Taking the DIY Approach for Your Branding with Kristina Kleiler

In today’s competitive market, having a unique and standout brand can be the difference between success and obscurity, especially in industries like real estate and short-term rentals. Branding is not just about having a logo; it’s about crafting an experience that resonates with your audience and sets you apart.

Kristina Kleiler and Her Unique Approach to Branding

Kristina’s journey to branding and business ownership is one that highlights creativity, adaptability, and a deep passion for branding that goes beyond the surface. Kristina first caught my attention with her Harry Potter-themed mock coffee shop branding—a creative project that demonstrated her out-of-the-box thinking. Kristina’s work focuses on finding the unique qualities that make a business stand out and showcasing those in a brand’s visuals and messaging. Her agency, Gem Creative, is dedicated to pulling out the “hidden gems” in businesses, using branding as a way to express their essence and elevate their presence.

What makes Kristina’s approach to branding distinct is her background in event branding, where she learned the importance of crafting an experience around a brand. This focus on the experience is now central to her branding philosophy, where every brand she works with is designed to represent not just a logo, but the entire customer experience.

The Role of Creativity in Branding

Kristina’s brand philosophy is centered on the belief that creativity is key to meaningful connections. She has created numerous “fake” brands based on movies and fictional worlds, as part of her unique approach to understanding how branding can connect with people on a deeper level. She believes that by embracing unconventional and creative ideas, businesses can engage their audiences in ways that go beyond traditional branding tactics.

For Kristina, branding isn’t just about slapping a logo on a business; it’s about finding what truly makes a business unique. Through her work, she pulls out the stories, values, and experiences that differentiate a business from its competitors. Her background in nonprofit event branding has influenced this approach, where she learned that branding should be experiential—about creating an environment or feeling that customers associate with the brand.

The Creative Direction Process: Diving Deep into a Brand’s Core

When working with clients, Kristina employs a thorough creative direction phase that can span four weeks. This process is designed to dive deep into all aspects of a business, from its history and customer base to its industry landscape. It begins with a kickoff call, where Kristina asks detailed questions about the business’s backstory, its goals, and its audience. She also collects testimonials from customers, surveys potential clients, and studies industry trends to ensure that the brand can stand out in a saturated market.

Kristina emphasizes the importance of understanding what makes a business special, paying close attention to elements that may already be resonating with customers but have yet to be fully embraced. By studying the business and its competitors, she can identify the “hidden gems” that should be highlighted in the branding, ensuring it speaks to both the business’s core values and its target audience.

The creative process is not about rushing to finish the project quickly. As she explains, it’s about giving ideas time to “marinate”—to allow space for reflection and exploration. By doing so, she can come up with ideas that are not just timely but impactful, ensuring that every decision made during the branding process has depth and meaning.

Branding for Realtors and Short-Term Rental Owners

Kristina’s creative approach to branding can be applied to specific industries like real estate and short-term rentals. In the real estate industry, she stresses the importance of building a personal brand that goes beyond the typical professional image. In a saturated market, realtors need to find what makes them different, and Kristina suggests that they focus on the experiences they provide to their clients. This could mean leaning into testimonials or surveying past clients to find what makes the real estate experience unique.

Kristina’s advice extends to short-term rental owners, where the branding challenge is a bit different. Unlike realtors, short-term rental owners typically don’t focus on a personal brand, but rather the brand of the property itself. Kristina suggests that these owners can still create a unique experience for potential guests by highlighting the special features of their property and the location. For example, if a short-term rental is located in a city known for its arts scene, like San Antonio, a rental’s branding could emphasize its connection to local culture and artistic flair. The focus is on showcasing what makes the experience of staying in that rental special—be it through design, personalized touches, or an unforgettable guest experience.

Creating a Memorable Experience for Guests

Kristina draws attention to how small details, even those that seem unrelated to branding, can play a role in creating a memorable brand experience. For example, she shares how a corkboard in her own workspace has become a defining feature of her brand, reminding her audience of her attention to detail and creativity. In the context of short-term rentals, elements such as the décor, style, and atmosphere of the space can influence how guests feel and the memories they take away from their stay. By focusing on creating a distinctive environment, short-term rental owners can build a brand that people will remember and want to share.

Kristina also highlights the growing trend of short-term rental owners using social media to build their brands outside of platforms like Airbnb. By sharing personal stories, showcasing the unique features of their properties, and connecting with their audience on a deeper level, rental owners can develop a loyal following. One example Kristina mentions is Xanthe Appleyard’s brand, Let’s Layover, a rental in Mexico that utilizes Instagram to build a brand around a laid-back, tropical experience. This approach helps create a strong sense of place and personality, encouraging guests to connect with the brand before booking.

Creative Inspiration in Everyday Life

Kristina’s approach to creativity extends beyond the digital tools often used by designers. She emphasizes the importance of seeking inspiration from the world around you—things like the coffee shops you visit, the art you admire, and even the clothes in your closet. For Kristina, everyday life is filled with creative cues waiting to be discovered. She actively avoids starting her creative process with digital platforms like Pinterest or Instagram. Instead, she encourages business owners and creatives to look inward and outward at their immediate surroundings to spark new ideas.

By immersing herself in her environment, she taps into a broader pool of inspiration. For instance, she talks about how her trips to local coffee shops, her love for thrifting, and even the colors she gravitates toward in her own wardrobe all inform her branding work. This approach fosters a deeper connection to the projects she works on, allowing her to create something truly reflective of her own experiences and tastes.

