Your brand is one of your most important business tools. If brand development is done with intention, you can attract your ideal clients or customers. This makes preparing for brand development a task worth spending time on.
When I work with clients on branding, the first step is to define your brand, and this step has many components. Below are a few ways you can prepare for this conversation to ensure your branding is in line with your future business objectives.
5 Essential Steps to Define Your Brand
1. Take the Brand Quiz
The brand quiz is your first step in the branding process. You will consider visuals, icons, and philosophies that best align with your brand. At the end, you will be presented with your top two brand archetypes based on your answers. These archetypes are recognizable personalities that you can leverage to help answer the questions below.
Unearth your brand personality to stand out. Take the FREE Brand Archetype Quiz!
2. Define The Root and The Why of Your Brand
Behind every brand is a ‘why’. It will relate to your mission and what keeps you motivated to keep going. To get to the roots of it, ask yourself these questions.
- What are two to three words to describe the feeling you want your clients or customers to have?
- What are your top three personal values you want to be reflected in your brand?
- What is your niche and how can you emphasize it?
- What is your defining story in one sentence? Basically, what makes you different from everyone else?
3. Look At Design Components
When I work with branding clients I love it when they have already started to consider what they like and don’t like in certain visuals. This helps inform our work together and ensure the final brand is something timeless. Consider these major design elements prior to branding:
- What are your font preferences (scrawled, handwritten lettering, modern, distressed, serif etc)?
- What color scheme most appeals to you?
- Do you prefer round, rectangular or square logos?
- Do you have any visual icons you want to be represented in your brand (i.e. coffee cup, pen, book etc)
4. Solidify the Basics
If you’re a budding business or new entrepreneur, the basics can get lost when you’re scrolling through Pinterest looking for inspiration. But make no mistake, they are essential. Nail down exactly what you will call your company, your social handles, and any taglines you want to use. You will also want to make sure these are available for your use. Follow this list below:
- What is your full company name that will appear in your logo? Is it just your name? Will you have the middle initial?
- What is your tagline? Do you want one?
- Have you secured your name and made sure it was not already in use?
5. Gather Inspiration
Whether you work with me or someone else, it is always helpful for the designer to have a sample of visuals to review. This can be a Pinterest board, screenshots, or links to your favorite websites. It helps to know what you are already drawn to. I can then take these visuals and the results from your branding quiz to start crafting your own unique brand identity.
I want you to trust that intuition and then trust me to take it the next step.
Let Me Help You Leverage Your Brand
I LOVE to make your ideas look good. From website design to logo design I want to help you create a cohesive brand package and apply it to all of your platforms. You can check out my services page to review brand packages and other singular brand services.
