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They key towards successful branding is to envision your business as an individual that is going to meet people and wants to leave an impact on them. If your business fails to create a personal feel towards the consumer, then your business won’t survive for very long. But the question that arises first is not how but when does a personal feel develop in this relationship?

It happens, just like in the case of individuals, on the very first impression that your business has on the prospective customer. If it succeeds there, then be rest assured, you are definitely going to feel your cash registers ringing.

But how are first impressions formed in business? It requires a change of perspective to view it in that manner and No! It’s not about being as flashy as you possibly can. Would you develop a good first impression of an individual if he/she is wearing gaudy and loud clothes and has a punk-style hairdo?

Probably no and more so if they are there to sell you something. You would be turned off by it and won’t be interested in what that individual has to say even if it’s good because the first impression was so lax that you didn’t want to proceed any further.

Most businesses commit the same mistake and it reflects in their bottom line results. So to successfully create a great first impression on the online consumer, make sure that you follow these guidelines:

The Feel of the Home Page Holistically:

Before zooming in on what specific areas of the landing page say, our subconscious mind makes a snap judgment on the website after seeing it as a whole rather than a sum of its parts.

This is where the power of branding and First impression kicks in and is at its most powerful so make sure that your landing page or the home page is looking great, which means that the branding done there is seamlessly blended there be it the website logo or any CTAs. If something looks out of place and jumps at you, it would serve to be distracting on your other features, which makes it harder for the visitor to stay long enough.

The impression goes out that you are trying desperately to sell by being so over the top with your antics. Make it smooth and easier to the eyes.

The UI Design and Customer centric UX:

After the eyes have done their work, the hands come into play and the navigation and scrolling starts. Here the customer is developing a feel of how you have designed your website by keeping the ease of customers in mind. The harder it is to navigate, the more chances of inducing a redirect to another site.

Make your website clutter free and employ easier navigational tools like interactive drop-down menus and re-directing slideshows. Videos and pictures work great to create a good first impression of your site by increasing user engagement. Integrate your website logo strategically in your interactive tools and don’t overdo. Overkill might be bad for everything but it’s devastating for your website logo.

Offering your Product:

The chain of first impressions continues as the user heads on towards your product category page and further on to individual products.

This is where the magic is supposed to happen. Most businesses share a common misperception that the pictorial representation of the product is where the whole emphasis should be. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

The pictures need to look attractive, yes, but it’s not the whole deal. The display of information related to the product should be clear and easily readable as should the price, payment options and the delivery methods offered by you.

Keep in mind that the customer is not there to just buy your product; it is there to fulfill a need. It’s not there to buy a jacket; it’s there to buy warmth and good looks. Make sure you focus your strategy towards catering this need of the customer. This is part of the overall initial customer experience and the formation of the first impression towards your business, make it count!

In the end, it would be great that if a sale is made, you could put up a thank you message in the same shape and design of your website logo to make it look like you are creative as well as friendly. Your goal should be that once the site is closed by the consumer, a reverberating impact has been made by your branding strategies enough to make it come again soon to make your business flourish.

What are the essentials of a winning brand? How do you ensure that all of the internal and external people associated with your brand are on the same page? The modern business dynamics have redefined the way the “brand” word is used in multiple contexts. Your brand undoubtedly personifies your businesses personality and is crucial to the existence of the company. Consumers intend to be able to connect with the brand on an emotional and personal level and for that,a logo and complimentary color scheming is not the only takeaway as it is not successful in establishing a meaningful dialogue with your brand. And hence the concept of a Logo Style Guide comes into play.

What Is a logo style guide basically?

A logo style guide is like a roadmap for your business in the form of a document that assists your company to deliver a consistent brand image across all company collaterals whether visual or text. The way your brand identity can be leveraged is set out in a series of rules and guidelines in this document and features basic sections like logo usage, typography, corporate trade dress which is determined by the color scheme and if your brand has a specific editorial tone that needs to be followed or not.

The Logo Style Guide portrays multiple facets of your logo in creative versions and alignments for you to choose from. This helps you perceive the logo in various scenarios so that you can justifiably decide which works best for your brand. For example, it may include the main typeface, a secondary serif typeface and the color palette which was used.

What’s in it for the business?

What businesses aim for all the time is that their target audience buys their marketing pitch and ultimately makes that purchase. Consciously or unconsciously you are marketing your brand message across multiple platforms and you need to keep in mind that the perceived value of a brand in the eyes of the consumer is as important as the sincerity with which the work is executed. It is the first thing that people visually encounter process and stores it in their memory. Visual identity is something that stands out well-pronounced and hence it should be well-formulated. That is why a Logo Style Guide is a ‘must-have’ tool when working to build your brand identity.

