You wouldn’t believe the clients who come to me and say “I need a logo now for my website which is being/ has just been built” – it’s the wrong way round.
They don’t have all of the pieces in place. And it will slow down their website build if they’re coming to get this sorted out at such a late stage.
It’s the wrong order.
When you work on your logo you need to start with your strategy – figuring out all the things that are important, what you’re all about. This leads to the visuals and if you want a really successful brand then you can’t stop at a logo. It isn’t enough. I don’t offer “just a logo” anymore for this reason.
A logo is a starting point.
When you work on your visuals you also need colours and fonts (bare minimum) – you need variations on your logo for different placements and purposes. You need icons and illustrations and patterns to help build up a stronger picture of what you’re all about. You need to know how to use these different elements and you need to have an overall idea of how your identity looks and also what it’s saying about you – key messages, your strategy inspiring and backing up everything that you do. Once you have THIS, then you’re ready to start on your website. With intention. With your goal in mind.
Your brand is meant to help your business stand out, give people the information they need to trust you, understand what you sell and feel a connection with you – a way to deepen their relationship with your brand – and your website is the main tool in your kit to house all of this information and help you reach your goals. It’s where people will go to root about while they’re making decisions, so it’s helpful to get this right and make it easy for people to buy while they’re at it.
Your brand and your website work together.
These are both assets that you 100% own AND that work for you 24/7. All the time. When you’re sleeping. When you’re doing the school run or making dinner or unloading the washing machine for the millionth time…
Don’t you hate it when you visit a website and it immediately drains your trust in the business?
Creating a strong brand BEFORE you create your website removes this problem. It will enable you to communicate the decisions you’ve made, to align with your values and personality, to help you to reach your goals. You can more easily create social posts and write blogs and emails and have purposeful conversations because your brand inspires these too.
That phrase – know, like and trust? That’s what your brand helps to create in your audience.
With your website, some of this trust comes through usability and security. Being able to find what you’re looking for, having an SSL Certificate (the padlock in the address bar that shows your website is secure), having high quality photographs so you don’t look amateur, being easy to contact – these things contribute to trust too. Including your website in your strategy will help you convey your brand in the most important place you send your customers to – the place where decisions and purchases are made.
Next time you’re thinking of having your website rebuilt, consider revisiting your brand FIRST so that the process isn’t as messy.
Get some clarity.
Then your website will be more “you”, less messy and more strategic.
What comes first? Strategy.
Pin point your values and vision, get clear on what matters, what your goals are. Then you need visuals to help you communicate these consistently, and finally you need a website to help you sell your stuff, using the strategy and visuals to ensure that it’s working for you as well as it possibly can.