Branding & logos
In today's world, you need to stand out. It's just not good enough to have stellar services and products; you must also have an excellent brand. If you don't, you will become lost in a sea of businesses and providers. If you're looking tired, dowdy, or disorganized online, that is the message you are sending to your potential clients. And I bet you have competition. How do they look online? Do they look professional, organized and modern? You'd better too.
Why is branding so important?
A consistent, uniform brand identifies you in a flash. An association is made between your business and your brand, and the more appealing, consistent, eye-catching and comprehensible it is, the faster and easier that association will happen. In marketing, that’s what you want: immediate association.
A logo is the primary messenger for a brand. Think Coca Cola. Think Nike. Think McDonald’s. I bet you immediately saw their logos in your mind. Of course you did! That’s because those companies have paid millions of dollars to pelt you with their logos and brands every single day of your life. You know those companies and you know what to expect from them, which is half the battle. Familiarity. It is a scientific fact that people are drawn to that which they are familiar with.
Now, you might not be in control of a $100 million branding budget, but you can still be as noticeable, professional and unique as possible. Here are the primary places where you should be using your brand:
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Your logo
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Your business cards & collateral
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Your social media headers
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Your email newsletters
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Your letterhead or flyers
Consistency is key! Try your best to have a ubiquitous look so whenever someone sees your stuff, they think of you.
So develop a brand, create a logo and use it everywhere you can!
Client: Lisa Silva | Skin Essence by Lisa
A Case Study
As an example, I present to you, my client Lisa, of Skin Essence by Lisa:
A case for going BIG
When Lisa came to me, we had already worked on her website a few years prior, but after letting her business take a side seat for a few years, she was ready to reengage and really accelerate her business. She wanted to add a fully functional online store and online booking to her website, along with making her brand a little more modern-looking.
Lisa has a wide depth of experience as an esthetician, and tools that are competitive with more established med spas. She wanted a brand that reflected an intersection of med spa technology with personalized service.After a bit of thought, I felt like “Girl Boss” was the best course of action for her new branding. We didn’t want anything overly feminine, but also, the majority of her clients were women. I tried to balance out the femininity of the colors with clean images and no-nonsense copy.
The best part about Lisa was when I called her one day and said, “you know what would really make this brand work? If we redesigned your office too...” and she went for it! We were talking about a full rebrand. This was incredibly exciting because of the impact it would make. Lisa was not just going to change her business cards, or website. She was going to completely overhaul and rebrand her entire business, making an incredible statement.
One year later, Lisa has gotten exciting feedback from past clients who she reengaged through her new brand and email marketing, her male clients, who appreciate the new look and feel in her spa, and even an award in her town for best business based on marketing. Her business has been re-energized, and her client base has been re-invigorated, mostly due to her rebrand and marketing emails!
What branding improvements can you make with your business?
Are you being consistent with your brand? Using it on all of your collateral, ads and social headers?