What a Brand ISN’T...

 

First of all, a brand is not a logo. The term logo is short for LOGOTYPE, that’s design speak for a trademark made from a custom lettered word.

Second up, a brand is not a corporate identity system. That's  for controlling the use of trademarks, colours and other elements which you will find on company publications, ads, letterheads, social media, signage etc etc.

 

So what the heck is a Brand, a product . . . oh and Branding?!

 

A Brand is a persons gut feeling about a product, or a service or a biz. It’s a GUT feeling, because let’s face it, a brand is defined by individuals, not companies.

A Brand is not what YOU say it is, it’s what THEY say it is.

ITS ALL ABOUT PERCEPTION 

There are no dull products, only dull brands.  Any brand backed by enough courage and imagination, can become a charismatic brand.

It’s the promise, the big idea, reputation, vision, mission, your values.

• Who are you?

 

• What do you do?

 

• Why does it matter?

 

Unless you have compelling answers to all three questions, meaning that customers find them totally irresistible, then you havn’t got a brand. 

 

Our brains are hardwired to notice what’s different.  Be bold, be you.

 

Branding is the process of connecting good strategy with good creativity!

 

The foundation of a brand is TRUST. Your customers will trust your brand when their expectations are consistently met or exceeded!

 

So in easy terms:  A product is what you sell, a brand is the perceived image of the product and branding is the strategy to create that image.

 

Get clear on these fundamentals before you even get to the pretty stuff!

 

 

Quick checklist...

 

These elements make up your brand, so don’t ignore them!

 

Your actions

Your product or service

Your customer journey

Tone and language

Logo

Visuals

Expectations

Your reputation

Your team

 

Questions to ask yourself:

 

What is your current brand strategy?

What is the desired customer journey?

What are you communicating? TONE! What tone has been set and what language are you using to communicate with your soul mate clients?

What do you want them to experience and how do you want them to feel?

How are you and your business showing up to the world, and is it consistent with your branding?

What is successful?

What is failing?

Who is your current audience? Who do you want them to be? (Remember you may not necessarily be attracting your soul mate clients at the moment).

Who is your perfect audience in 5 years time?

 

How to embark on visuals
i.e. lets start with the logo

 

What is the logic behind your logo design?

Will it grow with you?

Does it hold authority and can it help attract your soul mate client?

Has it been created with all of what we’ve talked about previously in mind?   Is it professional, relevant and unique?

 

Dos and Dont's:

 

Don’t:

Randomly buy a template design 1st off, this really should be the last thing you do once you’ve gotten clear on all of the above.

Don’t waste precious time on the free web tools, trying to hash up your own logo. Your business needs your valuable time elsewhere!

Design a logo based on personal sentiments, or you will end up with a logo without logic.  Remember it’s not about you! It’s about your soul mate client.

Do:

Present your values and step into your truth.

Be brave! There are no rules on how you SHOULD appear, no matter what the robots who design these templates tell you!

Work on yourself; unleash your zone of genius, and how you can transmit this into your brand.

Stay away (where you can) from generic templates found on the web. These are created by automated robots, they can’t feel your emotion and don’t know you or your products!

Dig deep

Remember, just having a pretty logo will NOT sell your products or services.

 

Here’s a final little thought provoker...

 

You’ve got some electrical work that needs doing at your house, it’s a bit tricky. What do you do? You call a professional, someone who has qualifications, has worked in the industry for a good while, has trained and tweaked their skills over the years to give you the best service possible.  Trust.

 

It’s exactly the same with design. Yar, we can all waste time on these free apps on the web, buy a logo without logic cheap, get our neighbour to knock us up a quick website, ‘cause he does it as a hobby and wont charge you’. Good to go right?

 

But here’s the deal, the website works today, its not the best, but it “will do”, but then stuff goes wrong, he can’t fix it, he’s lost interest, your business has grown, it needs an online shop added, that’s out of his league.  Your logo you ‘high fived’ yourself about, because it only cost 20 quid? You’re now at an exhibition, the logo you designed isn’t high resolution, it looks rubbish blown up, the t-shirts you want printed? They need a certain file format, you have no actual idea what that is. The leaflet you knocked up? The printer wont accept it, it’s set up for RGB, screen resolution only.  The images you nicked from the web? They breach copyright laws and are also low resolution, it can’t go to print.

 

Now you are left with a real problem.  A complete redesign and complete rebrand, last minute. Costly, time consuming and you’ve missed deadlines and can’t do the things you want to do.  The website is broken, full of bugs, doesn’t work properly.  IS this the type of customer journey you intended for your soul mate clients?

 

NO

 

Branding and design specialists have trained, have attended endless courses, worked in the industry, know exactly the fundamentals you need in place, to get your business noticed.   They are skilled people (just like our friend the electrician). So here’s the thing, you wouldn’t attempt electrics in your house, so why would you put it upon yourself to attempt the most important thing in your business?

 

Investing in branding is essential

 

If you’re not standing out, stepping into your authority as the best person within your industry, you’ll fade away and ultimately won’t build relationships and make sales!

 

This investment will essentially hands down give you the biggest ROI long term.

 

If you do some serious work on all that’s been mentioned here, and more, we promise your brand will not end up as the same generic, automated sparkly fluff, we see so much of these days.

 

It’s up to you . . . Now go get ‘em!

 

If you need help with your brand development we are here for you, it's what we do!

 

You can check out our service page here.