The Ultimate Branding Guideline For Small Businesses
The Ultimate Branding Guideline For Small Businesses
Inexpensive yet effective strategies for small business owners.
“Your brand is the single most important investment you can make in your business”.
— Steve Forbes, editor in chief of Forbes Magazine
Your brand is one of, if not the most valuable asset of a business owner. It is what creates the perception of your customer, your prospects and your employees. It’s an asset that influences the behaviour of your customers, business partners and employees. Behaviour that can ultimately make or break your business.
Think about some of the well known brands: Apple, Nike, Amazon, Nike, Coca-Cola, McDonalds. Saying and thinking of these names can evoke images, emotions or even cravings.
There is a lot of discussion about how to create branding for bigger, more established brands but there isn’t so much information on how to create an authentic, story-driven brand on a budget for smaller businesses and solopreneurs.
In this comprehensive guide we cover the basics of branding and inexpensive yet effective tips, tricks and actions you can take to create an authentic brand for your business.
What is branding?
The Definition Of Branding
Brand identity sums up all the things which will make your product or service stand out and sets you apart from your competitors.Your unique brand identity is a collective term for your distinctive name, a logo, a trademark and a tagline. These are the characteristics that will make your customers remember your name and if you do things right, have an emotional reaction to it. If branding is done correctly, your clients and customers should also be able to recall it when the product or service category that you work in is mentioned: if you run a yoga business, your clients will remember you whenever yoga is mentioned.
Contrary to popular and wide-sprea belief, branding is so much more than just a logo you slap on your website together with a colour scheme that you find appealing. Your branding is the heart and soul of who you are as a company; it’s your values and your mission, it’s the way you treat your customers, it’s the look and feel of your visual assets, it’s the way you do business.
A strong brand is what transforms first-time buyers into lifetime clients or customers and turns a passive audience into fans. It’s what you need to stand out, make an impact and take your business to the next level.
The difference between brand, branding and brand identity
Your brand is the external perception of your business
Your branding is the act of creating a unique, distinctive brand; it’s the action of bringing a brand to life.
Your brand identity is all the visual elements that reflect your brand — your logo, your website, your stationery, your business card—they all contribute to convey the right image and message to your audience.
Why is it so important?
In a highly competitive world, solid and effective branding is necessary to break through the clutter, the noise and grab your ideal customer’s attention.
It allows you to:
Stand out from the crowd of competitors
Be recognisable - chances are that you’re not the only one to do what you do so differentiating yourself is pretty important
Create a consistent customer experience
Have a genuine bond and connection with your customers
Clearly and authentically communicate your mission, vision and values - your reason for getting into your line of work.
What are the elements of branding?
Brand Identity Foundation
Brand name
Brand Values
Brand Personality
Brand Voice
Brand Message
Visual Brand Identity
Logo
Brand Assets
Your Brand Guideline
Your online presence
Website
More on branding…
You And Your Brand - Why Your Branding Is Essential To Get Right
You Are Your Business - Defining Yourself As A Brand
So, I think it’s pretty clear at this point that branding needs to be the authentic manifestation of who and what you are as a business.
The first and crucial step in branding, before you can move forward with the more tactical steps in your branding strategy (like designing your logo), you need to take the time to get real clarity on who you are as a business.
Your business identity is made up of what your business says, what your values are, how you communicate your product, and what you want people to feel when they interact with it. Essentially, yourbrand identity is your business personality and a promise to your customers.
If you already have a clear idea of who you are as a brand, that’s great—but if you don’t, it’s time to do a little corporate soul-searching.
When you are building the solid foundation of your business, you need to get clear on why you do what you do, what difference will you make and how exactly that’ll happen. Your foundation should be a clear picture of how you’ll help those you seek to serve.
Start With Why
The Golden Circle framework was developed by leadership expert Simon Sinek is a great place to start to define your brand identity.
The Golden Circle theory explains how businesses can truly connect with their customers, their internal teams if they focus on their story, their reason why they got into business.
