Your branding strategy is one of the most important aspects of your business—and it is so much more than a cool logo or fancy color scheme.
Your branding determines how you and your offerings will be seen and perceived in your marketplace. Branding is a direct reflection of you—your passion, your personality, and your promise in your product. It’s what allows you to create real connections with your audience, and it’s what makes your potential customers feel understood and valued.
A great brand leaves a lasting impression.
That doesn’t mean it’s not there. What it does mean is that your branding is so effortless and subtle, your potential client’s only focus is on knowing that they are in the exact right place. The brand silently guides them to you.
Awesome branding is critical to serious success for your business.
But how can you create an impactful—and effortless—brand right now?
By infusing the essence of YOU into all that you do.
Remember, your brand is a reflection of you! Allow your unique personality to permeate though each and every aspect of your business.
It’s important to be ultra-clear what it is you and your business are about. Potential customers experience your essence through your logo, color scheme, fonts, tone, voice, story, and copy. One way to discover your brand identity and ensure consistency is to create a Mood Board.
Pinterest is my all-time favorite tool for this. The social media platform is not just for teenagers and housewives…I am obsessed with it for client branding! I always work together with my clients to make a Pinterest Board before I build a new product sales page/website or support them in a new logo. It allows me to fully understand the essence of my client and their product, and then to incorporate this into their comprehensive branding strategy.
I recommend starting by ‘pinning’ things like color palettes, fonts, inspiring images, patterns, textures…anything that represents your offering, your ideal client, your results + benefits, and YOU. When these images are assembled together, they will help you to understand the mood and energy behind your brand. It will also create ease if you work with a graphic designer or website designer!
Once you have a comprehensive Mood Board, narrow down your inspirations to a focused STYLE GUIDE. A style guide includes your main color palette, your fonts, and your brand’s experience/energy. It is a guide for how your brand will be represented visually, and serves as the cornerstone of all your branding efforts. Your color palette will usually consist of one or two main colors and one accent color. It is important to know the HTML color codes (e.g. #RRGGBB) so you can stay consistent. Purchase the font(s) in your logo and use them throughout your website and online presence.
Use your newly established style guide as your compass for all branding decisions you make going forward!
Your Pinterest Mood board will help you begin to understand the energy and passion behind your brand. Now, let’s focus on what makes your brand uniquely YOU!
What sets you and your services/product apart? What are you currently leaving out of your brand?
Take one of my amazing clients, Puzzle Israel. Puzzle Israel is a young, vibrant, fun-loving, high-end tour operator in Israel—a place where tourism is rarely all those things combined. Two amazing chefs founded the company, so farm-to-table food is a special feature on all of their tours. But before we began working together, Puzzle Israel’s branding didn’t illustrate the delicious and healthy cuisine that they are so passionate about, and that is integrated so perfectly into their cultural immersions. We changed that, and now their kitchen encounters are an essential part of their brand from the start. We even added the word ‘EAT’ to their tagline and logo!
Don’t be afraid to showcase what it is that makes you stand out in the marketplace. This is what lets your prospective clients know they are in the right place and they want your unique services or solutions. Integrate these unique pieces into the visual representation of your company. Set the intention now to include the energy of your special qualities into your style guide.
Last month we discussed websites in-depth, so I won’t elaborate too much here. (You can go back and read my insider tips on optimizing your website for serious sales here.) However, I cannot stress one thing enough: we are not physical storefronts with brick and mortar. We are online business owners. Our websites are our real estate – our virtual ‘storefront’ that is open every hour of every day of every month.
Make your website count. Be unique. Be you. Integrate your clear, gorgeous branding throughout…CONSISTENTLY!
This is so important. You absolutely must be consistent. This is my advice in most areas of business, but I keep saying it so you don’t slip in any areas!
Don’t confuse your potential customers by portraying a brand that is all over the place. Too many fonts, colors, and messages will only distract. Instead, stay focused. Put the blinders on for the sake of sales. (Even variations of your logo will confuse potential customers.) Be a brand that is recognizable. Go back to your mood board and style guide to check that you are in alignment with your guiding compass.
This goes for every single one of your social media platforms, from Twitter to Google+ to YouTube. Show off your logo, utilize the same fonts & colors, and incorporate your brand’s energy into all that you do visually.
It’s the same from page to page of your website, and even from your online presence to print (brochures, downloads, business cards, invoices, etc). Customers will be more likely to start recognizing you when you’re the same brand across the board. People want to get to know you and buy from a brand that is rooted, strong and clear in its character and personality.
Infuse the essence of you into all that you do, and it will absolutely transform your brand and your business!
How do you use your branding strategy to make your customers feel understood and let them know they’ve come to the right place? Share your branding stories in the comments below!
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