What is a brand, and what’s the best way to create one without breaking the bank? Read AF supplier Naked Marketing's five-minute branding guide and find out.
Brands are often equated with logos. But a brand is much more than that.
Consider a tractor. A logo is the badge you see on the front of it. The brand, meanwhile, is the sum total of what people think and feel about that tractor – its quality, its reliability, its value for money. While the visual identity represents the brand, the brand is far more than the logo.
Your brand is your image and reputation in the wider world – what customers think, feel and say about your business, your services or products when you’re not in the room.
A brand is a promise of quality and value. It’s a story you tell about the future – about all the good things that people will obtain or experience when they choose you.
"A brand is how you build trust (and justify your price) before people make that decision to buy – in fact, before they’ve even spoken to you."
Your visual identity is the most important, powerful and memorable symbol of your brand.
To be recognisable and build trust, a visual identity must be consistent. That means choosing, and sticking to, certain key elements:
Fonts: usually two or three reliable, easy-to-read typefaces
Colours: usually three or four core colours
Photo style: a recognisable style of imagery that you use across the board
Templates and layouts: flexible but consistent styles that you can use across all branded materials.
When it comes to imagery, ditch the glossy, fake-looking stock photos. Authentic, behind-the-scenes shots tell a much better, more compelling story. A mix of professional shots with some raw, self-taken photos usually works well.
Setting up a basic layout or theme for creating social media posts or ads means you don’t have to start from scratch every time. It saves hours of work and keeps everything looking like it comes from the same professional business.
Your brand also includes verbal identity, which specifies how you speak rather than how you look. It’s sometimes known as tone of voice, and it captures how your brand values translate into the written word.
Creating a verbal identity isn’t play-acting. Your voice should be authentically aligned with who you really are as a business and the experience that customers actually have. People buy what feels real.
There’s almost no limit to the amount you can spend on branding. So it’s fair to ask where you should direct your early investment to get the best result.
Ask yourself: where do your new consumers look first? Wherever it is, that’s where you should direct your branding budget. If it’s a physical location (like a farm shop), roadside and shop signage is key. If it’s nationwide meat boxes, it’s the website homepage and the packaging/unboxing experience.
There’s nothing wrong with having a simple website. A brilliant, clean, one-page site that does the business is better than a messy, complicated five-page site that misses the target. Focus purely on three themes: who you are, what you sell and how to buy.
Nowadays, social media presence is just as important as a website – more so, in some cases. People can discover you on social media, so to give the right first impression, put the same effort into your profile as your website. Sell your quality and give a feel for what you’re like as people, behind the business.
If you’re selling produce, the packaging and labelling is vital. Every aspect of a brand sends a message of some sort. So what does your box or label say about your product?
Naked Marketing packaging concept for AF Member Foxburrow Farm Ltd
Be consistent. Use the same logo, colours and fonts across the board. Mixing it up will just confuse your customer.
Keep the message simple. Clarity beats cleverness. Remember to make it clear what you’re selling and why it’s brilliant.
Show your face. People buy from people. Don’t hide the family or the team behind the venture.
Check, check and check again. Nothing kills the ‘professional’ vibe than typos on a label, sign or website. Get a second pair of eyes on everything that goes out.
Remember your ‘why’. Why does your customer want or need what you’re offering? And why are you so passionate about it?
And there you have it – our beginner’s guide to creating and using your brand. Get the essentials right and stay consistent and you’ll soon turn your brand into one of the most valuable assets your business owns.
Thinking about giving your brand some TLC? Speak with AF supplier Naked Marketing to see how they can help.
