Three Essential Ways to Get Started on Developing Your Brand

Your business name, the products and services you’re selling, your voice, your history: These are a reflection of you and your company, and thus, the essence of your brand. 

Having a brand that’s consistent across multiple platforms will help set you apart from similar companies — and keep your company top of mind for the consumer.

At OpticTour, we seek to build strong digital foundations for our clients by guiding them through every step of the marketing process: website building and design, Google ads and analytics, social media and copywriting, video production and audio editing, and so much more.

But wait! We’re getting just a little too far ahead of ourselves here. 

If you want to dive into the wide world of digital marketing, if you want to effectively share your message, help people with your services, and grow your company, you first have to sit down and figure out who you really are.

Step No. 1: Develop Your Brand Voice

Your brand voice is a core part of your marketing efforts: the posts you make on social media, the reviews you respond to, the information on your website, the description of your products and services, and more. Keeping your voice and tone consistent across these platforms will help you develop a brand that’s strong, memorable, and true to you, your company, and your potential consumers.

On the contrary, having a voice that’s inconsistent can leave your audience with a bad experience that might drive them to unfollow you. In fact, that’s one of the main reasons millennials in particular unfollow company pages (Sprout Social).

Creating a storyboard is a great way to get started on breathing life into your brand. Doing so will help you piece together what you want your voice to sound like, and having everything in one place allows you to begin identifying its true nature, cut out the fluff, and focus only on the essentials. Things you can include in your storyboard are: your company beliefs and values, the tone you’d like to give off, your business goals, and any other information you deem relevant.

Ask yourself: How do I want my company to come across to the consumer? Do I want to seem professional or playful? Do I want to keep it simple or write more poetically? Do I want to appeal to an older age demographic or a younger one?

Identifying your target audience can aid you in answering some of these questions. Yes, your brand voice is a reflection of you, but it’s important to keep your ideal customer in mind when developing the building blocks of your brand.

If you’re looking for more awesome tips for how to develop your brand voice right from the experts themselves, head to this fantastic article from Toptal: How to Define a Brand Voice for Maximum Impact

Now that we’ve discussed how to find your voice, let’s move on to what it might look like!

Step No. 2: Develop Your Image: Brand Colors & Fonts

Your online marketing presence will likely include sharing vital information via the use of graphics and visuals, like a video header, an animation, or placing text over a photo. Whatever the case, consistency is key — and to keep this key on lock, you’ll need to choose colors and fonts that are consistent with your brand voice.

Seeing & Feeling Color

A color is more than just a color: It’s a feeling, an experience, a vehicle that elicits strong memories. Blue, for example, signifies trustworthiness, serenity, and responsibility. If these values ring true to your brand voice, you might want to consider blue as one of your brand colors. To learn more about what each color signifies, you can head to this fantastic article from Smashing Magazine!

Fantastically Fitting Fonts

Just like colors, fonts also carry meaning. Serif fonts convey a sense of tradition and responsibility, and are perfect for brands that want to appear established and scholarly. Sans serif fonts, on the other hand, are simple, effective, and carry a more casual yet clear tone. You can read more about the six different types of typography and what they mean by heading to this article from Fabrik Brands!

For best results, narrow down your choices to three or four of each. It’s important to ensure that your colors and fonts speak to each other, too, so be careful not to choose too many contrasting colors or elaborate fonts.

Step 3: Enter the World Beyond

Once you’ve figured out these little bits and pieces, you’ll be ready to put them all together into a brand that won’t easily be forgotten — and one that’s true to you, your company, and the world.

And now the fun really begins! You can create your company logo, you can set up your Facebook business page and get to posting, you can make promotional videos, you can start a podcast — the whole world of digital marketing now lies at your very fingertips.

But if you think you might still need some further help in navigating that world, we’d be happy to lend a hand. 

With our inside expertise on all the latest marketing trends and a team of skilled creatives, we’ll help you grow your company by doing a deep dive into where your viewers are really coming from, teach you how to effectively market your brand, and make the whole process easy and enjoyable so you can focus on what really matters.

You can set up a free audit with us by heading to this link. We’ll be here whenever you’re ready!