How To Create A Cohesive Brand Strategy

Diving into brand management

As a small business, it can be hard to know where to start with branding. Afterall, it’s a whole lot more than just designing a logo and slapping it on all your company materials. Branding is the culmination of everything that your company is and stands for. It shapes how customers perceive your business and interact with your product or service. When done well, branding helps to develop a professional image for your business, establishing your company’s place in the market. Regardless if you are just starting your business or are looking to rebrand, this article will help you get down to business and create a cohesive brand strategy.

Determine Your Brand

Before you spend a lot of time and money developing your logo and color palette, you have to figure out what your brand is. An easy way to start is by asking questions about who you are and what you do. Figure out what makes you different from all the other companies out there. Have a solid understanding of who your target customer is. If you don’t already have them, create your mission statement, vision, and company values. Develop your brand voice. Once you’ve done all of these things, you should have a good understanding of what your brand is and can move forward to develop cohesive branding that helps promote your company to the world!

Create Your Logo & Style Guide

After you know exactly what your brand is you get to determine what it looks like. This is the fun part! Spend some time researching logos and color palettes for inspiration. Make sure to look at businesses outside of your industry as well – you never know when inspiration might strike! After you have some ideas, try your hand at creating some mock-ups, or find a professional graphic designer to create your logo. Remember to check back in with your brand values throughout this process, you need to make sure that everything you do properly reflects the image that you want for your brand. At the same time, we recommend that you develop a brand style guide. A style guide will contain any and all

information that pertains to your company image. From color codes, font styles and sizes, photography, data visualizations and more, your brand style guide will set clear guidelines for employees to follow so that all of your materials accurately convey your brand image.

Implement Your Branding

You know your brand, you have your logo and color pallet, it’s time to put it all together! Implement your new branding on your website, social media platforms, business cards, company clothing, product tags, and anything else you want sporting your logo. Moving forward, make sure to maintain consistency with your branding across all company materials. This will help your business develop credibility and a professional image. Additionally, it will help with brand recognition, improving the likelihood that a consumer will remember your company and then choose your product over a competitor’s. If you are rebranding, make sure to let your customers know so that they aren’t confused the next time that they interact with your business. Once everything is in place, you will be able to move forward and grow your business with the confidence that comes from having a professional and cohesive brand strategy.