When you think about designing – or redesigning – your business’s identity, you think about finding a designer and hiring them to design a logo, right?

That’s where many small businesses go wrong. There’s a 5-step process to designing your small business’s brand image. And actually designing it is the very last step.

If you want to create a profitable, pretty and powerful brand, then you’ve got to begin at the beginning. If you begin with the first 4 steps here, then you’ll be able to design a brand that’s stronger, has a more solid base and that will be an investment that gets results instead of an expensive, creative guess!

Take a look at your materials and really evaluate whether they’re working for you – and be totally honest about how they’re not working. It stings, but it’s worth it to improve your brand!

This gives you clarity about your brand, PLUS… It lets you effectively communicate with everyone else who is involved in your business, like:

• Your clients, so that you can make a stronger connection with them.
• Your vendors:  you’ll save money and get better results from working with them by giving them this information in a clear way. And, you’ll never be in danger of having a designer or writer hijack your business again with their creative ideas – you’ll be in control.
• Your partners and affiliates, will  really understand what you’re up to, so they’ll be able to be more effective when they promote you. You’ll get more and better leads from them.

Your brand foundation consists of all of the positioning details for your business. Things like: your business’s personality, your BrandStyle, what you do, what makes you different, and your ideal client – who they are, what they want, need and desire and how they feel after they work with you. This information is absolutely essential to building a brand that really has a solid footing.

Without this, you’re just making a brand so you can… do what?  If you don’t know where you’re going, how do you know how to get there – or even if you’re making any progress at all?

Dream big and think about where you want your business to go, the lifestyle you want to live, the impact you want to make on the world and the legacy you want to leave.

Here’s where you use your Brand Foundation and your future vision to make a strong and strategic brand plan that shows exactly, step-by-step, where your brand is going and how it will get there.

Plan out where you want your business, your life and your brand to be – in 6 months, 1 year, 3 years, 5 years and beyond.

This plan should include how you want to be showing up in the world, the brand pieces you need to get there, who you want to be working with and the reputation you want to build.

It should also come complete with numbers and dates (I know, this part doesn’t sound very design-y at all!) Unless you have the numbers and dates  – how will you know if you’re accomplishing your goals? Some of these numbers should detail how much money you want your brand to bring in… so that you’ll see how you’re on-track with your monetary profits.

I know, this is the step you’ve been waiting for!

This is where a designer comes on board and works with you to design a brand identity that communicates your brand foundation, looks fabulous and connects with your ideal clients. This is where you get to input your feedback and work with that artist to create a look that reflects who you really are and that you’re really proud to market with!

That’s the whole process to designing a brand that’s powerful, profitable and pretty – and everything that happens before step 5 is the “secret sauce” that is missing from small business brands that don’t work. Just think how effective your brand could be if it had all of these components!

By: Erin Ferree

One of the questions I get most often is some variation of, “I just started my business. Don’t I need to create a brand before I can tell anyone about it?”

And you’d expect me to say, “Of course. You must run out immediately and design a brand this instant or else!” After all, I’m a brand designer.

But, I don’t actually believe that. Shocking, isn’t it?

What I do believe is that branding too soon can hurt a business in its beginning stages. Why?

• Good branding isn’t cheap. Why spend money unless you’re sure that it will turn out to be a solid investment?
• Branding isn’t just about design. There’s a lot of backstory about your business that you have to nail down before you get to design your brand. You have to know what your business is all about, what its personality is like, who your customers are and what they want, and what makes you different from others in your field. If you’ve just started your business, there’s a good chance that you have some theories about some of these – but you shouldn’t commit to them until you’ve used them in practice.
• Start-ups are subject to lots of change. As your business gets going, you’re likely to make some changes and modifications to your Grand-Master Plan (you know, that big business idea that you had in the first place!) If you design a brand now, it may not be valid by the time you really settle in to your business.
• You might not know your business well enough to get it right. After all, your business is just a “gleam in your eye” – an idea that looks good on paper. Try it out on some real people, to see how your delivery works and what results your clients really get (they may surprise you!)

