You’re ready to get your business off the ground, and that means getting your website up and running and a logo ready to go on everything you produce.
There’s just one problem: You still need a cohesive brand strategy in place before you get started.
What’s a Brand Strategy?
Your branding includes everything that contributes to the way your company expresses itself and the way that it is perceived. Branding is the outward expression of your business and the sum total of the experience your target audience has with your brand.
Branding is ultimately what sets your company apart from all your competition and inspires customer loyalty over time. As the public face of your company, your website and your logo are integral parts of your branding.
Branding is not, however, your brand strategy. Your brand strategy is the soul of your brand. Among other things, the brand strategy encompasses:
- Your company’s core values and purpose for being
- The mission behind your company’s products or services
- Your vision for the future and your goals
- The things that set your company apart from all others
- The customer profiles you hope to engage
- What you define as a successful journey for your company
Far too many companies forge ahead without a clearly defined brand strategy in place to inform their creative decisions. “That’s a serious mistake,” say the people at GreyBox Creative, a brand design agency that helps companies develop their branding. “Without taking a deep dive into brand strategy, a company’s efforts to connect with its target audience and differentiate themselves from their competition will fall short.”
Why Is Brand Strategy Critical for Website and Logo Development?
Today’s consumer has a lot of choices out there. While the quality of your products or services is certainly important, it’s the experiences you deliver and the emotions your brand elicits that bring new customers to your door and keep the old customers loyal.
Your website and logo are part of your branding, but they’re writing their messages in the sand unless you have a clear understanding of exactly what you’re trying to say with them. A muddled message won’t impress anyone — nor will it inspire consumer loyalty. Worse, you could be delivering a message that is the direct antithesis of what you hope to express.
A clear, well-developed brand strategy is the tool that will ultimately inform:
- The design elements that go into your website and logo, including the use of colors, fonts, graphics, and content so that you’re delivering a coherent message that repeats on all platforms that come before the consumer
- The strategic use of technology on your website to enhance both the end-users’ experience and the tools your organization will use to shape the consumer’s experience.
In short, your brand strategy is the tool that informs everything else you do as you craft your brand. The more complete your brand strategy, the more cohesive and consistent your visual identity will become, as seen through your website, your logo, and all the other things that you ultimately put in front of consumers.
