Your business evolves over time, so why shouldn't your branding? In this episode of Building Your Brand, I chat with brand designer and self-styled "brand chef" Aiza Cheung of Studio Coya. We dive deep into why small business owners and service providers should stop flattening their services into generic lists and instead embrace the power of branding their signature offers.
Aiza breaks down her signature food analogies to explain how your business brand acts as the restaurant, while your signature offer is that one distinctive dish everyone comes back for. We also talk about the brilliant concept of "themed branding," using pattern disruptions, and how you can steal clever campaign strategies from corporate giants to stand out in your own industry.
Key Takeaways
The Restaurant vs. The Signature Dish: Your overarching business brand is there to nurture your audience and build general trust . Your signature offer branding is the entry point that shows clients exactly what specific solution you provide.
Pattern Disruption via Campaigns: Consistency builds trust, but audiences can become blind to the same visuals over time. Launching a dedicated campaign or signature offer provides a temporary window to play with new visual elements to peak curiosity.
Theming Grounds Your Messaging: Choosing an anchor or theme (like Aiza's food concept or Rachel Emma Wearing's space aesthetic) makes it exponentially easier to write copy, devise analogies, and feel creatively aligned.
Borrow from Other Industries: Instead of mimicking direct competitors, look outside your niche. Aiza looks to product-based food brands and hospitality to discover fresh ways to market online services.
Strategic Disruption vs. Trust: Standing out with an unusual industry colour palette is highly effective, but you must ensure your visual pattern disruption doesn't undermine the core trust required for your profession.
Episode Highlights
01:45: Aiza's journey from a linear design career to handling an unexpected redundancy that pushed her into running her studio
04:20: What exactly defines a signature offer and how service providers can apply the SaaS model to their programs
08:35: Pulling visual levers: Deciding how visually similar or distinct a sub-brand should be from your main parent brand
18:25: How Aiza stumbled across her food theme by mistake and how it transformed into her biggest marketing asset
20:15: Designing a theme that isn't loud: The story of The Two Lauras and their internal "comfy jumper and jeans" anchor
28:30: Why it is okay to play with visual trends in short-term marketing blocks rather than a permanent rebrand
About the Guest
Aiza Cheung is a brand designer, strategist, and the founder of Studio Coya. Known as the "brand chef," she helps online service-based businesses differentiate their primary b
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