mouth marketing. I think as it's just the best because it's so effortless, it's not something that you have to keep because you are delivering such good results day in, day out with the same consistency, same brand voice. I think there's no bigger marketing than word-of-mouth marketing, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_01 10:44

It makes actually one of the things that I've found in my own research is that it the conversion rate for a lead coming into your it, like a warm lead coming in, not nearly as strong as, and I'm sure everybody knows this, but I bet you didn't know that it's 70% more improved when you're actually able to have a video testimonial. So in order for somebody to sit down and have a video testimonial, think about the video testimonials you've given to businesses you like. They have to be businesses that you align with in order to sit down and have a video testimonial. How do you get somebody to align with your business? Have a strong brand that delivers a message that aligns with their beliefs, and also make sure they have an excellent entire journey to support that.

SPEAKER_00 11:29

Oh my gosh, I never thought about it, but so true that if you were to give somebody a video testimonial, like just imagine how aligned or how bought into are they in your product line or service that they're willing to do that, come on video and like, yeah, please go ahead and use my video testimonial wherever you want. Like, that's seriously so true, and that is it as is the word of mouth, word of mouth marketing we're talking about. So great. And with I just feel that a lot of time we have these blind spots that we are kind of missing. So, how do we catch those? How do we how as business owners, how how do we catch those blind spots and and not be kind of a bit in our own haze that, oh, you know, like this is what is important for me, and I'm I'm missing all those blind spots. So, how do we how do we catch them?

SPEAKER_01 12:19

Yeah, um, auditing your systems is the best. I offer an audit for systems. So if there's ever a point in time that uh somebody needs an audit to figure out like, where are my blind spots? I'm really good at finding the little blind spots without like, you know, exposing you. But also understanding and receiving feedback because not always is our feedback ranting and raving. Sometimes our feedback is, hey, that form was a little difficult. And it might be a soft passing comment, but paying attention when someone, especially your client, speak to you and making impact and saying, hey, your client, your comment meant something to me. Uh so first is acknowledgement and validation. Second is going to be a type of change that you're going to make. And the third is going to be gratitude. And you put that in a message to a client that says, like, hey, thank you so much for letting me know that the client form was really difficult. I want to know more. Number two, uh, here's the ways that I'm going to change it. I'm seeing some stuck points when I went through the form myself. I can understand why that point was where you got stuck. And three, thank you so much. If you would like to be part of this, you know, development, I would love to hear more. Uh, even if it was something really damaging, I would offer, like almost immediately offer gift cards, complimentary services, something to rejuvenate that bond and trust that you have with that client. Because a disappointed client does so much damage, the same intensity that a excited and loving client promotes you. So we want more promotions and less disappointment.

SPEAKER_00 13:56

Oh my gosh. And I really want to shout, give a shout out to your Yelp series because it's amazing how you're doing that. It's so genius because you are actually looking at this feedback of whatever XYZ services, and you're obviously not talking about them, you're talking about the feedback and how that feedback is so critical because it shows those blind spots. It shows that the businesses have probably not taken that time to understand that blind spot. And sometimes, if as a business owner, you want to really understand your blind spot. I think reviews are such a great place to go and see. And yes, of course, you can always be like, oh, you know what, people will just haters gonna hate. Or you could just think of it as, you know what, that's that's interesting. I I probably wanna pick it up and and do a test and see if that makes my life better and my customers' lives better.

SPEAKER_01 14:46

Yeah, not only that, but I know a lot of I get a lot of questions about, oh, what software? What software do you use? The thing about systems is you can build a system on the software you already have. I the software that's gonna work best for you is the software you're gonna use. So if you're already using CRMs and it comes with XYZ information for you to be able to get reviews and testimonials, let's build it. Let's ask questions that actually make sense. So instead of asking, was your representative helpful and friendly today? The challenge with having two key terms inside of a question, helpful and friendly, means I'm getting if they say yes, what were they yes to, the helpful or the friendly? What if they were just yes to the friendly and the person wasn't helpful, right? That question doesn't give me enough information to be able to understand what I need to make improvements on. And the systems aspect behind branding is understanding what are the things that we need to make improvements on, what are the systems that we need to build, and how are we going to collect the data to verify that this is where we need to put our energy?

