Branding your business can be an epic journey, full of creativity, transformation and excitement!
But it can also be scary… confusing, even overwhelming.
Creating something that represents the very core of who you are is a BIG DEAL.
But it doesn’t have to be a scary one.
In fact, if you fancy having a go at building your own epic brand, you can do it in as little as seven, simple steps…
- Discover your brand personality
- Nail your visual style
- Become a design diva
- Unleash your creativity
- Choose your fonts wisely
- Get creative with colour
- Choose eye-catching, inspirational imagery
Whether your business is online or offline, you need fabulous branding. If you’re a high street store you might need swing tags, merchandise stands and promotional posters. If you’re an online business you’ll probably need eBooks, social media headers and branded memes.
Ready to elevate your brand and attract more of your ideal customers? Here’s how to build a beautiful personal brand without it taking up all your time, money and sanity!
Step 1: Discover your brand personality
Your brand personality is something unique to you, it’s the way you feel, the way you act, how you speak, how you dress and much more. There is no right or wrong way to describe your brand personality. It’s about tapping into the internal blueprint that makes you who you are!
Of course, a little guidance always helps, right? And I’ve got just the thing to get you started. There are 12 different brand personalities – you could be one or a beautiful blend of two or three, take a look at the list below and see…
- Magicians promise transformation through knowledge
- Creators are innovative, imaginative and visionary
- Outlaws are free-spirited and fearless, they love to break the rules!
- Jesters are fun, playful and super entertaining!
- Lovers are super passionate, sexy and often heart-centred
- Explorers love discovery, escapism and freedom
- Citizens are honest, reliable and trustworthy. What you see is what you get!
- Innocents are simple, happy and natural. They want to make the world a better place.
- Sage’s are intelligent thinkers – they trust in expert knowledge
- Heroes love to use their skills to solve problems. They’re bold, courageous and determined!
- Rulers love luxury, they’re powerful, refined and always in control!
- Nurturers are supportive, generous and caring. They have a genuine need to help others.
So, what do you think? Are you a rebellious outlaw, a super fun jester, a daring explorer or a bit of all three?
Step 2: Nail your visual style
Once you’ve uncovered your brand personality it’s time to give it context, or in other words… what does your brand look like on the outside? It’s time to kickstart your creativity!
To help the ladies in my Beautiful Brand Bootcamp to get started with their own brand style, I created brand style categories to help them see where they might fit. They are…
- Classic and Chic: Stylish, smart, smooth and timeless. Think bold or very bright colours!
- Casual: Think friendly and down to earth, subtle colours and simple patterns.
- Glamourous and Luxe: Are you a high-end brand? Dazzling refined and distinguished?
- Exotic: Light, bright and exciting! Exotic styles are eye-catching, fun and full of personality.
- Flamboyant and Arty: Fun, vibrant and dramatic! These brands are bubby and energetic.
- Romantic: Are you soft, gentle and feminine? A pretty, pastel brand could suit your perfectly.
- Edgy: Bold, punky and up-to-the-moment fashionable! Edgy brands mix dark tones with the occasional splash of colour.
Step 3: Become a design diva
If you’re going to create a dazzling brand of your own then you’re going to have to get a little techie… This is the step where lots of ladies begin to come undone… say the words ‘graphic designer’ and it conjures up scary words like: CMYK, Dpi, bleed, crop marks and more!
But don’t worry, to create your own beautiful brand you don’t need to know everything a graphic designer like me knows, you just need to know what matters. In my Beautiful Brand Bootcamp, there’s a whole module which I like to call ‘design school’ where I teach my lovely ladies everything they need to know about doing their own graphic design, fast. But for now, here are the basics…
- Keep the space between letters balanced. And the space between lines too!
- Keep your blocks of text neat. That means no ‘widows’! This is designer speak for a word left all alone on a single line. Like this…
Choose fonts that can be read easily and come with a full set of characters – that means all the letters, numbers, grammatical signs and characters like pound signs and exclamation marks. NEVER use a hard to read font as your body copy.
EVER.
- Choose your text alignment and stick to it. Left, right or centred! Only use justified text when it works well. In some cases, it can lead to huge spaces between your letters.
