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added: Mon, 08th January 2007 | 559 views | 0x in favourites
feed url: http://www.not-just-pretty.com/notjustpretty/index.rdf
Small business brand design must be more than "just pretty" Learn how to improve your graphics' effectiveness, create bottom line results and close more sales.
By Defining your brand, you'll be able to be more organized in your thinking about your marketing and designs. Instead of designing things on a piece-by-piece basis, you'll have your brand communication goals recorded and available for you - and for your designers, writers and other marketing team members - to consult. Or, if you're a very small business, you'll be able to consult this definition over time. This way, even if you have multiple people creating your brand, they'll all be working from the same goals, and trying to communicate the same things. This, combined with creating a record of the words and images you use to communicate your brand definition (i.e., do you know what phrases you use throughout your materials? How about having copies of your logo and stock photos?), can help you to create a consistent and well organized marketing effort moving forward.
If someone walked up to you and said "you should make your business more like a snowflake" you'd probably think they were a little crazy. Do they think your business should be made from ice crystals? Be cold or melty? Fall from the sky? None of these seem like desirable business attributes. But, there's one thing that each and every snowflake has that a small business should strive for—uniqueness. When the ice crystals that make up a snowflake all get together, they always assemble themselves in a new and different formation. Snowflakes always have a unique structure and a unique appearance. Just like snowflakes, your business will have several different types of uniqueness. On the surface, you'll want your brand and marketing materials to look unique, so that when all of your materials go out, they can stand out from your competitions'. Your business will have underlying structural elements that...
5. Defining your brand makes differentiating yourself easier. Once you understand what your business's personality is, what your services and products are, who your competition is, and who you can help, it naturally becomes easier to figure out what makes you different. In fact, just defining what you do and who you do it for, and niching those down to a small set, can really make you stand out. The key to differentiating your services through these factors is to look for unique answers to these questions. Don't be afraid to come up with answers that stand out from your competition, and that are really interesting. But, at the same time, you want to make sure to engage your target audience with your differentiation - that it's not so far out of the box that they don't connect with the differentiator, or don't understand it.
4. By creating a Brand Definition, you'll become more aware of your competition. Part of figuring out who you are in your business is to do your due diligence and research your competitors. I have a lot of customers come to me and say "but, I have no competition - my product or service is entirely unique!" I'm sorry to say, that's not the case. Every business, no matter what you're selling, has some sort of competition. There may be no one doing exactly what you're doing, precisely in the way that you do, but there's going to be some other business out there who could fill your customers' needs in some way. They're your competition. You may also have direct competition - other pet sitters in your area, or another psychotherapist, or another financial advisor. If that's the case, then you just have to make a note of who...
3. Creating your Brand Definition forces you to identify your best clients, so that you can start thinking like them. Your business brand's job is to communicate what your business is all about to the clients who you want to work with, through words and pictures. So, in order to do that, you have to figure out who you want to work with and what you need to tell them about your business. You know, things like: What problem you solve How you solve it How you take care of all the things around their problem that they worry about The kinds of experience you have with their problem Who else you've helped Why you can help them even if you haven't helped someone in the exact same situation What your process is And all those other questions that people are always asking you when they call or meet with...
(Continued from last post) 2. For greater personal clarity around your business. Taking the time to define your business brand - and to actually write that definition down - can help you to have more clarity about what your business is all about, your path in your business, who you want to work with, and how you can help them. Just like the previous point, this not only helps when creating your brand, but it also helps you to be more clear when writing your marketing materials, deciding which marketing opportunities are right for you, running your business on a day-to-day basis, and even feeling like you have a purpose and vision in your business. This is also especially helpful for solo entrepreneurs. Since they're working alone in their businesses, it can be easy to feel unclear about where their personality stops, and where the business begins. Defining the business's...
First of all, a quick answer to "what the heck is a Brand Definition"? A Brand Definition is made up of four elements. These four elements map directly to the needs and concerns in your client's mind: Who You Are: Is your company a good fit for their style and personality? What You Do: Do they want and need what you do? What Makes You Different: Should they work with you instead of someone else? Are you really good enough for them to give you their big pile of hard-earned money? Who You Can Best Help: Does what you say make them feel comfortable to actually hand over a pile of money? Does what you're selling actually work for their specific business and situation? Why should a small business go through the preliminary branding work of creating a brand definition? Isn't all that branding and positioning stuff for big companies...
Here are some screenshots of another website I just launched: Home page: Inner pages: This site included designing a brand identity, designing the website, coding a cross-platform drop-down menu using CSS, Flash design, process illustration, and a white paper design.
I actually completed this site a while ago - but realized that it never made it into the portfolio! This is a website for a local chain of spa stores. I like the waves of their Visual Vocabulary at the bottom of the site, which also appear on the business cards, letterhead and trifold brochure. These waves are so unique that they make their materials stand out. I also designed the logo for this project.
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