BRANDING   |   POSTED ON 29.01.2015

You’ve had a fantastic idea, you’ve taken the plunge into starting your own business, you may even have your business plan all in order, but there’s an important, perhaps critical, aspect of your start-up you must consider now – branding. Branding is key to a start-ups future success. And before you launch, or just after you have launched, is the perfect time to determine your branding identity and strategy.

Firstly, let’s not confuse your logo design and branding – both important, but very different. Your logo is just a small part of your branding strategy.*

* Brand – the perceived emotional image of a business as a whole
* Identity – the visual aspects that make up part of the overall brand
* Logo – in the simplest form identifies a business via the use of an icon or mark

While a logo is simply a symbol of your business, your branding gives your business so much more. With clear, concise and consistent brand positioning strategy and implementation you can engage and connect with your target audience. Branding identity will communicate:

• Your story
• Your mission
• Your culture
• And what your customers can expect from your business, products, services and their interactions with all three

Why is it so important

If a business’ brand seems confused, inconsistent or unclear, you purpose too appears scattered and this can negatively impact on the business’ success. If a customer is confused on what you are offering, what you stand for and how you will service them – they will walk.

Did you know? Legend has it that the Nike swish logo cost $250 back in the day – but what dollar figure would you place on the value of their branding?

Purpose

One of the main points of your brand is to inform about your purpose to the world. It’s not just the services and products you offer but what your company actually is and is not about. What is your passion? Your mission? What do you stand for?

Identity

Your brand reflects your business’ identity – it’s used to express your personality and values. As a start-up your branding sets the foundation on which you will build your ongoing, growing reputation.

The identity will separate your brand from those of your competitors. While you need to understand the branding of your competition, don’t aim to copy – you need to be yourself. Becoming a stand-alone, successful brand will ensure that despite being the new kid on the block, you will be the business to beat.

Once branding is in place you need to ensure that your identity is consistent across all types of media. For this reason, all media channels must be considered in the formulation of the brand identity.

Targeting

The creation of a professional strong brand identity will help you to target the right customers for your business – who they are, where they are, how they interact, how they make purchasing decisions, everything about them – demographics and psychographics.

When starting up, don’t let branding be overlooked – it’s too important. Contact your local brand agency Liquid Creativity today to discuss creating your branding identity and start out on the right track for success.