Understand your brand before you promote it
Wednesday, April 29th, 2009The other day I was talking to someone I know well at a Web consulting firm that had recently launched a new Web site. My eyebrows went up when I heard this:
…[we] are still working through the logo design/branding process…
This sort of thing gets people into trouble all the time. Putting the Web site out and distributing your brand message before you’ve thought things through is like putting the cart before the horse.
If you don’t clearly understand what you’re all about, and don’t convey that clearly through your logo mark (and indeed through everything you do), you can’t expect anyone else to figure you out.
One way we help Clients think through their branding is by developing a Creative Brief early in the design process, before we do any design or coding. The brief identifies things like target audiences and communication themes and guides the Web design team as we create a site.
To build a building, use a blueprint. To build a brand, make sure you understand what you’re about.
Incidentally, Pemaquid is going through this process as we speak…
