On Saturday we went to Heatherslaw Mill.

The mill is great because it’s still a working mill so they make flour which you can buy. It’s really interesting to see it working – all the cogs turning perfectly together powered by the water from the river.

In the mill all the different parts work together to produce flour.

The water makes all the pieces move to grind the wheat and flour comes out.

What you put in and how it all works together, produces a consistent result.

This is the same with your business image. What you put in and how it all works together produces a consistent result.

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Tweet this: What you put in and how it all works together, produces a consistent result.

WHAT YOU PUT IN: Water and wheat

In your business this could be – YOU – your understanding and knowledge of your business (check out my Design Success Toolkit for the kind of things I mean)

HOW IT ALL WORKS TOGETHER: Gears, grinding stones, wheels and millstones.

This is your style guide. This will contain a set of rules about how your business will look. Covering things like

– your logo and positioning

– the typefaces and colours you use and how they should be used

– the type of imagery you use

– how you will make sure your image is consistent across all your applications both online and offline

Read this blog post for more info on creating a style guide.

 

Pin this! How consistent is your business image?
Pin this! How consistent is your business image?

This should also include other areas which tie in with your business image and help it to work better. These include:

– Marketing. It doesn’t matter how fantastic your business image is if people don’t see it. It’s not going to get you results unless you place it in front of the right people. Read this blog from Dolezal Consulting for an insight into the kind of things you should consider.

– Copywriting. How do you come across in your copy? Make sure you give this some thought! Here’s 5 copywriting secrets you should know from Haydn Grey.

– Photography. This is part of the Style Guide but worthy of a mention. You need to consider the style of photography you want to use for your business. Please, please don’t create a beautiful brochure or website and then use terrible photographs. Photos can make or break a design. Here’s a post on Photography and Design which I wrote ages ago for Mandy Charlton Photography.

– PR. Give this some serious thought – here’s a guest post from Newsmaker PR about the content you produce and here’s four useful tips for startups from KD Communications.

CONSISTENT RESULT: High quality flour.

You brand is the experiences, perceptions, memories and emotions that people have about your business and if you ensure that you have as much control over each aspect of your business image as possible – making sure that all the elements are working seamlessly together just like the cornmill – then you should produce a consistent result too. This is important because a consistent image helps your audience to recognise you, understand you, know who you are and trust you so that you will be at the forefront of their mind when they need whatever it is that you do.

Q-cornmill-01It’s also about communicating the right things to the right people – if you take all of the above points into consideration and work really hard to create a business image which authentically reflects who you are and what you’re all about, then this will be crystal clear to your audience too and they will be happy to buy from you.

If your business image isn’t working then you need to work out why and take action to change it.

Does your business image work as effectively as the Cornmill? Comment below and let me know if you’re producing consistent results.

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