According to Omnibound, consistent brand presentation across all channels can increase revenue by 10-33%. When you have strong business branding, this can leave a lasting impression on everyone you come across.
You don’t have to be a pro at graphic design to do strong branding, either. Here are some key tips that every business owner can use.
Choose a Strategic Color Palette
The first step is to choose a strategic color palette, as color is one of the fastest ways people recognize a brand. You’ll need a primary color that reflects your company’s personality. From there, you can have a small supporting palette for things like backgrounds, accents, and text.
Don’t just choose hues based on aesthetics; consider contrast and accessibility, too. More specifically, your color palette should be equally strong on:
- Websites
- Social media graphics
- Advertisements
- Packaging
- Printed materials
It’s important to document exact color values (RGB, HEX, and CMYK) so that designers and vendors can reproduce your brand exactly and consistently.
Select Typography That Supports the Brand
Typography influences the way your brand comes across, such as modern, traditional, technical, or sophisticated. The chosen typefaces should complement your company’s personality, but they should also be easy to read across different sizes and formats.
In addition, you should have a clear hierarchy for:
- Headings
- Subheadings
- Body copy
- Captions
- Calls to action
In general, two complementary typefaces are enough for a cohesive system. Just make sure you confirm that you have appropriate licensing for commercial use before using the typefaces for your website, brochures, business cards, etc.
Use Imagery and Visual Elements Consistently
Whether you have photos, illustrations, shapes, or patterns, everything should follow a recognizable visual direction. Once you’ve established what graphic elements you’ll primarily use, you can then establish guidelines for:
- Subjects
- Composition
- Editing
- Overall style
Don’t mix dramatically different visual approaches, though.
Also, you can convert images to vector graphics, so you can resize your graphics without losing sharpness. Vector versions can be very valuable when the same asset needs to appear on a website, promotional graphic, merchandise, or large-format signage.
Build a Cohesive System for Brand Assets
Your brand should still be recognizable, even when you mix up the combinations for your logo, colors, and typography. This is doable if you create a practical system covering core assets, such as:
- Logos
- Alternate logo arrangements
- Color palettes
- Fonts
- Icons
- Imagery
- Templates
- Graphic treatments
In addition, this system should accommodate common platforms, including websites and email campaigns. Consider making reusable templates; this will make consistency much easier while you can still change the content around. You can also organize your assets into clearly labeled and accessible files so people use the right graphics.
Design for Both Digital and Print
Brand materials should always be designed with their final medium in mind. For example, digital graphics typically rely on RGB color, while printed materials may require CMYK colors.
Before you approve an asset, check:
- Readability
- Image quality
- Margins
- Contrast
- How the design behaves at its intended size
To maintain professional production standards, you should also supply printers with appropriate file formats and specifications. Don’t rely on low-resolution screenshots or compressed images.
Also, create adaptable master files so it’ll be easier to produce variations for different channels. You won’t compromise quality or introduce inconsistencies, either.
Create Clear Brand Guidelines and Review Every Asset
The clearest way to ensure consistency is to document all design decisions instead of leaving it up to each person’s interpretation. Your brand guide can establish things like approved:
- Logos
- Color codes
- Typography
- Imagery standards
- Icon styles
- Spacing requirements
You can also include examples of appropriate and inappropriate usage for clarity.
More importantly, establish a review process. For social posts and campaign graphics, that review can pair design checks with content approval checks so off-message assets do not go live. Before publishing or printing an asset, check whether it uses the correct things mentioned in the brand guide. Regularly audit major customer-facing materials, too, as you can pinpoint outdated designs or inconsistencies.
As your business grows, these standards can help not only your internal teams, but also freelancers, agencies, and printers. This can help everything look like it came from one cohesive organization.
Build a Strong Business Brand
A strong business brand means your company is memorable, and this is possible through carefully chosen logos, typography, color palettes, and more. The key is to be consistent, so make sure everyone’s up to speed on what to do.
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