Building Your Brand Series pt 1: Creating Your Brand Statement

I’m in the process of re-branding my business and let me tell you it is so HARD.  No one knows your business better than you do, yet when it comes to creating your brand it can feel impossible.  Your brand is so much more than a logo or a business card. It’s about who you are, what your business does, your values, and your voice.  How do you figure out those things and make sure that your design communicates effectively across all aspects of your branding?  It’s a process that’s both frustrating and freeing. In this series of posts I’m going to take you through my re-branding process and show you what I’m doing/have done to get it right.

When I first designed my logo and website, I basically took an aesthetic approach. I wanted a logo that was modern, simple, and with a tagline that showed my personality.  I feel like in those ways my logo was a success.  I like the colors and the type and I think the tagline does communicate an aspect of my personality.  Where it fails though, it fails big.  It doesn’t communicate me. It’s another generic “I’m a designer!” logo.  Boo.

In my post here, I talk about the process I use when designing logos for my clients.  Why didn’t I apply the same process for my logo?  It was mostly due to inexperience.  I wanted to hurry up and get my name out there and since my logo was “good enough” and did have some stuff going for it, I stuck with it.  No good.  If I want clients to take me seriously, I need to take my own business seriously too.

The first step in the re-brand is creating a brand statement.  A brand statement is boiling down your brand to its essence.  It’s an elevator pitch of you/your business that you can deliver in a few sentences.  Part of this process includes finding your niche. Ask yourself these questions:

1. what do I do?
2. whose my ideal client/audience?
3. what sets me/my business apart?

It seems simple but it’s harder than it looks.  Most of us worry that if we don’t appeal to everyone or do everything that we will be missing out on business?  The truth is that the more broad your brand is, the harder your marketing becomes, and the more business you lose in the long run. You can’t appeal to everyone and that’s ok.  For me, I love working with small businesses and non-profits doing branding. Figuring that out was an a-ha! moment for me.   That simple fact is now the basis of how I’m building my brand moving forward.  It doesn’t mean that if a huge corporate company wanted to hire me I would turn it down. But it does mean that I have a vision for my business and will target my marketing accordingly.  Here’s my brand statement:

I specialize in branding and logo design for small businesses and non-profits.  My goal is to create a lasting impact through thoughtful branding that grows businesses and helps non-profits thrive.

That sounds much better than, “I’m a graphic designer.”  It clearly communicates the type of work I do, my target clients, my values, and what sets me apart.  The more succinct your brand statement is, the more effective it will be.  Don’t worry if it takes time to create one or if yours isn’t two sentences like mine.  The point is to work at it until it’s right.  When it is, you’ll know it.

Next up?  Creating a mood board to determine the best aesthetic path for your brand.  Keep your brand statement handy because you’ll need it as a reference to create the mood board!