This question was asked by a lady in my group and I figured it was such a good one that you needed to know the answer! There are a lot of businesses out there who have a logo, but don’t have a consistent brand identity. If this is you – then you DO have a brand. Your brand is more intangible than a logo… your brand is the things that other people – who you might not even know – think, feel, say, remember, know and understand about your business. It’s the impression they’ve been left with, the stories they’ve heard, the way you’ve made them feel, the memories that you’ve conjured up in them. So you do have a brand – but what you might not have is a brand identity – which is just one part of your overall brand, but the most obvious, actionable and visible part. Having a brand identity gives you the chance to create a great impression and show your business in the best light. It gives you an element of control over what others think of your business. Over what your brand means to them.
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In the video, I covered three different things that you need to do to help you create that brand identity.
- Ask questions
- Make decisions
- Be consistent
ASK QUESTIONS
There is no point in diving in to create your brand without first asking some questions to find out what it is that you DO stand for, who you audience is and what your brand should be all about. Some questions you could ask are:
- What are your values?
- What do you stand for?
- What do you love about what you do?
- What’s important to you about the way that you run your business?
- Who is your audience?
- How do you want people to feel?
These answers will help you out with the next steps – and with developing your brand in other areas too.
MAKE DECISIONS
If you already have a logo then the first thing to decide is – does it work? When you look at your answers, does your logo fit with those or does it jar?
If it fits, then you can use your logo as a starting point for your brand identity. It all needs to work together, so you need to start with what you have. Upload your logo to the Canva Colour Palette Picker to find out your colours and then use this to help you pick other colours that work together with the ones that you already have.
Similarly, use the typeface that’s been chosen for your logo and strap line to inspire and inform the typefaces you choose for your body copy, headlines and highlighting text. You can try something like wordmark.it to see a selection of typefaces to start choosing from.
Pull any elements out of your logo and consider how you could use them as a watermark, or a dividing line, or as an element to add interest to an image or to enhance a social media graphic or use as a bullet point perhaps.
Use your logo to inspire creation of additional elements, symbols and illustration.
Always refer back to your answers to check that your ideas are inline with what you stand for.
BE CONSISTENT
This is the key. Don’t just think about it, take action. Always do it the way that you’ve decided so that you have a consistent brand. Consistency – repetition, shows reliability, but more than that it also helps people to remember you. It helps to make your images stand out, it helps people to recognise you and stop to pay attention. So don’t start reverting back to “it doesn’t matter if I use this shade of orange instead” or “I’ll just use this font because I think it looks nice” or “I fancy a change, I’m going to put a coloured overlay over the top of this photograph even though I don’t normally..” you have to take this seriously and make an effort. Set up templates and away you go!
WOULD YOU LIKE MORE OF THIS? Check out the Brand Success Club.
Amy Purdie is the founder of Whiteacres (where you are now) she can help your business become irresistible to your ideal clients so that they can’t wait to work with you.
Amy has been enjoying designing logos, brand identities, illustration, print work and websites – since 2007 fuelled mainly by tea and chocolate.