SPEAKER_00 15:49

Oh my gosh, that is so brilliant. Because thank you. No, it is everything you're saying is so brilliant because uh yeah, I mean, if you are taking feedback, as you've mentioned, that you know, what kind of feedback do you actually take into consideration to improve your uh uh systems? Because as you said, that friendly and helpful are two very different things, and yeah, you know, you can someone can rate you on both, but what can you actually work on, which will, you know, build your business to more alignment of where you want to take it? Do you just want to be friendly or are you actually going to solve problems? Because both could have different outcomes for your business.

SPEAKER_01 16:26

I've been, I swear, I've been with people like in the supermarket, you know, you go to Target or whatever, and somebody is just the nicest person, but they just did not get the grace that God gave potato salad, you know? And so it are they nice? Sure. Are they helpful? No. No. And you can't tell them, you can't say, hey, you were you were useless. You can just be like, well, thank you very much, and you walk away and find somebody else, right? We don't want that for our business. We want to know where we're needing to educate uh the rest of our agency on something that people are getting stuck on. And that's where we look at all of the information. We make sure that that's part of the beginning, that these types of reviews are anticipated by the client, because in the beginning we say, Hey, we're building a system here. Please be prepared to answer questions about your journey as you go along because we want to know. And tell us the good, bad, and ugly, you know? And so if you build that expectation in, you will get the results you're looking for throughout the entire service, and especially at the endpoint, which is where it's gonna count the most when it becomes a referral or a testimonial or a video testimonial or you know, a review on a site of your choosing. How many times have they also left reviews on Yelp, but you need them really badly on Google? That's up to you and the system to be able to say, go to this place to leave the review. So these are just small system type things that you can tweak today that'll help improve your client journey and help you see results on those things. But also as you grow that, as you grow that backbone in your business, then the stuff about branding, which is the stuff about the way your brand and your business presents to the outside world, becomes so much more impactful.

SPEAKER_02 18:13

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 18:13

Yeah. And I think that's where like I don't see enough people. They're like, Yeah, I'm a copywriter, yeah, I do this, yeah, I do that. Your branding tells me the experience I get when I get to be with you.

SPEAKER_00 18:25

Oh yes, and this such small things, right? Like I have people interacting with me, for example, on a LinkedIn post or an Instagram post, right? And they're probably doing it as part of their outreach. But beyond that, and I, for example, as somebody they are targeting me for uh uh you know, for whatever they want to sell me or trying to build a relationship. Okay, I've also responded to you in the same thread and things like that, but there's no follow-up after that, right? Like, I literally feel I just warmed up to you, I responded to what you told me, and then like this is my mo this is your moment to come in and you know, like extend the conversation a little bit, and again, not pitching, not selling, but just like because I commented on a thread, now let's go. The next step for you will be like go into their messages and say, Hey, you know, I love what you do, la. So I'm just saying that these are small things, and if they are not put into systems, then for me that brand has lost its its moment. It doesn't matter how much they created a great visual or they they even invested in outreach, whether time or VA or money, however they did it. Yeah, and then the outreach is left cold because it fizzled, yeah. It fizzled, right? So you see this around yourself so often, and I was just telling you about another business owner having to have such a hard time with hiring someone who messed up so majorly before their launch that that whole system failed for them after getting help, right? Yeah, so it sometimes is so hard because as small business owners, we are always wanting to optimize with money, time, resources because we don't have that endlessly. And and sometimes it's like it still doesn't go your way despite you trying that. So if somebody is looking at their systems, you know, they are wanting to fix that flow. How can you run us through a simple audit before they hire someone or they go about hiring someone? Like if I, as a business owner, wanted to just do an audit and see what do you think my business is looking like, or where do I fix this flow? Do you think you have something for the audiences who are listening?