Attention to detail

Your logo style guide categorically lays down the brand elements that come together to define your brand and how they should effectively be put into action across your marketing collaterals. The in-depth details that they are believed to hold can range from the photography style that needs to be adopted, the precise measurements of the logo from the borders, the guidelines to compile the copy and the mode of communication that should be used to disseminate information regarding the placement of furniture and fittings in the real-world scenario.

The more holistically and comprehensively you present your company image the more favorable it will prove to be for your business. This one document self-presents your company to anyone of your in-house staff whether they are designers (internal or outsourced), workers hired on acontractual basis, freelancers or external stakeholders like suppliers, vendors (such as printers), to help communicate the brand message to your target audience in a seamless and well-integrated manner.

Why do you need a logo style guide?

The logo style guide also commonly known as the brand guide or ‘brand bible’ effectively coordinates between the product or service, the logo and the brand equity that it projects and the corporate identity so that all of the elements connect together in a fluid manner and is perfectly synchronized with the image in the minds of the existing and potential customers.

Establishes a brand personality

The tangibleelements of the brand like the poster ads, business cards, packaging and the signage need certain instructions to be implemented in the right context and not come out us inconsistent with the brand image. The guide helps the designers and the marketers steer the way in helping to put together the ideal logo, make ads that grab consumer attention and also maintain brand integrity across a range of platforms. Your brand values and every possible communication with the customer should go hand in hand both on an emotional and visual level.

Ensures consistency over various platforms

The benefits of a style guide can be viewed from the viewpoint of a prospective customer who struggles to put the information he receives about your business in bits and pieces. Your success lies in the fact that your style guide removes all sorts of ambiguity from the minds of consumers by familiarizing them with the core values and competencies that your company believes in and sets the overall tone for your brand. From the color scheming to the positioning of your products on the website makes a whole lot of difference. Make sure there are no visible or subtle contradictions amongst your core areas of expertise and presents a fair picture to prevent any harm to your business in the long run.

The existence of a guide will help the entry of new products or services or penetration into newer product lines. Any product that does not comply with a business brand value may create confusion both amongst the employees and in the eyes of your esteemed customer as well.

Remember that no two businesses are alike and you need to understand the unique branding needs of your business to do justice to your value proposition. A brand identity that exudes professionalism is sure to go a long way and can serve as a very impactful asset. Successful business pride on their clear and consistent brand image.

When we start talking about logos, we stop looking ahead for a while and stop our association with it on the borders of the branding frontier but logos have had a deep, rich and an immensely interesting history with most of them having intriguing histories into their formation and budgets.

A logo is an artistic personification of your brand ideology and it is used to serve the purpose of providing a “Face” which people can associate with the name of the brand but there is more than which meets the eye in some of them which are sure to make you interested in finding more about them, let’s look at some of the most amazing stories that iconic logos hide beneath their immense popularity and mass appeal:

Coca-Cola:

Who would have thought that one of the most recognizable logos would be made in Spencerian script, which was one of the types of fonts used by people pursuing penmanship at the time. Frank M. Robinson was an initial partner and a bookkeeper by profession when he designed this logo as he believed that two C’s would work wonders in marketing the soft drink, hence the logo came to life.

It might now be worth billions of dollars as a trademark of the company but it was designed for $0, funny thing isn’t it?

London Olympics 2012:

The organizing committee shelled out £400,000 to acquire a logo for this iconic competition which still retains a massive audience over the whole globe. The committee assigned the task to Wolf Ollins in 2007, but it didn’t live up to its hype, instead became controversial due to its resemblance to a woman performing oral sex and being quite untidy at the same time.

The BBC Logo:

Commissioned in 1997, it is still in use due to its wide application capability that allows the organization to use it simultaneously to represent every department, whether it’s television or radio but the price tag is a bit more complex as compared to the logo’s simplicity and brevity. Designed in Gill Sans font, the cost of the BBC logo was a mind-boggling $1.8 million when it came out.

British Petroleum (BP):

When it comes to spending through the nose when acquiring a logo for your brand, BP outstrips everyone by a distance by getting a logo for nearly $211 million from Ogilvy and Mather back in 2008 in an effort to revamp its image in the mind of the people as firm which is committed towards people’s concerns as an energy company. What a belligerent attitude this firm retains when it comes acquiring the best!

Interestingly when there was an oil spill related to BP around the same time this logo was commissioned, it caused image problems which couldn’t be solved by this logo alone.

Google for Zero:

When it came to designing a logo for the now most famous search engine on the planet by a fair distance, Google’s co- founder Larry Page designed it on the free graphics program GIMP with a vibrant design using a lot of color iterations. The logo has undergone major transformations but it still retains immense resemblance to the original one prepared by Larry.
The green color used for the letter “L”in the Google logo signifies Google’s ideology of not follow predefined rules as all the other colors used in rest of the letters are primary colors.

