What is Branding?
Branding is the collection of the components representing your businesses and how they appear to the consumer, both online and off. Branding can consist of many things, or just a few. Some of the most common components include your logo(s), your photos, fonts, colors, iconography, patterns, packaging, and even the tone, language, and overall voice in your advertising, communication, and educational content.
Who Needs Branding?
In short, everyone who is running or operating as a business or organization needs branding, even if you are only one person and operating under your name. Your branding helps you to establish trust, become referable, findable, and recognizable. Without good branding, you’re likely to disappear into the sea of sameness, especially these days when it is so easy to establish a business online.
Here’s a real-world example:
Think of any time you’ve driven down the street and seen a yard sign for a landscaping company on the corner. If it just says “landscaper” with a phone number, you’re likely going to appreciate the simplicity, but in about 2 minutes, you’ll have forgotten that sign ever existed.
However, if that same sign had a really interesting graphic on it or if it said something catchy or pithy, the chances of you remembering it and appreciating the time they took to put into their sign are probably (at least) doubled. Which results in more traffic, phone calls, and ultimately business for the landscaper.
That’s the power of branding.
Why Uniqueness is Important in Branding
In the example of landscaping, it would be easy and almost expected to leverage something that screams, “we take care of your yard!” Things like a lawn mower, a shovel, hedge trimmers, a tree, or a bush.
But the best brands will take it one step further to establish themselves in an over-saturated market by intentionally staying away from such imagery. They’ll lean into what makes them different than other landscaping companies.
Maybe they use something that feels ridiculous, like a knight with a shovel and rake instead of a sword and shield. That kind of strategy and work is part of why branding is so important – with the right components in place, you can be memorable and remembered faster and easier than the competition.
The Rise of AI Branding
When artificial intelligence (AI) technology came out, it seemed really interesting and appealing to use something that sped up the process, saved money. and could produce something with half the time and energy it took to hire someone.
But what many people didn’t consider was the factor of being unique – especially when it comes to branding.
AI models are trained on what already exists, and so creating something truly unique is next to impossible. They can only use the information they are given to cobble together a solution from varying sources that meets the need you’ve presented. While it may seem unique because it was in response to the prompt it was provided, in reality the product it created is only an amalgamation of the hard work of pre-existing creators.
What’s more is the trust factor that goes with “artwork” created by AI models. Many people are disillusioned from the glamour of AI, and they see the brands using it for “artwork” as lazy, untrustworthy, and cheap. This is hurting brands significantly.
The distrust created by leveraging AI for branding components can be avoided by hiring someone with the skills and knowledge to do it (in what is now considered) the old-fashioned way: by hand, backed by strategy from a real human’s mind. It’s hard to look like everyone else when a real person just created something new just for you.
What Kind of Budget do I Need for Good Branding?
A lot of folks will turn to cheap or free options for their brand because they have small or non-existent budgets. It makes sense financially.
Some affordable ways that a business owner can secure some excellent assets for their brand that are unique and non-AI generated include:
- Being willing to barter for services
- Looking for someone who is trying to build their portfolio
- Finding a brand creator who is willing to accept a payment plan
- Developing brand assets in phases to lessen the financial impact
- Exploring DIY options while learning the right way to approach brand design
If you’re going to DIY or compromise on anything in your brand, I would recommend letting a professional develop your logo(s), and figuring out the rest yourself. Many of your key brand decisions can be based on the look and feel of your logo.
What a Professional Brings to the Creation of a Brand
Someone versed in the intricacies of brand creation is a powerful asset to have in your corner. They’re going to bring their knowledge, experience, and detailed, unbiased eye. This usually results in a solution that is beautiful, strategic, and highly versatile – all of which are essential for good branding.
- A brand designer will have the ability to think outside of the box, and will be able to pull out the key unique points of your brand and story.
- They’ll be able to look at the principles of good design – like balance, symmetry, repetition, and scale – to ensure the final result is both functional and beautiful.
- A good brand designer will also be able to help you identify everywhere you might use your new brand, and ensure everything is cohesive and makes sense while representing your business and organization well.
At the end of the day, you could develop a brand yourself. You could also use AI to create your brand. But bringing in a professional to tell you what you don’t know can be instrumental to the long-term success of your business and brand.
What is the Branding Process Look Like with Jemoy Creative?
The branding process is highly collaborative, and it typically starts with a logo project.
We’ll kickoff the project with an intensive discussion that is focused on your business, goals, market, services, and differentiators. I’ll also ask pointed, subjective questions about your tastes.
From there, I start sketching ideas for your new logo, exploring different concepts and directions in their most basic form (often black and white sketches). I’ll guide you on why each choice makes sense based on the information you’ve provided, and together we will pick a direction to be honed.
Honing a logo means exploring color, and fine-tuning the sketch to something that’s visually pleasing and technically correct. We’ll confirm font choices, and explore how this solution fits into different placements among other brand assets (signage, stationery, apparel, social media, etc.).
Once your logo has been finalized, we can explore how other components leverage it. That could mean updating your website; creating stationery, flyers, and advertisements; or ordering branded swag like pens, notepads, and polos. You’ll be empowered to make strategic choices about other brand details, like photos, icons, and tone.