I am so excited to have my first guest blogger featured on my website tonight! This sweet girl's name is Abigail and we met a few years ago through R+F. Abigail is a very talented artist and brand designer and is the designer behind my website + social media branding! I've had a lot of people ask me about how I made my website and blog, so I'm thrilled to introduce you to Abigail and have her share some information about branding with you!
"Branding is, "The action of marking with a branding iron". Branding dates back hundreds of years. It's what farmers used to mark their livestock as their own so as to identify the owner. The goal of your branding is to brand your business into the minds of your audience so that when they need the solution you provide, you come to mind first!
How does all this work? Well, it starts with a recognizable logo. The best way to be remembered is to use that logo wherever you can. A lot of designers, like myself will provide an entire branding package, meaning you get the main logo and additional elements that represent your brand that you can use in other places the main logo main not fit perfectly in as well as a color palette. All of this is tied together with a branding board.
What is a branding board?
A branding board gives you an at-a-glance look at your logos, alternate logos, submarks, color palette, and fonts that make up your brand's aesthetic and style. A branding board allows you to see all of this at a glance! It's a great tool to keep printed out by your workspace so you remember to use your logo and everything stays consistent and cohesive.
What are alternate logos and submarks?
Alternate logos are a simpler version of the main logo. It may not include a tag line underneath or it may be laid out differently to use in areas the main logo may not fit as comfortably in. Submarks are an even more simplified version of a logo. This is usually a much smaller version, but can still be recognized as a part of your branding.
What are the numbers and letters underneath the colors?
Those are the color codes or if you want to get really technical they're called Web Safe RBG Color Codes. This means if you're creating marketing material that's going to go on the web you can type in that code to get your exact branding color. I encourage a lot of my clients to use Canva.com an amazing resource for creating marketing material. The codes underneath the photos work in Canva, so you can choose a template to work with, swap out their fonts for your branded fonts, swap out the colors and BAM that template now looks perfectly on brand!
So how will this help grow my business?
Your branding helps your clients or customer remember you! It helps you stand out amongst everyone else, so when they need your product or service again they call you! Or when their friends and family need your product or service, they refer you! If you make sure to use the fonts in your branding board, the color codes in your branding board, and your logos you'll stay on brand every time! This will start to establish your brand, helping people remember and recognize you for years to come! Staying on brand helps your audience gain your trust because they start to recognize your logo whether they see it on business cards, flyers, emails, social media posts etc.. This begins to brand your company into their brain until they just can't help but remember you! That way when they need what you have to offer, they think of you FIRST!"
Below are some of Abigail's recent branding projects just to get the inspiration flowing and to show some of her talents! You can find more posts, examples of her work, etc. over on her blog. Click here to check it out!
