While you don’t need a brand to start your business, you DO need a brand to have a successful one. So what exactly is a brand? A brand is an intangible marketing or business concept that helps people identify a company, product or individual. Many people confuse brands with things like logos, slogans or other recognizable images, which are marketing tools that companies can use to promote their goods and services. But when used together, these tools can help you create your brand identity.

A brand is one of the most important and valuable assets that a business can have. Successful branding can help your business attract and retain a customer base, which can lead to brand loyalty while giving you an edge over your competitors.

In this blog, we go over the importance of building a successful brand for your business — as well as how to implement your brand successfully.

Why have a brand?

As a small business, the power of branding should never be underestimated. An effective brand can contribute to the success of your business by helping you to stand out from the competition, build recognition and increase customer loyalty. A great brand identity will also provide consistency in your messaging across all your marketing channels, helping to make your message more memorable.

Creating a strong brand identity is essential for any small business looking to gain visibility in today's crowded marketplace. Taking the time to properly establish a unique visual and verbal identity will help you to effectively differentiate yourself from other similar businesses. Consider it an investment that will pay back dividends if done right!

The components of brand identity

Creating a successful brand identity is essential for any small business, allowing you to make a lasting statement to your customers and stand out from the competition. The key components of your brand identity include a memorable logo, an effective tagline that captures the heart of your mission and values, an engaging mission statement that concisely explains why your business exists, and core values that guide decision making. All of these elements must be carefully considered when forming your brand identity in order to create an impactful connection with your customers.

How to start thinking about branding

What inspires you about the branding of any websites or businesses? Are there any you are particularly drawn to, or don’t like at all? Don’t forget to pay attention to larger, well-known brands as they are great examples of how to stay modern and follow trends without becoming quickly dated.

Start by understanding your target audience — this can help determine if you want your brand to feel and how you want your business to come across. Establishing a brand voice that speaks to your audience will not only guide the visual aspects of your business, but will also inform the writing style of your social media posts, website and other client communication. Is your business voice casual, witty, professional or off-the-wall?

It’s also important to get to know your competitors — this can help you do things differently and stand out from the crowd.

How to build a brand

Establishing a recognizable look and feel for your small business can be key to developing a successful brand. Creating cohesiveness throughout your website, email campaigns and other materials is the first step to unifying your business’s identity. When you create cohesive messaging across all online channels this builds trust with customers around the brand identity you created. It is also important to ensure visual consistency in areas such as advertising graphics so customers know they are encountering the same brand wherever they go. With careful planning, it is possible to achieve unified branding across the web!

1. Craft your tone of voice

A key part of your brand identity is having a unique, cohesive tone of voice that reflects your core values. This is because people need to be able to recognize and connect with your messages no matter which channel they are sent from. A strong tone of voice that reflects the values of your company will go a long way in helping customers remember who you are. Incorporating this consistently across all your marketing channels ensures customer engagement with your brand, and helps build a recognizable and memorable presence.

2. Come up with a slogan or tagline

A slogan is a helpful asset when you have little space but want to make an impact with a few words. Slogans make a strong impression and help to reinforce brand impression and awareness.

3. Show your colours

As part of your brand identity, you should have a colour palette, which includes 1-2 main colours for large elements and text, and 2-4 secondary colours for accenting. If you have a logo, you can pull existing colours from that to integrate into your website and design elements, as well as marketing materials like social posts. Keep a record of your chosen colours and stick to them.

4. Choose your typeface

Settle on 1-3 typefaces or fonts to use on your website and social post images. Ideally, you have 1-2 typefaces for your headings and another for your subtitles and body copy — and stick with these!

5. Establish branding elements

What types of branding elements will you use on your website and social media — photos (stock or your own), illustrations, patterns, icons, logo elements? How will you use photos in your designs — are they in a shape, do they have a translucent or gradient overlay, are they in a grid layout or take up a whole area? Whatever you choose, make sure it’s consistent across your channels — this will help solidify the look and feel of the brand, and ultimately, the familiarity of your brand with your customers.

6. Hire a designer

Having a professional establish brand guidelines at the start of the branding process will make your life much easier. They can help you create usage rules for logos, colour scheme and typography to help you create a memorable, recognizable and look for your brand.

Implement your brand

After identifying the unique style, core values and messaging that define your unique message, it’s important to take the necessary steps to ensure implementation across all of your platforms. This may include broadcasting over various social media accounts, designing a detailed website, and distributing print material like brochures or catalogs. Once your distinct visuals and colour palettes are created and official guidelines in place, you can create a unified image across all of your channels while remaining true to your core values as you expand your customer base. Your feeds should have a cohesive, intentional look — adjust photos and graphics to look similar in terms of filters, tint, temp, contrast, brightness, etc, and create graphics using your decided on brand colours, typefaces, illustrations, icons, etc. Stay true to the idea behind your brand by maintaining the same look across all platforms to create a unified, recognizable message.

Whether you’re an established business looking to expand your reach or a startup just starting out, creating a strong brand identity can help bring your goals to life. A well-developed brand not only helps you stand out from the competition, but it also increases recognition and loyalty with your target audience. Think of your brand as an extension of yourself—it’s what defines who you are and how people will see you. By understanding how an effective brand can help grow and develop your business, you'll be able to maximize its effectiveness and build relationships with customers more easily. Take the time to create a branding strategy that speaks to your target audience, implement it across multiple marketing channels, and notice the positive results as your business grows.

When starting a digital marketing campaign with Nimble, we take the necessary steps to not only reflect your brand in the visuals we design for you, but also your brand’s voice in the messaging we write. With our help, we can not only help you strengthen your brand — but also help you reach new audiences and the customers that are looking for what you have to offer. Contact us today to get started with a website redesign or digital marketing package!