Do you find yourself feeling an undertone of shame when adding your branding to a new marketing launch you are otherwise proud of? Do you cringe when hitting that send button on an email that has all the goods in the copy, but looks a bit drab? Do you feel imposter syndrome creep in when scrolling through social media, finding yourself comparing your latest social post to your nearest competitor? Their's looks much better, but why? The answer is in your branding and here's why.

It's a common misconception that branding means a logo design. Branding is far more than one logo. It is an umbrella term for 'brand strategy', 'visual identity' and 'tone of voice'. Branding communicates on many levels to your potential customers. It should bring your business to the forefront of their minds. It should support you by attracting a loyal tribe of Superfans who integrate your business with their lives, and can't help but buy from and champion you.

Branding is an intentional way of influencing what people say about you.
The brand strategy sets the foundation of your business. It's your positioning, and the differentiating factors between you and your competitors. It's your customer's journey.
Visual Identity is the look and feel. It helps communicate your message to customers’ conscious and subconscious minds.
Marketing pushes your message out into the world and relies on your branding to aid recognition.

Branding is a combination of these. It's the shop sign and window that draws customers inside. It's the placement of the products on the shelves that reminds them of the Shelfies they've Pinned to Home Interiors boards. It's packaging that screams out for an unboxing posted to Instagram to show off that purchase. It's what aligns customers with your brand; it's what gets them excited about you. This isn't down to a logo alone. It's an investment in the tools to gain clarity, consistency, attract the right clients and help your business grow.

Part of your branding will be the visual identity, which includes that all-important logo. It will also include a colour palette, font system, icons design, patterns, textures, layout, framing and more. Having a designer guide you through the decision-making process will help to create a toolbox of assets that you can lean on and will future proof your brand. This means that you can look professional by being consistent, you can attract the right kind of client and even increase your prices without losing clients. Depending on who you choose to create your branding (pick me!), you should receive a summary document or guideline that acts as a reference point for future use, enabling you to make design decisions and quality check the assets you put out into the World.

Let's take a website as an example. If you only have a logo, how do you choose the font to use on your website? What about the background colour? If you select these on a whim, using whatever the tool you are using has to offer (not all website builders have access to the same fonts!) will you double back to check the font styling when it comes to designing your business card? Maybe not. Suddenly you find yourself with a conglomerate of assets that have no relation to each other and potential clients who don't know what your original mission was. Our brains are wired for survival; we gravitate to what's easy to understand, recognisable and clear. We don't want to think twice about making a decision; so if your branding is a bit of a mess, ultimately you could be losing clients because of it.

Great branding elevates your business. It makes you appear more professional and trustworthy. Have you ever searched for a product or service, only to select one of the Google results and immediately click off of the site because it doesn't look like the kind of brand you'd associate yourself with? Me too. All. The. Time. So many businesses lose customers without even realising they have because the lack of branding puts off the people who could have become a prospective client before the business even gets the chance to convert them to a sale.

Customers associate good branding with the fact that the business has invested in itself. It shows that the company believes in its product or service enough to showcase it in the best possible light. This gives the perception that products or services will be of a higher quality than a competitor that hasn't invested in the same way. The benefit of this is that customers will pick you over your competitors even if you are more expensive. People are happy to spend a bit more money with companies who look trustworthy and of a higher quality because they perceive that the outcome will be a certain calibre.

The investment of professional branding means you can increase prices to return that initial investment with ease. Clients will convert because you stand out from the crowd. They will associate you with high quality, attention to detail and trust you to deliver a high kind of service. So, good branding gives you the option of increasing prices once your branding launches. A marketing campaign around the new branding is also an excellent opportunity to showcase the benefits of your products or service in a more premium way, validating the price increase.

Previous clients have also reported a growth in their confidence to put themselves out there' after commissioning a branding package. Confidence is EVERYTHING when it comes to promoting your business. Frankly, being embarrassed by your branding you aren't going to be putting in on everything to avoid that gut-wrenching feeling of shame BUT if you LOVE and. feel proud of your branding you'll naturally put more out there without the doubt, which will result in more conversion, connections, impact, sales, impressions and reach.

Speaking of putting your branding out there, it should work in every instance; whether you are. working on a marketing campaign, shop fit, event, business stationery or new website. Your branding should be easy to apply, and the results should be consistent, both digitally and physically. This will result in recognition. We want your customers to be able to recognise you in the crowd; then the magic will happen. They will naturally gravitate to you be cause they are familiar with your branding. This familiarity is something as humans we crave - we don't like the unknown as much as we think we might. I mean, I bet you've ordered the same kind of coffee a while now...you like the taste, it's accessible and has the expected results. We don't deviate from the familiar as much as we might think.

If you are ambitious, don't sit on your heels and be stagnant. As a business owner, the responsibility lies with you to be a success, why limit yourself to "fine' when you could reach cult-status. Why settle for capped-profit margins? Why hold back from reaching your full potential and having an impact? Authentic and well-thought-out branding can be the difference between a small business brand and a household name.

There is no more profitable investment than investing in yourself. Elevating your branding and website will do just that - make you money! Especially when it's done right. So take a bit of the mystery away, invest in yourself and take a step closer to being the business owners that you've always wanted to be. Stand out from the crowd by challenging the status quo with a design that attracts your Superfans and ultimately reaches cult status. In a time of uncertainty in the world, make business investment choices that see your business propel forward in the most efficient way. And what sells you the most? When you stand out for all the right reasons.

In April I am launching new branding packages, featuring a refined set of assets that will take you from lack-lustre to glowing in no time. Get in touch to get on the waiting list, and in the meantime, I am talking about branding on Stories every Wednesday - I'd love you to send me any questions, as I will do my best to answer each week!