Branding your business is a part of your marketing that is easy to overlook. But if you take the time to set it up properly it can be one of the most effective. The basic idea of branding is to give your brand a distinctive and consistent personality so that you are easily identifiable regardless of how you’re getting yourself out there, in print, in person and online.
Your branding should encompass everything from your business name to the colours you use, your logo, fonts, even the tone you use when you’re posting on social media.
Here are 6 steps you need to take to get your brand set in your mind, then share it with the world:
Decide your brand
You need to choose it’s colours, the tone you use to communicate, the impression you want to give. You need to develop a personality for your brand. If you’re a soloist, that’s not difficult – just use your own. If you’re not a soloist, choose 5-10 words that represent your ideal client. After all, they are the person you want your marketing to appeal to.
Document the brand personality in detail
Once you’ve decided on the personality, write it down! If you’re a more visual person, find an image of a person who matches the personality and add it to the list. In fact you could create a “brand collage” as well as writing it down. The more detail you have, the easier it will be to keep in mind.
Make a note of colours
Pick your colours. Not too many. I’d suggest two, with maybe another one or two “highlight” colours. Once you’ve chosen your colours, write them down somewhere convenient. For example: I have my colours, my preferred font & my ABN & Billing Details on a piece of paper stuck to the side of my computer so I never need to go looking for them. You’ll need to have your colours written down in a couple of different ways. Hex values for the web, RGB for documents and CMYK for printing. I use this colour converter because it does pretty much everything.
Pick a font or font style
You don’t necessarily need to choose a font, but with so many cool fonts available these days, why not? If you’re planning on using the font everywhere including the web and documents, make sure it’s freely available otherwise a lot of displays will default to their backups and if you rely too heavily on your font, they won’t get the effect you’re looking for. If you’re after some cool fonts for the web, check out Google Fonts.
Get a logo or image in various sizes
You need to have some sort of graphical representation of your business. A soloist can easily just use a professional picture but a company needs a logo. A good idea is to have a folder with copies of your logo and image in various sizes that you can quickly upload to social media sites, web sites and directory listings. Just a note, if you’re going to get a logo, it’s best to get it professionally designed. If you want to go for the cheaper options, take the time to create a detailed spec and make sure that you check thoroughly that your new logo doesn’t already belong to someone else.
Use it consistently
Use your colours, font, logo and images everywhere you can. Some examples of where you can use it are:
- Social media profiles, both for your business and you personally
- Any documents you produce (letters, tenders, proposals etc)
- Printed marketing materials
- Invoices and statements
- Your business card
- Emails
- Your website
- Online marketing (Facebook ads etc)
- Your vehicle/s
- Branded clothing that you, friends & family wear
- Signage
- Promotional materials (mouse pad, pens, stress balls etc)
- Business accessories (laptop bag, notepad, tablet cover etc)
- The personal style adopted by you and your staff
Once you’ve decided on the impression you want to give, and developed your branding to reinforce it you should start using it whenever you need to represent yourself and your business. That will help not only develop your brand persona for you and your staff, but you will become instantly recognisable and memorable to your target audience.