Small Business Talk
The Podcast to Grow your Business Faster
What Does Your Brand Say About Your Business
Show Notes
What Does Your Brand Say About Your Business
The big brands spend thousands if not millions of dollars getting the feel of their brands.
Nike – is athletic.
Now is that because they sell sport shoes or is because they sponsor sporting events? Or spend so much money on lovely ads where we see a girl running, having some time to herself being healthy and athletic?
Coca cola is fun.
Is drinking soft drink fun?
All coke’s ads represent fun; spending time with friends and family, enjoy time at the beach or outdoors. Big brands know that the brand feel is important.
Brand Awareness
Logos are hugely important when we are thinking about brand awareness. In a fleeting second, a logo needs to convey the message of the brand. We want the brand to look like what they do whether this is consciously or unconscious thought.
Coke’s log is red, a fun yet solid colour.
Nike’s tick – yes I can, clean and clear.
Different types of businesses need different types of logos.
A café that represents sustainability, good nourishing and wholesome food can have a font (text) in their logo that is a bit whimsical. Whereas a patio builder that represents quality, best practices in building and great value for money needs a solid, strong logo with bright contrasting colours.
Can my Business Logo be Colourful?
As discussed your logo needs to represent your business. Colour, lots of colour is often seen in logos where children are involved, play groups, day cares, schools, face painting. Colourful logos are also associated with art, design that sort of thing. Graphic designers and artists often have colourful logos. Can you have a colourful logo? Well, that really depends on your business and what services you offer.
If you are a Lawyer, Accountant or IT professional, I would not recommend it.
Consistency In Your Branding
Once you have your logo, you need to think about your whole branding. Make sure your brand is always represented correctly – the correct colours. If white is part of your colour scheme, make sure you have a style guide made with instructions on how and when to use your logo. For example, the space required between your logo and anything else on the page or screen.
It is worth spending the money to get a graphic designer to do a style guide for you that will include your exact colours for printing, digital and signage so that your logo looks the same no matter what medium it is on.
Logo Colours
With colour, you need to think about where it is going to be displayed/printed or used. The colour for digital application is a hex colour. A printing application is RGB or CMYK depending on where and how it is printed. Hex colours have the most colours in the colour spectrum and CMYK have the least. Some colours don’t convert very well from screen to commercial printing. Lime greens/purples for instance.
There is also another printing colour spectrum called Pantone Colours PMS.
PMS Colours are single coloured inks that are often used when colours don’t translate well from Hex to CMYK. Cadbury chocolate have a specific PMS purple they use to maintain their brand integrity. IF you look inside the flap of biscuit/cereal or chip packaging, you will usually see the bars for CMYK colours and a couple of PMS ones too. If you are having trouble with colours, think about PMS for printing.
Social Media Profiles
Consistency in your brand also extends to your social media presence. Are all your pages on all platforms the same? Is your brand recognisable at a glance? Especially think about your profile picture, the photo of you. Make sure any pictures you are using are up to date. Do you need to have them renewed?
Your profile picture needs to look like what you look like now.
If you have lost weight, gained weight, had your hair cut, let your hair grow, shaved it off, etc. you need to update your photos.
Use the same or similar photos for all your profile pictures so that you are building that brand recognition.
Should You Sse a Personal Photo for Your Profile Picture on Social Media?
Yes, absolutely.
There would be very cases where you shouldn’t. People do business with people unless you are a very big business, it is your people that will bring your customers in and keep them coming back.
“We don’t buy from a robot or a faceless logo. Instead, we buy from a fellow person” Dakota Shane Nunley said in The Ultimate Guide to Social Media by Mitch Jackson
This is why selling good will is becoming a think of the past for business because the clients will generally follow the owners or staff.
The Right Branding
Getting your branding right for your business is very important and can often differentiate you from being a hobby business to a serious business. Branding will often evolve over the years you are in business and minor tweaks maybe necessary. Be careful that your branding is not too trendy or it won’t sand the test of time.
You also need to think hard before you completely change your branding as this can cause a disconnection with your current customers and set your business back. My only caveat on that is if you are completely changing your services or the audience you now want to attract, then a complete new brand maybe the way to go.
Ok, there is a quick introduction to branding and a few things to think about.
Listen to Small Business Podcast Episode 34, What Does Your Brand Say About Your Business to hear these tips.
