Every business has a brand identity, whether they realize it or not. While some companies put effort into developing their brands, some may believe that they don't have time to ensure their branding and logo are as unique as their business, which is a big mistake.
Ensuring your company's brand identity is memorable is essential to stay top-of-mind to current and future customers. Your logo will also help let the public know what you represent and help set your organization apart from the competition. So it's not something to take lightly. Here are some things that your business should make sure they have when developing or revamping a logo and brand identity.
What sets your company apart from the other companies that do similar products or services? Is it that you donate a percentage of your proceeds to help those in need? Or maybe your team has over 150 years of combined experience working in the restaurant industry. This is what makes your company special. And every company has something that makes them stand out. Use this as the basis to help you develop your mission statement, values, and as a result, your brand.
No company can be successful without knowing who its target audience is. Without that, there's no way to determine who your ideal customer is. One way to help with that is to develop buyer personas for your business. Created to help you decide who your audience should be, these personas are not necessarily fictional because some factual pieces determine them. Knowing your potential customers' needs, desires, and backgrounds will help you build marketing programs, advertising campaigns, and other sales tactics to bring you the right customer who is ready to hear your buying message.
Having a logo that represents your organization might be the hardest step in the branding process. Many business owners trying to save some money might look at a logo as something easy to create in an online app. But they're not.
Logos should accomplish many things, including drawing positive attention. Other considerations also include:
Working with an agency, such as TMC Digital Media, who can match you with the right designer for your needs will help you with these hurdles.
Once you have your branding and logo settled, make sure your business has created a style guide to go along with them. Style guides are the final word on logo usage, with no exceptions. It includes details such as what fonts can be displayed on your website, which color systems (PMS, Pantone, RGB, RAL) are used and the specific numbers associated with each color, and approved versions of the logo. Having a style guide allows you to keep employees, contractors and anyone else who might need access to your logo on the same page to protect your brand identity. Your company's style guide may be a one-page sheet or a binder of pages, depending on the size of your company and how many brands you represent.
Taking the time to create a new brand identity and logo is wasted if your company website doesn't have a fresh look, fast loading speed, and maintain the colors included in your logo. The majority of people these days are researching companies online before making contact. Having a slow, out-of-date website doesn't encourage them that your business is on top of the newest products and training. So make sure when you create or update your branding that your website is just as fresh and exciting!
Now that you have your new brand identity, established customer values, logo and website, make sure that you're maintaining your brand. It might not seem like a big deal that your social media sites, business cards, letterhead, or company apparel still use the old logo. It would be wasteful to throw out physical products without using them all, right? In fact, it's detrimental to your company's brand identity to continue to use an old logo or colors to represent your organization.
Not only is it confusing to customers, but it also sends a mixed message that you don't value your brand. Suppose you have paper products you'd like to use as much of as you can. Make sure to time the brand revamp as close as you can and order new products in advance of the changeover. Also, purchase your team's new company shirts and have the company store stocked with the new items when the old logo is retired. Keeping your team up to date with the branding revamp and the date it will take effect will help you showcase your new brand in the best light.