Their motivation, their story is “their why”
These are the questions that help you identify your “why”:
Firstly you need to define who you are as a business. Who are you as a company? What are you trying to achieve? If you’re unclear on who you are as a business your branding will feel scattered and confusing and it’ll be most likely ineffective
Write out your values. Your values will not only drive your business strategy, it will also help you connect with your customers. Why did you get into business? What do you stand for? Your why shapes your story and who you are as a business.
Create your brand mission statement. Your mission statement is how you communicate your “why” behind your business. If you’re unclear on what your mission is, try using this template: “My business exists to ______. In the future, we plan to _____.”
Understand your point of difference. What makes you different from the other brands out there? Why should your customers choose you and not your competitors?
Get clear on your ideal customer. You want to make sure you build a brand that appeals to your target audience - but it’s impossible to do that if you don’t know who those people are. Create an ideal customer profile (Hubspot’s got an amazing persona creating tool available here) and use it to drive your branding process.
I’ve created a detailed template to help you clarify your brand identity, you can download it from here.
Your Brand Identity - The Visual Representation Of Who You Are
Once you’ve defined who you are, who your customers are, what makes you special, and what’s working in your industry, it’s time to create your visual brand identity. Contrary to popular belief, doing this is as important for branding a small business as it is for larger corporations if not more important as for a smaller business it’s much harder to stand out.
Here are a few things you’ll need to create the look and feel of your brand:
A brand style guide
Brand assets
Website
Brand Style Guide
Before you start designing, it’s important to figure out the details of your design strategy, like your brand color palette, fonts, and design do’s and don'ts. A brand style guide is a great way to organise your design details and make sure you, your designer, and anyone else working on your brand is on the same page with your brand’s direction.
Your style guide should include the following elements:
Brand Colour Palette
Logo and mascot
Typography
Icons & Patterns
Brand Voice
Brand Colour Palette
Your brand’s colour palette is one of the most important things to get right. Colour is a powerful thing—and if you choose your brand palette based on preference alone (“I like purple, so let’s have a purple logo!”), you’re missing out on a huge opportunity.
People have strong associations with colour and certain colours bring out very powerful emotions. Emotions are very powerful and (whether we like it or not) drive our decision making. As a brand, you should drive to create a strong emotional bond with your customers. Your story is a very important asset in creating this emotional connection but the problem is; you can’t really tell a company’s story upfront and this is where your branding colours provide a shortcut straight to your clients’ hearts.
If you are aware of the psychological effects of colours, you can use it strategically to inspire specific thoughts, emotions and reactions with your audience.
According to colour psychology, the base colours have a the following meaning:
Red is for passion, danger and energy
Green is for harmony, nature, growth, wealth and stability
Yellow is for happiness, careferreness, hope and spontaneity
Blue is for calm, trust, knowledge and intelligence
Purple is for mystery, spirituality and luxury
Pink is for playfulness, femininity and romance
Brown is for warmth, honesty and wholesomeness
Black is for power, elegance sophistication
White is for simplicity and minimalism
Gray is for professionalism, formality, tradition and conventionality
Multicolor: Rainbow colours are for fun, diversity and optimism
Gold, silver, bronze and other metallics are for success, wealth and prosperity
A famous colour theorist, Faber Birren, wrote about the link between colors and our emotional state, particularly in his book Color Psychology and Color Theory. The way the words “love” and “pavement” elicit different emotions, colors like yellow and green both create different human responses as well. Even more interesting, the same colours tend to provoke similar responses in different people around the world. To put it simply, yellow more or less evokes similar feelings in people from London to Kathmandu. This extends even to shades of individual colours, so deep dark green and light grass green have also different effects.
Now that you have a good idea on what each colour means, do you want to know how to choose the perfect colours for your business?
Your Logo
Your logo is the face of your company; it’s the first thing most people will see when they encounter your brand. it is the single visual asset that will be most closely tied with your business. Your logo should be the first piece of brand collateral you should design (or get designed) as it will act as the jumping off point for all of your other visuals such as your website and your business cards and stationery.
