Do you want your business to stand out in the crowd?

Creating a memorable brand for your business will make your business stand apart from the rest.

A business that has a simple, clever, distinctive brand will be easier for potential customers to remember.

Creating your brand starts with your business name

A great business name is memorable and easy to spell.

Business names that incorporate a visual element can be a powerful aid to customers’ memory.

Chose a business name that has a positive connotation, appropriate for your business.

By including information about what your business does in your business name, you are giving your potential customers clues about what you do and helping your business get found in searches.

Help customers and potential clients remember your business name by keeping it short. A short name looks better on promotional materials.Your business name needs to look good displayed on a sign or in an ad.

It is also a good idea to check whether your desired domain name is available and check social media usernames at http://namechk.com/ before you decide on a name.

 

A great logo is key to creating your brand

Characteristics of good logo design:

• a simple uncluttered image
• well balanced composition
• distinctive and bold in design
• easy to read font – especially when small
• looks good in black and white, as well as in colour

 

The impact of choosing the right logo colour

Colour is one of the first things people notice about a brand and increases brand recognition by eighty percent. According to a study of the world’s top 100 brands, there are a few colours which are most popular – 33% use blue, 29% use red, 28% use black or grey-scale and 13% use yellow or gold. A huge 95 percent of companies only use one or two colors, leaving only 5 percent who use more than two colours. Interestingly 41 percent of the top brands use text only, and 9 percent don’t feature the company name at all.

What does your brand colour say about your business?

There are lots of great infographics on Pinterest that explore the use of colour in branding and marketing such as this one: http://pinterest.com/pin/4362930861794734/

The design standards of logos have changed in recent years as logos design evolves for the internet. The return of simple, flat and typographical design has emerged replacing the complicated forms, three-dimensional effects and colour gradients which had been popular. See examples of the logo evolution of well know internet based brands such as Twitter and Facebook on here on Technologeek: http://www.technologeek.net/the-evolution-of-internet-related-logos/

Get inspired by these creative logos on Bored Panda:
http://www.boredpanda.com/clever-logos-with-hidden-symbolism/

These logo fails are a good lesson about how not to design a logo – step back from your logo and look at it from a different angle and get some feedback from others before deciding on your logo – they just might see something in it you hadn’t noticed:
http://www.boredpanda.com/worst-logo-fails-ever/

 

A distinctive tag line is a key element to creating your brand

A tag line is a three to seven word phrase that accompanies your logo. It sums up what you offer or pride yourself on.

Great tag lines will appear effortless because they just seem to flow, however, creating and refining a great tag line takes time, just like designing a great logo.

The benefits of taking the time to craft a great tag line is that it will stick in your customers memory.

 

Consistency and the way you deliver your brand is important

Put your best foot forward at all times by taking care with the way you present your brand.

The way you use of language when you speak or use words in marketing material, customer communications, including social media is extremely important.

What is your TONE? Does it align with your brand identity?

Take care to use good spelling and grammar and if possible get someone else to proof any marketing material before it is distributed(this includes blog posts).

This infographic on Pinterest highlights 10 common grammatical errors:
http://pinterest.com/pin/4362930861520496/

Like Grammarly on Facebook for fun, grammar tips, and discussions!
https://www.facebook.com/grammarly

 

Use your ‘brand voice’ in all communications for your business

Something simple like signing off on your emails, phone calls or face to face transactions with your tag line costs nothing and can really help your message stick in the memory of your customers.

 

Consistency in design is extremely important to reinforcing your brand message

Many larger companies have a style guide which specifies how their design elements are to be used in marketing collateral to maintain a consistent design and style across a variety of mediums.

Smaller businesses can achieve a similar level of continuity by deciding upon a standard font and colour choice and maintaining a consistent approach to formatting. I will delve into design principles more in future posts.

Use business cards, signage, email signatures, social media, flyers, brochures and other marketing collateral on-line and offline to create your brand identity.

 

I hope this post has helped your get more clarity about how to create your brand identity. I will be sharing more on branding in future blog posts. If you found this article helpful please share the love by clicking on the social media icons below and sharing on your social networks.