This course will teach you how to: - Create Great Head Shots & Profile Pics - Erase Stuff Out of Pics - Produce Professional-Looking Logos, Watermarks & Monograms - Make Your Best TpT Store Banner - Design Assets with Your Own Overlays - Create Social Media Covers and Posts / Ads

1. Step Up Your Brand Game:
The Essential Branding Toolkit
Teachers Pay Teachers Conference, July 2017
PicMonkey

2. 2
Build Your Brand Toolkit
This course will teach you how to:
1. Create Great Head Shots & Profile Pics
2. Erase Stuff Out of Pics
3. Produce Professional-Looking Logos, Watermarks & Monograms
4. Make Your Best TpT Store Banner
5. Design Assets with Your Own Overlays (aka Stickers or ClipArt)
6. Create Social Media Covers and Posts / Ads
Then we’ll touch on:
1. Asset Rights
2. URL builder for UTM codes
3. Testing

3. About PicMonkey

4. Web & mobile app for photo editing & design
Millions of monthly users from all over the world
Launched in March 2012
Based in Seattle, WA
~60 employees

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Why Brand Matters
● Your Teacher-Author Brand represents you and your product
● Differentiates you from other sellers
● Creates an expectation of a repeatable experience
● More likely to be featured when content and brand look
professional and cohesive
● More sales and more success

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General Best Practices
● Create a consistent, professional
look across all brand elements
● Make a moodboard, a collection of:
○ Colors
○ Font preferences (one header;
one body)
○ Sample imagery
○ Overlays / ClipArt

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More General Best Practices
● Know your audience
○ Adjust your aesthetic to be age, grade, and/or function appropriate
● Prioritize your messages with hierarchy of importance
● Less is more. White space is your friend!

10. Great Head Shots
+ Profile Pics

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Pro Tips
● TpT Profile Picture is 150x150 with circle overlay
● Don’t apply text or other elements to a headshot
● Use soft, natural light when taking the picture
● Don’t include other people in your Profile Pic unless they’re
part of your business
● Avoid selfies where you can see your arm extended
● Smile, but don’t go overboard as to appear laughing
● Avoid hats, glasses or other accessories
● Use touch up effects sparingly

14. How to Erase Stuff
Out of Pics

17. Logos, Watermarks
+ Monograms

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20. Create a Store Banner

22. Make Assets with Your
Own Overlays

27. Social Covers, Posts & Ads

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● Start with your objective in mind
● Carry consistent brand elements through
● Adjust messaging and imagery to the channel
● Use your target keywords in social post titles + content
● Less is more: keep it simple to make it clear
● Facebook’s 20% rule
● Square size for Facebook and Instagram
● Test
Best Practices with Social Posts

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Rights to Assets
Important things to know:
a. Visit Free Stock Photo sites* like Unsplash or Pexels
b. Look for “Creative Commons Zero,” (CCO) which means they are free to use for any
purpose, including commercial, with no attribution required
c. CC2.0 means it may be free to use commercially but require attribution
d. You’re on the hook to be sure that the subject of the image (people, logos, animated
characters, private property, etc.) is clear of rights infringement
e. Basically:
i. When in doubt, check the license
ii. When in more doubt, contact the photographer
iii. When in most doubt, don’t use the image—go for another one!
*https://www.picmonkey.com/blog/free-stock-photos

32. UTM Tracking &
Campaign Testing

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UTM Tracking & Campaign Testing
1. What is a UTM Code?
a. UTM = Urchin Tracking Module
b. Fancy term for tags (information) you add to a URL
2. What goes in it?
a. Common things to track:
i. Source (facebook, pinterest, etc)
ii. Medium (email, banner, etc)
iii. Campaign (Pi Day Product Cover)
iv. Campaign terms (important keywords)
v. Campaign content (green banner with car)
3. Why do I care?
a. So you know what’s performing better and where
b. Did my Facebook campaign have better results than
my Instagram one?
c. Did Image1 of my new curriculum do better on FB than
Image2?
d. Are more sales coming from Pinterest or Facebook?

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Test!
You Might Be Surprised
● Change the image
● Tweak the copy
● Try a different CTA

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Thank You...Questions?

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Appendix of Additional Resources
Build Your Brand in 7 Days
Create Your Best Profile Pic
TpT Url builder
How to Create UTM Codes (TpT)
Facebook’s Text Overlay Tool