Why your business brand is a key piece of your marketing puzzle

Let me guess — when I mention your business brand, you immediately think about your logo?

The thing is, your brand is FAR more than just your logo.

According to Business Queensland:

“Branding is a way of identifying your business. It is how your customers recognise and experience your business.”

I really like this description because it makes it clear that your brand goes beyond your visual identity to also consider how your business is perceived by your clients. 

It’s what makes your business unique and differentiates your offering from your competitors. And, it tells your clients what they can expect from your services and showcases your business values. 

Related reading: How to write a killer unique selling proposition to make you stand out from the crowd

So, what is the business brand definition?

Still a bit confused about what your brand actually is? 

Not to worry, I’m breaking it down for you below.

Your brand is made up of two key elements:

1. Your visual identity

• Logo - yep, that’s in there!
• Brand colours - the colours you’ll use on your website, your social media post graphics, your stationery etc.
• Typography - which fonts do you use across your webpage and other marketing assets?
• Brand photography - whether it’s images of you, your business in action, or even just stock photography. 

2. Your values and "message"

•  Brand values - what does your business stand for? What's your mission statement?
• Tone of voice and personality - this is an often overlooked part of your brand identity.  How do you want you business to sound in marketing communications? What's the impression you want to give your audience?
• Tagline - This is the snappy sentence that sums up your brand mission (more on this below!)

All these elements together are what makes up your business brand - even though many of us call the job done after the visual identity is complete.

Business branding examples

Sometimes, the easiest way to get a feel for what a cohesive brand can truly do for a business is to look at a couple of examples...

EXAMPLE 1: Benefit Cosmetics

EXAMPLE 2: Lancôme

Looking at the Lancôme brand is a great illustration of the fact that different brands evoke different feelings EVEN if they provide similar products or services.

Logo & Brand colours - minimalist and monochrome. 

Typography - classic fonts reflect the older and more “serious” client base. 

Tone of voice and personality - product names are French and scientific sounding to reflect the higher price point. 

4 tips to get you on the right track with your business brand

Now that you’ve seen branding examples in action, you’re probably keen to get working on your own. 

I’ll be honest here, I’m NOT a branding strategist. 

So, while I’m passionate about the importance of having a brand for your business, this isn’t a “How-to” post that gives you all the answers you need. 

That said, there are a few basic tips that all small businesses can follow to give themselves a leg up in this branding game…

1. Consider your Values

When you start to think about your business brand, it helps to remind yourself what your business is all about. 

So, what are the 3-5 words that you’d use to describe your business and services? How do those words “feel” to you?

2. Think about your tagline

According to Tailor Brands, a tagline is:

“a catchphrase that communicates a message about your brand.”

For example, The Dollar Shave Club tagline is “Shave Time. Shave Money”, which instantly portrays the brand’s USP of cheaper razors delivered straight to your door. 

On the other hand, the Benefit tagline that we looked at above -  “Laughter is the best cosmetic” - is used to highlight the brand’s personality rather than any features of the cosmetics themselves. 

While clients won’t engage your services simply because you have a great tagline, it is an effective way to reinforce what your brand stands for and can make your business more memorable. 

3. Create a brand guide

Once you have developed your brand identity, it helps to create a brand guide so that you can refer back to it whenever you need to and any employees or contractors can easily pick it up and understand your brand. 

This sounds far more complicated than it is - you can just use the templates in Canva to create something quickly and easily. 

4. Make sure your content reflects your brand

Once you have your brand guide written, it’s crucial that you don’t just stick it in the back of a drawer (or your Google Drive) and forget about it. 

Instead, every piece of content you create for your business should live up to your brand ideals. 

That may mean ensuring the visual identity is on brand. This is easy with Canva - you can save your brand colours, typography, logo and images to use over and over again in any assets that you design - so you’re not always starting from scratch and everything will be nicely cohesive. 

Just as important is ensuring that your brand shines through in the tone and personality of your communications, so even if you’re outsourcing your social media or copywriting make sure your voice is clear. 

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And that’s it!

I hope I’ve helped you appreciate the importance of branding your business as a key part of your marketing workflow.