DIY Branding Checklist
A simple checklist for your diy brand
Branding a business includes lots of moving parts to really create a cohesive and converting brand. It isn’t all about logos, fonts, and colors. In fact, the work starts much, much sooner than that.
The first few things I ask my clients to do is identify their target audience, and complete a S.W.O.T. Analysis. These two things can nearly happen at the same time. You must have an audience in mind to consider when looking at your strengths and weaknesses, and sometimes a S.W.O.T Analysis will show you which kind of people you will repel with your brand.
When narrowing down your target audience, it is sometimes helpful to create a single client avatar, give them a name, personality, hair color, etc. and build your audience off of that. Most of my clients find this easier to narrow down their target audience from the one avatar they hone in on. Your target audience should be full of your dream clients.
Once you have both of those things down, and not a second sooner. you can start to develop your brand story. This might be my favorite part of branding businesses, is digging deep into who the business owner is, what it is they actually do in their business, and Why they do it. These simple questions will flesh out the majority of your brand story. If you are unfamiliar with brand storytelling, I suggest reading Building A Storybrand by Donald Miller.
After we’ve done the homework, we can then start to develop the messaging you might use in advertising and marketing. When discussing this with my clients, I ask them to dream about who would voice their commercial during the Super Bowl. Is it luxury car salesman Matthew McConaughey, or John Dutton from the Yellowstone Ranch? Maybe your brand is feminine and quirky and Drew Barrymore lends her voice for your commercial, or maybe it is a little more gritty and Mila Kunis is the voice of your brand. Each one of these actors have a distinct character in their voice, just as your brand should. You wouldn’t have Al Pacino voice a commercial for kids’ toys - the voice you use in your messaging matters.
Really, one of the last things we focus on in branding is the visual parts of your brand. The fonts, colors, icons, logos, and photos used to convey your brand to customers isn’t our main priority. Without all of the other items on the list, we wouldn’t know who we are designing for, or what message we want them to hear. Ultimately, your visual brand has nothing to do with you. Yes, you read that right. Your visual brand is all about your target audience.
Lastly, the key to successful branding, is staying consistent. In the 66 years McDonald’s has been in business there have been many re-brands, introduction of characters, and menu changes, but one thing that has been tried and true? Those golden arches.
McDonalds is the second largest employer in the nation, top ten profitable companies, and is recognized world-wide. If a company of that size can stay consistent over 66 years, then surely your business can afford consistent branding as well.
Get your free copy of my DIY Brand Checklist, HERE
This post contains affiliate links, which means if you purchase an item with my code, I get a small kick-back as well. But be assured, I am only sharing these products because I use them every day and love them just as well!
I’m Brenna - and I can’t wait to chat with you about all things business and rural life. Thanks for reading!
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