A logo certainly has avalue which cannot be ascertained in monetary terms but having said that logos are certainly influential in building your brand image and positioning in the mind of the consumer. Each company has its own ideology to follow when it comes down to getting a logo as these logos have just as rich stories as works of art, so when the next time you need a logo for your organization, try to get a story going behind it as well as in its portray of your brand to create a mesmerizing and memorable effect which can linger in the minds of the consumer for the times to come.

It is an unarguable fact that businesses do not need an online presence to reap benefits, rather an online presence has become an absolutely vital need if the business is to compete in today’s world. Many small businesses are now getting their websites developed to make a mark on the online world. It is nice that people understand the value of having a website, but now just “having” a website will not cut it.

So what do you need after you get a website?

Let us talk about a retail store and how it is arranged for success. First thing you pay attention to is the location of the store. It has to be easily accessible for your customers. Once you get the store, you then set up a good looking entrance. After that you arrange the shelves, checkout counter and a couple of special products in their special shelves. You also ensure that the shop looks good overall to the customer. That is all of the things you need to do after you get a website. All these things make for a good website and that is exactly what is needed to get an edge in today’s world.
If you had a store, you talked location. For your website you talk about where is your website hosted and how fast it loads for your customers. Once your website is up, then you go about its design. Are the menus user-friendly? Which products go where? Do you make banners for the special products or products on sale? Where do you keep the check-out button, or do you give an instant checkout option? What are the payment methods that shall work on your website? Setting up these requires technical knowledge but knowing what you need for a good website, requires more business acumen than technical knowledge. A good designer will get you the website, but you should be actively involved in the design process to get a website that the customer will love.

Some of the main features that you should focus on are:

• Get a professional logo designed. This should be visible on the top of your website. It should be easily readable and yet look good.
• Put your phone number somewhere it is easily visible and put a call to action button right next to it.
• Invest a good amount of time in how the menu bar will look like and the pages that it shall lead to.
• You cannot make banners for each and everything. Choose which things you want to show-off to potential customers. Work on where should you place these banners on the website, so they are visible but do not feel like they are being thrusted in ones face.
• Ensure that in the footer you mention all necessary contact information, business/support hours and social media buttons leading to all of your social media accounts.
• Choose a reliable hosting plan that has credible reviews. Also ensure that you have an auto website backup feature and check at what interval is the auto website backup taken.

Last but not least you should choose an agency that does not out-right tell you what would be right for you. Choose an agency which first makes an effort to understand your business model and then explain to you with examples the option you have.

Evolution is as much a phenomena in the online market as it is in the natural world. As things change, you also need to alter your strategic mix to keep up with the trend and stay relevant but logos are a lot different from other marketing strategies in that they serve as identification marks to represent the brand but do not constitute as much in the process of selling the product to the consumer. Logos make for easier brand recall and instant recognition, so they should the purpose by personifying your ideology rather than just become a thing on which you splurge exorbitant amounts of money just because you can. A lot of businesses commit the mistake of redesigning their logo just because the old one has been around for a pretty long period of time and they believe that it must be done away with now.

When, in 2009, Tropicana changed their logo, there was huge outcry from the customer base who believed the old logo sufficed for them and the change was highly unwelcome. What happened there was that, you cannot do much with a beverage which has a certain fruit at the helm of its flavor in terms of changing it. The flavor was the reason the brand was taken up by the consumer in the first place. When they don’t require a change in the taste, a logo redesign which they have come to associate with their loved brand would be very unwanted at that point in time. Logos shouldn’t be like that, they should be changed when there are enough reasons to change them.

A lot of marketers fail to recognize these changes and don’t play by the rules. Here are some of the reason you should look for in your logo to decide whether a change is really required in your current logo design:

Technical Problems arising with the Current Logo:

One of the most basic reasons to change a logo or redesign it has to do with its technical aspects. Check whether your logo doesn’t lose its image quality when its put down to scaling or is it too multi colored, making it expensive to get it printed by the company. Issues like this certainly signal a sign for a minor revamp in the logo design to improve its technical viability across different aspects.

Does it live up to the current vision of your business?

When talking about a logo redesign we need to look deeper into the ideology behind the initial logo when it was first created. Businesses have a tendency to evolve over time and they could end with doing something entirely different from what they started out to do initially. It can be either the inclusion of more brands into the foray or a fit to match marketing strategy that the business straddled upon due to trial and error to maximize its consumer base. When looking for logo redesigns, ensure that your logo now is too different from the ideology behind your workings today.

