The Essential Branding Checklist for Small Businesses and Start-ups
What a community!
I have been blown away by the small businesses community and the way in which they’re supporting each other. From free resources, online webinars and courses - it’s been so refreshing to see people lifting each other up and treating their neighbours as collaborators rather than competitors. 💪💪
I’ve also been so happy to see folk using their free time and creativity to build something new and exciting. So I’m really hoping that once we’re on the other side, they’ll be a huge rise in small creative enterprises and start-ups. Wouldn’t that be great?
I’ve been thinking of how I can help these small businesses and ventures get the best head start so I’ve pulled together a completely free, no email required, branding checklist.
Three reasons why building a brand can help you:
A strong, consistent brand will:
Help your customers remember you!
Show how great and creditable you are.
be relatable so you can attract your target audience.
It’s not just about a logo - it’s about the brand as a whole: design, messaging, values and all your other assets!
I’m ready to build a brand! What do I need?
To make your brand the very best it can be from the get-go, I recommend the following essentials and making plans to continue growing your brand from there. I’ve broken this down into THREE key sections.
Brand building:
Who’s your target audience? Can you write a list of where they shop, what they buy and where you can find them?
What’s your mission or goal? Mission statements are great motivators and a great reference source when you’re writing website copy or talking to your customers.
What are you offering and for how much? Know your worth! You bring value into your business and be confident in what you are offering.
What language are you going to use in your brand? Super fun with lots of emojis? Or more relaxed and minimal?
What are your values? Working towards your values will help your company reflect you.
Who are your competitors? Look at what their up to and make sure you’re offering something different that will help you stand out. Also, STOP calling them competitors. They can become your collaborators as you expand and require extra resources.
Branding keywords? Having a list of words that describe your business will help you tailor your website and social media to match your target audience. For example, a few of mine are 'Freelance Graphic Designer’, ‘Edinburgh’, ‘Branding Designer’ etc.
Brand Design (the fun stuff!):
Mood boards. I love a good mood board. It’s the first step for me whenever I undertake a new Logo and Branding project. For a new business, it can be a visual reference and source of inspiration. Where do you want to go? What does that look like?
A concise logo suite. I think this needs a separate post! I’m always asked how many logos are too many or too few. I believe it’s a careful balance between keeping your brand consistent and ensuring you have a logo to use for a variety of purposes. I always recommend a strong full logo in colour and white, then a more simple version for use on small labels, receipts and invoices. If you have a large image within your logo, you could also benefit from a text-only version for use on the web.
Brand fonts and colours. These usually come from your logo suite or are complementary to them. Having consistent brand colours and fonts will mean you don’t need to use your logo over and over. You can be recognisable without it and makes social media much easier.
Other assets. Do you want to have a pattern that you love to use on your social posts? Do you want to use icons across your website? Build these into your brand!
Brand Assets, the last step:
Business cards. I love business cards and it seems at the moment they won’t see daylight! For when these guys are ready to shine again, make sure you have a clean simple design with lots of white - perfect for writing notes to the recipient. At a networking event and you’re recommending a restaurant to someone? Write it on your business card. They’ll be more likely to look at your card again.
Website Design. Keep it simple! Logo at the top, beautiful header image, a few testimonials scattered around and a strong footer. I always recommend 5 key pages: Simple homepage, About (including your values!), your services, your portfolio or products and a strong contact page with a clear call to action.
Social Media posts. I had a social media audit from the wonderful Grace at Meaningful Marketing (Not a sponsor or ad for her! Just an ace small business.) She talked a lot about keeping variety in your content so designing a few different layouts of social media posts will help spice up your feed. Quotes, testimonials and mood boards - these can be easily designed and edited for use again and again.
Other online content. Are you going to use a blog to help connect with your customers? Maybe a newsletter? These should both reflect your brand and help shape it.
Phew! There are your basics. I’d love to hear what you think or if you want to add to the list. I’d love to pull together an extended downloadable checklist at some point in the near future.
If you’re a new business, I’d love to hear how you’re getting on. You can follow me on Instagram here or send me an email! And as always, I’m happy to help anyone one who is looking for branding support or one of my packages.
Take care, stay safe!
Amy
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