That said, if you are clear on your business idea and you’re really ready to step out in a big way with your brand, then don’t let me hold you back. Take the next step that you feel is right for you so that you can go, go, go with your business!

By: Erin Ferree

How do you design a marketing kit that will make you look professional in your meetings, but not break the bank?

Here are the basics you’ll need:

1. Design a logo. This should be a text logo at the very least – designed in an interesting font whose meaning is tied into your business’s personality. A logo with a graphic and text is best!
2. You’ll need a business card. This is an essential tool for client meetings, networking and marking other opportunities. Who knows when you’ll need to give away a card?
3. A Microsoft Word letterhead. You should design a document header with your logo and contact information. This element can also be imported into Quickbooks to brand your invoices. Keeping it digital cuts costs and allows you to email PDF attachments that are branded as well.
4. A blog or website. A WordPress blog can be more affordable to design – especially if you base your design off of a template like Thesis. And, you’ll be able to add to it and maintain it yourself. You’ll have more control over the design of a standard website. Ask your designer which option will best fit your needs and budget.

That’s it for a perfect “basic” brand kit. Watch this blog for my next post, on a few additional options you can add to your arsenal.

By: Erin Ferree

There are 3 main types of logos that a consultant can choose to use for their business. Each has advantages and disadvantages for the consultant. Here are explanations and samples of each type, to help you choose the best match for your consultancy.

Combination logo: The most effective option for creating a consultant’s logo is to make a logo that contains both a graphic and your company name. This approach is called a combination logo. This type of logo contains both a memorable logo graphic that tells the story of who you are, what you do, and what makes you different as well as spelling out your business name for easy identification. One big advantage of this type of logo is that it combines an image and text – and having both combined will make the logo more memorable for viewers.

Text logo: A logo can be as simple as having your company name typeset in a unique font. The company name can have a small graphic embellishment – like an underline, or it can appear on a colored background. This is a simple approach that can work for many consultants. If you do go this route, you’ll miss out on some of the benefits that you can get by including a graphic in your company name – namely, that your logo won’t have an image in it to help clients remember it. However, if your company name is long, this approach will help you to keep the logo as clean and simple as possible. And, if your consultancy’s services or goals may change over time, there is no danger of your icon becoming inappropriate – since you don’t have one.

Symbol-only logo: You can design a logo that’s a symbol only (think Apple Computers or Nike). This approach is not recommended for consultants, though, because this type of logo takes a big investment in brand education to build up the association of your business name with the logo. Without that association, the logo will not have any meaning to the viewer, and will not help to build your brand.

By: Erin Ferree

A logo is an important tool for a consultant because it gives your business an identity and a face of its’ own. This gives you four major benefits:

1.   Makes your business look established, stable and successful. People want to do business with businesses that have experience, who will be there for them in the future (and in some consulting areas, this translates to just being around and available to complete the project!), and who are good at what they do. Investing in creating a logo can show your prospects that you fill these qualifications.

2. Makes your business look bigger and more official. This is the difference between positioning yourself as a freelancer and a consultant. Without a logo, you’re just a person, working by themselves, in a spare bedroom in your house. With a logo, you suddenly become a business –- and you’ll carry the increased credibility that brings with it. This credibility will help to assure your potential clients that you can handle their project.

3.   Gives you an image to place on your marketing materials. Having an image on your marketing materials instead of just text will make your materials look more visually interesting. More visual interest makes it more likely that your materials will be picked up, read and retained by potential clients. This isn’t to say you should stop at the logo when adding graphics to your materials, but it’s an excellent start.

4.   Contributes to your marketing’s consistency. Starting all of your marketing pieces with your logo will help you to create a consistent set of marketing pieces. Making sure your marketing pieces are consistent will help your clients to recognize each of your pieces as yours. And, as they receive or see more of your marketing, they will see your marketing message repeated again and again. This repetition will help them to remember you when they have a need for your consulting services.

By: Erin Ferree