When setting up a company, one of the first steps that most people or organisations take is to think about a logo. Some will have theirs created as quickly and cheaply as possible, or even try to design their own just to get up and running. These logos get uploaded to whatever online printing company is doing the 250 business cards for £2.50 this week, it gets chucked on to some generic business card design with a name and phone number and it’s ready to go… right?
There are many problems with this approach! An effective, well considered brand is a lot more than just a logo. It is crucial to understand this and get the logo and even the first steps toward branding as right as possible and as early as possible in a company’s journey. A great brand will make your customers notice you, instantly understand you and, perhaps most importantly, remember you and recognise you in the future. As human beings we seek comfort in what we recognise making us intuitively more likely to trust and buy from companies we with a memorable, recognisable brand. This is true for anything we buy from washing up liquid to watches and cars.
The Power of the Brand
Think Cornflakes; most people know Asda’s (other supermarkets available) cornflakes taste pretty much exactly the same as Kellogg’s. They are literally flaked corn, how much different can one taste from another? Yet Kellogg’s undoubtedly have the market share since they are the recognised and trusted brand. It’s not to say people are stupid for buying Kellogg’s, as I mentioned, intuition, instinct, recognition all drive this decision almost subconsciously. I suspect it comes from they days of eating the things we find in the wild, trusting what we recognised was a matter of life and death rather than the minutia of difference between spar own brand and McVitie’s chocolate digestives. (pro tip, Spar own brand are cheaper, have more flavour and are slightly smaller so more easily fit in a cup for dunking…)
At the other end of the scale, look at the luxury market place. Take the crown icon away from a Rolex watch and would it still be a Rolex? Of course it would, but maybe it wouldn’t be as instantly recognisable as a Rolex. And therefore the person looking at it wouldn’t feel the trust, history and intrinsic value associated with the Rolex brand. Unless they’ve been living on another planet and have never heard of Rolex, most people will have these feelings from the brand whether they know anything about how a watch is made or what makes a Rolex special. The brand simply represents quality and luxury.
So your brand can directly affect the success of your company and how likely people are to trust and buy from you or employ your services. This can be hard to quantify, as a company may do well for years with a poor brand due to a good reputation or strong word of mouth referrals. But just think how many customers could have been missed if they were put off by an inappropriate brand or just quite simply didn’t remember or recognise it.
So what makes up a brand and what is branding?
The word brand originates as you would expect from the old English word, meaning burn. Branding was to cause an identifiable mark burned with a hot iron onto livestock or an unfortunate criminal.
Today a brand can be similarly defined as a company’s identity. This is typically made up of visual elements; a logo or mark, typeface and style and colours. However, your brand is actually a lot more than just these graphics and aesthetics.
Your brand is the personality of the company. It encompasses what your company stands for; it’s culture, it’s values, it’s reputation. It is representative of the marketplace you operate within, your consumers and of course the products or services you supply.
What makes a good brand designer?
With this in mind, a good brand designer will take the time to get to know you and identify all of these elements, long before they start putting your logo together. They must have a good idea of where your company plans to be in the future. A good brand or derivative of it will be with you for the whole of your company’s lifespan. They must research your industry and understand where you are positioning yourself within it, and duly reflect this in your brand design. This process is what we refer to as branding. The brand is what you have, the branding is what is created to represent it graphically.
So how do I get people to notice my brand and protect it?
You’ve rolled out your new brand on your business stationary, signage on your premises, marketing material and website… This isn’t the end.
Your brand is so important, it must be protected and nurtured. Your brand will be used in any public facing part of your company, touched by Marketers, PR managers and designers and must remain consistent throughout. You should have some brand guidelines produced to pass on to anyone who works with your brand. These needn’t be complicated, but must be comprehensive enough to communicate your brand effectively, outline its elements and how they are to be used.
A good brand must also be flexible enough to evolve with your company and refresh from time to time, whilst maintaining a strong recognisable core.
So, don’t take your brand and branding lightly. It will be with you for a long time and could have a huge effect on the success or failure of your company.
At F8 we treat our client’s brand is the starting point for everything we do for them, be it photography, printed design, a website, marketing material; everything. If you would like to work with a company who will take your existing branding seriously, or create you a great brand to get your company off on the right foot, get in touch.
Click for more on branding and design, or take a look through our portfolio at just some of the brands we have created. We look forward to hearing from you…
