What is Branding and Why do You need it?
So you have started a business or are in the process of starting your business and you are currently trying to navigate marketing and brand strategy. There are so many new vocabulary words being thrown at you that you’ve never heard but you are too afraid to ask what they mean.
Don’t worry. We all go through it! I have a degree in Graphic Design and I’m not even sure that once I had that degree I was totally clear on what brand strategy was. I knew how to design a brand but I don’t think I was fully clear on the bigger picture of what that meant. Luckily, I was able to get clear on the concept and now I specialize in brand design and strategy and I am here to share my knowledge so you can also be clear on how a strategic brand will serve your business.
Essentially, your brand is the all-encompassing personality and face of your business. It is your logo, colors, your personality, your story. It is anything that is relevant to reaching your ideal clients from capturing their attention to getting them to know like and trust you. Because at the end of the day, that know like and trust factor is the secret to selling.
So here are some things to remember when It comes to building, designing, and growing your brand.
Not Just a Logo
First and foremost it is important to recognize that your brand is not just your logo. It is creating an entire personality behind your business that speaks to your ideal audience. It is creating various gorgeous, cohesive design elements that help build brand awareness and tell your brand story. It is also the actual story behind the design. It is how you show up in your business.
Reach your ideal audience
One of the most important things to remember when building your brand is to make sure that it is speaking to your ideal client or your ideal audience. Get clear on who that is. What do they like? What will speak to them? What can they learn from you? How is your product or service useful to them?
Once you get clear on who your ideal audience is, you’ll be able to design and brand for them. A brand that they will know, like, and trust and they will want to buy from. That includes thinking of what design style and color will speak to them. It is also identifying what things about your personality and your likes and interests will resonate with them.
For instance, I do a lot of illustration work for vegan food brands, and although I am a designer, I love to cook. So when I cook a beautiful vegan dish I like to add that to my social media because I know that it is something that resonates with my audience on top of the valuable content I am constantly putting out about design. It resonates with people I already work with but may also strike up a conversation and make a connection with someone new. Making connections is important for the trust factor. People will only buy from you if they trust you.
Another great example is influencers. Influencers sell other businesses’ products and influencer marketing works because people that follow the influencer know, like, and trust that person and that is because of the brand that they’ve created.
Recognizable
This is where the design factor comes in. Creating a personality behind your brand but it is also important to have physical elements that make your brand recognizable. That may include colors, logos, icons, graphics, or anything that speaks to the story behind your brand and will become recognizable in your niche. Think of some of the most famous logos out there.
Apple is a great example. The apple icon is so simple but it has become recognizable worldwide. This is called brand awareness. By creating simple elements, such as an icon, for your brand and putting them out into the world, you are growing the awareness of your brand. Brand awareness is extremely important for spreading the word and drawing in your audience!
Cohesive Consistency
Brand awareness leads me right into the importance of brand cohesion. It is important for your brand to be cohesive so that each element looks like it was born from the other this ties into creating a brand that is recognizable.
If you are creating social media posts and you are just using whatever colors you feel like and whatever fonts you feel like, you are never going to create something that people will recognize as being your identity. It might be fun and look cool but having a cohesive, consistent brand is what is going to help you gain awareness with your ideal audience.
Additionally, don’t go rebranding all the time. If you go changing your design all the time again, you will not be able to build something that is recognizable.
Simplified
When it comes to being recognizable and cohesive it’s important to consider simplicity as well. This brings me back to the Apple icon. It is so simple but it is recognizable and cohesive with the rest of the Apple brand.
When creating brand element’s it is easy to get out of control with all these different elements because there are so many different possibilities! However having too many colors or different versions of logos, you will not be able to achieve a cohesive recognizable brand.
Here is a good rule of them -
1 Primary Logo
1-3 Secondary logos/ brand marks
1-3 Icons
3-6 colors in your color palette
Once you have these things established you will be able to create social media and marketing collateral that is cohesive and recognizable!
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If you liked the tips about growing and building your brand but aren’t sure about how to get started, I can help you out! Click below to learn more about what is included in my services and don’t hesitate to book a free call!
