Are you feeling overwhelmed at the thought of creating a brand for your business? You’re not alone. Branding can feel intimidating and overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. In this post, we’ll explore 5 simple steps to clearly define your brand and make it memorable. Ready? Let’s dive in…
1) Determine Your Mission, Vision, and Values
Before we even start considering the visual aspect of our brand, we have to gain clarity on our mission, vision, and values. Your mission is why your business exists and what you do. Your vision is your aspiration, what you hope to achieve in the future, and where you’re going. A great place to start in determining your mission and vision is to ask yourself questions like these:
- What do I care about?
- What’s important to me?
- What message do I want to put out?
- What am I passionate about?
- What do I hope to accomplish for others or the world with my services and/or products?
Maybe you’re passionate about making green and sustainable products. Maybe you care about helping people overcome mental roadblocks so they can move forward in their lives. Whatever it is, write it down. Then take it a step further and ask yourself:
Why is this important to me?
If you can understand not only what you’re passionate about and hoping to achieve but why, you will breathe life into your mission and vision. People want to understand the why behind what you do. This is what makes you relatable and encourages deeper connections with your business.
Values go hand in hand with your mission and vision. What do you stand for? What determines how you run your business? What’s important to you? Integrity and innovation? Transparency and strong work ethic? Gain clarity on what you stand for and what’s important to you – these values should be reflected in your mission and vision statements.
2) Define Your Target Audience
Who do you serve and why? Do you help women small business owners? Graduates fresh out of college? Families? Feel free to drill down even deeper and get more specific (i.e. age, location, lifestyle, etc.). Ask yourself – what sort of problems does your target audience have, and how do you and your product/service solve their pain points?
Getting clarity on your target audience will not only help you shape the service/product you offer, but also impact your messaging, approach, and where you market (both physically and in the online space). Where does your target audience usually spend time? This is where you want to put your marketing efforts and energy.
3) Determine Your Brand Voice
Brand voice might sound complicated, but think of it as establishing your brand’s personality through words and written tone. Just like people have different personalities, brands do too. A large part of creating that brand personality is in how you communicate.
Let’s say you’re trying to create a luxury brand. Your word choice (in written communication, social media posts and captions, printed materials, etc.) would likely be very different than if you were trying to create a brand that feels light-hearted and fun. For instance, you might use words like timeless, elegant, sophisticated, and refined rather than words like whimsical, fun, and bright.
Your messaging matters. Not only should it be consistent, but it should also be in harmony with your mission, vision, and values.
4) Create Your Visual Identity
We’ve now reached the aspect of branding that most people think of when they hear the word ‘Brand’. So, what goes into the visual identity of a brand? For the sake of the length of this article, here is a brief overview:
- Logo Suite: Usually a primary logo, secondary logo, submark, and favicon.
- Color Palette: 3–5 cohesive colors that represent your brand and convey a certain mood. Limit the number of colors, as too many can make a brand feel inconsistent.
- Typography: Complementary fonts for headings and body text, including font styles, sizing, and hierarchy.
- Imagery/Photography: Cohesive images and illustrations, that work together to create a unified vibe or feeling.
- Patterns, Shapes, and Icons: Any defining patterns, shapes, or icons that support your brand’s feeling and message.
Whatever you choose, make sure that it’s cohesive, speaks to your target audience, and that it conveys the values, message, and mood you want your brand to communicate.
5) Use Your Brand Consistently
Congratulations! We’ve reached the last step. Now that you have your mission, vision, and values, target audience, brand voice, and visual identity in place, you’re now ready to put your brand out into the world.
The key is to be consistent and apply it across all areas that your business touches. Think your business website, social media platforms, email, newsletter, brochures, business cards, etc. It does no good to create a beautiful and cohesive brand if it’s not consistently applied across all areas of your business.
One final tip – regularly review your business to make sure your branding is being applied consistently across all touchpoints. It can be easy, especially over time, for certain aspects of your brand to slip through the cracks and be forgotten. Be consistent.
That being said, don’t be afraid to allow your brand to evolve over time as your business changes. You might realize that an area of your brand isn’t working, or you might decide down the road that it’s time to do a complete brand refresh. That’s okay. Just make sure that whatever changes you make are consistently applied so your target audience will come to know and recognize your business. Consistent branding and brand recognition helps tremendously with establishing consumer/client trust.
Next Steps
While there’s a lot of pieces that go into creating a strong and memorable brand for your business, it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Start small and take it one step at a time. Choose one aspect of your brand to work on today and focus solely on that. Those small steps will add up over time and help create your own unique brand. And if you’d rather not go it alone, reach out anytime – I’m always here to help!
What next step will you take today in your branding journey?