Branding is one of the most exciting parts of beginning a business journey. It can be fun, creative, colourful and fulfilling when you see the concepts come to life, and the brand and business begins to evolve.
It’s crucial to consider a number of elements before you develop branding so that you don’t waste precious time, resources and money. You want to ensure that your brand perfectly represents you and your business, and aligns with your target audience.
In this article, I’ll take you through my 5 step guide to branding your business, a foundational process in establishing your new business.
Branding is More Than a Logo
When many people think of branding they think of ‘logo’ but branding is so much more than that. It encapsulates the essence of your business – your values, your brand story, your personal brand, your business, how you want people to feel – essentially every touch point of the customer journey.
You want your audience to be able to identify and recall the brand name, the feeling it evokes, the vision and values it represents. Your brand should also clearly differentiate your business from competitors. When these elements are clearly defined your brand will be more recognisable and make brand awareness easier.
Intrinsic Marketing has created a free Branding Checklist which provides you with an outline of the fundamental elements when it comes to creating a brand – from the basics of developing your brand through to brand strategy. Click here to download the Branding Checklist today.
5 Step Guide to Branding Your Business
Branding for a new business is a critical strategic process that involves creating a unique identity and perception in the market to differentiate your business, build trust, and attract customers.
My recommendation is to seek professional support when it comes to developing your brand. A brand designer or brand specialist will ask you lots of questions or request that you provide a detailed brief which elaborates on your vision. To learn more about our Impact Branding Package, click here.
1. Target Audience
Identify and understand your target audience. I can’t stress enough how important it is to learn everything you can about your target audience. It is a key component to branding and the development of any marketing strategy, allowing you to tap into emotional connections.
When you can clearly articulate your audience, understand what they want and need, you can create detailed audience personas. This enables you to tailor your brand strategy to their needs, preferences and behaviors. If you are unsure how to define your audience read, How to Identify Your Target Audience and access my step-by-step guide to developing a customer persona.
2. Brand Identity
Define a clear brand identity that includes your business’s mission, values, personality traits, and a unique selling proposition (USP). This identity forms the foundation of your brand and what it represents to the world.
3. Visual Branding
Designing a memorable and versatile logo is a key component to creating a strong visual brand. The design will be used in a variety of formats, both in online and offline placements and extend to signage, marketing material, advertising and beyond. You should give consideration to:
- Style of logo: consider the style – contemporary, fun, professional, modern or quirky
- Symbol or icon: what do you want it to visually represent? Does it need to be symbolic or represent something specific?
- Design elements: these can complement the logo and offer creative elements to enhance branding, marketing communications, signage, etc
- Colour palette: there should be a primary palette for the logo and a secondary colour palette for additional colours that complement the aesthetic of your brand
- Typography: there are a variety of fonts to choose from including serif, sans serif, script and signature fonts
- Images: what images align with your brand? Is there a particular aesthetic you want to follow such as minimalist, colour representation, natural, staged, travel images and so on?
4. Brand Messaging
Develop a brand voice and tone that aligns with your identity. This could form part of a compelling tagline and key messages to communicate your value proposition effectively. When this is documented, it provides clarity for your employees and can be used throughout your marketing communications, social media and website for consistency.
Considerations may include whether you want your brand to be colourful and fun, professional and serious or somewhere in-between. Are there specific terms that you want to highlight or avoid that may impact your business? This comes back to understanding your target audience.
5. Style Guide
A style guide is essentially a rule book for your branding. This is a business asset that should be provided to any external contractors you work with including website developers, graphic designers, copywriters, clothing suppliers, printing companies and signage contractors. They can use the style guide to inform their decisions and designs they create for your business. The style guide will help any external contractors use the correct colours, typography, key messages, logo and visual elements consistently, so there is no room for error.
Similarly, the style guide can be provided to any employees as a reminder of the brand’s key elements to promote consistent representation at all touchpoints of the customer journey. It can even be as detailed as how employees should answer the phones.
The style guide should clearly define all the elements that relate to the brand and is something you should ask your designer to supply as part of the branding process. It should include:
- Business Overview
- Tagline
- Mission & Vision
- Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
- Key Messages
- Visual logo
- Design elements
- Colour palette
- Typography
- Images (style, tones, format)
Enhancing Brand Awareness
Once your branding has been established, you will want to incorporate brand placement at every touchpoint of the customer journey. The more your customer sees the branding, the more familiar it will become to them – this builds trust and credibility.
Placement of brand elements should be consistent in both online and offline placements, including:
- Website
- Social media
- Business Cards
- Letterhead
- Invoices
- Proposals
- Templates
- Presentations
- Policies & procedures
- Marketing material, brochures & fliers
- Signage, internal & external
- Email signatures
- Advertising
- Customer interactions, phone & face to face
- Uniforms
- Handouts and information packs
- Email marketing
- Marketing campaigns, online and offline
- Podcast visuals
- Promotional giveaways
- Posters
- Pull up banners
- Exhibition signage
Remember, having a strong brand identity helps build your business’s reputation, credibility, loyal customers and sets the foundation for business success. Your brand is an investment and becomes a valuable business asset over time. If you are seeking branding support, click here to book a 30 minute chat to discuss your branding needs.
