Visual branding is often what people think of when they just think of “branding”. However, visual branding is just one part of the overall branding structure of a business.
A business’s brand could consist of a logo (the visual brand), videos, sound bits (think of the sound your Apple computer makes when it starts up), sayings (McDonalds’ “I’m Lovin’ It”), video production style (think of your typical Geico commercial), and other factors that go into the way people recognize any given product or service.
Visual branding itself is about:
- Colors
- Materials
- Fonts
- Shapes
- Symbols
Visual branding is a way of burning your business’s identity into people’s minds.
Visual branding is about more than just a symbol – think of the color scheme as well. Starbucks isn’t just the symbol of a woman surrounded by the circular “Starbucks Coffee”, the logo also uses three distinct colors: green, white, and black. That color scheme is as much a part of their visual branding as the images and words.
Here are some brands you’re probably familiar with:
You no-doubt recognize these right away. You have an immediate sense of who these businesses are and what they do. That’s because successful visual branding delivers a company’s ethos in a single image, one that is easy to remember and recognize later on.
How to be Successful at Visual Branding
You don’t want to waste any time creating a visual identity for your business that is ineffective, unmemorable, and fails to resonate with your target audience. Before getting started on the creation of your visual brand, you first need to ask yourself a couple of questions.
- What type of business am I running?
- Who is my target audience?
If you are running a store that specializes in new age or occult products – incense, herbs, spell books, grimoires, etc. – then you want to create a logo that will resonate with your target audience. Go for something mystical, gothic, or earthy. Better yet, try combining all of these themes into one unique, uniform logo that really captures the values, personality, and overall purpose of your brand.
Your brand should be:
- Alluring to your target audience
- Uniform – everything needs to flow together and look consistent
- Unique (so that you don’t run into problems for being too confusingly similar to another brand)
- Memorable – you want your audience coming back to you time and time again, you want to be the go-to brand for their desires and interests
Getting Your Brand Out There for the World to See
So, you’ve created your logo and now you’re ready for people to see it. Where do you start? Outside your shop is good, but getting it all over town is better.
There are of course fliers you can put up, internet ads you can create, but there are also plenty of companies that advertise logos and signs. This can come in the form of banners, signs, and vehicle wraps.
Don’t waste any time promoting your business – get your logo out there for the world to see.