What is Branding? How Will it Help to Grow my Business?

Branding is, "The action of marking with a branding iron". Branding dates back hundreds of years. It's what farmers used to mark their livestock as their own so as to identify the owner. The goal of your branding is to brand your business into the minds of your audience so that when they need the solution you provide, you come to mind first!

How does all this work? It starts with a recognizable logo. The best way to build brand recognition is to find lots of creative places to use your logo. A lot of designers, like myself will provide an entire branding package. This includes the main logo, alternate logos, submarks, and a color palette. The alternate logos and submarks are smaller versions of the main logo, but still represent your brand overall. All of this is presented on a branding board.

What is a branding board?

A branding board gives you an at-a-glance look at your logos, alternate logos, submarks, color palette, and fonts that make up your brand's aesthetic and style. A branding board allows you to see all of this at a glance! It's a great resource to keep near your workspace to use when creating marketing material. Whether that be printed items or online promotional work, keeping your marketing on brand, consistent, and cohesive will build brand recognition.

What are alternate logos and submarks?

Alternate logos are a simpler version of the main logo. It may not include a tag line underneath or it may be laid out differently, to use in areas the main logo may not fit as comfortably in. Submarks are an even more simplified version of a logo. This is usually a much smaller version, but can still be recognized as a part of your branding.

What are the numbers and letters underneath the colors?

Those are the color codes or if you want to get really technical, they're called Web Safe RBG Color Codes. This means if you're creating marketing material that's going to go on the web you can type in that code to get your exact branding color. I encourage a lot of my clients to use Canva an amazing resource for creating marketing material. The codes underneath the photos work in Canva, so you can choose a template to work with, swap out their fonts for your branded fonts, swap out the colors and BAM that template now looks perfectly on brand!

So how will this help grow my business?

Your branding helps your clients/customers remember you. When people know what you offer and they start seeing your logo pop up in different areas, you become top of mind. As soon as they need what you have to offer, they will think of you first. Branding isn't about having the prettiest logo, or the trendiest colors, it's about creating a cohesive look that stands the test of time. Something you can use continuously to 'brand' your business into the minds of your audience.

When I first started my business I was all over social media. I stay consistent in the way I presented myself and even though some of my friends and family didn't need my services, they referred me to their friends and family because they consistently saw me putting out information on the services I offer. That information just happened to be curated in a way that was consistent each time I posted. Brand recognition happens when you're using your branding consistently throughout social media, email marketing, business cards, flyers, emails, the list goes on!

Here are some branding projects I've created, to spark some creative inspiration!