Branding. Checklist. New / Small Business. Create A Beautiful Brand for your

Transcription

1 Branding Cecklist g Create A Beautiful Brand for your New / Small Business

2 Hello! I m Emma Seppard, owner of Big Bear Creative. We re a small design agency tat elps new and small businesses create beautiful brands, so, as you d expect we ave a brand in place wic is used across all our media communications, including tis guide. I ll be referring back to our brand ocassionally trougout tis guide to illustrate different brand elements and ow tey can be used. So, weter you re already an establised company, or are just starting up your own business, if you re reading tis guide I m guessing you re tinking about eiter creating, or refresing, your brand. Or maybe you re just wondering wat a brand is and wy you actually need one! Te aim of tis guide is to answer tese questions for you, as well as providing a cecklist to ensure you create a great brand for your own company. Wat is a Brand? g I m often asked Isn t a brand just a logo? Well wilst a logo is an integral part of any brand, tere s actually a lot more to it tan tat. Your brand is basically ow your customers and potential customers see your company. It can consist of many tings including company colours, fonts, imagery, and even te way in wic you communicate wit your customers. Having a well tougt-out brand in place will elp people to build familiarity and trust in your company. It makes you look professional, like you mean business, and like you re ere to stay. Apple is an example of a brand wic is used consistently across all communications. Alongside teir logo, tey also use supporting brand elements - specific fonts, colours, image styles and voice - to create te Apple brand wic is instantly recognisable to many people around te world.

3 Do I really Need a Brand? Brands aren t just for large companies like Apple. As a small company, aving branding wic is used consistently across your stationary, website, social media and oter marketing cannels, is a great way to build brand awareness and get customers and potential customers to recognise/ remember you. Say you give someone your business card at a networking event, and tey later see your advert pop up on teir Facebook news feed. If bot are branded in te same way, it will jog teir memory of meeting you wilst also reinforcing your brand and company name in teir minds. Ten wen tey later come to need a service you provide, tey are more likely to notice you over a competitor wo as a weaker, less consistent brand were everyting looks sligtly different. In 2015 tere were over 5 million small businesses in te UK, wic makes it vitally important to stand out from te crowd. After all, it doesn t matter ow great your products or services are, if people don t know you exist tey can t, and won t, buy tem. A consistent and well tougt out brand can make you stand out aead of your competitors. Wilst big companies, like Apple, usually ave pretty extensive brand guideline documents wic detail exactly ow eac element of te brand sould be used in different situations, tis level of detail isn t usually required for small companies. Instead if you put in place te tings on te cecklist below, it will set you on te pat to creating a great brand for your company. How we use our branding for Big Bear Creative

4 Branding Cecklist: Brand definition Before you start work on your new branding, it s important to take some time to tink about wat your company is all about. Tis will elp you decide wo to target your brand at, as well as pointing you in te rigt direction wen you come to decide on te different elements tat will make up your brand. Write down your answers to tese questions: 1. Wat service / product do you offer? 2. Wat problem does your company solve for your customers? For example, a nursery provides care for teir client s cildren so tat tey can go to work. Witout cildcare being available, te parent migt not be able to go to work and earn a living. 3. Wo is your ideal customer (target audience)? 4. How does your service / product make your customers feel? For example, is it a fun, ligt-earted product, or a service tat solves a serious problem for tem? 5. Wat are your company values? Writing a list of wat is important to you as a company, and referring back to it, to keep on te rigt track can elp you to acieve your business goals, and could also elp you come up wit a strapline, or your company voice. Examples could include customer service, creativity, caracter or simplicity. 6. Wat makes you different to your competitors? Do you offer better customer service, lower prices, or maybe you ve won awards in your field? 7. Wat particular colours, or imagery would best represent your company? Are any colours associated wit te industry you re in (i.e. green for a tree surgeon)? You could also keep in mind your answer to question 4 wen answering tis, as certain colours represent different feelings well. 8. Create a brand board It can also elp to collect examples of tings you like wic are relevant to your brand and use tem to make a brand board. You may see oter logos you like, or a font you tink will work well for your brand. Even different textures, patterns and images can be included. Tis will give you a really good starting point wen deciding wat type of imagery, fonts, colours, etc you want to use for your own brand.

5 Logo Wen you ear te word branding, te first ting tat springs to mind is probably your logo, and rigtly so! It s often wat your clients see before anyting else - wen you and tem a business card or at te top of your website s omepage for example. A logo is an integral part of your brand, and considering your answers to te questions on brand definition will elp make sure it appeals to your target audience and represents wat your company is all about. A great logo can build trust and elp to pull your brand togeter. Colour Palette A simple colour palette usually works best - I would suggest limiting your logo to 1-3 colours. You can eiter use te logo colours for supporting elements as well, or maybe add a couple of supporting colours if you tink tis is necessary. Strapline A strapline can be used to reinforce your offering / company values. Referring to your answers to te brand definition questions sould elp you come up wit someting relevant. Tis can be included as part of / alongside your logo if you wis. Supporting Fonts Using te same fonts across all media will elp to keep your brand consistent. As a bare minimum I d suggest specifying fonts for titling and body copy. Also tink about ow you will display your strapline as well as oter important information you will be using. At Big Bear Creative we use one main titling font, a second for subtitles and a tird for body copy. We use tese fonts consistently across all our communications - not just for our website and business stationary, but also for tings like contracts and invoices - tat way every time you send someting to your clients it is nicely branded and reinforces your brand furter in teir minds.

6 Imagery Wat kind of imagery do you want to use to represent your brand? Do you want images to be illustrations, or potograps? Is tere a particular style you want to use for your potograpy? Putting togeter some simple guidelines can elp in creating an effective brand, and will make sure tat te images used for your company work nicely togeter. Oter Supporting elements Tink about any oter elements tat may be appropriate for your business - If you plan on using lots of icons or infograpics for example, it s best to coose a style for tese and stick to it. You could also coose a particular pattern, background image or textures. Find Your Voice Once your brand is in place you need to find a voice for it. As wit te visual aspects of your brand, your voice sould be consistent across everyting you do. Weter you re writing website content, a blog, or posting on social media, it sould always sound as if it s spoken by te same person. Wen developing your voice, take into account te product/service you offer as well as your target audience, to make sure you write in an appropriate manner. Finally, Consistency is Key Wen you ave your brand in place it s really important to use it consistently across all your marketing cannels. All of your printed and digital communications sould look like tey came from te same source and ave te same voice. Don t forget, your brand is a great way to build recognition and trust wit potential customers so make sure you use it well.

7 Good luck wit creating your Beautiful new brand. if you find you need any elp or advice, please do get in contact Creating Beautiful brands for new & small businesses g y y / y