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Whether you are starting fresh, improving or rebranding, this is how to go about branding your business. When you’re first getting ready and employing a designer or branding specialist, it can be difficult to know where to start. I have listed five basic elements to ask for along with resources to access yourself if you want to go the cheaper route. When it comes to branding your business, I would highly recommend employing professionals from the outset so these tools are to help you decide what to direct the professional to do. 

Branding your business is so much more than the visual elements, it is also about the tone of voice and your methods of marketing. These will be covered in future blogs over the next few weeks. 

1. Use a professional

If you are serious about your business, use a reputable designer for your logo and branding starter kit. For a full branding kit, you will collaborate with your designer to come up with the best branding package to suit your business. You can expect to pay €400+. When searching for a designer and getting a price, ask for the following:

• Hi-res logo with and without background
• Smaller elements of your logo you might use for your social media,
• .eps files 
• Colour and font directory (or preferably a handover of a branding guidelines document with instructions of the size of the logo, fonts used, colours). 

2. Logo

Decide on the type of business you want to be displayed through your logo – Fun? Formal? Informal? If you have a good clear idea of your logo, draw it out or write the description of it in full detail to hand over to the designer. If you have no idea what your logo should look like, you should at least have ideas of colour scheme and know what personality you want in your logo. Your designer needs some basics to work with so they can get started. You should ask for the following files to complete the job: 

If you want to create a free logo some resources are:

Canva.com, Free Logo Design, Wix and Looka.*

READ NEXT: How to begin marketing your business

3. Brand Colour Scheme

When you are starting the process of branding your business the colour scheme is very important as it will feature all across your business. It is neat, tidy and best to have the same colours feature across your website, social media and any printed media. Three to five colours is more than enough colours. It can be difficult to pick a scheme so you can tell your designer some samples of what you have in mind – ie ‘I love summer colours like bright blues, pinks, yellows’ – your designer will have a keen eye and match some samples for you. If you’d like to be fully part of this process, check out these free resources for finding colour palettes: 

Coolers and Color Combos (pick websites with colour schemes you love and this will show you the palette).

4. Future-proofing

When you are planning your branding, think about every possible use you will have for your logo and elements of it. When you are sending or receiving your design elements always use WeTransfer or similar to keep the quality. Things to consider when planning the design elements of branding your business:

• Using your logo on your site in different sizes
• Logo in print
• Packaging design and colouring 
• Business cards in case we ever see people face-to-face again…
• Elements of your logo for social media (this may be a simple one letter or image that makes your branding instantly recognisable – think Nike and the infamous tick) 
• Email signature
• Make sure it is readable and distinguishable 

READ NEXT: 5 key ways to get the best from your website

5. Keep it together

When I work with a client, the first thing I ask for is a hi-res logo and any other design elements along with whether they have data, audience personas and tone of voice. Currently, no small business I’ve ever worked with has these at reach. I usually get a very confused look and they pretend I know exactly what they’re talking about. They forget I once had that dazed look when my boss asked me to ask clients for these things back when I started working in marketing. I now realise the importance of having all of these elements in a folder together. 

*(please note, I have not tried any of these resources personally and always recommend seeking out a good designer).

If you have any questions about anything above or need my help liaising with a designer, please contact me at info@ciaramorgan.com. Have you had your branding done by a professional? How did you find the process?