As a creative entrepreneur, I’m in A LOT of Facebook groups. And day after day, week after week, I see so many other entrepreneurs ask the groups to provide feedback on their logo. Not realizing the difference between building a brand versus creating a logo.
They poll the group to see if the other entrepreneurs can identify what they offer, just from a logo alone.
And then other business owners jump in, trying to be helpful, but don’t consider all of the elements that go into building a brand. Instead, they just focus on the fonts, colors, and name of the business. I don’t want this to sound harsh, but, we need to be super clear here:
Your logo is not your brand.
Plain and simple.
However, a business that has a strong brand presence, can create an association with their brand from just a logo. This happens because they focused on all the other, non-graphic items to build their brand.
And, if you haven’t realized it yet, those are two very different things.
If you’ve made that mistake, no worries, we can fix it, I promise! You just have to start focusing on the other elements that go into building a brand.
It’s easy! Just follow these 5 steps, the same ones I use with my branding strategy clients to help you build a brand that stands out.
5 Steps To Build A Brand
It may surprise you to know that we are not diving straight into the pretty fonts, and logos, instead we are going to take a step back and identifying the basics. This usually takes time and a lot of energy on your end. But, I promise my clients always thank me after they do these exercises because they’ve gained clarity in their business!
1 | Find Your Why
Why do you do what you do?
Your WHY is the heart and soul of your business. This piece right here should inform everything that you do. This will be the defining factor for your core values, business purpose, mission and vision.
I love Simon Sinek’s book Start with Why.
In his book he identifies a statement to help you identify your why:
To _________, so that ______________.
The first blank is your contribution, and the second is your impact.
For instance, my WHY statement looks like this:
To create change, so that I can help others, by leaving it better than I found it.
I take it a step further, by identifying how I want my contribution and impact to affect the customers I work with.
The reason why you do what you do, is your differentiator, use it to stand out. So, start with identifying your WHY statement.
2 | Define Your Ideal Client
Knowing who you are talking to is an extremely important part of your branding that most entrepreneurs are missing when they ask that seemingly harmless question: what do you think of my logo?
The problem with having other entrepreneurs provide feedback on your logo without any additional context and information is they are looking at it from their point of view. But, if that’s not how your customer thinks, you could be missing the mark.
Another important factor in identifying your ideal client is making sure that you show up where they are.
The debates between Facebook or Instagram or SnapChat or YouTube shouldn’t be a blanket decision or debate. You should be marketing on the platforms and channels that your target audience is already hanging out on.
If your audience consumes a lot of magazines, then advertise in a magazine, but if your audience spends their day scrolling Facebook spend your marketing time and effort on Facebook.
This varies from audience to audience, take your time to know and identify who you are talking to and then do your research to find out where they hang out. Market there.
3 | Creating Your Visual Identity
Okay, you know why you do what you do, and now you know who you are talking to. Let’s start putting together some of the graphical components to create a visual identity that speaks directly to those two items from above!
Your visual identity is often times the first thing that comes to mind when people think about a brand. But, by now, you know, that a brand is so much more than pretty fonts, logo, and your favorite color.
As I mentioned before, these elements are important as it is often times the first thing people notice, but it’s the sum of all of your branding that makes it memorable.
Creating a strong visual identity that can stand out from the competition and communicate your brand purpose and personality means we need to take a look at the fonts and colors we are using to convey our brand.
Colors play a huge role in the psychology of marketing and branding.
Some colors carry universal meanings, such as red for stop, passion, or love. Yellow for sunshine, bright, and happy.
Be diligent in the selection of your brand’s color, they will evoke certain emotions before a potential customer even reads or hears a word of your brand’s marketing message.
The same goes for fonts. A sans serif font (a font without extending features, called “serifs” at the end of a stroke on each letter) is perceived as more modern, whereas a serif font (fonts with the tick marks or extensions at the end of each stroke) is considered more traditional. Hand-lettered fonts can be viewed as fun and whimsical, and script fonts are typically more formal.
Each font and element of your brand plays a role in how your brand is perceived. Make sure your fonts and colors are telling the right story to attract your target audience.
4 | Your Brand Personality
In case you’re sitting here wondering what a brand personality is, it’s essentially how your brand interacts across all of your platforms. It’s the voice and tone your brand takes on when you bring it to life.
I find myself saying each component of branding is just as important as the next, but this is a big one! Your brand personality brings human characteristics to your brand, ultimately allowing your brand to make people feel a certain way.
And, if there’s one quote to remember regarding how we make someone feel, this one reigns supreme:
“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel”
– Maya Angelou
This is so true of your brand.
They’ll forget what you wrote on Instagram or what your website says, but they will remember how your words and actions made them feel. Your brand personality helps convey that feeling.
When working with my clients, we identify one of the 12 arch-type personalities that best embodies their brand values, purpose, mission, and vision, to help bring their brand personality to life.
5 | Identify Your Business Goals
Typically, I like to start with business goals, but for the purpose of this exercise, I wanted to make sure we started with the WHY. Business goals would be a close second, but I’m ending with them because at the end of the day your branding and marketing efforts need to align and support the business goals.
Take time to jot down your goals for this year, the next 3 to 5 years and 10 years. This usually takes time. Be thorough and intentional. Be as specific as possible and go through it again if you need to.
Those are the 5 steps I use to help my clients create a brand that is consistent, talks directly to their target audience, and ultimately stands out.
download the brand audit checklist
transform your business and create a consistent brand that clearly communicates what you do and who you do it for
Looking for something a little more personalized? I offer one-on-one branding strategy and clarity sessions, email me to chat and learn more!
xo,
Sianne
