I grew up on a cattle ranch. Every summer, we would herd our cows up to the mountains to graze during the summer months. While they were up grazing in the mountains, there were other cows from different ranchers up there with them. So, before they could be taken up to the mountains every cow had to be branded with our unique brand so that when the cowboys went to gather our cows, we knew which ones were ours.
Well, we relied heavily on our brand to be able to determine which cows were ours. Many of our cows went up to the mountains as calves and came home almost full grown. Without the brand, it would be hard to determine which ones are ours.
What does this have to do with business? Branding, duh.
It is up to us as business owners to brand our business so that we stand out from the herd and so that our cowboys can tell we belong to them. Think of it. You are scrolling through Instagram, do you always stop to see whose post you are viewing or do you sometimes know exactly whose post you are looking at because of their visual brand? This is your goal. You want to have such a clear visual brand that your customers will be able to recognize it without being told that it is you.
What makes up your visual brand?
The colors, fonts, logo and types of pictures that you use. You want all of those components to help tell the story of your brand. If you are a fun and bright brand, then use fun and bright colors. If you are a reflective and calm brand, use calm colors.
Step one: find your three brand words
Think of the three words that you would use to describe your brand. Then as you are searching for the right colors, fonts and pictures, you will have something to weigh it against. So if your brand is fun and bright, you would use brighter colors and fun, scripty fonts.
Step two: choose your colors
Choose your brand colors: Decide which colors you are going to use throughout your business. What colors will you use on your Instagram feed and your website? Find a scheme of colors that represents who you are.
The easiest way to do this is to go to Pinterest and search “brand color palette” or “color palette”. You will find that a lot of the work has been done for you. Professionals have already paired colors together that look good together and then you can find one that fits your brand the best.
Now take these colors and find the color code (also called hex code) for them. A hex code is how your computer recognizes color. Each color is given a different six digit number and letter code that tells your computer which color is which. Finding out the hex code for each of the colors in your brand will help you stay consistent across all platforms because you can type it in and use it in Canva to create graphics and you can use it to change the colors on your website.
To find the hex code, you can take a screenshot of the color and then upload it to this website or if you have Photoshop, you can open your image there and use the eyedropper tool to find the hex code.
Step three: choose your font
I choose no more than 2-3 fonts. You want to be consistent with your fonts so having more than 3 can get confusing to your audience. I choose one scripty font and one very easy to read font. When choosing think about readability. It doesn’t matter how beautiful the font is, if people can’t read it easily on the first glance, then it probably isn’t the right font for you.
To find your fonts, do another Pinterest search and search “font combinations”. When choosing your fonts, remember your three words that describe your brand. Make sure the fonts are a good representation of those three words and match your color choices.
Step four: choose your images
Taking time to intentionally decide which types of images you are going to share across your platforms will completely change your business. Which types of pictures tell your story best? What do your audience want to see and which pictures will they engage with? For example, because I know that my audience likes that I am a mom who builds businesses on the side, they like to see me doing mom things with my kids.
You will know the kind of things your audience wants to see by studying how and what they react to your different images online. Go through your Instagram feed. Which pictures have the most engagement? How do those images represent your personal brand well? How can you incorporate more of those pictures on your website and in your feed?
Step five: use your brand everywhere
You have your colors, fonts and images ready to go, this will help you when you are planning out your Instagram feed because you will know the types of pictures to take and the colors to use.
Extra tips
*Create a Google doc or folder somewhere that contains all of this information. Then, when you need to create something or need to have someone create something for you, your information is in a nice safe place.
*Have a photo shoot. Take an afternoon and take a bunch of images that are consistent with your visual brand. This will save you time and help you stay consistent when you are creating content.
Tell me. Was that helpful? I sure hope so! I want to know what your brand colors are. Leave me a comment and let me know. Do you need any help? Leave a comment too. I just love hearing from you.
Here are some other articles that you might be interested in reading:
How to start a blog in 30 minutes or less
Should I start a business? Ask these 7 questions.
You said...