Audio Blog 4 mins

This is Paulette Smith with your DonPaul Marketing moments.  We’re still working on building a Branding Kit for your business that will ultimately lead to growing your most valuable business asset…that right your database.  In the previous two blogs we touched on your logo and Taglines, Slogans, and Jingles.

Next on our list is Colors for your brand and we covered the topic of colors and emotions in an earlier article. (Note)  If you are an audio subscriber, we appreciate you. You’ll find active links to previous topics when you check out the online text version of this blog.
Moving on, this session is all about Images and videos. of course you know your images and videos need to be sharp, clear, relevant and sized properly, but of course as with everything that touches your brand, there’s a lot more to consider.

If you’ve hired  a professional, or if you have resources to create for you then kudos, but if you are on the DIY (Do-It-Yourself) path, there are many graphic apps available to help you create stunning images like Canva.com for example and many generous talented photographers who have contributed their work to free stock image sites.

A word about some of my favorite stock image sites like Pexels, Pixaby, Nappy, and Unsplash, you find that experimenting can be so much fun…however you’ll want to always keep in mind that when it comes to your BRAND, you’ll want to BALANCE your individual creativity with marketing best practices that align with  your audience, that means align with the people you want to serve, the people you want to sell to and the people whom you want to see your business as their go-to solution.

Always follow the rules and be careful of the sites you visit to avoid picking up a virus or a bug. Oh and remember… that anything claiming to be free, has a cost…either in flexibility or freedom; so be sure to read the fine print.

I’m including video creation in this discussion, because videos follow some of the same rules, meaning lots of freemium creation apps and trusted statics have proven the power of video is an awesome tool to help build your brand by attracting new visitors.

Finally, I’d like to encourage you …whether you’ve hired a professional, a freelancer or going DIY, be sure to tag your images properly use alternative tags on your web site, and blogs, and in your social medial posts use hashtags.  Be consistent with that practice. The search engines love textual tags and it makes a better user experience for your visitors as well.  

Team DonPaul understands that images and videos are very important tools in your Business Branding Strategy.  We want to help you visualize how your Branding Kit relates to your overall success.

If you’re here, reading or listening and you want to be sure your branding kit is up to par, this is an invitation to chat with me! Let’s make the most of your brand …and building your most valuable business asset…of course you know what that is…right? Correct,  your database. That’s all for now, until next time, Bye-Bye!

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In my last message I covered some of the basics related to building your branding kit. That’s the global template or content that defines the overall look and feel of your brand.
In the next few installments, I’d like to and talk about why each is important and why you should not take certain shortcuts.

Your logo was at the top of the list and as important as it is, many people tend to overthink designing their logo, while some others don’t put enough thought into it at all.
There are lots of free software and apps to help you create a logo, so I’m not going tell you what to do. When people come to me with logo already made …and I find it almost impossible to use the logo for their website or social media page without some serious make overs…that’s what I want to help you avoid.
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This may be helpful if you have not yet settled on a logo or if you are considering a change.
Of course, each business is different, but I’ve found some basic tips apply and I have some clients who have developed their logo into some well known branding, so I feel comfortable sharing this with you.

1. Colors -   I’ve provided an entire blog to the importance of colors and emotions and I hope you’ll check it out at some point, but for now, let’s just say, discovering the relationship between colors in your branding and how it can relate to the emotions of your ideal audience is important.  It’s not so much about YOUR favorite colors, as it is about what is appealing and enticing to your audience. 
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2. Backgrounds – Most any designer will say that a transparent or very simple background is best and there’s reason for that….over time your logo may appear in various places, your website, a tee-shirt, a coffee mug, or even on the side of a truck. Each platform may have slightly different requirements for your logo to appear at its best.  Depending on your product of service try a variety of outcomes and remember to always include a black and white version.  And oh yes…your favicon…what’s that? Well that’s the little, teeny, tiny, image of your logo that appears in the browser window when a visitor has your site open. Really Intricate logos do not size down very well and these important little guys can get to look pretty cra, cra when made tiny.
 
3. Because I’m talking about size, let me stick with that subject and recommend your logo be designed as large and scalable as possible.  If created in the proper format, images can typically always be made smaller. Unfortunately, they cannot always be made larger without stretching, blurring and pixelating. Another not so well known fact: most platforms where you’d like your logo to appear will be partial to square dimensions, therefore if your logo is vertical and long, then your expectations may not be met when it has been sized to a square output.  
 
4. I should not have to mention, but I will anyway…copyright infringement. There is no guaranteed way to know if your logo may closely resemble some else’s, however, using the Google Image Identifier aka Google Lens. While it is by no means the be all and end all of finding similar images, knowing what logo image are similar to yours is important.  Just image if you’ve completed your design, put it in front of the Lens and up pops an very similar logo in a business category that inappropriate, insensitive, or  just plain something you don’t want people to find when they are looking for YOU on line.
 
5. I’m only going to make 5 points today, so I’m going to end with focus groups.  Did you know that you can get the help of some top focus groups for no charge? Most large focus groups offer a free trial to analyze items like logos and profile pics. While you may not be able to hone your finished product to the point where it passes the muster, you can certainly get some valuable information on what your audience might think of your logo. For an upgrade you can typically go all the way and these companies do not usually lock you into any contract. Just keep in mind, the feedback can be brutal…but you want honesty, so don’t take it personally.
 
So there you are…and just for fun, I’m including a link to 40 of the worst logo published in an article by Plerdy.com  Some I actually could find nothing wrong, while others I laughed ….with no disrespect intended.
 
After all, it’s all about drawing people to you, relationship building and growing your business.
 
I’ve got tons of tips and I’d be happy to help you develop the perfect branding kit for your business. Here's a link to schedule a brief chat about your most valuable business asset…your database.