Brand your business
Branding for your business is the process of creating a visual identity to represent your service, product, and company. The brand is vital; it is the face of your business and could be the difference between you and your competitor. Primarily, you need to understand your audience before you start your branding journey, the market and audience you want to engage with will influence every aspect of the brand for years to come. Market research is also recommended at this stage to get an idea of your typical customer, conducting a survey or focus group could provide you with some beneficial data.
Inspiration boards are a great way to combine and collect all your research, ideas, samples, text, materials, and images. Mood boards will help visually create structure; Along with inspiration boards, brainstorming descriptive words is also essential to the branding process. Words associated with the company, brand, product, or service can help create slogans, website copy, and text needed for any branding or marketing literature.
Your logo is your main selling point and it should be strong, balanced and distinctive. It should be appropriate for your business and use consistent color palettes at all times. Corporate colors should be based on a primary palette and be consistent across all marketing literature. This includes web design, stationery, print materials, promotional products, literature, and social media. Ideally, your brand agency should produce a ‘Brand Style Document’. This document will outline how to use all of the graphic elements involved, the do’s and don’ts, and if followed correctly, will ensure consistent branding and supportive marketing.
Professional photography can also sell your brand, tell a story, and highlight your unique selling points, plus the images can be used throughout your business. Photography is essential to create the right “mood” for your brand that will then connect with your target audience. This can include images of your products, services, scenarios in which your product is used, as well as your office and staff members, all of which contribute to the feel of your brand and company. Using these images will give your customers an idea of your company and give your brand personality. Images are an integral part of the brand, they can illustrate the product, create a mood or feeling, as well as convey a story. Images can also explain the values of the brand and the message it is trying to convey.
Your website and online presence must also display the perfect continuation of your brand and project the same level of professionalism. For example, your website is the online face of your business and if you’ve put in the time and effort to make your branding perfect, you need to make sure your logo, colors, and copy are flawless.
When selecting a branding agency, it is essential that they know your company, understand your industry and target audience, and most importantly, have branding and graphic design experience and also share the same vision as you. Having a talented agency will give you time to focus on other aspects of your business. For example here at Clip Creative we specialize in branding and graphic design.