While Kristina doesn’t dismiss digital platforms like Pinterest, she recommends that they be used in the second phase of inspiration gathering. After observing and reflecting on the world around you, Pinterest can be a helpful tool to visualize and refine the ideas that have been sparked by those real-world experiences. This holistic method ensures that branding remains authentic and meaningful, rather than simply following trends or replicating what’s already been done.

The Importance of Brand Consistency

A key concept that Kristina discusses is the importance of brand consistency. She references the well-known statistic that potential customers need to encounter a brand multiple times before making a purchase. But she takes it a step further: What happens if those seven encounters aren’t consistent enough for the customer to recognize the brand each time? In that case, the work put into marketing and promotion can be wasted because the customer doesn’t connect the dots.

Brand consistency is critical for success. In fact, having a cohesive brand across all touchpoints can increase sales by 33%. This is a game-changer for any entrepreneur, and she stresses the need to ensure that customers can recognize and trust your brand consistently. To help entrepreneurs achieve this consistency, Kristina offers tools like a Brand Strategy Framework mini course. This resource walks business owners through the fundamentals of a strong brand and helps them audit their current branding to identify areas that need improvement.

Empowering DIY Entrepreneurs with Branding Education

Kristina’s passion for empowering others extends to her creation of Brand Ed, a course designed for those who want to manage their own branding without the hefty price tag of custom design services. The course targets entrepreneurs who aren’t ready to invest in a full custom branding experience but want to improve their DIY efforts. Through Brand Ed, she provides a framework for business owners to create their own brands strategically—much like a creative director would for a larger company.

What’s particularly intriguing about Kristina’s approach is that she’s found a thriving community of business owners who not only want to DIY their branding but actually enjoy the process. Many of the entrepreneurs who enroll in Brand Ed are creative individuals who want to learn the tools and techniques necessary to improve their branding skills. This highlights a shift in mindset: rather than outsourcing branding entirely, many are choosing to embrace the process themselves, finding satisfaction in building their brands from the ground up.

Helping Entrepreneurs Navigate the DIY vs. Custom Design Dilemma

Kristina acknowledges that there’s often a misconception in the creative industry that you must hire a designer to have a successful brand. Early in her career, Kristina marketed herself as the expert who could create the best branding for clients, positioning herself as a go-to resource for those who were “sick” of DIYing their brand. However, after experiencing the process of DIY marketing in her own business, she realized that many entrepreneurs could successfully manage their branding without professional help, especially with the right guidance.

The realization that DIY branding could be celebrated, rather than dismissed, was a turning point for Kristina. She had seen firsthand the benefits of learning how to manage her own marketing and how much satisfaction it brought. This understanding led her to create a course where she could provide entrepreneurs with the tools to become their own creative directors. She now believes that many entrepreneurs can thrive with DIY branding, as long as they have the right framework and support.

Her shift in perspective was driven by her belief in the potential of entrepreneurs to harness their own creativity. Just as marketing mentors have helped her navigate her own journey, she now sees herself as a mentor for those seeking to develop their own brand identities. With Brand Ed, Kristina aims to bridge the gap between custom and DIY, offering a solution for business owners who want to build their brand with intention and authenticity.

Through this approach, Kristina celebrates the creativity in all entrepreneurs and provides them with the skills needed to develop a brand that is both meaningful and strategic.

Nurturing Creativity: Anyone Can Be Creative

One of the most profound insights that Kristina offers is that creativity is not a trait limited to a select few—it’s something that can be developed and nurtured over time. Whether or not you consider yourself inherently creative, she firmly believes that everyone has the potential to improve their creative skills. Her emphasis on this idea underscores the importance of embracing the creative process, regardless of where you begin. By focusing on the evolution of your brand and creative endeavors, Kristina shows that it’s okay to constantly reimagine and evolve your brand identity, both internally and externally.

Creativity is an ongoing process, not something you either “have” or “don’t have.” She encourages entrepreneurs to embrace the journey of learning and growing in their creative expression. The goal is to improve, iterate, and feel confident in your ability to develop new ideas that reflect your unique personality and values.

Leveraging Personality for Brand Consistency

What’s particularly noteworthy about Kristina’s sub-branding approach is her ability to infuse her personality into every aspect of her branding. In the case of Brand Ed, Kristina’s “nerdiness” is no longer just a personal trait but becomes a core element of the brand identity. This authenticity helps make her offerings feel real and relatable to her audience. It also ensures that there’s a seamless connection between her overarching brand and its sub-brands.

Kristina’s success in creating a sub-brand around Brand Ed underscores the power of personal branding. By being true to herself and highlighting a key aspect of her personality, she adds a layer of depth to her brand that resonates with her target audience. This level of authenticity helps build trust with clients and students who are attracted to the personal touch Kristina brings to her work.

Final Thoughts on DIY Branding and Creative Empowerment

Kristina’s journey from a brand designer to an advocate for DIY branding has reshaped the way she views her role in the creative industry. What began as a focus on offering custom design services has evolved into a passion for empowering business owners to take control of their own branding journey. Through Brand Ed, she provides entrepreneurs with the tools, knowledge, and confidence to develop their own brand identities without needing to hire a designer—at least not right away.

This shift in perspective reflects Kristina’s deep belief in the creative potential of all entrepreneurs. By teaching others to become their own creative directors, she’s fostering a community of empowered business owners who can confidently navigate the world of branding. Through this process, she is not only shaping the future of DIY branding but also reinforcing the idea that creativity is a skill that can be learned, nurtured, and refined over time.

Ultimately, Kristina’s story is a testament to the importance of creativity, consistency, and authenticity in building a strong brand. Whether you’re managing your own DIY branding or working with a designer, the key to success lies in staying true to your unique vision and evolving your brand as you grow.