Hi! Welcome, come on in & make yourself comfy…
Would you like to know a little about me?
Well, I’m Kirsty - proud founder of Brandcology, which is a boutique branding studio for service-based businesses. I help my clients get deep into who they’re right for and why, taking the pain and guesswork out of their marketing, which makes sense as I have a degree in Psychology, a 20+ year career in Sales & Marketing and of course my eye for photography & design!
Hence the name… Branding + psychology = BRANDCOLOGY!
The Brandcology values
Quality not quantity
I limit the number of clients I take on, ensuring that everyone receives the personalised service they deserve. Your brand & your business is important - you’re not a number in a queue.
Showcasing the real you
Your brand is a condensed version of who you are, distilling the real business ‘you’ that your clients love into brand visuals so you can attract more of the ones you want to work with!
Attention to detail
It’s often the little things that make a big difference, we’ll sift through it all to make sure that the messages you’re sending out are right for your business goals.
Purposeful beauty
Your imagery & website need to look great, naturally, but they need to do more than that to grow your business. Brandcology is where design meets psychology, sales & marketing to create the brand presence your business needs.
People before policies
We’re people and sometimes things need to be flexible, and that’s ok. Whether you need to extend a deadline or spread your payments via the subscription service, Brandcology is proud to prioritise you as a person, not its policies.
Good work takes time
You’ll always be given a date when your images will be ready (within 14 days) or your branding/website completed (within 8 weeks) that allows for the quality of work you expect from Brandcology. Truly customised websites can’t be created in a day!
If you’re a detail person who likes the low-down, let me tell you my (abridged!) story…
Like most of my clients, my business evolution has been more than a little unexpected, but now, looking back I can’t believe it wasn’t always the plan - isn’t that always the way when you find your niche?
I started my self-employed career 8 years ago as a newborn photographer, something I loved and was wildly passionate about. I mean, what’s not to like? Well, I guess getting wee’d and poo’d on wasn’t what you’d call glamorous, but oh my, the squish!
But we digress.
It’s only natural, with the benefit of hindsight that sooner or later personal branding photography would find me, and it did, around a year later.
I was instantly hooked. I was buzzing from the ability to help my clients show their clients why they were such a perfect fit. It was like my brain had emerged from hibernation - all that sales and marketing know-how, all the subliminal messaging learnt through my psychology degree and NLP training combined with my love of design and photography - I’d found the thing that I was meant to do.
This naturally extended by popular demand into websites and then brand design, so now I offer the ‘branding trinity’ - brand design, custom-designed branded Squarespace websites and of course, personal branding photography to bring it all together.
Anyone who knows me well will know that patience is not one of my (limited!) virtues, so the fact that I now geek out over a bit of custom-code and have been known to dance around the room when I’ve cracked something that’s been vexing me is somewhat unexpected. But hey, I don’t like to be too predictable!
When it comes down to it, I felt that I’d outgrown Kirsty Northover Photography and my “thing” (that elusive USP that we all need to be able to quantify!) was my ability to combine my branding expertise with my knowledge of human psychology and my experience of sales and marketing. My clients were naturally working with me to attract more of their dream clients, so they needed all areas of my expertise, not just the technical ones, so I bundled it all together and thus Brandcology was born.
Were you hoping I’d share something personal?
Ahh, go on then, here’s a few “Getting to know Kirsty” facts…
I’d rather be too hot than too cold.
I love super hot baths - it’s been alleged that lobsters can be cooked in less!
I’d rather be in loungewear than dressed up - yes, I like it to look and feel nice, but I always want to be able to move freely and feel relaxed.
I CANNOT walk in heels to save my life - not exaggerating!
I don’t have a “cool” bone in my body. I’m utterly random and I’m old enough to be OK with that.
I’m REALLY organised (just you wait until you see the processes!).
I’m really, really informal. Processes, timelines and deadlines are there for efficiency and maximising your results, outside of that, working with me (apparently) feels like hanging out with a friend.
My idea of idyllic relaxation is a deserted tropical beach with a good book with a steady stream of chilled water and (vegan) sushi for meals, but failing that, anywhere warm, dry and peaceful is good.
I used to love a good night out, but these days a hot bath and a good book are more appealing as early starts and late nights do not a happy Kirsty make!