July 24, 2024
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5 min read
You’re a new business owner looking to get started and grow your presence online. But what comes first? Should you start with a website? Or, with an Instagram account? And what exactly does branding entail?
That’s where we come in. We’re a web design and branding agency that specializes in helping small businesses, entrepreneurs, and non-profits So if you want to learn our branding tips for businesses, you’re in the right place!
In this blog, we’ll explore what branding means for your business and the best steps to take to set your brand apart. This includes website design, social media platforms, branding, tone, logos, etc.
So you’re looking for branding gold… but let’s be real. The internet can be filled with advice more like fool’s gold. Yeah, it’s pretty… but not as durable, strong, or valuable.
Why listen to us? We’re branding experts! With over 12 years of experience in visual branding, website design, social media marketing, and content writing, we see through the fool's gold and offer time-tested branding expertise.
Need some help with your branding or website? Get in touch with us here.
What comes first when you begin to market your business... Branding!
But let’s be clear: branding isn’t just a logo and some colours. It’s the combination of your content, your business’s personality, tone, visual branding, and the relationship you create with customers.
It’s how you:
Many businesses, even ones that have been around for years, haven’t taken the time to discover who their target audiences are.
Who buys your product?
Who needs your service?
What pain point are you solving for others?
A big part of branding strategy is understanding who you are marketing to and who is drawn to your business.
Case Study: Female Demographics
Let’s look at two brands that focus on women’s health issues.
Amanda is a 16-year-old high school student living in North America. She struggles with hormonal acne and skin-related issues. How might a brand market itself toward a target demographic of 13-20-year-olds? What colours, imagery, graphics, tone of voice, and wording would attract her attention?
Here’s a brand that markets toward a younger audience: Blume.
Compare that to 27-year-old Dani who struggles with hormonal imbalances and sexual health issues. Would the tone of voice, imagery, colours, and wording change? What branding would resonate with a demographic for those 25-35-year-olds?
Here’s an example of a brand that markets toward a more mature female audience: Momotaro Apotheca.
We get it - discovering your dream audience can be challenging. So, how can we help? Spark & Pony uses collaborative alignment exercises and research to help you find your ideal customers. Join us for a brand discovery session and let us help build your brand!
Did you know that brand first impressions are 94% design-related?
‘Studies of user behaviour have found that visual appeal and website navigation have the biggest influence on people's first impressions of your brand.’ (FastSpring)
If you want your business and website to stand out, you’ll need a design that does, too. A professional logo, punchy colour palette, and consistent font choices can set you apart from your competitors in the public’s eye.
Visual branding entails:
Read: ‘Why Design and Visual Branding Matter’
Branding doesn’t only involve your design choices, but also your language choices.
Your brand voice includes the words and language you use and the values you hold as a brand. Your brand tone is the attitude you use to convey those brand values! It’s how you say it.
For example, let’s take Nike.
What comes to mind? Power. Athleticism. Confidence.
Just look at their ‘Who We Are’ section:
“With a global footprint, culture of innovation, and team-first mentality, we take action to create a future of continual progress for athletes, sport, and our world.”
These are the brand values that they communicate with their brand voice.
How does their brand tone help drive that point home?
Nike uses positive and inspiring language to communicate these values to their audience, with slogans like ‘Just Do It!’ How might their values and personality be perceived if the tone changed? More cautious? Less confident?
Now that you have an established brand strategy, the next step we recommend is creating a well-designed website.
Eight out of 10 customers are more likely to engage with your business if it has a website, which makes it important in today’s digital age!
But why not build your website before branding? You very well could…, but it wouldn’t be very effective. Let’s continue with the mining metaphor.
Your business is an emerald, and your dream customers need emeralds. However, the business hasn’t been branded well, so your customer clicks on your website and believes that you only have rubies on offer. Or maybe your emeralds aren’t for them but for someone younger! Therefore, your business misses out on sales and building its customer base.
Website branding is essential!
Your website should reflect your values, products, services, and personality. How can your website effectively reflect something that hasn’t been defined yet? (Hint: it can’t)
Website Branding
It takes just 0.05 seconds to form an opinion about a website. How do you make those seconds count?
Your business’ website should accurately reflect the design choices that carry across the rest of your marketing. Therefore, use the same colours, fonts, and tone of voice… so your audience feels comfortable and familiar with your brand from start to finish.
Are you running a non-profit organization? Read: 4 Essential Rules For Branding Your Non-Profit
Now that you have invested in your foundation and created a strategic brand and invested in your new website, the next step is creating a social media presence where you can share your new brand and website with the world.
While we love the ‘gram, we don’t own it. What happens if Instagram or Facebook go down for a day or decide to lock you out of your account? How do you continue running your business? And how do you contact your loyal customer base?
Social media is a great tool for building community, establishing trust, and securing your brand online… but it shouldn’t be your only marketing tool.
So now that you have gone through the branding process and have discovered who your customers are… which social media platforms are they using?
There is a plethora of choices when it comes to social media platforms out there, with more being released daily… but your business can’t be on all of them. In fact, it shouldn’t be on all of them! Why stretch yourself thin and create mediocre content for too many social media accounts when you could invest your energy into creating incredible content on the exact platforms your audience is spending their time on?
The best use of your time (and resources) is choosing which social media platforms house your ideal audience.
We LOVE this breakdown of social media usage by age range from SproutSocial:
18-29 years – Snapchat (41%), TikTok (35%), Instagram (32%)
30-39 years – LinkedIn (34%), X/Twitter (34%), Snapchat (33%), Instagram (32%)
40-49 years – LinkedIn (25%), Facebook (22%), X/Twitter (21%)
50-59 years – Facebook (29%), LinkedIn (24%), Pinterest (24%)
In this case, we wouldn’t use TikTok or Snapchat to advertise a product that we want 50-59-year-olds to purchase! Nor would we pour our entire online marketing budget into LinkedIn content if our dream customer was a recent high school graduate.
Learn more about social media demographics here, and top social media platforms to consider for your business here.
Speaking of socials, you can follow us on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, X (formerly known as Twitter), and Dribbble.
When you set up your social media account, maintain your visual branding!
Use your logo and imagery as the profile picture, brand colours, fonts in the designed content, and similar language in your bio and captions. When your audience comes across your account, they will know it’s the same company they know and love!
Typically, social media accounts are not primary lead generators. They do not always offer an immediate return on investment. Social media is often part of a long-term strategy designed to build your community, reach your target audience, and establish a strong and consistent brand presence. Growing your following can take time, and the number of views or likes you get on a post doesn’t equate to direct sales. Social media is a place to tell your story and develop meaningful relationships with your customers.
There is a rising desire for authentic content and transparency across social media platforms, along with trends of ‘de-influencing’. Viewers can see through ads and promotional content quicker than ever, and studies show that non-promotional content consistently performs better.
So what do viewers of today want from business accounts?
Need an example? Check out this reel on our Instagram.
If you’re getting started as a business, we recommend setting up your marketing in the following order:
Branding -> Website -> Social Media
Your business deserves a strong brand with a unique and consistent voice and personality that sets you apart. Once you have the branding in place, creating a website is the next step in differentiating you from your competitors Finally, a social media strategy to get your new brand and website out to the world is a great next step. Social media is the perfect place to build community and trust with your audience.
We specialize in helping businesses and non-profits stand out with strategic visual branding and web design. If that sounds like you, let’s connect.
Explore our portfolio, browse our blogs for more branding and website tips, or contact our creative agency here.
Read more: Small Business Marketing Ideas For Smaller Budgets
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