There are three essential ingredients to successful branding. These apply to your logo, your website, and your personal branding.
1) Your brand must be SIMPLE.
A logo has to be displayed in many different versions on many different platforms. A viewer’s eye skips right over a cluttered or over-wordy web page. Your message must be simple and absorbed in a fraction of a second before people are willing to find out more. Simplicity translates best. It is easiest to remember.
2) Your brand must be ESTHETIC.
Studies have shown that the brain responds to certain colors, shapes, arrangements and subjects in a positive way, and responds negatively to others. As far as we can tell, some of this is cultural and some of it is hard-wired.
3) Your brand must be DISTINCTIVE.
If it is different in some way, it sets you apart and makes you memorable. You, your logo, your message, your website must have a unique element in some way.
These three ingredients add up to one thing, and it is a vital factor in your success:
CREDIBILITY
The word means the quality of being trusted and believed. To succeed, people must trust what you offer and believe that you can deliver.
EFFECTIVE BRANDING EXCERCISE:
Pick out some famous brands and see how the way they present themselves to the world contains these three ingredients. Then ask yourself, “How does my brand stand out from my competitors?”
Better yet, ask yourself “How does my client see me as different from my competitors?”
