The Importance Of Branding Your Business

Branding your business.

No matter how big or small your business is, creating a brand for yourself is crucial to the image, reputation, and success of your business. Branding yourself is beneficial to both traditional marketing and digital marketing, especially.

What does it mean to brand your business? It’s as simple as it sounds; a way for others to identify your business. From logo to language to advertisements. So, how do you get started? Branding can be somewhat complex, so we’ve broken down the different steps to make it easier for you.

Voice and Language

Is your company more laid-back and casual or professional? Do your morals fall around the importance of family, growth, community, or all of the above? Do you have a catchphrase you often find your employees and even consumers using? Once you identify the key parts that make your business your business, it’ll be easier to move forward.

Logo and Website

Visuals are everything! People will base their opinion of your business based off of not only the design of your logo, but how accessible and easy your website is to navigate through. Like your voice, your visuals should represent you and what you stand for. For example, we all know the iconic Nike swoosh. It symbolizes movement and speed. It depicts the art of movement, which is exactly what Nike is about. Once a logo is figured out, match the rest of your visuals on your website, advertisements, and video to that of your logo. This will bring familiarity and comfort to your customers.

Means of Marketing

While businesses can have great benefit from all forms of marketing, does yours have a signature way of marketing? Maybe it’s podcasts, digital art, or live streaming. The possibilities are endless and through trial-and-error, you can determine what your consumers love and look forward to and what may not be pushing a lot of traffic and engagement.

Be Authentic

Above all, most important is being authentic and real with your consumers. Across all platforms, customers not only love being able to interact with you, but showing off personality helps build trust. This goes for more than just communication with consumers. Make sure every aspect of your business is on the same page! From business cards to employees, promote yourself.

Seek Professional Advice

Branding can be a lot of work. There are a lot of moving parts that need to work to come together to make a beautiful, meaningful brand for your business. There’s nothing wrong with reaching out and asking for help. Whether it’s solely for digital advertisements, communicating, or all of the above, Paragon Marketing Group has got your back!

7 essentials to brand awareness

brand awareness.

Recently Paragon has taken on a new effort of working with non-profits to help them grow. We feel it is very important and the more we give the more we receive.

While visiting these non-profits it is amazing how many of them have no brand guidelines. Now, this is not only for nonprofits, but with small businesses, as well. What is a brand guideline you ask? A brand guideline is how people view your company or non-profit. It is how they recognize it is you. Brand guidelines are a roadmap to automatic recognition of who you are.

 

Here’s what should be included in your brand guidelines.

  1. Your history, vision and your top values for your organization.
  2. Your mission statement including what we call “tone of voice” requirements. Yes, the tone of voice is important and must be spelled out as to what can and can not be said and how!
  3. Color palette is essential. Typically your logo will decide this for you but if you have a two color logo then add a couple of colors that you feel go well with it and stick to them.
  4. Where and how your logo can be used is one of the most important things that you will spell out. Can it be used on certain types of materials and on the website? How much white space around your logo? Can it be combined with any other logo? Does it always have to be color or can you do black and white? What sizes are allowed to be used? All very important.
  5. What fonts are people allowed to use is another one that needs to be thought of. There are literally thousands of fonts out there so do not leave it to chance. A good rule of thumb is having 1-3 options of fonts.
  6. What type of photos can be used with your logo? Not only the style but will you require special lenses, lighting. Maybe with your brand, you only want black and white with people in it.
  7. Please provide examples of the following: a business card, letterhead, brochure or pamphlet. Maybe provide a picture of proper use and unproper use of your logo.

Now, none of this matters if nobody knows about it.  Then you are not really creating a brand. Every time you send out your logo to anybody include these guidelines. If they don’t understand them then ask for a proof prior to print or publication. You must know where your logo is and how it is being represented at all times!

 

7 essentials to brand awareness

brand awareness.

Recently Paragon has taken on a new effort of working with non-profits to help them grow. We feel it is very important and the more we give the more we receive.

While visiting these non-profits it is amazing how many of them have no brand guidelines. Now, this is not only for nonprofits, but with small businesses, as well. What is a brand guideline you ask? A brand guideline is how people view your company or non-profit. It is how they recognize it is you. Brand guidelines are a roadmap to automatic recognition of who you are.

 

Here’s what should be included in your brand guidelines.

  1. Your history, vision and your top values for your organization.
  2. Your mission statement including what we call “tone of voice” requirements. Yes, the tone of voice is important and must be spelled out as to what can and can not be said and how!
  3. Color palette is essential. Typically your logo will decide this for you but if you have a two color logo then add a couple of colors that you feel go well with it and stick to them.
  4. Where and how your logo can be used is one of the most important things that you will spell out. Can it be used on certain types of materials and on the website? How much white space around your logo? Can it be combined with any other logo? Does it always have to be color or can you do black and white? What sizes are allowed to be used? All very important.
  5. What fonts are people allowed to use is another one that needs to be thought of. There are literally thousands of fonts out there so do not leave it to chance. A good rule of thumb is having 1-3 options of fonts.
  6. What type of photos can be used with your logo? Not only the style but will you require special lenses, lighting. Maybe with your brand, you only want black and white with people in it.
  7. Please provide examples of the following: a business card, letterhead, brochure or pamphlet. Maybe provide a picture of proper use and unproper use of your logo.

Now, none of this matters if nobody knows about it.  Then you are not really creating a brand. Every time you send out your logo to anybody include these guidelines. If they don’t understand them then ask for a proof prior to print or publication. You must know where your logo is and how it is being represented at all times!