How to Create a Stand-Out Brand for Your Online Business
Creating a stand-out brand goes beyond the visual side of your business. You have to prioritize strategy, pinpoint your message, create consistent content, and have attention-grabbing visuals that tie it all together.
With each year that passes, and as industries get increasingly saturated, it becomes more and more important to create a distinct brand for your creative business. It can feel like the visual edge of the competition increases each day meanwhile your own brand identity lags behind and isn’t in the game.
If your biz is struggling with outdated or sub-par design, or if it’s simply time for a spruce, this post is here to help you!
As a brand strategist and designer, I have a lot to share on the topic of branding. So today, I’m walking you through 6 simple steps to create a stand-out brand—from strategy to social media.
1. Establish Goals for Your Brand
When creating a brand, it’s important to establish a few goals first so you know where to take your business. This helps you determine where to aim and the “big why” you want to start a brand in the first place.
What do you hope your brand will do for you? What do you want to achieve in your business?
Think about the best way to reach those goals and what steps you’ll need to take. Then, map out a clear picture for how a you can be intentional with each aspect of your brand.
This sets the tone to ensure you end up building a fulfilling brand that you love and that will serve your bigger dreams and goals.
2. Define Your Niche
The next step to creating a successful brand is to get crystal clear on what your business is. Define what you do, who you serve, and what makes your business unique. List out your products or services. Pinpoint the unique aspects that distinguish your brand from others in your industry.
If you’ve been in business for a while, you’ve likely determined most, if not all, of these key components. But it’s helpful to go over the nitty-gritty details when you are trying to develop your brand or take it to the next level.
If you are in the process of creating or refining your brand, it’s best to take a look under the hood to see if anything needs to change. To build a stand-out brand that stands out and shines, it’s important to consider every element of your business from the inside out.
3. Create a Rock-Solid Brand Strategy
Creating a brand that stands out all comes down to strategy. It’s the step where you brainstorm, get creative, and dive deep into the possibilities of where you can take your business.
Think about the value your products or services provide and how you can highlight that within your brand. Build your business around the solutions you offer in a genuine way that is fun to follow and that isn’t sales-y.
Define what you do and who you serve, and point out the exact problems you solve and the very people who struggle with those dilemmas. When you point out your potential clients and customers, it allows you to create a brand that attracts and resonates with them so always keep them at the forefront of your decisions.
Be strategic with your approach to branding: How can you position your brand in the market to stand out and attract clients or customers? What will you do differently from similar companies? What unique elements of your business can you bring attention to in order to stand out?
Make sure you have a reason behind each part of your brand strategy because the more intentional you are, the more effective and rock-solid it will be.
4. Design Your Visual Brand Identity
Though it’s only one part of creating a comprehensive brand experience for your audience, this is what most people think of when it comes to branding. It’s where the visual side of your brand comes together by using strategic design to represent the core of your business.
Your brand’s visual identity should include…
Logo and Submarks
The logo is the main design element of your brand design. It will be the icon associated with your business and one of the first things that will come to mind when people think about your company. A logo is such a small piece of your design, yet it does a lot of heavy lifting for your brand identity since it hints at the bigger picture of your business. A high-quality logo will communicate this without being busy or cluttered. The most iconic logos are simple and succinct with one clear message.
Color Palette
A color palette has the ability to convey the proper mood and tone of your brand. A top-notch color combo can make your business more memorable and add dimension to your visuals. The possibilities are endless when it comes to choosing your colors, but it’s best to start by thinking about what your audience is drawn to. If you want to prioritize growth, select colors that will attract your ideal customer or client. This will align your brand with the people you are trying to attract. So look through the eyes of your target market when considering your brand colors.
Signature Font Pairings
One area of a branding that is often overlooked is the font. The typefaces of your business are such a powerful way to establish your brand identity. A strategic font choice can have such a strong representation of your brand that people recognize it as your business even without any other graphics in sight. This is an incredible tool that every small business needs to include as part of their visual design.
Custom Icon Suite
Some businesses can get so much use out of custom icons. You can use them across your website, social media, and within other design pieces such as digital downloads. They are a great way to display a process, categories, products, and more. Not every brand needs them, but they are often one of my favorite elements to design.
Branded Graphics
The need for visuals varies so much these days, so think about what types of graphics your business will need. A few possibilities include blog post graphics, Pinterest cover graphics, podcast album covers, Instagram story graphics, social media banner graphics, and the list goes on.
Packaging
If you are a serviced based business or only sell digital products, packaging might not be part of your design needs. But if you do sell physical products, packaging can make or break your brand. Aside from your logo, your packaging design might be the most important part of your visual identity. This is because it directly ties into the experience you give your customers when they make a purchase.
Even if you don’t need packaging for products, you can find a way to incorporate the sense of packaging through design. Think about the components of your services or digital products and how you might create an “unboxing” experience for them with unique brand design elements.
5. Website
Once your brand identity is established, it’s time to bring it together on your website. Your site is the head quarters of your business. It’s where the magic happens and where you have complete control of the experience you give visitors who browse its pages.
Unlike social media where you are stuck working with a platforms brand, your website gives you a blank canvas to bring your design vision to life. Every inch of your site can be intentionally branded to tie each element of your business together and create a full picture of what you have to offer.
But before you jump into the visual design of your website, you need to start with strategy. As you build your site, think about how you want it to serve your business and what your website goals are. For example, you probably want your website to bring in sales and bookings or email list subscribers. So think about how you can create your site in a way that supports those conversions and makes those goals happen.
Since you’ve already established your brand’s visual identity in the previous step, the design of your site will come together with ease. Squarespace also makes it easy to keep your website branded and looking on point once you’ve styled the site to match your brand design. So don’t be afraid to prioritize strategy on your site so it can run like a well oiled machine and help your business grow.
6. Create Your Branded Content Plan
Content creation is the most reliable ways to get your business out there and establish your presence in the online world, and while doing so, it’s important that your content reflects your brand. The best way to ensure your content stays true to your brand is to refer back to your niche and brand strategy when you brainstorm ideas.
The goal of content is to attract potential customers or clients by giving them free value in the form of blog posts, videos, podcasts, social media content, and any other ways you can think of. So always be sure that you create content for the same people who align with your target market or audience.
Think about your dream customer or client and what type of topics interest them and add support on their journey to overcoming their problem—the very problem that you happen to solve. You can also provide them with solutions to related problems or to subsets of it with your free content. Just be sure to stay on brand.
Aim to highlight your products and services in a non sales-y way by showing the value behind them too. There’s nothing wrong with a few shameless plugs every now and then when it’s done in a helpful way. The goal of creating content, after all, is to help earn revenue for your business.
Each piece of content should be value-pack and high-quality. This will help you grow an engaged following who love consuming your content from the moment they discover your brand.
These 6 simple steps are the key to creating a stand-out brand. Each phase of the process requires time, brainstorming, and intention, but in the end, your business will be stronger for it and ready to take on the next several years. A strong brand identity helps you grow, reach your goals, and increase visibility in the market so you shine bright among the competition.
Get a stand-out brand this year.
If you’re ready to create a one-of-a-kind brand for this next season of business, I would love to partner with you to make it happen. Take a look at my brand strategy development and brand and website design services to get started today.
