Do you ever wonder why some brands seem to have a stronger connection with their customers than others? It's because they have created a brand. A brand is more than just a logo; it's the personality of an organization, product, or service. Your brand can be communicated through your website design, advertising campaigns, and social media posts. Branding isn't easy, but if you follow these 7 steps you will be well on your way to creating one for your business!
Identify Your Target Audience
The first step to creating a brand is identifying your target audience. You need to know who you are trying to reach in order for them to connect with the image that you want your business displayed as. Once you have identified your ideal customer, create personas for each of these groups so that they can be referred back throughout the branding process.
Create Your Brand Voice
Your brand voice is how your customers will understand the personality of your business. This includes everything from writing style to design and it can be expressed through many different channels such as social media or advertising campaigns. If you use a consistent tone, people will immediately know that they are communicating with your company when interacting with any form of media.
Choose a Style Guide
Every brand has a style guide that defines the look and feel of their brand as well as how it is used in different situations such as print or digital media. This must be completed before you begin designing your website, business cards, packaging for products sold online, etc. The beginning stages of creating your own company's style guide will be a little bit tedious because you have to create everything from scratch. However, the end result is definitely worth it!
Incorporate Your Brand Into Every Task
You need consistency in order for your brand image to translate correctly and make an impact on its audience. Everything that has anything at all to do with your company should be incorporating your brand into it in some way, shape or form. This includes the content on your website and social media platforms to the photos you select for posts.
Creating Your Brand Guidelines
Once you have established your target audience, determined how they will understand the personality of your business, selected a style guide that defines all aspects of design elements used, and created a brand voice, you are able to create your brand guidelines. These will include all of the information that needs to be included for every task that relates back to your company's branding.
Design Your Brand Identity (Logo & Colors)
It is important not only what colors you choose for your logo but also how they represent your business. Do you want a playful and fun brand? Then perhaps bright colors such as pink, purple or yellow would be best. However, if your company deals with more serious topics then it might make sense to use darker tones in order for the audience to engage with what you are saying.
Launch Your Brand Campaigns
Now that everything from the beginning is defined and ready to be put into action it's time to launch your branding campaigns. The first campaign you want to focus on will likely be a website redesign so that all elements of design can go hand-in-hand with one another. Your next step would be developing social media content as well as creating print materials such as business cards or business envelopes.
Should I Hire a Branding Services Company?
Branding is not an easy task. There are many components that go into creating a great brand. If you find that this is something you do not have the time or knowledge to accomplish on your own, hiring a branding services company can be extremely helpful. They will save you lots of time and money while still allowing them to create an amazing brand for your business!