Consumer attention spans are short these days: according to research, companies have about 2 seconds to convince potential customers that their products are worth any consideration. What can grab someone’s attention that quickly?
The answer: your logo.
The harsh truth is, you only get one first impression. You have one chance to get this right.
A logo is your business’ first introduction to potential customers. If designed well, it can grab public interest and invite them to learn more about your business. If not designed well, your best case scenario is that you didn’t grab your audience’s attention, and as a worst case scenario you’ve just alienated a potential customer base and basically tanked your business. Yes, that’s right, a bad logo can put people off doing business with you. It’s kind of a big deal. And, while it’s true that logo design is only a part of a company’s brand, it serves as the foundation for the entire visual narrative on which the brand is built.
Colours, tone of voice, fonts – all of this is determined by the story you’re trying to tell, and your logo sets the stage for this story.
These other elements help to translate from your logo onto all of your branding materials – stationery, business cards, landing pages, packaging – creating a tangible, real and marketable brand identity.
A well-designed corporate logo can communicate everything from the company’s background to their mission through the right icon or typography.
Typography
Typography is so much more than just choosing beautiful fonts: it’s a crucial element of your branding. Typography represents the tone and values of your brand just like colour represents a feeling or visually represents a message for your customers.
How typography can enhance your branding:
It builds brand recognition: Not only will good typography enhance your brand’s personality but your clients will begin to associate the typeface featured on your website and collateral with your brand. Unique, consistent typography will help you establish a strong user following and build trust with your audience.
It influences decision making: Typography has a profound effect on the way that users digest and perceive the information conveyed by the text. Eye-catching font is much more persuasive than weak typography that doesn't reinforce the message of the text.
Typography grabs and holds the attention of the readers: Good typography could be the difference between someone reading your collateral or staying on your website for longer. It’s important that your collateral and website is visually stimulating and memorable, and typography plays a huge role in this process.
How do you choose the right typeface for your business?
Even before a customer reads the message in your marketing, the font is already communicating something to them. Each font delivers a different message and has different strengths and weaknesses.
Key font types and what they represent:
Serif fonts: classy, literary, timeless, high-end
Sans Serif: strength, clarity, modern, clean
Slab Serif: old-school, geeky, nostalgic, charming
Script: gentle and feminine, used for decorative purposes not for longer text
Handwritten: very informal, mainly used for attention-grabbing headlines or titles
Decorative: usually used for novelty purposes, not massively suitable for branding
Think about how you want your audience to feel when they encounter your brand. Do you want to emulate a friendly atmosphere? Do you want the site to feel high-end, warm, welcoming, playful, or serious? It’s crucial that the typography reflects your brand personality. A good starting point when faced with this challenge is to define the core traits of your brand, and start to gather fonts that reflect that. From there, you can begin to notice a trend.
If you’re not sure where to start, do a bit of research. Get inspired by taking some time to see what other people are doing. Research #typography #fontinspiration on Instagram and Pinterest to see the latest trends.
Brand Voice
Your business voice is not a tangible material like a logo, however it is still a very iimportant part of your brand identity. Your brand voice is the tone of voice in which you communicate across all marketing channels, from social media to emails and business presentations. Is your business friendly and informal? It should sound like that wherever your customers come across it. Your brand voice speaks to your target audience and it can have any style, as long as it feels authentic to your brand values and business identity - be it authoritative, playful, informal, uplifting, fun or kind.
You should include a section on brand voice in your style guide and include sample text, keywords, as well as some dos and don’ts for your brand. You should also have an anti-keyword list of words that should not be used in any brand communication. This will help you create and maintain consistency across your brand.
Brand voice is the way you talk to your customers and is defined by your brand’s style of communication.
Just as you communicate in a specific way with your family, friends and colleagues, there’s also a way to communicate specifically with your customer base.
Brand Collateral
Brand Collateral is the collection of media and resources used to promote the brand and support the sales and marketing of a product or service. It’s the tangible evidence of the brand, designed congruent with the brands core values and personality.