SPEAKER_01 20:38

Yeah, so um I can definitely talk a little bit about it, but I'd love to be able to provide a checklist of things that everybody can kind of go through on their own time. One of the major key factors that I think about is on your day-to-day, when you sit down at the computer and you've got a designated time that you work, what are the things you do in detail? Where do you log in? How do you log in? What are the, you know, where are your credentials kept? Where do you save files? How's the naming convention for the files? These are small, tiny things that differentiate your well-oiled machine from a clunker. So if I have a proper naming convention, file organization, things are going in certain places, those things can get referenced on Canva really easily when I go to create content, or when my social media manager creates content, or when my VA goes and makes a new flyer for something. That's all everybody understands what's happening in that ecosystem. You will be constantly chasing your tail if you're digging through your downloads folder, trying to find that one thing you downloaded three months ago and you've tried to find it, but it's named out because that's the random name that it's been given. And you're and yes, can AI help you? Sure. But also, how much do you want AI running through your personal files on your computer? You should be naming these appropriately. So this is. Like one of the many tangents I could go off on on like how to like really revamp your systems and make sure that you're doing things appropriately, but also like versions, you know, it shouldn't be like version one, version two, v final, final, final, super final dot txt or whatever. Like, we're not doing that anymore. Yeah, be intentional with what you're because when you're revamping something, there should be a system to it where you're going, okay, what am I making changes on for this version? Version notes, here's how I'm changing it, here's what I learned, here's what's impactful. Because when I go back and I look to see when did I make that change and why and what was it backed by? What kind of information did I gain from my clients or their experiences that helped advise this decision? And that's the type of stuff that's going to propel you when you're able to harness that knowledge, making important decisions that back your brand message as well as support your team when you do your hire.

SPEAKER_00 23:02

They need to know. No, 100%. I think the the uh business owner story of whoever I was talking to you about, I think it it culminates from there, right? Like you can have all of that so centralized and worked out well that anyone coming in, joining you has a very clear idea of what needs to be done, what should be done, and what needs to be checked before it's done. So, you know, the systems, as I said, is you can have a great brand, but if your systems are flawed, none of it works as as a as a as a brand. Exactly. And even as a brand strategist, when I create brand for somebody, I actually have them go through this three-pager whole checklist of things that they they have not even thought about. Yeah. Right? Like you come to me because you want to create a brand, you want to have this fancy idea of what it should be like. But have you thought about where your brand will be 10 years from now? You wanna, you know, have you thought about what your suppliers want to say about you? Like, you know, you're always thinking about what your clients want to say about you, but your brand is a 360. And you know, you you even if you think about it, what do I want my suppliers to say about me? As I said, do am I friendly or am I useful? Like, for example, if you ever gonna say that, right? Like, yeah, you you can't just create a brand thinking that it should look classy and chic or or modern and luxurious, you also need to think of so that's what I bring to the table because I think a lot of people are getting diluted down with like hiring somebody from Fiverr to make a logo, and voila, we have a brand. Yeah, well, you have a brand logo, yes, but do you have a brand?

SPEAKER_01 24:44

Right, yeah. And uh to your point about the vendors, it is really important. When you get to the point where you're collaborating with vendors, which I had the privilege of being able to do uh with the previous career path that I was on, the the ability for you to explore new options and bring new stuff to the market comes with your ability to collaborate with your vendors. So when you say, hey, I've got a lot of people who are utilizing this service of yours, and this is the type of feedback I'm getting. Can I get this in this way? Can you build a custom in that thing? Your influence is backed by the information you've gathered from your systems, and you're able to be on the cutting edge floor of just all of the new stuff that's coming out, which puts your brand at an advantage on new tech. So it's super imperative that you have a cultivated brand ahead of time where you're not just communicating with clients, but also that two-way street with vendors. Yes, they're your vendor and they'll give you an affiliate link, and that's cute. But when you're ready to start helping them develop their product, coming to them with that concrete information so that they can make informed decisions and your part of that collaboration is it's so fun. In my opinion, it's fun.

