When I work with website design clients, we always begin with a comprehensive deep dive into their brand.
Often, my clients are surprised at how much branding encompasses beyond a logo and design.
The reality is, logo and design are just the tip of the iceberg.
Your brand encompasses so much more.
- It’s the perception people call to mind when they think about you.
- It starts with your mission, purpose, and values.
The most effective brands are the ones that successfully incorporate and communicate these elements into every touchpoint that a client or customer can have with their business.
So it’s really important for me to understand my clients’ brand and business at a deep level, so we can infuse their website with their unique story, vision, and values.
Part of our discussion involves talking about whether my client’s brand still accurately reflects them. Or whether it’s time for a refresh.
That’s exactly what happened when I worked with Megan Darrow and the team at Ellerslie Business Association.
“I originally approached Tonia from just a graphic design perspective, to come up with a new logo for Ellerslie Business Association.
“But working with Tonia really helped to crystallize what we actually needed, which wasn't just graphic design work or a new logo, it was that real brand work and understanding of our market, our customers, our vision, and perspectives.
She really helped us to understand questions we didn't even know we needed to be asking.
Tonia could have just done us a logo. But the truth is if we’d ended up doing just what we initially thought we needed, we'd be doing it all over again, because it just wouldn't have worked.
Instead it really helped us to create more of an identity for Ellerslie, changing to the Ellerslie Village brand instead of Ellerslie Business Association. And that's been really important.”
If you don’t feel 100% in tune with your brand, creating a new logo or new website isn’t going to help. You probably still won’t feel 100% satisfied with what you create until you dive into the deeper brand work.
Ultimately if you don’t do the inner brand work, you’ll end up spending more money in the long run trying to remedy what you create. Not only that, you’ll waste precious time that could have been spent focused on growing your business.
So here are 3 tips to assess whether your brand might need a refresh:
- Your online and offline presence isn’t consistent. For example, print vs online materials have a different look and feel. You don’t really have set design elements, correct logo files and more. It all feels a bit hodge podge.
- Your brand identity doesn’t help you to communicate your brand personality, values, or message effectively.
- You’re not attracting your ideal clients or customers. Your brand identity doesn’t appeal to them and/or they don’t connect with it because of point 2 above.
When you’re thinking about investing in custom website design, I encourage you to seriously consider your brand as a whole. It’s important to make sure you’re investing in longevity - in the long term success of your brand and business - rather than the short term.
If you’d like to talk through your next branding or website project, you can book a complimentary call with me here.
Have a great day,
