Basic guide to branding

Our guide to setting up a brand, whether it be a new brand identity or a refresh of an existing one.
Published:
February 24, 2015

Whether you are setting up your business or re-branding, choosing the look and feel of your brand is an exciting time.

For whatever reason you have chosen the path of being a business owner; from offering a unique service to consumers, turning your passion into a business, or wanting to be your own boss. But so often there are many steps overlooked in the process of creating a strong brand identity that will ensure your business prospers.

You may believe this is something you can look at once you are more established, but the irony is, strong brands are so much more likely to become established, so follow these 5 steps today to a successful brand:

What do you do?

What is the primary objective of your business? Many small business owners make the mistake of trying to be great at too many things and unfortunately this can lead to being just ok at all of them. Identify your strongest area and work to this strength. Secondary and even tertiary objectives that compliment and support this initial objective can also play a key role in your success – but stay focused.

How would your ideal customer describe your business?

This can be a hard one to start off with especially in the beginning with maybe only family and friends supporting you, but try to step away from friendly words of support and think honestly. Think of key words and phrases such as:

  • Good value
  • Premium
  • Family run
  • Ethical
  • Luxury
  • Eco friendly
  • Cutting edge

Be clear about who you are

Once you have your top 5 descriptive words you can start to work on a business introduction and opening statement. Lots of small business overlook the importance of writing a mission statement and ethos, but this is imperative for remaining true to your values and the reason you became a business owner. These could simply be pinned up in the office or in the windscreen of the company van. Give it to all members of staff and make sure they understand the core values of what they do for you.

Colour palette

If you have a logo designed already by a professional designer they will have carefully considered your colour scheme and palette. We recommend you stock with these colours on all of your promotional and branding material from flyers and business cards, to websites and social media. Creating a strong colour theme for your brand (and sticking to it) is one of the simplest but most effective things you can do.

Corporate identity

You may it think this in the early days of your business but getting a design style in place will save you lots of time in the future. Consider three types of font or typefaces: Headline, subtitle and body text. By doing this now you are setting the standard on what all of you published materials will look like and this continuous style will strengthen your brand identity.

Creating a brand is the visualisation of all your dreams and ideas about being a business owner, stay focused and clear but have a little fun. Personality in brands is great but avoid clip art and caricatures or you may struggle to get customers to take you seriously!

If you’re looking for more advice, information or a quote you could read more on our branding and design services page, send us a message using our secure enquiry form.

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