8 Steps to Effectively Brand Your Design Business
You can put all your passion in your design business, and it can be one of the best in it’s niche, but without a good branding plan, without making yourself seen, it stands to nothing. Put your foot down and be seen.
Branding a design business is an art and it can take a long time to learn its craft. The competition is immense, everyone is trying to attract clientele by offering more, appearing everywhere and making it’s name stand out.
Everything is important, keep this in mind. Your logo is important, they way you integrate your brand, developing a tagline and being consistent and true to your brand. I really meant everything. The first wall that must be destroyed is the “ Where do I start?” wall. We’re here to help you take your first steps.
1. Get A Great Logo!
You want your design business to be remembered, to be easily recognized, to make other people acknowledge your presence, and for this, you need a great logo. All the best brands out there, starting from Coca-Cola, Nike, Adidas and ending with Sony, Nikon and Samsung are impossible not to recognize.
It’s mainly because of their logo. It’s easy on the eyes, it’s eye candy, it gets itself stuck in your mind. But how do you do that? Well, firstly it has to be unique. You don’t want a lawsuit on your hand, do you? Or even worse, you don’t want people confusing your design business with a fishing supplies shop. Keep the design simple, it makes it more flexible and you can easily put it everywhere.
Think how it looks on a business card, on a website header and even on a billboard. Make it adaptable to any situation you can think of. One of the crucial things you need to keep count of is making it appropriate. Stay true to your values and what you represent. Don’t try to be something else that you clearly aren’t, you will loose credibility fast.
2. Know Your Audience
Do some research before you go head in into your business. Who is your target demographic? Who are you trying to sell or offer your services? Don’t try and take everyone at once, make your way to your niche and slowly expand yourself to others.
By being there for your clients, by allowing them to know that you can be professional and that you can take care of their needs and desires, you are demonstrating that you are a trustworthy business. Understanding and empathizing can go a long way. You can easily get referred to others and so on and so forth.
3. Communicate Effectively
Communication is a must, if you desire growth, and this requires that your customer service has to be top notch. Make it your priority that every single person getting in contact with your business is treated with respect and equality. Every problem deserves your full attention, even the little ones.
They may appear unimportant to you, but your client is using your services for a reason, and he is paying for them, so don’t treat them lightly. It’s better to accept failure than denying it. When this situation occurs, and it can occur because humans make mistakes, don’t try to sugarcoat it.
Accept responsibility for your actions, your business’ actions and try to resolve the problem as soon as possible. Even if the customer has a negative experience, you can make him loyal to your brand with open and honest communication.
4. Design To Impress
Quality over quantity any time. Never settle for less, your website, your logo, your brochures, your business cards and emails should impress your niche. Beauty reinforces values and makes yours client comfortable with using your services.
Elegance denotes professionalism and reassures your clientele of your abilities to deliver promptly. Not only your work must impress, but even the slightest email should inspire. Factors such as typography, page layout, UX design, and readability are important and can make a huge difference.
5. Be Consistent
Everyone knows how Coca-Cola tastes, how a Nokia phone looks like, how full of peanuts a Snickers is or simply how their favorite perfume smells like. They’ve created their brand by delivering consistently an enjoyable experience to their customers.
Every small design business should be consistent throughout their early stages, so they can build up loyal customers. This is how you assure your clients of your product, if you manage to invoke a particular feeling to your niche audience, they are sold for life.
6. Mobile Friendly Designs
Tablets and smartphones are gaining more popularity as each day passes. More than 25% internet users are from tablets and smartphones, and it seems that desktop users are moving towards hand held devices. Make sure you design properly for this blooming market.
Most desktop websites are displayed wrong when using a tablet or a smartphone and it destroys the experience for the user, making him to possibly never enter your website again, hence never use your services. Be careful how you choose to thread.
7. Plan Your Website Properly
Studies show that an average user spends about seven seconds when entering a new website. You have to make him stay longer! Design your website in such manner that it strikes the users curiosity. But don’t be vague, you may confuse them and they’ll press backspace faster than you can say backspace.
A curious user will look for more information on who you are, what you’ve done before and if you’ve done a good job. The “About” page should always include a link to your portfolio, even if it’s on the top of the screen.
Your “ Contact” page should be clear and concise, don’t sell your pitch there, just make sure everyone can contact your business easily, with no stress. It’s really annoying when you want to gain services from a business, but there is no quick and easy way to get them.
8. Know Yourself
What do you really want to give your audience? What is your limit? Knowing yourself can lead to discovering and articulating your brand values. Having passion for what you do can ensure greatness. Think about what inspired you to make your company and try to bring it out, for everyone to see, make your clients understand your purpose.
Don’t ever try to fight your competition, it will seem that you are a child that has a toy and he thinks his toy is the best there is. Keep your focus on yourself and your brand does for its users. Clients will take notice of your actions, bad or good. Don’t be afraid to hold authenticity above else, or having a way to the simplest solution to a common problem.
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