How to Create a Solid Brand Foundation
Recently on our email list, we answered this question during our weekly “Tip Tuesday” email. A wonderful WM Community member asked, “How do I create a solid brand foundation for my small business?” So today’s blog post is about teaching you how to create a solid brand foundation that’s consistent for your small business!
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What is a solid brand foundation and how do I maintain a consistent brand for my small business?
What I mean by a solid brand foundation is that you’re using consistent branding, messaging (AKA copywriting, brand tones, brand voice, etc.), and communication through your cohesive ecosystem.
It’s critical to have consistency when you’re building brand awareness so that you’re attracting the right people, converting high-quality leads, and creating an engaged community around your brand of products and/or services.
When you’re consistent in your brand this means that you’re starting to build trust with your audience. They view you as a professional business owner and that you have everything in order, so they start to trust what you are telling them all by remaining consistent with your brand strategy.
You should use the same brand fonts and colors everywhere! This includes social media, print materials (business cards, newsletters, postcards, etc.), websites, advertising, merchandise, etc.
For example, if you are using different fonts and colors all throughout your social media, your website, your print materials, and your email newsletter people won’t start to recognize your brand for fonts and colors paired together. Your brand needs to be able to stand alone and have people recognize it for you when you aren’t there to talk about it to the viewer.
A SOLID brand always has a SOLID strategy to build its foundation on.
A brand strategy is an approach to how a brand shows up to its customers and potential customers. It encompasses several different brand elements like brand identity, brand values, and overall tone that the viewer experiences while interacting with your brand.
The goal of your brand is to not only have a brand that you’re proud to present to the world but mainly to use your branding to attract your dream clients to your business to purchase a product or service from you. In order to do that though, you have to have a strategy in place to know the “WHY” behind the brand design.
A great starting point is to first know who your target audience is. Your target audience will affect the colors and fonts chosen to incorporate into your brand along with the voice and tone used to write the copy for your website and social media posts. Fun fact: did you know that color psychology and how fonts make people feel are big players in the professional design world? If you want to learn more about the basics of color psychology, read our blog post here.
When you’re determining your target audience, take psychographics and demographics into consideration. You want to be able to write a sentence such as, “I help [insert type of person] with [what you help with them] in order for them to [goal in mind for them to reach].” It can be that simple and you should be able to state this without a problem.
Examples of Psychographics are: personality, values, attitudes, interests, and lifestyles.
Examples of Demographics are: age, gender, race, location, employment status, and income.
Once you’ve come to the conclusion of who your target audience is, you’ll be able to determine why they need your product or service along with determining your brand’s value proposition.
A value proposition is a simple statement that summarizes WHY customers should choose your product or service over your competitors. Creating a value proposition can be a bit tricky, that’s why as part of our professional copywriting, all our custom web design services include creating value propositions for you to display on your website.
Have a brand designed for your business that you both love and that attracts your dream clients for you.
How many of you are coming to the end of this blog post and thinking, “Wow there’s a lot more behind creating a brand than I thought?” I’m sure there are at least a couple of you thinking that.
