Welcome to the Brand Boost blog. This is a place for entrepreneurs, small and medium sized business owners to boost their brand growth. A place for strategic actionable steps. Today we will be talking about brand strategy and visual design.
Brand strategy and visual design are important for business growth. A strong brand strategy informs your visual language. It unites your purpose with how you want to be perceived. Branding is what people perceive your business to be.
So, let’s dive into today’s topic.
Brand Strategy Is Active Reputation Building
Brand strategy is a long-term plan to manage the public perception of your business. A good strategy defines the reason your business exists beyond making money. It highlights your unique difference(s), the promise you make to your customers, and how you will fulfill that promise.
Brand strategy develops a consistent, dependable experience for your customers. Over time consistent experiences inform our customers about who we are. When they can count on who we are, we build a reputation.
BRAND BOOST CHALLENGE:
Whether you put time into your brand strategy at the beginning or skipped it to save time, today is the day to go at it again. So, today take a pulse check and ask yourself (or assemble your team and ask);
- What is the reason my business exists?
- What are my business values?
- What makes my business, products, or services different from my competitors?
- What promise am I making to my customers? How am I delivering on that promise?
- Are the answers to these questions apparent to my customers through my communications, interactions, and experiences?
- Am I building a reputation around these things? (Don’t just look at what you are doing. Look at what your customer are saying here).
Brand-Aligned Visuals Are A Powerful Trust Tool
Your brand visuals include every visual element you use to represent your brand identity. It includes your logo, typography, colors, illustrations, photography, and layout choices.
Creating brand-aligned visuals means creating a cohesive system based on your brand strategy. It is giving thought to how customers will feel and experience your brand in the wild world.
Over time, this system becomes a powerful communicator of what your business is about. When people understand that, you’re building trust. And, consistency deepens a sense of dependability for customers. When we can create a real experience people can benefit from, they want to come back again and again.
BRAND BOOST CHALLENGE
Let’s check in on your visual alignment.
- Review all of your visual assets – social media, website, marketing materials, packaging, merch. Do they maintain a consistent style? Is it a recognizable style?
- Write out 4 to 6 keywords that describe your brand identity. Do your visuals align with those adjectives? For example, if you would describe your brand as fun and energetic, but your logo is a traditional monogram with muted colors, they are not aligned.
- Do you have a set of guidelines for fonts, typography, colors, images, layouts, and tone of voice that you use to create consistency in your marketing? Or, are you creating what feels good in the moment?
Brand strategy combined with aligned visuals are a powerful tools to building a brand reputation that people can trust. When we skip the strategy we leave our customers confused and unsure. Customers who are unsure don’t stick around.
Give your business the boost it deserves and check-in on your strategy. Make sure your visuals are aligning with that strategy so that customers will see a cohesive, dependable brand they want to interact with over and over again.
If you want to get a clear view of how your brand strategy is performing with actionable steps to align your visuals, check out the Brand Boost Audit. Or, if you are ready to boost your brand, Jami Thornsberry Designs is ready to collaborate with you. Together we will asses your business needs, map out your project goals and create a strategic, thoughtful solution that will help you connect with your people.
