The brand is so much more than a nebulous catch-all term for how you market. It is every part of the business’s representation, reputation, relationships with customers and more. It is the face of the business, and the core of all its marketing, support, and future business. It’s pretty important, so if you don’t have your brand fully established, now is the time to reconsider it.
The basics
Let’s start from the very top. Your logo, name, and mission statement. These are the pieces of information that should summarize your brand and be immediately recognizable as time goes on. Investing in a well-designed logo that cuts a relatively unique profile while being well-designed and evocative of the “essence” of your business is important. Businesses with long names that explain little about what they do can find it harder to attract the attention of the people on their market, too. Think about what you do, what market you serve, and what kind of mood you hope to evoke in your crowd. Do the basics of your brand identity match that?
The style
When looking at the website and any of your visual marketing material, you need to look at things in a little more detail, of course. The logo might play a part in it, but if you don’t establish a unified style of color schemes, visual elements, even formatting, it can make the brand look inconsistent. When a brand is inconsistent, your audience won’t know what to make of it. Check out this site and learn to establish a set of brand guidelines that can help you and your team remember the foundations of your visual style. Reference those guidelines everytime you need to design a new webpage or new visual ad.
The narrative
Visuals are only one part of a brand. Your story and how you tell it can have just as much, if not more, of an impact. A brand story represents not just the services you provide or your origin, but your relationship to your customers, the struggle they face and how what you provide helps with it. Visit this website to see how a marketing and content strategy can help you establish that story and create a voice that is both authoritative and believable. Think of your brand as a person in conversation with a person who represents your audience. What would they say to them to convince them to become a customer? What tone and language would they use to say it?
The follow-through
Your word is only as good as your deed and your brand is only as good as your business. If you make a brand promise, you better make sure you live up to it. Otherwise, failing to meet the expectations of your audience will generate a much more negative reception than if you hadn’t built those expectations in the first place.
Without a strong brand, your business doesn’t have the foundation to establish a story that customers to connect to and customers might have a tougher time forming a good judgement of you. Nail the brand, first, then focus on the other aspects of your marketing.
