Everyone has a brand...
The question is, are you making the most of yours?
Is it being neglected? Or are you utilising it to its fullest potential?
In many ways, your brand is the heart and soul of your business. Your brand is everything customers and clients think, feel and remember about you; and their opinion of you is important! If they see you accurately and positively, it will fuel your success. However, if it is confusing or negative, it can signal the end of your plans. A brand is determined by a vast number of factors because it is influenced by every encounter they have with you, both directly and indirectly. Things which influences your brand includes:
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Memories
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Experiences
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Reviews
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News
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Reputation
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Expectations
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Behaviour
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Staff
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Ethics
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Language & Tone
Some brands seem to have an indestructible position in their industry, but this hasn't happened by accident, or just because their products are really good. They spend millions each year cultivating their brand identity. Starbucks sells a lifestyle with every coffee & frappuccino, giving drinks a social standing. Chanel embodies the promise of luxury and classic style - you feel timelessly chic when you wear or use their products. Apple has nailed their brand as the source of trends, ingenuity and creativity. Small business might not have the budget or teams like the global giants - but even on a small budget, you can still invest in your brand in many ways to increase your business' potential.
You cannot control your brand - but you can influence it.
This is crucial to building a good relationship with your customer - people choose products, services and involvement with organisations based on how it makes them feel. Think carefully and holistically about the experience you want to give your audience. You want to truthfully convey who you are, what you do, and how you can offer something of value to your clients & customers that goes beyond just selling a product or service. This will make sure your audience sees you the way you want them to, so they are draw to your business and inspired to stay loyal.
“Branding is the process of connecting good strategy with good creativity”
- Marty Neumeier
(Author and Branding & Design expert)
Developing Brand Identities & Brand Strategies.
I realise often when someone hears the words Brand Development and Brand Strategy, they can feel overwhelmed, confused or bored. But actually this is often a really rewarding and enlightening process that helps you in more ways than just your branding. To help my clients through this, I have created a Brand & Identity Discovery Booklet which we can discuss together. The first section looks at key factors such as your mission, your attributes and what your goals are, as well as market positioning and analysing your competition. After this we dive into understanding your audience - your customer's demographic & psychographic profile and their behavioural habits. Then we take the information and put forward a plan for your visual identity - the design elements.
Branding
How your audience
feels about you
Your identity is anchored into your branding strategy; who you are is determined by what you do, why you do it, and who you do it for. The strategy you develop to help determine how your brand is perceived is the guide which helps us to develop your Visual Identity.
Your visual identity includes all the visible, tangible elements of your branding, such as:
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Logos
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Colours
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Typefaces (fonts)
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Products
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Stationary
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Advertising
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Imagery
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Tone of voice
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Packaging
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Textures & Patterns
Identity is about how you express yourself. This is why having consistent and cohesive branding is so important. Your audience will carefully choose who they place their trust in. They choose businesses, organisations or individuals who can clearly & consistently communicate who they are and what they do across every touch point with their clients and customers. If you are confident in what you do and are able to communicate that, they will be confident about you too. It's even better if your brand values and mission is visible in your design & communications, resonating personally with them - that leads onto brand loyalty. Quality design interweaves your mission and values into your visual identity so your message reaches your audience to full effect, whilst creating a distinct identity to attract your customers and separate you from your competition.
“Branding demands commitment; commitment to continual re-invention; striking chords with people to stir their emotions; and commitment to imagination. It is easy to be cynical about such things, much harder to be successful. "
- Sir Richard Branson
(Business Magnate & Founder of Virgin Group)
VISUAL Identity
Making the most
of your brand
Investing in bespoke design for a brand identity can be the difference between a business that excels and a business that fails within a couple of years. Bespoke designs are able to capture the heart and soul of your business in a way that enchants your clients and customers. This is especially true when the process is approached strategically. For example, many small businesses have limited budgets, and do not need comprehensive packages with all the bells and whistles. A fully customisable bespoke design package will provide you with the design kit you need to succeed right now. As your business grows (and budget too) you can extend the design resources and tools available to help you flourish and keep momentum.
BESPOKE DESIGN
Investing the future & success
of your business.
