Branding

Dayton, OH—Branding is a term often thrown around in marketing circles.

Whether you’re planning for an event, preparing for an experiential tour or you simply are designing a footprint for a convention or festival, proper branding is an important consideration.

At its core, it’s a combination of a name, term, sign, artwork, logo, symbol, or design intended to differentiate and set itself apart from its competitors. At a much deeper level, branding is one’s DNA. More than simply a look, it’s a culture, it’s a persona, it’s a philosophy, it’s your way of doing business...

It’s WHAT you communicate, HOW you communicate, and WHICH platforms you choose to align yourself with to utilize and communicate through. 

Brand

More than just a look…

When developing an effective branding strategy, please remember the "6 Cs":

Color Scheme – When creating your brand, do not underestimate the importance of the colors used. There is significant psychological and emotional attachment with the varying colors used. As each color conveys a different message and feeling, think about the type of product or service you are promoting as well as its desired image. Consider your target audience and the demographics you are trying to reach--what do they like?.

Color

It matters…

Would vivid colors be more suitable than quiet pastels? Would red simply not convey the personality of your company as well as a more serene blue? It may serve you well to research a bit to learn what kinds of colors appeal to (or repel) people who are seeking the kinds of goods or services that you offer.

Yellow--Highly tide to optimism, clarity, and warmth.

Orange--Logos and products are associated with friendly, cheerful confidence.

Red--Is considered to be youthful, bold, and exciting.

Purple--Is most associated with royalty, wisdom, imagination, and creativity.

Blue--Is used to convey trust, dependability, and strength.

Green--Provides growth, health, and strength.

White--Communicates balance, neutrality, and calmness.

Image Matters

How do people perceive you?

Class – Your brand image is reflected in the logo as the identifying mark of your business. It is what people will associate with you as soon as they see it. Does your image properly reflect how you want to disrupt your industry?

Clarity – A well-branded image is properly showcased and communicated on a brand's website and marketing materials. The design should be simple and still lend itself to easy navigation. While color scheme is an important and personal choice in branding, a successful website will avoid heavy, dark backgrounds and excessively distracting elements such as flashy graphics, which are slow loading and often repellant to visitors.

Content – This refers to not only what it is you offer, but also the way in which you offer it. Your website content needs to “speak” with your brand’s “voice." Defining this tone requires an understanding of whom you are reaching and what you wish to convey. Will your tone be businesslike? Friendly? Humorous? Comforting? Note:  If you have several writers creating your content, you must take great care to ensure that they are all on the same “tonal branding page” so visitors will have consistent experiences with your brand. They should know what to expect or anticipate when interacting with all forms of your brand. This also applies to your social media postings. Consistency is key to developing brand awareness.

Communications – Leave no detail out. When current or potential customers email your business, do the responses look as though they were knocked off from someone’s laptop, or are they consistent with your brand? The color schemes, headers, logo, etc. that appear on your website should also be in your communications to your customers. Don’t overlook this important touch. 

Consistency – This applies to posting content--once you start, don't stop--but more aptly it applies to being mindful of the brand virtually every time it is mentioned. Consistency is what ensures that your brand makes an impact of credibility. Your brand needs to be consistent throughout your entire website. Your particular color scheme, vocal tone, logo, and slogan (if applicable) need to be found on every page of your site. Even keeping your website URL consistent with your name in social media sites helps promote your brand.