Why do I need branding for my business?
First and foremost your branding needs to reflect your business, after all, it's the visual embodiment and representation of your company. Take into consideration the possible thoughts and feelings of your potential audience, what does your company look like to an outsider? Does this company look respectable or spammy? Is this a company that you would trust to make a purchase from? The answer that we aim for is always, yes! So, let's take a look at how we can achieve this.
Similar to judging a book by its cover, your audience often makes assumptions on the face value of your company based on branding alone; it’s often the first thing they’ll encounter when interacting with you. So, you want to ensure that this is a good first impression and one that reflects your brand but is also consistent throughout. As an example, a customer approaches your brand and sees attention to detail and quality showing through in your branding, this will help speak for the quality and attention to detail in your products and services, as well as your reputability as a business.
Physical branding
- Your logo - This is your brand identity in many ways in the visual (symbol or illustration) aspect of a brand. Think of the Nike ‘swoosh’ or Apple’s apple- those are two examples where the identity of the brand is connected with a symbol or visual aspect
- Your colours - colour helps with the psychology behind branding. Different colours invoke different emotions and feelings. For example, blue induces feelings of calm, red can signify excitement or urgency and green often represents tranquillity and health.
- Your fonts - Typography is an effective way to convey more than just the words involved in written communication. It showcases personality, you may find that your purpose is best met by using a font with a vibrant personality throughout your website or using an amalgamation of sans and serif typefaces.
Brand colours
If you are a high-end technology company your audience and offering will be very different to that of a small local flower shop, and so the branding will need to be different too. The visuals of your business need to match that of the product or service that you provide as well as the personality that you want to convey for your company.
For example, based on these two examples of font and colour pallet, which one do you think would work best for the high-end tech business and flower shop?
Here are some usful recorces to check out for exploring colour pallets:
Brand font and typography
Similar to the colour choices that you make for your business the font that you choose will also have a massive impact on the visual branding of your company. A super curly whirly font like Allura doesn't have the same feel to it as one like Bebas Neue.
But we have to remember that it isn't that one is a “nicer” font than the other, it is that they have different personalities and one might fit within your brand better.
A final note on fonts and typography, it must always be legible. There is no point in spending time finding a font that your audience is unable to read.
Here are some usful recorces to check out for fonts:
Be consistent
Now that you have brushed up your branding it's time to stick to it! That means keeping things consistent across platforms, both on and offline. There can be nuances for different channels and audiences of course, but that core branding should still be present across things like your website, email marketing, physical materials such as menus, uniforms, flyers and signage, social media and more!
A great way to make sure you and your team are all singing from the same hymn sheet is to create a set of brand guidelines, outlining the colours, fonts and ways in which your branding should be used across communication channels.
You want the branding that you have worked so hard on to be recognisable even without the company logo, see if you can recognise these!
Branding covers a lot of ground (we’ve not even touched on the intangible here!) and it can feel a bit overwhelming, especially if you're just starting out. Buy hey, no worries! Whether you're a fresh-faced startup or a seasoned business, we’ve got the know-how to help you reach your goals. Our creative team is more than happy to help and share some friendly advice and guidance on how to bring your business vision to life, whether that be creating a logo, looking for design for print, or instilling your branding into your social media.
So, let's make it happen! Get in touch at [email protected] or give us a ring 01748 821888 ☎