- Be creative! Mix and match your fonts to create interest and flow with your words.
- And finally, don’t be afraid to use bright, bold colours!
Step 4: Unleash your creativity
If you’re struggling to find inspiration for your brand then you need to get researching. From the magazines, you read to the TV programs you watch, inspiration is all around you! Some of my favourite places to get inspirations from are:
Stationary and notepads: Check out shops like Paperchase and Squiggle
Beauty products: Take a wander round Boots and check out all the lovely packaging on display
Make-up: A brilliant place to look for colour combinations and textures. Hit a big department store and browse in the name of your business!
Advertising posters: Think your local bus shelter can’t be a source of inspiration? Think again!
Magazines: Magazine layouts and adverts are beautiful and designed to stand out! Grab a cuppa and flick through your favourite mag, using post its to highlight the pages that inspire you.
Books: illustrated books, lifestyle books, even business books are often filled with fabulous photography, diagrams and drawings.
Online: Search for logo design, colour combinations and specific themes (nautical, floral, 80’s) on Pinterest for heaps of inspiration or even Google images!
Use your phone to take photos of things that inspire you, cut out pages from magazines or create an online mood board using Pinterest or Trello. The world is your creative oyster, go check it out!
Step 5: Choose your fonts wisely
The right font can add flair, personality and character to your brand. But when it comes to choosing fonts, there are literally thousands of choices out there.
Here are some questions to ask yourself when checking out fonts to build your beautiful brand:
- Does it fit with my brand personality and style?
- Is it appropriate for my industry?
- Is it easy to read?
- Is it a classic font? Or fashionable and faddy?
- Does it make me feel good when I look at it on the page?
- Does it make me feel excited about using it?
Think of your font like finding the right pair of shows to go with your outfit. You want your font to look fabulous, but it mustn’t overwhelm the rest of your branding ensemble!
Step 6: Get creative with colour!
Choosing the right colours is a super important step in creating your own brand. The right colour palette can bring your brand to life, build brand recognition and convey the perfect meaning to your potential customers. But with so many colours to choose from where on earth do you start?
Here’s a basic guide to the meaning of some popular colours…
Yellow: Joyful, happy and positive
Green: Peaceful, earthy and fresh
Blue: Powerful, trustworthy and professional
Purple: Creative, free-spirited and magical
Red: Passionate, bold and exciting
Pink: Feminine, playful and romantic
Orange: Energetic, warm and adventurous
Black: Formal, smart and sophisticated
Which one suits your brand best?
Step 7: Choose eye-catching, inspirational imagery
Whether you’re creating a header image for your blog or choosing an image for your next Facebook Ad, how can you choose images that stop your reader in their tracks, creates impact, drives emotion and encourages your reader to connect?
Follow these three vital rules when choosing images for your brand…
- Start by thinking about what attracts YOUR attention… what makes you pause when scrolling through your news feed?
- Use vibrant colours to attract your reader. Say no to dull, drab images and yes to bright colours and stand-out images. Use images that use your brand colours for extra points!
- Choose images that connect with your brand. If you’re a Massage Therapist you want images that fell calming, tranquil and relaxing. By contrast if you’re a productivity expert you want to look for clear, structured images perhaps with a clock element.
And that’s that! If you follow these seven simple steps you’ll be well on your way to building your own epic brand that resonates with your crowd and attracts your ideal customers!
Want to DIY your brand from bland to beautiful?
If you like the tips in this blog post, you’ll LOVE my online branding course Beautiful Brand Bootcamp!
It’s packed with branding, design and visual styling tricks – not to mention tools, hacks and shortcuts – that will show you how to elevate your brand like a pro designer.
- If you’re struggling to design a DIY brand for your business…
- If you’re stressed out because you don’t have the budget to work with a professional Graphic Designer…
- If you’re wasting hours on Canva and still feel like your DIY design still looks a bit naff…
- If you’d love to save hours and hours of your valuable time and have the skills to pull your visual content together quickly
The you’ll love Beautiful Brand Bootcamp. Come check it out here.