Last week I took the kids to the Washington Wetland Centre. We hadn’t been for many years (at which point I wrote this blog post, and can report that the flamingos were considerably more interesting this time around!)
The main reason we visited this time was to see the ducklings. We watched a video before we went all about how they are born in the duckery and looked after so my seven year old daughter was very enthusiastic, and we arrived JUST in time to hear the talk and stroke some ducklings.
Being a duckling is a bit like creating a brand identity!
When a duck egg is laid, it’s taken to an incubator to be kept safe.
Your business might be new, or it might be established, but either way when you have your brand identity designed, this happens in the incubator. The eggs are looked after at the perfect temperature and humidity and checked regularly using candling to look inside the egg and see how big the duck is. Your brand identity needs to be checked regularly against the brief, nurtured and brought to life carefully to ensure that it’s perfect for your business. You need to ask a lot of questions to test it out and make sure that it encompasses what you’re all about. You wouldn’t just crack an egg open before the duck was ready, you need to make sure that your brand identity is fit for purpose – compelling, consistent and client attractive.
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CLICK TO TWEET: Being a duckling is a bit like creating a brand identity!
When the egg is ready to hatch it’s taken to the hatchery.
In the hatchery the eggs are kept at a high humidity and the ducks hatch. When your brand identity is ready to reveal to the world, it needs to be hatched in the right conditions and with a bit of noise – this is the point where you email your list, you make social media updates and you spread that new brand identity everywhere. How can you use this opportunity to expand your reach, generate more awareness and increase your list?
After birth, the ducklings are taken to the duckery.
This is like a nursery for ducks. They start in a dry breeder feeding on the egg yolk. Then they eat crumb, full of protein and carbohydrates to help them grow. And as the ducklings get bigger they are given deeper water. With your brand identity you need some help to get started. You should have some brand guidelines, these are a great resource to help you out, and if they’re good, then you won’t need anything else except some basic skills in using whatever programmes you need to use to create what you need to create. You may receive training or a video to help you use your website or help you create graphics. Your designer should always be at the end of the phone. Everybody is different however, so if you feel that you don’t have the necessary skills or the time, then you may need extra support to help you create the graphics you need for your business.
When the ducklings get bigger they move outdoors.
This helps them to get Vitamin D. They have grass and ponds – starting shallow and getting deeper as they grow – they have mats on the ground to protect their feet, some shelter and a heat lamp – and then when the ducklings are not ducklings anymore they move into the Wetland Centre. When your business gets bigger you may move too! You might need more help creating your designs, have more design requirements or you may even need to tweak your brand identity to fit a new direction or audience. You might employ other people who need to know how to work with your brand identity. Perhaps you have a membership site now, or you’ve started attending more events and need exhibition graphics, perhaps you have lots of opt-ins or workbooks, or packaging or video thumbnails, there is a MASSIVE list of things that you could grow into needing as your business grows.
We had a wonderful time at the Wetland Centre, not only learning about ducklings, but (over)feeding the geese, finding out about otters and playing on the slides. Creating a brand identity should also be fun – yes it’s a very serious task, you need to ask important questions and create something which is perfect for your business, aligned with your values and that resonates with your ideal client – but if it’s not a fun process then it’s not going to light you up and you won’t feel motivated to use the new elements that you end up with. So don’t forget to enjoy yourself and get excited about the end result.
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.