How learning about Brand Strategy actually changed my entire game
It was not so long ago that I decided that being the graphic designer that I am was not enough. There’s a whole new level of competitors out there that charge 10 times less of what I usually charge for a logo. There are all of these platforms out there that help you get the work done faster and cheaper, such as Upwork, Fiverr and Freelancer.
Don’t get me wrong, those places are a great starting point for freelancers that want to earn money while they’re gaining experience. And, from the clients’ perspective, they’re also a way to get a business up and running in no time with just enough resources (logo design, web design, copywriting, etc.) to actually start getting somewhere.
Over the past couple of years, I had the opportunity to work with several startups, by helping them build their brand identity design. I was very happy with the projects I ended up working on, and those indeed helped me build up a very nice design portfolio. It wasn’t until last year that I came up face to face with reality, and I started struggling with: “My cousin knows how to use Illustrator, so he can do it for free”, “How can you charge X when you do it in 10 minutes?”, or the typical, “I’m just getting started, and I don’t have a lot of money, but I’ll give you exposure.”
All of those arguments were so annoying, and I felt so burnt out. It wasn’t only that the client wasn’t willing to pay more, I wasn’t willing to charge more as well, so I ended up working with nightmare clients who felt that they owned me and my time.
But, here’s the thing. It wasn’t their fault, it was all mine. I was the one who let them be in control of my scope of work. I didn’t clarify my limits, thus allowing them to call me on weekends or on evenings, wanting urgent stuff that couldn’t wait.
I know, I know… the sound of “I have a design emergency” seems like something kind of stupid, but at the time, I felt like I was the “design doctor” that had to be in charge of that emergency right there and then, regardless of where I was at or who I was with.
It took me exactly two awful situations, just like that one, to make me realize I had to stop, take a step back, and think. And yes, there were only two situations, and I know what you’re thinking; you probably think that I’m not a very patient person. Maybe, maybe not, but working with those two clients without a schedule, design emergencies and VERY low pay, for a VERY long time (because they wanted changes, and more changes, and then, go back to the beginning with: “Hey, guess what? We did like the first draft you sent”), yes, my patience wore out.
So, you must be wondering, how did I come across Brand Strategy, as a career to pursue to grow and change my entire game. Let’s get into that.
When I realized it was time for me to take a step back and see how I had to be able to do things differently, I tried a few approaches. The first one, and the obvious one, I started charging more and saying no to “red flag clients” (the cheap ones that were looking for a discount). And it did work, I actually ended up working with fewer clients, with fewer demands, but earning respect, credibility, and of course, more money.
This worked out for a little while, but I was still on the journey of understanding what my real purpose was. I concluded that it’s great that I love what I do and that it’s amazing to have that creative chip installed in my brain. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough. Something was missing, and if I really wanted clients to value my work and what I do, I had to understand what their real needs are in the first place, and then figure out how to help them out.
Yes, logo design and graphic visuals are needed in all industries. And yes, the guy from Fiverr can do it for 50 bucks. But what’s the real value in there? How could I, as a graphic designer, be any real help to my clients without the headaches and the wasting of time and money?
There are many approaches and many disciplines that come from graphic design, but branding strategy was the one that answered that question for me. So, I took a few courses, read a few books, and when a client of mine reached out and asked for a logo, I offered my branding strategy service for free, I just charged for the logo. Over the course of that project, I realized how huge and important having a branding strategy is. Here are a few takeaways that will help you understand why this is so important:
- Branding and logo are not the same
It is a common misconception. People think that a logo and its complements (color palette, typography, patterns, graphics, etc.) are the same as branding.
Branding is a whole lot more than just a logo. Branding involves your DNA as a brand (your purpose, mission and vision statements, your values– basically, the reason you exist and to who you exist for), your positioning strategy (target audience, competitor’s audit, key differentiator– or in other words, the reason people would buy from you and not your competition), your tone of voice and brand personality, your core messaging for your inner and outer communications, your story and finally, your logo and marketing materials.
So, as you can see, your logo is a part of your branding, but not all of it. You need to understand this first, and then move forward. Once you get a hang of it, you’ll see how things will start falling into place. Which leads me to the next takeaway.
2. Your branding strategy is like a roadmap
Have you ever been to a foreign country, without cellphone data, trying to get somewhere? What you usually do on those situations is get your hands on a map or some sort of travel guide that will lead you to your destination. It might be a bumpy road, but in the end, you’ll get there.
Branding strategy works pretty much like this. The best logos aren’t created instantly, they don’t have a million elements that show the ins and outs of the business they represent, and they aren’t certainly created on low-cost platforms. The difference between a good logo and a great logo, besides the creativity of the designer, is the branding strategy behind it.
