Eight questions small businesses should ask themselves before getting their branding
Who are you, who are you for, what’s the story?
The first step is always knowing who you are and where you want to get to. Your brand has inherent goals, whether they’ve been defined yet or not. Wherever you’re coming from there’s a story to how you got started, what inspired you to be where you are. Great brands lean into that. Whatever that gap in the market you’ve seen is, or whatever your audience is calling out for, the key is amplifying and honing it. No matter how early or late in the journey you are there’s something you’ve got; people who want it and a way to deliver that message to them in the most appealing and effective way.
What’s the tone, how’s the elevator pitch go?
So you know who you’re appealing to, and you know what you’re appealing to them with - but how do you say it? Are you witty and intellectual? Are you no-fuss, ruthlessly concise? We can help you find and amplify that voice and most importantly make sure that it’s the same tone each time you use it. You don’t need to sell cookies with surgical precision and you don’t need to market scientific instruments with puns and memes - we’ll make sure the way you sound matches the way you act.
What do you need beyond a logo?
When you’ve got the tone down and you know all about who you are and what messaging you’re trying to get across what do you need next feels pretty obvious - a noticeable and in-keeping logo. But realistically, you’ll likely need a few logos. A primary, traditional one, but then something that works in an icon size for all your social profiles, a version that works as a square, a version that works long and short such as in website and email headers. On top of that you’re going to want some secondary versions so you can repeat and reinforce your brand without tiring out that one primary logo. Then, among other things, it’s using fonts to stand out and capture your tone, a palette that creates a coherent and unique style across all the places your brand exists.
Where does your brand exist?
Which leads into the next question - where exactly does your brand exist? You’ve got your website, social media, emails and printed collateral. Maybe your brand also sits with some key partners, maybe there’s a lot out there from you that your audience is already sharing among themselves. Maybe it’s even in your signage. Small businesses tend to have a more touchpoints than they realise. These can all be utilised to create and reinforce a tone, an image and ultimately a feeling. With the right look and feel and your own voice this collection of routes in to your brand adds up to something immensely powerful.
How much can you spend, where should you allocate this?
Early on in the lifespan of your business it can be intimidating to think about exactly how much all of this can you set you back. However if you come out of it with a versatile logo and sub-logos, some repeatable motifs, specialised fonts and a clear palette that’s more than enough to get started. There’s more to it than that, but that leads into the next question…
How do you keep track of all this, how does this all scale, what does the future look like?
On top of everything just mentioned in the previous question it’s wise to get templates, an easily referred to stylesheet and if you’re looking for something substantial a full set of brand guidelines. This will allow you to maintain this look and feel for as long as you need to. If it’s versatile enough there’ll come a point when your brand identity is so established that each new arena or platform, you’ll enter you already feel like you know how to look, sound, feel and act as a brand. With a solid starting point, versatile templates and strong, consistent rationale this first step could yet allow huge leaps for your brand in years to come.
How can you test this on your audience?
If you feel like you already have the right audience this one is easy - ask them. Create polls on social media, ask questions online, survey people in emails and create small focus groups of your most engaged followers, customers or users. On top of getting you valuable qualitative data this is also a great way to keep your audience in the loop but also keep them curious. Beyond that, for a data led approach you can track interactions, shares, visits, conversion rates - whatever numbers you most want to see go up just keep an eye on those!
What next?
Don’t worry we’re not counting that as a question! Just ask yourself “what would my dream brand look like?” and then find whoever you feel can make that a reality. We’d love that to be us so head to our contact form or drop us a DM on Instagram (@powerplantwork) and let’s get started!