What is branding? Why is it important for your creative business? How does it differ from having a brand, brand marketing, and where do mood boards & color palettes come in? I’m going to answer all of those questions below!
What is branding?
Branding, not to be confused with a brand, are all of the visual elements that make up your business! These aspects work together to create recognition and cohesion in your business.
Your visual elements will include designated fonts, a brand color palette, a logo suite (primary logo, secondary logo, logo-marks) brand messaging, and so much more! It’s also important to note that your business should have a written set of brand guidelines that detail exactly how to use all of these elements across the various outlets of your business.
Maybe you don’t have a few of these custom visuals in place for your business, no worries. Did you know that even without those visuals, you still have a brand?! Even a business that has never done professional custom branding still has a brand! Your brand is also how someone feels when they interact with you. This happens through your website, social media channels, email, phone calls, and even the experience you provide your clients with when you work with them face to face!
What is the benefit of branding for my creative business?
Branding that is used effectively across all of your marketing platforms works to establish recognition, professionalism, and a level of trust in your business. In marketing, this is also called the “know, like, trust” factor. The know like and trust factor is something that small creative businesses must establish in their branding and brand marketing in order to convert their website visitors, into paying (and returning) customers.
Your potential customers recognize those forms of credibility in your brand when your brand elements look uniformly equal across your social media profiles, your website, and even right down to your Gmail signature!
Who am I branding for?
Within the branding process, It’s important to know who it is that you are branding for! Knowing who you are branding for, doesn’t just occur at a high level. In fact, knowing who you are branding for is even more crucial for creative and small business owners. Small business owners do not have the luxury of achieving the same brand recognition as large corporations that have easily recognizable globally known logos.
Knowing who you are branding for requires digging deep into who you’re serving, how you’re serving them, and what they’re truly buying into when they hire you.
What benefit are they receiving from making an investment with your business? How will their life be positively impacted by this investment? Having this information clearly spelled out and in place makes the branding process more efficient. Knowing who you are branding for allows you to speak directly to “that person” and when they come across your website and social platforms, they will instantly know that they are in the right place!
What they are buying from you might be a tangible item, a digital product, a result, or an experience. But your customer has to be made aware before their purchase, that investing with your business will bring them exactly what they were in the market for. Knowing who you are branding for is a foundational aspect of your overall branding design. Having this information in place will ensure that your ideal customer will be able to instantly connect with your business and this creates long-lasting and higher converting customers.
How do you begin the process?
Know that we’ve answered the question ‘What is branding? Why is it important for my business?’. Here’s a quick way for you to begin the branding process! The first step is in making sure that you establish your brand as an industry expert! You can download the exact step-by-step process in my FREE 36-page guide here!
