12%
Increase in web traffic for companies that use infographics.
What is branding? It’s a term that we all use regularly in the world of digital marketing and design, it encompasses the communication and representation of characteristics and attributes that distinguish what a particular brand stands for and what it avoids.
In complex terms, branding is the expression of the values of a company, organisation, product, service or web presence.
Time for a little creativity and some branding! Creative branding is everything that your company stands for and opposes at the same time. It is your company’s overall message and principle. This forms a promise that you make towards your customers. It lets them know what they can expect from your products and services and how you differentiate form your competitors.
Your brand is who you are, who you aim to be and what people believe you to be. Therefore, creative branding allows you to showcase your values and use them to market towards a particular niche or target demographic. It is what defines who you are as a company and the sorts of customers you wish to attract. But what does it all include?
Increase in web traffic for companies that use infographics.
Colour increases brand recognition by up to 80%
Would prefer to view something beautifully designed vs. simple and plain.
Of marketers said visual marketing was the most important form of content for their business
A solid brand is established through various factors, the main one being creative design. In all fairness, image is perhaps the most important factor of them all when it comes to launching a brand, as your aesthetics will be your most immediate and most recognisable feature. Colour choice, pattern choice, shapes, sizes, shades and image choice are all extremely important to building a cohesive brand. Then there is font size, shape and layout as well as the choice of calligraphy that is important too. We’re just scratching the surface here! Personality, tone of voice, brand ethos, site functionality and many more things also contribute towards how your brand is perceived by your customers and the general public.
As branding experts, it is our job to ensure all of these determining factors point towards one singular perception and to a specific representation. Do you want to be the innovative thought-leader in your marketplace or the experienced, reliable old fox? Do you offer high-value or low-cost products and services? Your brand can’t come across as both. Please some of the people all of the time but never all of the people some of the time! Who you aim to be should be based, to some extent, on who your audience want you to be. So give it to them!
Here at Unit36 we can help you make the most out of your marketing material and slap your brand across everything we possibly can – within reason of course! From marketing materials to exhibition stands more, together we will ensure that everything with your name upon it shows the same values, aesthetics and mental functionality.
The important thing to remember when establishing your brand is that branding is different to marketing. Despite being similar and often spoke of in the same sentence, these two entities are not the same. Marketing is an active push towards achieving sales and/or followers. You are actively promoting a product or service when marketing something and using persuasive language and indicators to do so. This is not branding. Your branding comes before your marketing. You must establish how you want to talk to people before you talk to them about your product. Therefore, branding underlines your marketing efforts and they should not be treated the same.
Putting your brand into print creates a unique name and image within your consumer’s minds. Your print material will mainly be used for advertising purposes with a consistent theme – it is this consistency that will promote your brand. Creative branding and design aims to establish a significant and particular presence in a market that attracts and retains loyal consumers. Before putting anything into print, ask yourself the following four questions:
By no means at all is this the be and end all of your print branding efforts, but it is a solid start. If anything, establishing these factors in your own mind as a business owner will help you to better understand your business and tailor a brand message towards it. Print isn’t just meant for paper either – there’s all sorts of things we can do with your marketing material.
Unit36 has helped numerous clients establish a brand and image in the past, some examples of which you can see on our case studies page. We work closely with our customers to ensure we capture their thoughts, preferences, messages and design ideas perfectly – so that we can turn them into a fully functional representation of their core values and principles.
Contact the team today if you would like some more information or to discuss your own branding venture in detail.