Lets look a little more into the benefit for Bespoke Branding
Bespoke branding has significantly more benefits than buying pre-made logos or branding kits. Largely this is simply due to the nature of Brand Design - It should be entirely unique and suited to your exact needs and personality, designed as a packaged that fits you and you alone. These benefits mean that bespoke design:
Is Perfectly Tailored To You
Designing something from scratch for one specific person or business allows you to ensure you have the perfect fit - a logo which is entirely unique to you, designed with the heart and soul of your business in mind. There is complete creative freedom - no compromise on style, fonts or colours. Each and every design will consider your brand's mission, values and personality to ensure there is consistency across all visual expressions of your business. Your visual identity will be the face that greets every client and customer - you want it to represent your business in a way that engages and inspires them as much as it possible. Bespoke design keeps this at the forefront of creative planning.
Also worth remembering is the fact that bespoke design ensures all your design deliverables are supplied in the appropriate format with the necessary variations. So if you need to display a giant poster with your logo, your designer can make sure the logo won't be distorted or blurry. Or if you want to use it on light and dark backgrounds, you have the appropriate variations. Some of my clients have even asked for seasonal variations for their logos - Christmas versions are especially popular!
Give You A Competitive Edge
Every business' visual identity falls into one of 3 categories:
1 . Stands out for the Wrong Reasons: Your visual identity has no consistency, looks messy and hastily put together, and doesn't reflect who you are to your audience. It might be outdated, inappropriate or even confusing. People talk about you - but not how you want them to.
2 . You don't stand out at all: You blend into a sea of similar looking businesses - you might be following a design trend or style that everyone else in your industry has adopted. There is no reason why your clients or customers should pick you out of a line up because it seems there's nothing special or unique about you to differentiate you from your competition.
3 . Stands out for the Right Reasons: It's beautiful, unique, attractive and accurate - drawing in your audience and instilling desire in them to be a part of what you have to offer.
Bespoke Design allows you to fall into this last category. The process involves looking at your market competitors, understanding audience perception and integrating this information into designing a brand identity which makes you stand out because of the unique traits your business embodies.
Provides One-to-One Consultation
With bespoke design, you have another human being offering you their skills and expertise to help you along your brand identity journey. You can share you thoughts with them, express your needs and discuss the process. Many people find the conversation between client and designer to be an invaluable source of problems solving, providing input and perspective to brand development, which can often be a confusing and frustrating process when doing it alone for the first time.
Doesn't Have To Break the Budget
I recognise that start up costs for a lot of small businesses and individuals can be overwhelming - I've been there too! Which is why I try to balance making incredible designs & amazing branding available to new start-ups whilst ensuring my own business is viable and successful. I do this by taking time to understand your business and it's needs, discussing your plans and goals with you. We can work out a brand design plan which meets your immediate needs and fits within your budget - one which aims to get you to your next achievement by helping your business grow.
Gives You Full Ownership & Copyright
One of the big problems businesses run into when they buy pre-made logos and designs is that legally they do not own the logo, cannot protect it by trademarking and may even receive a cease and desist order as many pre-made designs are created using elements sold under the wrong licenses. This is also true when using apps & systems like Canva to make your own logo. Canva states in their terms and conditions non exclusive logos cannot be trademarked and must not contain any images or graphics from their library, paid or free.
Bespoke branding creates every aspect of your logo from scratch. Whilst it may be inspired by existing content that you have shared with your designer, it will be entirely unique to you and useable only by you! You have all the freedom to trademark and copyright your logo and visual identity so no one else can copy or steal it.
Hopefully you can understand why investing in great bespoke design for you business sets you up for success and provides you with a services that incorporates so much more than you may have originally expected.
I am always happy to chat or answer any questions you might have, so please feel free to get in touch if you'd like to know more.
Read about what Bespoke Design
meant for one of my clients and their business:
"Corette Cornelia Design helped us with designing our full business branding for The Biscuit Castle from scratch including the logo to website design, leaflets to tablecloths and so much more.
She helped us and worked with us throughout the whole process from the initial concepts to tying everything together. Taking an otherwise exceedingly difficult and overwhelming process and making it manageable and surprisingly enjoyable.
She was always available to answer our questions, to make tweaks here and there and to show us a range of design options so we could see what worked and what didn’t... Our business wouldn’t be what it is without her help."
