You want to have a strategic design that attracts the people you would love as clients?
You want to stand out from the competition and people to remember you?
You want to build trust with potential clients and them to see you as an expert in your field?
Then (personal) branding is important for you!
What is branding?
The word “branding” is used as often as “expert” on social media these days it seems. And it’s often used in different contexts and in different ways, so it can get extremely confusing and unclear, I get that. So here’s what the Cambridge Dictionary says:
Branding is “the activity of connecting a product with a particular name, symbol, etc. or with particular features or ideas, in order to make people recognize and want to buy it”.
But branding is not merely the design, or even less, just the logo of your company. A brand actually can’t be designed. A logo design and all the visual representatives of a brand are part of branding, but to have a powerful brand identity design, you need to define some essential parts first.
Branding is what your (potential) customers think about your business, and their associations when they interact with your business, your service, or products.
So why is branding important for a successful business?
The purpose of branding is to create a loyal community of consumers. They share values and believe in an idea. Branding also encourages the usage of your service or product.
As the definition by Cambridge Dictionary says: It allows your clients and potential clients to recognize your brand (or company), which is crucial in the abundance of brands and companies.
It also means that your brand/company stands out from the competition and becomes familiar. And it also means that your clients and potential clients establish some kind of relation to the brand. Branding gives a brand a personality. And if the customers can relate to the personality they become loyal.
As humans, we rarely decide consciously if we buy something, so our subconscious mind plays a big role! When we buy something very often we decide subconsciously and then try to find reasons to justify our decision. Hence it’s very important to form those associations.
What is brand strategy?
Brand strategy is a strategy, that should help reach business goals, by turning the brand into their clients’ favorite brand. The brand should stay in their minds long-term and in a positive way.
Thus, customer loyalty should be strengthened. Therefore, brand strategy is the foundation. Brand Identity Design (also Corporate Design) is developed based on the brand strategy and marketing strategies are also implemented based on the brand strategy.
This means that a brand appears as a cohesive unit and is perceived as authentic.
How do you develop a brand strategy?
In order to create authentic and powerful brand designs, I first do a brand strategy workshop together with the client. This workshop consists of 3 sessions in which we develop the brand core, the brand persona, and the brand positioning.
Depending on the preference and location these sessions are either offline or online.
Through this workshop, we will untangle the mess in your head so we can smooth it out and you will gain a lot of clarity. After the workshop, you will receive a roadmap that contains the most important information and an action plan. The roadmap is like an instruction manual for all future steps in your business, whether that’s design, communication, product/service development, etc.
No matter if you’re just starting out or if you have been in business for years and want to reposition, a brand strategy workshop is an essential part to create an authentic and successful brand!
Are you interested but still not sure yet?
You can grab a small workbook for 0€ to start by yourself as well.