Your visual brand is how you communicate your brand personality to your audience in a way that resonates with them and makes them feel as though they are in the right place. It’s through that process that you are able to create a community of customers. If your visual branding feels off or hodge-podge, you’re going to have trouble making sales.
Your visual branding (or lack of it, more accurately ) will hold you back from reaching your business goals.
The goal with your visual branding is to show that you are a professional, you have your act together, and customers can and should feel confident buying from you.
In order to do that, you have to start by honestly assessing the visual brand you have built so far. This isn’t easy but it’s imperative that you be honest with yourself.
This month the members of the StartUp FASHION Community were given access to the expertise of Kristin Moses, founder of DesignGood. Kristin has 18 years experience as a brand designer and creative director, and 12 years as an entrepreneur and creative agency owner. Which means that she knows her stuff! She shared so much with our members that I wanted to share a little bit of it with you, our blog readers.
Keep in mind, before you jump into the assessment of your visual branding, you have to be able to answer these two questions, in detail.
- What is your brand personality? Meaning, what adjectives describe your brand? What voice does your band have? What tone does your brand have? What values and points-of-view does your brand possess?
- Who is your customer? If your answer to this question is one or two sentences, you haven’t done enough work on this. What does she care about? Where does she spend her time? What does she believe in? How does she speak? What attracts her? What struggles does she have?
It’s not until you’ve completed these processes that you can actually effectively assess the brand the you’ve built.
The process of accessing your own branding is not easy. You have be honest with yourself. Try your best to pretend that this isn’t your brand as you work the exercise.
If you don’t believe that you can be objective, then bring in some people who can.
- Are you part of any groups or communities where you can ask for feedback?
- Do you have a friend who won’t coddle you but instead will tell it like it is?
- Can you create an anonymous survey and send it to your friends and family, emphasizing that it’s anonymous and unless they are honest, they are doing you more harm than good?
Once you’ve decided who’s going to assess your visual branding, you need to make a list of the questions you’re going to ask. Here’s a list of questions to answer yourself.
- Do you feel that your current logo looks professional and communicates your brand personality?
- If not, what about it isn’t working?
- Do you feel that your current fonts look professional and communicate your brand personality?
- If not, what about them isn’t working?
- Do you feel that your current website looks professional and communicates your brand personality?
- If not, what about it isn’t working?
- Do you feel that your current web copy is written in your voice and communicates your brand personality?
- If not, what about it isn’t working?
- Do you feel established, professional, and confident when you hand over a business card or send someone to your website?
- If not, what embarrasses you?
Here’s a list of questions to ask someone else.
- When you come to my website, how do you feel?
- Can you list three words that come to mind when you look at my website?
- Does my website remind you of anything?
- Tell me the truth. Do you think my website looks professional?
The goal with these four questions is to keep them a little open-ended and to not ask too many, with the hope that they will share what comes to mind first. This isn’t the ultimate brand survey, it’s simply to see if the responses you’re getting are in line with what you hoped.
In the end, your visual branding is more than just how others feel. Your own confidence in your brand infiltrates your mindset and it’s so important to feel proud of what you’re putting out into the world.
To learn more about how DesignGood can help you with your visual branding, check out their website.