Great Branding Is Like Your Favorite Pair Of Jeans

It only takes a couple of seconds to make a first impression. And in business, your brand is that first impression. Long before a client buys from you, they interacted with your brand.

Some people mistake branding with a logo. A brand is so much more! Let’s break down what branding really is.

1. Your message
2. How you position your message to be unique in the market place
3. The visual representation of your message
4. Implementation of your message

For example my message is: Inspired entrepreneurs need solid business skills, systems, and strategies to have impact and profitability.

My message is unique because I define success as having healthy relationships, spirituality, time freedom, and financial freedom. And I assist business owners in building a business that supports true success, not just financial freedom.

My visual representation looks like this:

And here’s how I implement that logo in a marketing outlet, like social media for example.

A great brand is extremely important. And yet, there are a lot of bad brands out there!

Here’s some common problems I see.

1. New business owners can’t seem to make up their mind on their brand. They hesitate and struggle to make decisions so they actually start moving forward without a brand in place. This would be like going out with no pants on.
2. Business owners don’t want to invest in hiring an expert to create their brand, so they use DIY logos and DIY websites. My grandma was an amazing seamstress. After my parents divorced, she moved in with us. And she started sewing clothes for us. It was fantastic! Until she decided to make some jeans for me. She could make dresses like nobody’s business. But those homemade jeans just never looked quite right.
3. Business owners get super trendy with their brand. The brand is hot in 2007, and not in 2016. This is like the kid who is still wearing bellbottoms when skinny acid washed jeans are all the rage.
4. The visual brand looks good, but the message is not clearly defined. This is like having a really cute pair of jeans, but one that just doesn’t quite fit. Maybe it’s too saggy in butt. Maybe you’ve got some muffin top going on. It’s hard to pinpoint why it doesn’t work. The jeans are after all, really cute.
5. The messaging and logo are good and congruent, but from there, it gets used in all kinds of inappropriate ways. Maybe the colors are slightly different on different social graphics. Maybe you use different fonts. Maybe you have a landing page that just doesn’t match everything else. This is the equivalent of pegging your pants, or pulling them up too high like Steve Urkel. It just shouldn’t be done. The jeans can be fantastic, but they are never going to look good that way.

Sometimes business owners treat their brand like a facial tattoo. Something that is going to be highly permanent. Something they do once and then never have to worry about again.

But I find you do better when you treat your brand like your best pair of jeans. You are going to wear them more than anything else. They are going to be a staple in your closet. Don’t go for the cheapest option or they will wear out too soon and you’ll find yourself having to go back to square one with re-doing your brand again. Make sure that the brand fits. That it is crafted around a highly developed message.

And understand that your brand will need to evolve with your business. Avoid crazy trends and go for something timeless. Be willing to do brand updates over time. I am not wearing the same pair of jeans that I wore 10 years ago. Too much has changed. They wouldn’t present the look I want to present today.

If your brand needs an update, I recommend spending some time with a branding expert. Not just a graphic designer. If you want an introduction to my branding expert click here. Tell Brian Amy sent you and he’ll give you all sorts of hook ups!

Your brand matters! It is truly the first impression people get of your company. Don’t overcomplicate it, but don’t put off getting it done.