Branding Your Business

How do you want customers to feel when they log on to your website, look down at your business card for the first time, or walk into your place of business?

When branding, you want gain more than a sale, you want to to bottle up a memorable experience. How many brands do you know that have fallen due to negative customer reviews? I know of a couple of them on a local franchise and major scale. How many CEO's have had to come forth and do PR crisis management and apologize for the behavior of their employees? Plenty.

Every brand has a culture. It is their voice that is spoken to the masses by perception. Branding is how the customer perceives you. This is carried out in the style of dress for employees, the way customers are greeted, down to simple things like clients receiving handwritten notes arriving in the mail unexpected.

Take the time to write down those things that you want to implement into your own brand. I was always tell my clients to create an inspiration board. You don't even have to get fancy. You can just jot down thoughts and ideas of what you want your brand to look and feel like. I also recommend some type of images, colors, and even fonts to reference. You can use swatches, textures, patterns, symbols; anything that catches your eye or inspires you in some way. This is your first step in styling your brand.

Your next step is to create a logo based off of these ideas and references. You should have one main logo and two variations that may go on something else. Think web and print. You may have logos for social media and favicons, then you may logos for apparel and other things.

Step three is to select your typography. What font will you use for your brand. What font best works with your brand culture and feel? This is a very important step in styling your brand. Be sure to incorporate your brand's culture and message into your logo.

Once your logo is complete, then you can start thinking about your color palette for your brand. Rule of thumb is to choose at least 3-5 colors. These colors will represent your brand in marketing and advertising. Whatever you do - do not choose or stick with colors that are primarily favorable to you. You want to choose colors that speak to the message and culture of your brand. There is a psychology to colors, and it comes into play with branding. Along with your logo, you are going to choose design elements, such as symbols that you may use repeatedly.

If you need assistance with your brand messaging and style, download my FREE Brilliant Brand Clarity Workbook to help you get started. I can also help you develop your brand and brand strategy.