Having a consistent brand is one of the most important things you can do to market your business or nonprofit successfully. If what you do and what you represent is not clear, you will either not be remembered or be remembered for the wrong reasons. Branding is not just about having a good logo (though that’s incredibly important). It’s about supporting the strategic plan of your organization with a tone, look, and feel that reinforces your mission to the audience you most want to reach. Follow these steps to make your branding the best it can be:
- Start with your mission. Your marketing and communications should flow from your mission. You want to be intentional and clear about what you represent. What are your core values? What value are you bringing to customers, clients, or the world at large? Give equal thought to what you’re trying to do and who you’re doing it for. How can you reach your audience? Read this post for more on writing a mission statement.
- With your mission in mind, design your logo. Your logo will be used in more places than you can currently imagine, so design it as a vector file. A vector file can be enlarged forever without losing resolution, so it will work on anything from forgiving screens to huge billboards. This is because the computer mathematically interprets the lines, curves, and angles of the image rather than using pixels to create the picture (as it does for raster files like photographs). If this sounds confusing, it really isn’t. Any file created in Adobe Illustrator will work as long as it doesn’t incorporate low resolution raster images from other programs.
Other considerations: your logo will be out there a long time, so really give it some thought. Don’t use anything trendy that will seem dated in a few years. You want your logo to last because it will (hopefully) make people immediately think of you. Lastly, it is worth it to hire a design professional to create your logo if you’re not an experienced designer. If you shell out money for nothing else, make it your logo. - Create brand standards or a style guide for your logo and other visual elements. How will your logo be used? What colors and fonts can be used in your advertising and communications? Should everything be bold contrasting colors and a serious serif font? Should everything be delicate pastels and a playful chalkboard font? Really put some time and effort into thinking about how things should look.
- Create editorial guidelines for your messaging. What is your tone? How should things sound? Are you scholarly or accessible, formal or down to earth? How can you best communicate your values and the value you offer to the people you most want to reach? How can you keep your tone and voice consistent across your website, social media channels, brochures, newsletters, and any other communications? You should also think about a tagline at this stage: what’s a quick, easy way to communicate your value?
When your look, feel, and tone all work together to convey what you’re all about, it’s much easier to reach the people you need to reach.
Substance and Style 