For many of us, branding conjures up the visual identity of a business.
Components such as…
- logos
- colours
- fonts & typography
- Images
Granted, those things are usually the first things that your clients potentially see when visiting your website/profile.
However, I personally believe that it should be the last thing that you focus on.
In this article I’ll be laying out 3 things which I believe are more important in design than branding.
1 # Strategy
So, this centres on the goals of your enterprise.
You’ll need to figure out what it is you want, how you’ll achieve that, and the issues that might arise in your journey.
If your goal is to make $1’000’000 by the end of the year, then every decision, every steppingstone towards that goal needs to be fully mapped out and understood.
Who are your competitors?
What’s your market, and what does it look like at the moment?
Your vision and mission need to be explored and confirmed here.
What sets you apart from the market as a whole?
What goal do you hold that is completely different to your competitors?
Ultimately here, you need to focus on the ‘why’ of your company. Once you’ve got that down, the rest can be worked on.
2 # Messaging
How are people going to know the problem that you solve for them unless you communicate that?
The way you communicate needs to be compelling enough for them to purchase your ‘solution’.
You need to encourage the thought that you are the main/first person they think of when solving their problem.
You’ll need to know and clearly communicate your values/mission to your target audience.
Knowing what you stand against is just as important.
- Hooks
- Key phrases
- Impact statements
- One liners
3 # Behaviours
In most cases, companies will omit this from their attention, as they view the other aspects to be of higher importance.
But I find it just as significant as the other components in branding, and I’ll tell you why.
Its ultimately understanding the journey that both you and clients go through to attain your solution to their problem.
We’re ‘walking the talk’ here, implementing the messaging and enacting our strategy.
Many start businesses to become profitable.
Eventually we will remove ourselves from working in (wearing all the hats and committing to every task to further the company) the business, to on it (attaining a leadership and management role).
We can’t achieve this level of operations within the company if we haven’t built a transferable/predictable system for attaining clients and getting profits.
What do these behaviours look like?
- Mapping the journey
- Creating the experience
- Implementing components for every experience to feel uniform.
As a designer, I can honestly state that I’m slightly biased when it comes to the capabilities of this trade.
I firmly believe that it can…
- capture the right minds
- kindle generations of creatives
- Even change the world!
But even I have to admit that these 3 factors are imperative to complete before you start thinking about branding.
If you wish to look into your own strategy, messaging, and behaviours we have just the thing for you.
Our brand confidence program has helped clients just like you ensure their marketing performs to a higher standard, and their client’s experience becomes that much richer.
If you’re interested, check the link here, and hopefully I’ll see you on the other side for a chat around your brand!
