Tips on how to create a consistent brand experience for your new business
Launching your business is an exciting time. With all of that positive energy and enthusiasm – and so many thing to think about – it’s understandable you don’t want to get bogged down making colour, font and layout choices for your branding.
Still, it’s important you build the right branding foundation for your business. Doing so early on will prevent a possibly expensive and time consuming rebrand down then line.
Here are some tips on how to create a consistent brand experience for your new business.
What does your business stand for?
Before you embark on your branding journey its advisable to take some time to figure out what message you want your business to convey. If you have already written a mission and vision statement you’re already off to a good start. With your business message in place, you can start thinking about color choices. Each color conveys a different message so it’s important you choose your brand colors accordingly. Too many owners of SMEs simply choose a color pallet they personally like when they first design their logo and other brand assets. If your color choice contradicts your message your branding won’t be received well by your target audience.
Set the right direction from the beginning
You want to build your branding with a solid foundation. Your starting point should be a professional and timeless logo. The design choices you make for your logo will influence your design direct for all other brand assets. Once you know which colors best represent your business it’s time to create a logo. You can hire us for a full branding project and logo design, or use a free do-it-yourself like the GraphicSprings Logo Maker. You can even start with the latter and run to us if you need to if you don’t find it’s working for you!
Whichever route you choose make sure you try different concepts and get some unbiased feedback before finalizing. Pro tip, try to avoid heavy use of effects or trendy design techniques. This goes back to having to rebrand a few years down the line because your logo looks dated.
Be consistent as you build out other brand assets
With your logo in place it’s time to build out your core brand assets like your website, social media pages, business cards, etc. As you do this remember consistency is key when it comes to creating a professional brand. The core color of your logo should be represented throughout your website. You may also use the secondary colors as accent pieces. This also applies for all of your social media accounts and other promotional material. Every piece of content you publish online or print should be branded in a consistent matter. Keep in mind that different platforms and printers have different file size and dimension criteria for your logo. If you don’t use the right file your logo will look blurry. This is the first sign of an amateur job so make sure you get it right.
Be consistent in the use of fonts, images and icons
In addition to disciplined use of color and logo there are other ways to build design consistency. Give your font choice some thought. Similar to colors different fonts convey different messages. Once you find a font or font pair use it consistently for all of your content, whether that’s a social media post or pitch deck. You can future strengthen visual consistency through the use of images and icons. Instead of using random photos in your promotional material find a set of professionally shot images. Using a whole set has the advantage that these images will have a similar feel and tone. You can use a free site like FreePhotos to find professional images that you may use for personal as well as commercial use. The same applies when it comes to using icons. The use of icons can elevate your design as long as you choose the right set and use it consistently. Use the design elements unique to your brand on social media content, marketing materials, and most importantly, product packaging. In many cases, the packaging is the customer’s first interaction with your product. Ideally, invest in custom packaging that’s consistent with your branding. This helps create a positive first impression, build a stronger brand image, and improve brand recognition.
Branding isn’t just visual
Don’t just create a visual brand experience. Messaging plays a big part in how your business is perceived by customers, partners and employees. Going back to your mission and vision statement, it’s important you know what your business stands for. Who’s your core demographic? Find and use a tone that resonates with your target audience. Once you land on a writing style that works use that exclusively across all of your communication channels from blog to email newsletter to presentations.
Closing thoughts
Many entrepreneurs still feel like branding has to be expensive and is something reserved for Fortune 500 companies and large companies. No matter your budget you can build a professional brand with a disciplined approach. Build it right from the bottom up and remember consistency is key. And, you can always ask us to check it and give you feedback if you like!