The Ultimate Guide to Brand Identity Design for Entrepreneurs – Platinum 99

The Ultimate Guide to Brand Identity Design for Entrepreneurs

Do you feel aligned with your brand?

As a woman entrepreneur, it’s tough to feel like your brand doesn’t resonate with you anymore. This isn’t a fun spot to be in. You would look at your website, your logo, and your packaging, and you just don’t feel like it represents who you are anymore. And you’re left wondering… ‘Where did I go wrong?’

‘Am I good enough for this entrepreneurship work?’ I want to look more credible!

If you’ve been here before, you know how challenging this situation could be. You are still passionate about running the business and you still want to grow the business. But looking at where it is now, you know something is missing—you just don’t know what needs to change.

For some entrepreneurs, not feeling aligned with their brand holds them back from taking the steps that would actually grow the business. Some would stop creating content because they don’t know how to present the content even though they have a lot of ideas in mind. Some would even choose to not tell anyone about their website because they don’t feel proud of it.

Have you ever felt this way? Or perhaps you resonate with all these roadblocks because you currently feel like the visuals you have now don’t show the true potential and heart of your brand? The good news is, you’re not alone and we understand what you’re going through. And here’s what we want you to know:

Every entrepreneur deserves to feel proud about their brand

Yes, you absolutely deserve to feel confident about your brand and about showing off every aspect of your brand and business. Your products and services, your packaging, your website, your social media, … all of YOU!

At Platinum 99, we love working with entrepreneurs because we believe that it’s important for you to feel like you have everything you need to move forward and reach your goals. You’ve poured out your heart and soul into your business, so you deserve to feel empowered to take your next steps with clarity. We want you to be able to showcase your brand with pride and confidence because your brand is capable of making a difference in other people’s lives.

When you feel no longer aligned with your brand, it’s hard to grow the business because you would feel stuck. It’s a sign that something does need to change. It’s time to really look into your business inside out and evaluate what needs to be upgraded so that you can keep going towards your big brand goals. And sometimes this change means a level up in your brand identity design.

What is brand identity design?

Before you start designing your brand identity, think about this: what comes to mind when you hear the phrase “brand identity”?

For a lot of people, brand identity refers to visual elements of a brand. If you browse creative agencies on the internet, you would probably find 1 thing that everyone offers under brand identity—and that is a logo. This perception is so common that many people even define brand identity as covering logos only. Or perhaps you think of fonts and colour palettes too, and even icons as a part of the package.

Brand identity is a collection of different elements that represent a brand. Usually, these elements are things that we consider as visuals—like logos, fonts, patterns, color palettes, and so on. These elements are designed to be applied across all your brand touch points so that when your audience interacts with your brand, they will have a cohesive brand experience across the different channels.

So when it comes to brand identity, it’s quite hard to summarise it in a sentence because brand identity is so much more than just visual elements. What we call as “brand identity” actually encapsulates the whole experience of a brand that’s translated into a collection of things.

You need good brand identity design for your brand to grow upon

It’s so important for your brand to have a good brand identity design. A good brand identity design is the one that aligns with who you are as a brand and the people that your brand serves. It connects the heart behind the business with the needs of its customers. It’s the manifestation of everything that the brand and business are about into tangible elements that make up the brand experience as a whole.

Think of it as a stage where your business could grow upon. Designing your brand identity is about building something that makes you feel confident about growing the business. It’s not enough for your brand to have something that suits your taste in the moment because this is not just about building something that looks good temporarily.

You want a design that would last through the different seasons where your brand and business might go. You don’t want elements of a brand that you need to constantly update every time you reach a new milestone in your brand journey. You want an identity that you can expand on, that will continue to translate your vision into something tangible as you reach more customers and bring more impact.

With that in mind, designing the best brand identity for your business is a significant step to take in your journey as an entrepreneur. That’s why Platinum 99 wants to share 7 things that you can do to build the best brand identity for your business.

 

7 things you can do to build the best brand identity for your business

1) Start with brand strategy

Because brand identity is more than just about creating something that looks good, you want an identity that is based on something solid for your brand. It cannot be build on subjective preferences and what feels good in the moment. It needs a clear direction so that whatever you create will truly help your brand grow and bring you closer to your goals. This solid foundation is brand strategy.

With brand strategy, you get the clarity you need about your brand and what will actually help you get to your big brand goals. Through brand strategy, you can dig deep into your brand purpose, your uniqueness, and your ideal customers. From there, you can figure out how you can translate the heart behind your brand into a brand identity that will connect you with your customers at an emotional level.

