Trudie Avery is a branding expert who helps start-ups and small businesses stand out from the crowd. With almost 25 years of branding experience behind her, she is passionate about educating businesses on the importance of creating a brand that is true to them and connects with clients. Here are her 5 essential questions every brand needs to answer.
1. When you’re setting up a business, how important is your brand?
Well, it depends how serious you are about your business… Some people don’t have the budget or the know-how to create a brand and think that it is simply a logo that they get for £25 from Fiverr. It may take them years of attracting the wrong clients, or battling to attract any clients at all, to work out that branding is very important indeed.
2. Why is branding important for your business, what does it do for it?
Effective branding can promote recognition for your business. If your brand is consistent and easy to recognise, it can help people feel more willing to buy from you. When you become familiar and trusted, and known for what you do, you become less of a commodity bought on price, but a valued service bought on desire. Buying decisions are based 80% on emotion and 20% on logic – remember that when you’re buying your next pair of shoes!
3. What does your ‘brand’ include? Is it more than just a logo?
It’s such a common misconception that your brand is your logo. But while your logo is the cornerstone of your brand, it only forms part of the brand as a whole. Your brand is every interaction that you have with your customers. It’s the way that you make them think, feel and react, even when you are not in the room. It’s the perception of who you are, what you do and who you do it for and you leave clues to this everywhere, from your business card to your website to your social media posts and leaflets.
4. How is your ‘brand’ different to your ‘brand identity’?
This question about brand comes up a lot. Your brand is the non-tangible bit… It’s your values, your purpose, your mission and your why. It’s the reason that you do what you do and who you do it for. Your brand is the emotion and the relationship between you and your customer.
Your brand identity is how you communicate visually, and this is where your logo, your brand colour pallet, your brand fonts, your brand imagery and message come into play.
5. What are your top tips for getting really clear on your brand?
This bit is REALLY important. To create a brand, you need to be really sure about what is important to you and what is important to the people you ideally want to serve.
Think of it like this; you go together with your best clients like a horse and cart. Bear with me…
Imagine you were a racehorse. You work hard, you train hard, you value speed, efficiency, effectiveness and above everything else you want to win, to cross the finish line first! You are passionate, creative and value freedom and energy. Your perfect cart is streamlined, made of light-weight titanium and corners like it’s on rails! It too values speed, passion, hard work and effectiveness and the two of you are on a mission to create something very specific, you have a common goal that you hurtle towards.
On the other hand, you might be a shire horse, strong and sturdy, sure-footed and cautious. You may have great integrity and wisdom and believe in doing this properly, in the right order. Your cart is solid, made of wood and built to last. Your cart may have already tried speed and shed its load, so now values the kindness and compassion of the shire horse because they both care about not only getting from A to B but trusting one another to get there in pristine condition, safely, whilst enjoying the journey.
Do you see? Branding is a feeling, so in order to connect with your customers, you need to be sure that you both share the same values.
I hope this has been really useful to you. If you need any more help or have any questions about your brand, you can follow me on LinkedIn , or on Facebook @AveryCreativeLtd. If you’re looking for help with a logo, website, marketing materials or your brand strategy then please get in contact, visit averycreative.co.uk
