KEY ELEMENTS FOR BUSINESS BRANDING

15 Jan 2018

In 2018, it’s safe to say we’re all aware of the importance of business branding. Your brand is the forefront of your business every step of the way, whether on letterheads, e-mail footers, brochures, websites or social media platforms, your branding is likely to be the first thing your clients see which is why it’s so important that you get it right.

Each re-brand we undertake at KAT Marketing includes careful consideration as to what will work best for our clients and convey key messages to their target audience. Below are three key elements for business branding to ensure your business is on-brand and telling the right story…

Colours

Rather than considering your colour preferences you need to consider what colour/s best represent your brand. The best way to do this is with colour theory which looks at the meaning behind colours and how people associate them with emotions. See below some examples of classic colours and their known associations:

Red – excitement, bold, romance
Orange – friendly, cheerful, confident
Yellow – optimism, happiness, warnings
Green – peace, growth, health
Blue – trust, dependable, strong
Purple – wealth, creative, imagination
Black – tradition, elegant, powerful

Typeface

Anyone who has cringed at the sight of Comic Sans will know the importance of choosing the right typeface. It’s also important to steer clear of well-known typefaces to avoid brand confusion, such as using the same typeface as Coca-Cola which is well known and associated heavily with their products.

You should choose your typeface similarly to your brand colours, ensuring you consider associations with the style of typeface whether it be serif (like Times New Roman), sans-serif (like Arial) or script (like Coca-Cola’s typeface).

Serif typefaces are often associated with tradition whereas sans-serif are associated with a clean and modern look. Script typefaces which are calligraphy or handwriting based tend to be associated with elegance or creativity. As such you should consider which of these best represents your business.

Semiotics

Before you even consider the icon to use within your branding you should consider whether or not you actually need one at all. Many modern brands stick with a solid typeface and colour scheme and it’s perfect for their brand, just take a look at Disney, Google and Kellogg’s for some popular examples.

When deciding on an icon it is important to consider semiotics, the study of signs and symbols, to ensure that the icon has the relevant connotations for your brand. For example, an image of an apple can be associated with health and freshness – see what Apple did there?!

Alongside these three key elements for business branding you need to ensure you have high quality graphic design and a solid plan for future marketing materials to carry your business branding through to fruition. Get in touch with the KAT team to see what we can do for your business.