Your business’s branding will enormously influence the way that it’s perceived by the public, and by your would-be customers. But what’s the right way to go about branding?
Getting to know your business
Only when you understand your business and what it really does can you refine your brand to the extent that it cuts through with your customers. You might start by brainstorming a few words and phrases that appeal to you, and which you believe summarise your business and what it does. You brand should ideally reflect your company’s mission statement, and expressed aims.
If you’re unsure of where to start, then you might try to figure out which particular niche your business fits into, before tweaking things until you arrive at something that resonates.
Once you have established you brand image, time to get to work
Your brand should be built around a core of key visual (and perhaps audio) ideas. Get a logo and colour scheme. Use colour theory for inspiration, but don’t feel bound by it.
Ideally, your logo should be something that you stick with for years to come. Indeed, it takes years for a good logo to successfully implant itself in the subconscious of your would-be audience. Consequently, it’s worth getting everything right from the start. Look at bringing in a professional graphic designer and paying for your logo.
If you have a particular idea in mind already, then you might get it working with the help of programs like Photopea, which will allow you to get your ideas down without spending anything.
You can kill two birds with one stone by reflecting your branding in your loyalty programs, automated chat boxes, and the account section of your website. Keep everything cohesive and consistent, and you’ll come across as a professional outfit.
Continuing your branding outside your website
This consistency shouldn’t just extend to your website, but to everything that your business does, and everywhere that it does it. Social media profiles should incorporate your taglines, logo and imagery. Any taglines should be repeated in profiles. You’ll need to get your message across succinctly, since social media relies on grabbing people’s attention. On the other hand, the same could be said of your branding in general.
Your branding should also find its way to real-world items, like vehicles and uniforms. Merchandise is an excellent way of ensuring that your message stays with your customers and staff, wherever they are. Keyrings are an affordable means of spreading a message – one study found that 81% of people keep free products for more than a year. Consequently, they tend to justify themselves, especially if they’re very cheap items that you can give away en masse.
