Clarity and simplicity.

A brand is the emotion associated when a transaction takes place between consumers and the company. What emotion are you causing the consumer to feel by the way you’ve branded your business? Donald Miller says, “People don’t buy the best products and services, they buy the ones that are communicated the clearest.” It’s all about clarity and simplicity. If someone is trying to research a company for their product or service, you may lose out to your competitor simply because they did a better job communicating their products or services than you did. That type of philosophy starts with your brand. Is it simple, is it clear? Strive for clear over cute.

Draw the consumer in.

The goal of your brand shouldn’t necessarily be to push your products or services onto a potential client or customer, it should be for them to be drawn or pulled to your products, services or brand. For a consumer to be drawn to a brand automatically puts that business in the “trust” category, therefore, potentially finding a customer for life. The starter for that recipe is identifying the emotion you want your customers to feel.

A Brand is more than a logo.

A brand is more of a personality than a logo. It truly needs to stand alone as its own personality and not rely on the personality of the owner or managers. That is how you build a lasting brand. We do this by creating three things:

1. 1. Personas – who the person you are trying to reach is. This includes age, location, job, etc. Defining a persona is also determining those people’s lifestyles and purchasing habits.
   2. Voice and Tone – the foundation of everything we write or produce. You have the same voice all the time, but your tone changes depending on your circumstance. You might use one tone when you’re hanging out in the backyard with your closest friends, and a different tone when you’re in a meeting with your boss. Your tone also changes depending on the emotional state of the person you’re addressing. You wouldn’t want to use the same tone of voice with someone who’s scared or upset as you would with someone who’s laughing.
   3. Logo, Fonts, and Colors – And then comes the actual design. The tendency is to run straight to the tangible thing in a logo, but like most things, it is best to slow down and build a firm foundation first. You don’t build a house by starting with the countertops.

Establish your audience.

Most people are scared to target a specific audience. The reason people are scared makes sense; it takes away potential customers. However, the better you are at defining an audience, the better you will be at every stage of your business. Why? Clarity allows you to make quick and wise decisions. There’s a quote that says, “If you know who you are, then you know what to do.” The same goes for knowing and establishing your audience. If you know who they are, you know what to do with them. You simply can’t be all things to all people. Identify who you want to be because intentionality is required when you brand.

Spend the time upfront when creating your brand, because your logo can change over time, but what hasn’t changed is the target audience and brand. Spend the time to build your brand because that is what is lasting.

If you’re a business owner or marketing director, we want to invite you to fill out a Brand Assessment at https://greenfox.io/brand-assessment/ It is a great opportunity to evaluate where your brand stands and how effective it can be marketed by your team.