So you are reading this article because you are in a couple different categories.
✔ You already own a company and your branding could use a refresh
✔ Your thinking about starting a company and your doing your research
✔ You work for a company that needs help updating their branding
The question remains the same
“Does branding matter”?
And the response is a resounding YES. (Not yelling, just excited 🎉)
Branding is the style guide to your business. It's what makes some of the best brands recognizable across the world and makes you immediately know what brand it is.
Think of the Superbowl commercial spots. They are the biggest brands and spend 5.6 million for 30 seconds. The amazing thing is because they are the best of the best you can generally tell what brand it is before the logo is even shown. Its brand recognition at its finest and its incredibly beneficial and powerful if used well consistently.
Branding doesn’t just work if you are a big brand. Think of those small brands that you absolutely love that have made a name for themselves quickly. Then think about how their branding is. Spot on is my guess. Because branding done well helps with growth and hopefully creates that lasting and engaged relationship with your audience.
So if you are ready to start weaving a story that connects the style and feeling and intention throughout the marketing and digital space of your business. It will engage your customer base and build your audience in a way that encourages engagement and turns fans into your own walking billboards.
Your logo is a great place to start. It's going to be part of your business for a long time so you want to love it and it needs to help you convey your message. It will be everywhere, website, socials, ads, packaging. So let it make an impact.
If you are thinking oh no, I hate my logo, it's outdated, doesn’t relay what we are trying to sell. Then how about a rebrand. Know anyone doing Giant rebrands? (cough, cough, Meta/Facebook/ Book of Faces). Rebranding can be a great boost and re-introduce yourself to your audience and find a whole new one too.
So now that your logo makes you feel joy it's time to work on your style guide. It's built off your logo and will be the base of everything else that is built.
- Colors are important- So do me a favor and look up Marketing colors and their importance and then think about your company goals and which color conveys that. It's a great starting point.
- Font is important - It tells a story. Bold, whimsical, robot, bubble, so what is
Your message and does your font make that clear. Does it make the audience you want stop?
Now that you got your style guide the real magic begins. But no, magic doesn’t just need colors, and font it need the story. The story that makes your audience feel something. Excited, motivated, encouraged, inspired and that begins with words. Words that make feelings and emotions and create connections to people that will build your fans into avid promoters and continue finding people who are so excited to join you and be part of your journey. So start by creating your story and by making sure it is consistent across your entire company. This is called Branding continuity and is one of the most important things a marketer will tell. The font needs to be recognizable, the story needs to feel connected throughout all pieces. The style needs to feel familiar. When all of this is done seamlessly then it will make people want to stop and view, share with a friend, save for later, or even buy on that day. So don’t skimp on this step or let someone else write your story. Be part of the magic of the story and spell binding as your vision will be the one hopefully that connects to your audience.
Now let’s start with some fun where you can start sharing your new branding! Let’s make a website that makes them want to go to every page and read every word. That makes them want to send it to their friend or ten. You have a limited amount of time to make an impression so you have to make that time count. Once someone clicks on your website you only have 3 seconds before they will bounce. (Crazy) One other thing I must mention or I will be forever regretful is that when you build that website install tracking. At least Facebook Pixel and Google Tag as this will start building your audience for when you're ready to start marketing.
Now you have a website that engages and is fast, that awesome logo that makes you feel joy. Now let's get you some traffic. We recommend a full funnel approach and ill make a short and sweet since I can get wordy fast.
• Google Search - Makes sure someone finds you if they type it in the magical search bar we call google. Make sure the copy is consistent with your story so if someone remembers pieces of your ad or what little their friend told them they can still find you. There is a lot more it can do but that's for another day.
• Social Ads ( Ads on different platform vary based on business) But this is a great way to generate an audience to your website or a landing page that is testing what your audience likes.
• Display ads - Thes are an amazing way to retarget someone who has visited your site but not yet converted. It reminds them that they peeked at your product or site and that its still available. (Studies have shown that conversions generally take 7 touch points to convert
• Emails - Are they no longer important. To that I say (Laugh out loud). Emails are some of the cheapest and best ways to keep up with past clients and current clients for future promotions, collaborations and so much more. So collect email addresses. Its important. Now when you have all of these items working together in perfect harmony it starts consistently working for you and your company we call it a funnel. It keeps business steady for your business and give you the ability to scale.
Hopefully while reading this you picked up some fun marketing facts and thoughts and you are going to implement and invest in your business for your future and branding is great option.