Your brand is more than a logo: the five parts small businesses forget

When people ask me for "a brand", they usually mean a logo. That's understandable. The logo is the most visible part, and it's the piece you'll see on everything. But a logo on its own rarely makes a business look established. What does is everything around it working together.

Here are the five parts I see small businesses forget most often.

1. A colour palette with rules

Most businesses have colours. Fewer have rules for using them. Which colour is for headings? Which is the background? Which one is only for buttons and calls to action? Without rules, every new flyer or social post becomes a fresh decision, and over time the brand drifts. Three to five colours, each with a clear job, is usually enough.

2. Two fonts, used the same way every time

One font for headings and one for body text. That's it. The mistake isn't choosing the wrong fonts. It's using different ones on every document because they happened to be the default in that program.

3. A way of writing

Your brand has a voice whether you plan it or not. If your website sounds formal, your emails sound chatty and your social posts sound like someone else entirely, customers notice, even if they couldn't tell you why. A short set of writing guidelines, with a few words to use and a few to avoid, keeps everything sounding like one business.

Consistency is what makes a small business look bigger than it is.

4. A style for images

Bright and airy, or dark and dramatic? Real photography, or illustrations? People in the frame, or just products? When your images share a style, your social feed, website and print all look like they belong together.

5. Templates you'll actually use

This is the part that makes the difference day to day. A branded letterhead, a proposal layout, a set of social media templates. When the right file is already there, nobody is tempted to make it up as they go along.

Where to start

If you already have a logo you're happy with, you don't need to start again. A set of brand guidelines pulls your existing pieces together and gives everyone the same rules. If you're starting from scratch, Brand Identity Essentials covers the logo, colours, typography, business card and guidelines in one package.