Holistic Visual Branding Basics for Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners.
As a small business owner or entrepreneur, you are driven to succeed in your business while facing many challenges along the way. You need to wear multiple hats and prioritize your spending as you are dealing with a limited budget.
This article will cover 5 practical branding steps needed to differentiate your company from the competition, position your business as a premium provider, and instill confidence in your customers.
1. BRAND ESSENCE
Think of your favorite brands. How do they make you feel? What do they represent for you? Do you have an emotional connection with them?
As Scott Montgomery, creative director of Bradley and Montgomery Advertising, puts it, “A brand is exactly two things: it is the promise that its offering makes to the people and the clothes it wears.”
Branding is about how your customers feel about the services you provide or the products you sell. This includes their overall experience with your company from first contact to viewing your visuals, using your product or service, and staying in touch.
You can influence how your target audience feels by carefully distilling the answers to some of the following questions and delivering on your brand promise every time a customer interacts with your company:
- What does your business represent?
- What are the essence, deep conviction and long-term goal of your company?
- How unique are you from your competition?
- What is your target audience?
2. COMMERCIAL NAME
Once you understand the essence of your company’s brand, it’s time to think of a name. The name should be meaningful, unique, memorable, and easy to pronounce.
There are several brainstorming techniques that you can use to find multiple words. Some can be metaphorical, based on the place of origin of the company, descriptive, others consisting of two words combined in one or entirely new sound combinations.
Then compare your ideas and see what name:
- Sounds louder
- It feels good
- Work internationally
- Has a strong emotional appeal
- Easy to read and pronounce.
Other important considerations also include the availability of the URL of the chosen word, as well as the availability of the trademark.
3. LOGO DESIGN
The logo is one of the most important steps in the visual identity of your company. It is the face of your company and the main visual icon that represents all the business essence that you have discovered. The visual execution of a logo design should not be taken lightly and should be based on all the information discovered about your brand, your competitors and the target audience.
Each industry has its own visual language, it is important that the designer you work with:
- Explore the existing competitive landscape to make sure your logo stands out
- Brainstorm and use free association as these are valuable techniques that help you come up with unique combinations.
- Draw multiple ideas to ensure your logo will go beyond common ideas
- Skillfully design / draw the final logos
The final selection of the logo should be based on how well the visual represents the essence of the brand. On a more practical note, you need to make sure that the logo works well in smaller sizes, as well as black and white for use in various applications.
4. CORPORATE STYLE
You did a great job discovering the unique personality of your business, came up with a wonderful name and gave you a face full of essence … Now you need to discover your aura, your style and your emotional / visual presence. This step is important as it serves as the basis for all the visual materials that it will be based on.
Images
It is important to consider the choice of images when creating a style. Have you seen photos of people with fake smiles that just don’t look genuine? Or maybe you’ve found clip art that just doesn’t communicate professionalism?
Your choice of visual language should be true to what your brand represents. You need to communicate your values and your true convictions.
I find that it is always better:
- Show real people with genuine emotions and a caring attitude.
- Choose royalty-free illustrations and photos carefully based on the professionalism and authenticity of the images.
Typography
Typography is another important component of the overall brand. Like brands, fonts have personalities – they can be serious, light-hearted, casual, and friendly. As with images, you need to be careful when selecting fonts – some (Comic Sans) just don’t convey professionalism and some (Arial) just lack personality.
Look through various source resources to buy:
- Unique fonts that highlight your brand and have a great personality.
- The fonts are inexpensive and worth every penny.
Color palette
The last consideration of corporate style is color. Colors not only influence us visually, they make us feel and behave differently. Various colors are used in healing settings to aid patient recovery or pain management. Colors are also known to induce appetite (orange), relax (green), or excite (orange-red).
- See which color combinations work best with the essence of your brand:
- Pick a couple of primary colors that would be used as primary identifiers for your brand
- Also choose some children for the background elements
- Select accent colors that can be used in limited quantities to highlight important elements
Once the overall style has been established, all findings should be entered into a Brand Guidelines document. It can be as basic or as elaborate as necessary.
The basics generally contain the corporate style elements mentioned above and aid in creating consistent, professional-looking visual materials.
5. VISUAL MATERIALS
Depending on your sales and marketing strategy, choose several places to communicate with clients.
You must consistently and creatively apply your established corporate style to:
- Social media pages (Linked-in, FB, Twitter)
- Website + online communications (depth of information and credibility)
- Stationery (company cars, letterheads and envelopes)
- Printed materials (brochures, brochures, advertisements)
- Presentations (PowerPoint)
- Commercial documents (invoicing, estimates and forms)
By following the 5 steps above, you will ensure that the true essence of your business shines through with success. You will have done a great job of uniting your minds, hearts and souls. You will have created a visual foundation for your business to differentiate your company from the competition, position your business as a premium provider, and instill confidence in your customers.
