Why and Where Branding Matters
I wrote a LinkedIn post recently about why branding matters in the context of an online course. But of course, your visual identity matters to your business full stop. Your visual identity is what makes you memorable, it helps build your reputation and, crucially, helps you stand out from your competitors.
What is important to remember is that your brand is present at every touchpoint where your audience encounters you, online and off. It must, therefore be cohesive and consistent in your website, your social media, your stationary, your speeches, your webinars, your online courses, your advertising…the list goes on.
So what’s in a brand’s visual identity?
Your branding is made up of different elements.
Your visual identity represents your business when you are not there to represent it yourself. In other words, it is the visual representation of your business - usually communicated via logos, shapes, colours and even the choice of typography.
Your messaging is also a core element of your brand - your tagline, your authentic brand story (why you do what you do) and brand purpose are essential elements of your, well, your brand.
The third really important element is brand photography. I recommend to all my clients that they invest in a professional photo shoot for people shots and/or product shots. The cliche that a picture tells a thousand words rings true when you are trying to convey a tone. Conceptual photography can also help communicate your brand values. See my entrepreneur spotlights for photographers and copywriters who can help you with messaging and photography.
I design visual identities for my clients, including logos, colour palettes, typography and sometimes patterns that can be used on all touchpoints. Here’s a list of what those touchpoints might include:
Online & Digital
Website – the design and copy (wording) should reflect your brand and services
Social media – use your visual identity and brand messaging in your social media posts (create a series of templates that you can use and reuse) and ensure that your avatars, banner images and profiles are also on-brand
Digital products – online courses, downloadable worksheets, eBooks, slide decks
Digital advertising – your ads must also accurately reflect your brand to ensure consistency when they click through to your website or landing page
Stationery – business cards and headed notepaper, envelopes
Brochures, books, notebooks, stickers, exhibition stands…
Packaging - how can you brand your product packaging to represent your brand and delight your customers?
So how do you make it all work together? My recommendation is to work with a designer to make sure all your sales and marketing materials are beautifully on brand. Yes, there’s a lot you can do with tools such as Canva once you have your style bible (colours, fonts, logos) but a designer will not only save you time but will ensure that your designs avoid that DIY look!
How to get started with your branding
We usually begin with a strategy session where we go through a series of questions that help me get under the skin of your business, to understand your mission, your values, your products and services. We also get into the nitty gritty of who your profitable customers are - these are the people we want to attract with your brand identity. Sometimes you may not have utter clarity on some of these points, in which case I often recommend clients to do some positioning work with one of the brilliant brand strategists I know. This positioning piece is the foundation of your business and when it is well done, the client then has a super-clear design brief for me because he/she has clarity on all the essential elements of their business.
After the strategy session I get to work! I look at your competitors in your niche, I look for interesting nuggets in all the information you have given me in the strategy session which will inspire my design ideas. I usually come up with two, sometimes three ideas which I then present to you for your feedback. These ideas include colours and font suggestions but we firstly look at the logo design in black and white so as not to be distracted by the colours. We also look at patterns and textures which complement the overall design.
If you’d like to discuss getting a new brand design for your business, please book a Discovery Call to tell me more and see if we’re a good fit.