SPEAKER_00 26:01

But it helps it is fun and it helps. It's a win-win, you know, because you are going back with concrete information that makes them also kind of building new systems for themselves that they haven't even thought about. And and you, I mean, there is no better feedback than a feedback from a client who's invested in your your product, right? If I use something that I like, but I want this feature too, you know. And I kind of, for example, I think very recently I was using what was I using? Uh not notion. Some some I was using something, oh, caption, an app. It's an app for like making reels. It has two different uh, I don't know the technical term for it. So pardon my ignorance. So whatever you do on the mobile, on a phone, whatever you create does not get simply carried on if you log in from the web portal. Okay, that makes sense. So both of them have a different drive or wherever they store stuff, so it's not configured. You can't talk to one another, they don't talk to one another, right? And I really like that app because I use it for making for my reels. It's super, super easy and super good. But say, for example, I'm on my laptop and I'm like, you know, I want to do more things, it's blank. I have to start from scratch for everything because I'm so invested and I love that app. I've actually sent feedback to them and they were like, Yeah, we've been getting this feedback, thank you so much. We've been trying to figure out, you know, we've told our developers to do something which can integrate. So, as we, you know, it's just that, right? I, as an invested client, have gone back to the feedback I'm sure others are also giving, but it solidifies their understanding of their own business.

SPEAKER_01 27:39

So let me take this a step further because I've been in the position where I'm the little small fry client saying, Hey, I'm having an issue with this, but I've also been in the position of the vendor saying, I have many clients using this and it's a problem, fix it. And that space of influential power that you get being able to leverage that, huge. But you only get that when you have a trusted brand relationship with your vendors, and that's something that comes with time and development, as we explained. Like we're thinking 10 years in the future. You're thinking about where your brand exists and who you're partnered with because those people also became our referral sources. So they sent solo businesses when they're like, we don't want to open up an agency and handle the front end of this particular software. Let's give it to our trusted brand partner who will be the front end while we do all the back end. We were in situations like that all the time, and people didn't know our name, but we were the backbone of several offices and how they functioned because of this relationship that got cultivated.

SPEAKER_00 28:48

Exactly. And and it that's the beauty of thinking of brand like this and not just, oh my god, what my color is gonna be for my logos, right? Because I'm sick of I'm sick of like, you know, thinking of people who just think that, oh, uh uh because I'm a brand strategist, at best I give you some marketing advice and create that logo for you. But I really want to bring back a bit of old school understanding of branding in this really hype market of you know, ads and I don't know, just these quick rich schemes that everyone's trying to pull.

SPEAKER_01 29:20

The thing I love about you too is you also base it in what's a very entrepreneurial reality. We're not talking about Coca-Cola and how they develop their brand. We're not talking about the three colors that are on Pepsi and how they can rearrange it, but you always know that it's Pepsi because a little you that's not that's not what we're here for. None of the brands that we're we're talking about and working with and becoming close with are the big wig companies that house these modern society ideas of what branding is, you know, and the systems that back those often have issues as well. So, you know, nobody is nobody is gonna escape a bad system and a logo does not make a brand.

SPEAKER_00 30:06

Oh my gosh, that's such a perfect like to close this episode for us because it just actually captures the spirit of what we're trying to see here and how we support each other in this journey to help other solopreneurs and other entrepreneurs who really think that they have a bigger purpose that they are trying to achieve, and then they need these things to support them to get to that purpose. So we're here for it, we're here to help these purpose-driven business owners get to that purpose as soon as they can. So, Brad, thank you so much for coming here. And this was so lovely. Maybe someday.

SPEAKER_01 30:42

Yeah, I'm excited to refine my own brand. I am always going to be a work in progress, but I want it to be a good progress.

SPEAKER_00 30:49

Likewise, likewise. Thank you so much, and really appreciate you being here. And I really think that we should do this again.

unknown 30:57

Okay.