Logos are merely simple icons or symbols, but they are a small, relevant part of a whole brand construction, including color palettes, fonts, graphic elements and much more. Your business’ whole core, values, personality and story should be translated into imaging. That’s where the real challenge comes to picture.
How can you translate all of that information into one teeny tiny abstract symbol? How can you communicate with color what you want to say? Which fonts are best suited for your brand? Oh, yes, all those elements are extremely relevant for your general imagery (social media posts, business cards, ads, letterheads, etc.), because they show visual consistency, and trust me, consistency is one of the things that definitely help you stand out.
Having a branding strategy behind your imagery will not only help the designer you hire actually know what he/she’s doing with your visuals and create graphics that work accordingly with your brand, but it will also give you a sense of direction. It’ll avoid the typical “I don’t know what I want, I’ll know it when I see it” and transform it into: “My brand values define this and that, so the imagery should show it”, and that my friends, will definitely save you lots of time and money. Stop with the “blind leading the blind strategy”, and start using your roadmap.
3. Your branding roadmaps will also shape your overall communications and your marketing content
Yes, as a designer, visuals are my thing. But I also work with clients that require social media management, and for the past year I’ve learnt that people don’t care about a thousand pictures of your products. Yes, those pictures help, and they give you some sort of portfolio or help build your catalogue, depending on your product or service. But social media and marketing should focus on content that people will actually consume while they scroll mindlessly on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter (or whichever social media platform you use for your brand).
Is your content set up for small tutorials? Or maybe you love to tell jokes and do stand-up comedy? Are you a teacher and like to share your knowledge, besides selling your online courses? All of those things are pretty valuable to set-up a highly curated social media account. But nothing will work, unless you communicate with the audience you defined, and with the tone of voice you developed through your branding strategy.
As you develop a brand personality, you should communicate as if your brand were a real human being. Brands no longer sell products per se, although that’s the ultimate goal. Successful brands seek to communicate, engage, and ultimately, develop a community of people with similar interests. People buy from people, not robots.
Within the contents of your brand strategy, you have to make sure that the language, tone of voice and type of content you develop are aligned with who you’re trying to speak to. That way it’ll be easier to connect and generate credibility within your potential followers and customers.
4. It’s useless to hire people that aren’t aligned to your core values and brand personality
It might sound a little counterintuitive, but a small detail like that can screw up your work.
What’s the point of developing a full branding strategy for your business if the document will only work as an ornament?
The point of developing a branding strategy is not only to keep your designers and community mangers busy. It’s a document that will help you understand what your real goals are, and how to accomplish them with the accurate strategies, but it also involves creating a unique work culture.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a startup or a well established company. The people that you hire must share your ideals and be willing to accomplish them with you. If they are uninterested, if they are just working for money, and nothing else, then they’re useless to you.
Think of your brand as a person. Your person is amazing, funny, loving, caring, easygoing (or whatever positive attributes you want to place on him or her). He/she is surrounded by “friends” that are awful, envious, mean and are constantly trying to bring this person down, ultimately, making him/her loose its mojo. As you can see, they are not real friends, they’re just in the way.
The same happens with your brand. If your employees/service providers aren’t helping, they’re hurting. And trust me, you don’t want that.
Don’t hire somebody that will only get the work done and be careless. Hire somebody that gets involved with your brand and that will go the extra mile for it. You’ll learn that it’ll be a lot easier to flow and eventually take your brand where you want it to go.
Final thoughts
So, yes, choosing this career path changed helped me transition from another graphic designer to pick from the crowd, into a branding strategist that helps clients with something deeper, besides beautiful graphics for their businesses.
No more nightmare clients; it has been such a relief for me to give something of value and help them out with the development and execution of their brand strategies with a workflow that allows every concept to fall into place, allowing them to understand what they want and how they are going to get there. It took a while, but I finally learned the value of the work that I do.
But, enough about me. This post is for you to understand the real value of having a branding strategy for your business and how it can change your entire game as well. So, to wrap it up, here’s what you need to understand:
Logo and branding: 2 different things. Branding feeds the logo’s structure, not the other way around.
Branding as a roadmap: Remember, us designers don’t just sit down, sketch and charge you thousands of dollars for a logo. We dig deep, do our research and help you develop a roadmap for your business. We are the bridge between what you say and what you want your audience to understand visually, so please, don’t underestimate our work. Same for digital marketers, who also work pretty hard in connecting the gaps between your branding core and the tangible solutions you bring to your customers.
Finally, your brand is one of a kind; make sure everybody knows it: It’s amazing where your brand strategy can get you, but it’s merely the foundation. Your work culture, your inner and outer communications, your design and marketing strategies should all be aligned to it. Think of it as an exclusive group where only the best of the best can join. So, uninterested employees and/or service providers and cheap design and marketing deliverables are not allowed.
Your brand is your baby, make sure you nourish it with the best of your care!
