As a business owner, have you ever wondered what the big deal is with branding? Maybe you’ve questioned why you would invest money into design. Would it be better to instead use that money to hire another employee so more work gets done, or invest in new equipment, or use it for a business conference and learn more about a specific topic? Those are all valid places to spend and I’m not telling you not to invest in those areas. However, I do believe good, quality design and branding is just as important as hiring a new employee or buying a new laptop. In fact, investing in professional branding may produce more benefits, have a longer impact for your business, and cost you less than the items listed above.
Today I’m sharing the top 3 reasons why I believe your business will benefit from a complete brand identity. If you don’t have time to read the top 3 reasons, at least walk away knowing this: Quality branding + design works for your business so you don’t have to–subtly reminding viewers and customers why they are choosing your brand over another. You win customer loyalty with consistent + quality visuals.
Logo marks allow for diversity + creativity within a brand identity and showcase details about your business you may not be able to display within the primary logo alone.
Having a primary logo is a great step in developing an identity for your business. As viewers are introduced to your logo, they begin to make a connection between the logo mark and your brand. However, that one primary logo can only go so far. As you start to push marketing materials (print or digital), add to your product line, or expand your brand as a whole, you’ll want a variety of logo marks, a well-rounded color palette, and a specified style to work with. This will help avoid being repetitive + allow you to stay creative with marketing collateral.
Additional brand marks showcase details about your business that you may not be able to display within the primary logo alone. These details are places where you can delight your customers–telling them more about who you are as a business and showing what you value.
In the concept brand I designed (pictured above), the main, primary logo for Nora’s Coffee is in the center. This logo is able to capture some detail–the year the company was established, the location, and the type of business it is (café and coffee). However, to take this brand a step further, I’ve developed a variety of logo marks: the coffee bean icon, a wavy pattern that draws from the coffee bean, the tagline “start every morning right” designed in creative ways, and the shop location laid out in a wavy shape to tie into the pattern and coffee bean icon. These seemingly simple details are what delight customers and subtly remind them to choose your thoughtful, creative brand over another.
Your business will appear more trustworthy + professional.
We may not want to admit it, but we do align ourselves with specific brands based on appearance. We choose to work with companies and are loyal to brands that look professional and trustworthy from the outside. With that said, I hope we go further than that and look into the company values, quality of product, and more; but it starts with what we see from online, print, and in-store appearances.
And where does that appearance start? It starts with branding and marketing. With brand identity design—complete with a variety of logo marks to work with, a color palette created using research and color psychology, custom patterns and photography, and brand fonts—built to attract your customers and clients, you are sure to appear trustworthy and professional.
You as a business owner will gain confidence in your brand and have more fun using it!
You will have so much fun applying your brand with 3-5 brand marks to place on your website and social media profiles (main header logo, favicon, footer, profile images, etc.), a stellar color palette for backgrounds and accent tones, patterns that add detail and set the mood for your brand, go-to fonts, and custom photography and illustrations to choose from for every blog article or social media post! There is no guessing when you have a complete brand identity system to sift through at any given moment. Not to mention—a detailed brand guidelines booklet that stores all the info about your brand in one neat + tidy space for you to refer back to.
Yes, it is an investment. But my goal is to make your investment worthwhile by creating a completely custom brand that highlights the unique services and products your business has to offer.
