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When most people think of branding, their minds immediately jump to a logo or perhaps a catchy slogan. But effective branding is much deeper—it’s about crafting an identity that resonates on every level with your target audience. For those new to branding, it’s tempting to start with the visual elements, but this approach often leads to a disjointed brand that doesn’t truly reflect what your business stands for.
Building a strong brand is akin to constructing a house. A builder doesn’t start construction by looking at paint colors first – they start with a blueprint so that they can make sure that everyone who will be working on it understands what is being built and how everything works together.
Similarly, in branding your business, it will be most effective if you establish the underlying structure first. This structure includes defining your company culture, identifying your unique selling propositions (USPs), and telling your brand story. Only then should you move on to the more visual aspects, such as your logo.
Quick Tip: If you’re just getting started and all you can do is create a basic logo, that’s okay—start where you are. But for a brand that truly reflects your business’s essence, it’s crucial to next develop a comprehensive brand strategy. This will help you hone every aspect of your brand, ensuring that it resonates deeply with your target audience.
The first step in effective branding isn’t about creating a visual identity—it’s about understanding who you are as a business and how you want to be perceived by your customers.
Here’s what you should focus on before diving into design:
Company Culture: Consider the type of environment you want to create within your company. This isn’t just about how you interact with your team, but also how your business interacts with customers. Your culture is the heartbeat of your brand and influences everything from customer service to marketing.
Unique Selling Propositions (USPs): What makes your business different from the competition? Understanding this allows you to highlight those differences in your branding, giving customers a clear reason to choose you.
Brand Story: Every business has a story—what’s yours? Why did you start this business? What challenges did you overcome? Your story is what humanizes your brand and makes it relatable to your audience.
Industry Philosophy: What beliefs or principles guide your business? For instance, if you’re committed to sustainability or innovation, these should be central to your brand’s messaging in addition to being central to every decision that you make in your business.
Once these foundational elements are clear, the most effective thing you can do to your business is to write them down. You need to make sure that they aren’t just clear to you in your head, but written down in a way that they are clear to everyone you work with as well.
Once this process has been defined, you can begin to translate them into a visual identity. This process is much more effective when done in this order because it ensures that your logo and other visual elements are true reflections of your brand’s core values and mission.
Analogy: Think of your brand like building a house. You wouldn’t start construction without a blueprint. Your brand’s foundational elements are like those blueprints—guiding every decision that follows. The visual elements, like logos, colors, and typography, are the finishing touches, akin to choosing wall colors and decor.
Branding isn’t just about what your company stands for—it’s also about how you communicate that message both internally and externally. One of the most critical aspects of branding is ensuring that everyone in your organization is aligned with the brand message. This consistency is key to building a strong, cohesive brand.
Your brand is part of, and closely connects to, and reflects, your overall company culture.
Revisiting the house building analogy, brand communication and voice is sort of like your location. As real estate agents like to say, “location, location, location.” You sort of what to be ‘in the right spot’ and your brand voice helps you connect to the right people, in the right places, at the right time. Then when building, there’s also your address such as 123 Main St., critical to help your mail and Uber Eats drive actually find you, which is also the role of your brand messaging.
When you’ve defined your brand’s voice and messaging, as I already mentioned it’s important to document it. This step is often overlooked, but having a written guide ensures that everyone—whether they’re in marketing, sales, or customer service—understands and can communicate the brand consistently.
Pro Tip: Documenting your brand’s voice and messaging is like creating a rulebook for your brand. It doesn’t just exist in your head—it’s something tangible that your entire team can reference. This guide will keep your branding consistent across all touchpoints, ensuring that your message is always clear and aligned with your brand’s values.
One of the most common mistakes businesses make is rushing into the design phase of branding without first establishing a solid foundation. While it’s understandable to want a logo and visual identity that you can show off, this approach can lead to a brand that feels disjointed or doesn’t resonate with your target audience.
And of course for solo entrepreneurs, where you’re wearing all of the hats of the business, sometimes you have to start where you start, and for many entrepreneurs this is getting a logo that you can put on your website, business cards, and everything else. So you do what you’ve gotta do, and that’s completely okay. My recommendation is that as soon as possible, you go through all of these other steps that need to be done.
When’s the best time to do this? Before you start. When’s the next best time? Now.
Starting with the foundational elements of branding—like company culture, USPs, and brand story—ensures that every aspect of your visual identity aligns with your business’s core values. Even if you’ve already created a logo or begun marketing efforts, it’s never too late to revisit these fundamentals.
Pro Tip: If you’ve already jumped into branding with just a logo or basic visual elements, don’t worry. It’s crucial to revisit and refine the foundational aspects of your brand. This will not only strengthen your existing brand but also ensure that all future branding efforts are cohesive and effective.
Answer: Telling someone not to change their logo and colors is often bad advice. While it’s important not to make changes haphazardly, keeping a brand identity that isn’t as effective as it should be simply doesn’t make sense.
The key is to approach any changes with a solid strategy and the right guidance.
You want to avoid just constantly tweaking your logo because it wasn’t quite right the first time. Instead, take the time to do the foundational work—understanding your brand’s core identity and ensuring everything aligns with that. Then, make the change once and make it count.
When you’re ready to update your brand, plan ahead. Consider how and when you’ll reveal the new look—this could involve ordering new business cards, updating your website, and even announcing the change to your audience with a bit of fanfare. This way, you not only ensure a smooth transition but also generate excitement around your refreshed brand.
Let’s bring this all together with a real-world example that illustrates the power of strategic branding. This company is a large multi-billion dollar corporation operating as a franchise of an even larger corporation, and was facing a significant challenge: despite being a major player in the market, they were being perceived as a small “mom and pop” operation. This perception, largely fueled by word-of-mouth from competitors (who were smaller!), was hindering their ability to attract higher-end clients, particularly in the luxury market.
The Challenge: The company needed to quickly shift consumer perception without overstepping the brand guidelines imposed by the franchise. Being part of a franchise meant that certain elements, like the logo and color scheme, were non-negotiable … and there’s always good reason to follow those guidelines. However, the perception that the company was small-town “mom and pop” needed to change to reflect its true size and capabilities.
The Strategy: We devised a multifaceted approach, one of the key tactics being securing a high-profile “official” level sponsorship with an NFL team. This partnership, carefully selected to make sure that company cultures were complementary, with a globally recognized brand was a game-changer. It immediately aligned the company with a much larger, more visible and influential entity, enhancing its credibility and appeal. Alongside this, we fine-tuned the company’s messaging to emphasize innovation, capability, and professionalism, directly countering the “mom and pop” narrative.
The Results: The results were impressive. We saw a 66% increase in overall brand awareness within the target market. Additionally, consumer perception shifted dramatically—from seeing the company as a small local operation to recognizing it as a major, innovative player in the market. This strategic rebranding also facilitated the company’s successful merger with a luxury real estate brokerage, a move that was directly attributed to the enhanced brand image.
Conclusion: This case study underscores the transformative power of strategic branding. Even when operating within certain constraints, a well-executed branding strategy can significantly alter market perceptions and drive business growth.
Effective branding is about more than just aesthetics—it’s about creating a cohesive, compelling identity that resonates with your target audience. By taking the time to establish a solid foundation, you ensure that every aspect of your brand, from the messaging to the visual elements, works together to tell a consistent story. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to refine your existing brand, developing a comprehensive branding strategy is essential for long-term success.
Start finetuning your brand identity with our Branding 101 Series with 12 essential steps to create a brand that stands out and drives business growth.
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