2) See the bigger picture

Remember, your brand is so much more than just visuals. When you start designing your brand identity, see the bigger picture and keep this in mind. It’s about the whole brand experience. The visual elements that you create will become small parts of your brand. Every touch point will communicate a certain feeling and perception to your customer. These different touch points will add up into your customer’s brand experience.

This is why you need to make sure that you have a cohesive brand design because you want to communicate the same values and quality all across your different touch points. You want your customers to really understand what your brand is all about and it’s hard to communicate your unique selling point to your customers if your message isn’t consistent. With a cohesive brand identity design, you will ensure that the whole brand experience is aligned across all the touch points.

3) Find the right brand partner

You don’t have to figure it out on your own. As a woman entrepreneur, it’s hard to figure out everything on your own. When you want to dig deeper into your brand and business, you need a partner that understand what you’re all about. You want a partner who would support you no matter what and help you untangle your ideas into action steps that actually will help you move forward. This is the perfect timing to find a brand partner that you can work with.

Actually, this is also the reason why Platinum 99 exists. We see so many of you entrepreneurs with amazing ideas about your business but you feel stuck. You feel like you don’t know how to move forward and don’t have the clarity about what would be best for your business now. We want to help you transform into confident brand leaders so that you can reach your big brand goals!

When you find the brand partner that feels like the perfect fit, you will be empowered to take your brand and business to the next level… including designing the best brand identity for your brand and business that’s rooted on a solid brand strategy.

4) Be unapologetic about the values that you stand for

You can 100% be who you are and showcase that confidently through your brand.

Your brand identity should bring your personality and heart behind the business to life in a way that meets your customer’s needs. Anyone that designs your brand identity should celebrate your ‘secret sauce’ of success. You can bring your unique story and purpose to your brand unapologetically! Because the best brand identity for your business is the one that that reflects you.

When your brand identity reflects the values you stand for, the causes you’re fighting for, and the stories you represent, it will stand out in the market because it’s not a copy of all the other brands that’s out there. It’s a brand identity that truly celebrates who you are and how your brand can uniquely connect with your ideal customers.

5) Use your ideal customer persona as your source of inspiration

The big goal of your brand identity design is to connect with your ideal customers. You want your super fans to feel like they are seen and heard by your brand. So, instead of using your personal preferences as your source of inspiration, dig deep into what goes through the hearts and minds of your ideal customers. Think about what they really need and what would be most valuable to them. Research their lifestyle and find out what would connect to them most.

It’s not on you to figure out the direction for your brand identity design. Look to your ideal customer persona and use them as your source of inspiration. They are the best well of ideas because they know what would speak to them the most. So, you don’t have to carry the pressure of guessing correctly what would work. You can work together with us to figure out what would intrigue them and grab their attention the most, and then translate these insights into your brand identity.

6) Stay anchored on your purpose and goals

It’s so important to set your eyes on the long run, not just what feels good at the moment. Keep your brand strategy as the foundation because you want to design something that lasts. A common challenge that many entrepreneurs face in this process is they get distracted by what’s trending. As a result, they feel worried that if they don’t follow the latest trends, their brand would look outdated and won’t stand out in the market. But the thing is.. you don’t have to be like everybody else because you’re unique!

If you have gone through a brand strategy process, you would discover your purpose and your goals. You have outlined what needs to be accomplished in order for you to know that this project and action step is a success. Stay rooted in this and stop comparing yourself with other brands. Your unique story deserves to be celebrated in a unique way. Like we said earlier, you can be unapologetic about who you are as a brand.

7) Lean into your confidence

Your confidence is a good key that can show you what aligns most with your brand and your customers. While it’s important to keep your goals in mind, to stay anchored on your brand strategy, and set your eyes on the big picture, it is also just as important for you to lean into what makes you feel joyful and empowered.

As you work with your brand partner to design your brand identity, don’t hesitate to share how you feel throughout the process. If you feel aligned and excited, that’s really good. If you feel something isn’t right, communicate that openly. At the end of the day, you want to feel confident about your brand identity design. So, if you feel like it doesn’t represent who you are as a brand, that’s something to talk about with your brand partner. Lean into your intuition and trust yourself in the process. You deserve to feel proud about your brand and business!

Do you want to get clear on your brand direction and transform into confident brand leaders?

You absolutely deserve to reach your fullest potential as service providers and coaches. And you don’t have to figure it all out on your own. Let’s bring your big, bold ideas for your business to life through brand strategy.

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