There are digital and print brand assets:
Examples of Print Collateral
Stationery
Brochures
Promotional materials
Rollup Banners
Business Cards
Corporate giveaways (pens, stress balls, mints, keyrings etc)
Packaging
Examples of Digital Templates
Social Media templates: headers & post templates
E-Books, white papers digital content you offer to your clients
Online Brochures
Email content: email headers and design
Blog headers and imagery
Digital ads
Examples of Imagery
Stock images
Own photography
All these unique elements of the brand that make it more familiar and distinguished give the brand an edge and set it apart in the market and in the minds of the consumers, these elements are tied back to the brand working as its integral part, they are called as brand assets.
Print Collateral
All digital businesses need physical presence.
Whether this includes business cards, stationary, envelopes, notepads, pens or packaging, it's important to bring your business to life in a physical form. This gives you the opportunity to connect with prospective clients or collaborators in real life, away from the digital world.
As a business owner, you definitely need business cards and the design should match your logo, colour, typography and your other design assets.
Promotional materials are a big part of your printed brand collateral. They can include pens, hats, t-shirts and other branded apparel, notepads, mugs, direct mailers, flyers, brochures. The list of creative marketing collateral products iis endless. Promotional materials can have a big impact on calling people to action, establishing brand identity and getting people - your staff prospects and clients - excited about your business.
If you have physical products, your packing will play a very important part in your branding. Your packaging may be the first impression of your brand and it has the ability to create a bond with your audience that can turn into a sale. When creating your product packaging consider first impressions, where your product will be displayed and how you can stand out from the crowd. There is a whole art to visual merchandising which I won’t cover in this piece but you can find plenty of information here.
Business documents aren't often considered when creating brand collateral but they really should be. People tend to focus on the "fun" side of branding but your business documents which get sent to prospects and may win you the deal are kind of a big deal. Essentially, anything that your audience interacts with should be properly branded.
Consider your client processes, collaborators or general communication. What aspects are left unbranded? Possibly, your questionnaires, contracts or media kits? Take stock of everything you use from your software arsenal to documents and never forget about business documents like presentations, proposal documents, onboarding presentations - all the documents you use internally and externally.
Digital Content
If you've been running your business for a while, you understand the importance of social media marketing. But, you may not have been creating specified content that promotes your brands image, voice and message.
Utilise your brands colours, typography, patterns and icons to create a cohesive brand across all social media platforms. Don't forget to brand your bio photo!
I know this can be a mammoth task, especially if you manage multiple social media channels but it is so important to create a consistent brand across all marketing channels.
Images
Depending on your industry, your business may be more inclined to use a variety of images in its branding. Regardless, include a set of approved images (preferably original images) and themes that fit within your brand. Outlining appropriate niche areas helps guide future image selection, and you guessed it, consistency across your brand.
Sometimes in brand style guides, inspiration pages are helpful as they act as Pinterest-esque boards called moodboards (download my free templates from here!) which include images and graphics that reflect the brand’s visual identity. If this seems like a better fit for your business than defining themes, go for it!
Your Website
As a business owner, you need your own website, there is no question about it. And you don’t just need a website - you need a website that looks good, that’s easy to navigate, has all the right information and imagery, converts sales, generates leads and comes up on the first page of Google, preferably within the top 5 results.
Your website is like your company’s piece of digital real estate—and when people visit your website, the look and feel should be consistent with the rest of your branding. Your website is your 24/7 sales and marketing team, your virtual shop window - it must be perfect and it must be on brand. Your website is your greatest brand asset and the crown jewel of your business.
To read more about the key elements for a great business website, click here.
Creating an authentic, story-driven brand for your business
Branding may seem daunting at first—considering all of the planning, assets and personnel that go into cultivating an unforgettable brand—it is also empowering. Rather than letting others tell your story, you are speaking up with branding.
If you ever feel lost in the process, remember that support is always at hand. Once you have established your branding vision, get in touch with a professional designer help to bring your branding to life. If you need me, I’m here to help you craft your brand, build your website or support you in your marketing efforts.
Would you like to know how I can help you achieve the branding that truly reflects your values? Click here to see my branding services.