It is not as appealing as others in the market

When your business started off, you needed to work with the resource you had in hand at that point in time which could have resulted in initial logo design that was enough to begin work with but now as you continue to grow, you now need to upscale your logo to make it more appealing than your competitor’s. This is sometimes the single most important factor in deciding whether to go for a logo redesign or not as other things can surely be worked over or out looked but once you are in with a competition, it is wise to go a for a logo redesign or if possible, for a completely new one to go one up one your competition so that your brand identity gets better and leaves a much more impressionable mark on the consumer.

If you want to run an e-commerce store then the first thing you need to understand is that it is not so different from running an actual storefront. You need to focus on customer service, product availability and make sure your shop looks inviting enough for a customer to step in and then have their curiosity piqued enough to stick and wander about. You need to do pretty much the same with your website. Make the website look inviting and have the perfect combination of looks and effective responsiveness (the equivalent of shop layout and checkout system) to ensure that the customer enjoys their shopping experience. However trends change very fast in the online world. Sliders were a must have last year, but not feel antiquated. Let us talk about the design trends of 2016.

Hero Images

A hero image is what we call a large banner image that is placed in the front and center of the website, essentially making if the first and (only) thing your visitors encounter on your website. They are meant to aesthetically please your website visitors.

A picture is worth a thousand words. And this is exactly the thought that is driving this design trend. There is nothing as relatable or descriptive as a photograph. A photo that is the perfect fit entices the customers and makes them delve further into your website. The website of Maaemo is a perfect example of a hero image being used to its full potential. This shows how crafty designers can get. The photo is not just beautiful but a moving one and loads up very quick. This is the time of photo that actually makes you curious enough to scroll down and find out more about Maaemo does. You can go and check it out yourself. We won’t spoil the experience for you.

Full screen note and Scrollable

These are finally gaining traction again. Non scrollable websites are like getting used to the taste of dark chocolate. On their very first bite most people hate it but by the second or third nibble, one starts to get a small hint of the appeal of dark chocolate.

Non scrollable websites can be navigated using the keyboard in most cases. They tend to be used when you opt for a simple design. One of the best examples of a full screen website that has done away with scrolling is of Facebook Privacy Basics. Not the most responsive website but still looks good and delivers the info very well.

Crazy Animations

If it is possible to create a crazy visual treat, that loads up easily then why not. Waaark is the perfect example of a beautiful color riot visual experience.

So the next time you want to make your website look up to date and enticing enough you should go to your designer firm and ask them to tell you more about the latest trends. Keeping up with the latest trends is important. Many people do ask, what if they cannot keep up with the latest trends? Well then you better be an innovator of trends. Anything other than that and you are setting up yourself for failure.

The most important thing startups should consider is how to build up a diverse and multi-faceted initial brand recognition strategy. Focusing on increasing brand recognition is an indispensable strategy as far as startups are concerned, no matter how powerful or innovative your product or service is. For brand recognition to be powerful, it has to cover all mediums to ensure that all niche markets are effectively covered. The trend nowadays, which is undoubtedly immensely successful in garnering attention towards your brand, is to focus all of your attention on building a great online presence whether it is through SEO, PPC or even getting a great app built. But as effective as it is, online presence doesn’t cover it fully and is not something physical, that as humans, we have a tendency to latch on to and remember it for prolonged periods.

The prevailing opinion among a great chunk of marketers is that print advertising is on its way out and investing in online advertising is the only way to do effective marketing. Well, they are half right. While online advertising definitely ensures great returns but its main problem lies in the fact that the market is highly saturated and with gazillions of ads being churned out every second vying ferociously for the user’ attention, your campaign will not be realizing its true potential. What will complete it is engaging print media and integrating it with your online presence as this will bring in more people and their attention towards what you are trying to say.

The most effective print tool to do this integration is the brochure as its features are the perfect way to go about your way successfully. Lets see how your brochure can be a powerful tool for integration and increasing brand recognition for your startup venture:

The most qualified leads!

When your brochure carries your information and a definite call to action with specific hashtags that will enable anyone who gets hold of the brochure to be able to find you online, any conversions or leads coming off through in this manner will carry more strength than conventional ones because the user took the initiative of contacting you as he/she found the content engaging enough, which translates into half the work done. Brochures can get these conversions quite effectively if they have highly engaging content which is supported by relevant imagery as this engages the user in quite a different manner than something online. Everything online is viewed through the same lens as the quality of the image or graphics are determined more by the type of device being used by the user than the quality of the imagery itself while in brochures, if your logo, advertisement, images, content or any other thing is printed and has a high resolution then it latches on to the user’s attention like nothing else. Sometimes just the feel of the paper is enough to do this.

Permanency with lower costs!

The best thing about brochures is that the most essential consideration in any startup’s marketing plan which is cost is pretty low and gets lower and lower per print with bulk printing, something online ads can never offer. Online advertising carries off the same cost for as many as you want and it is far better to have conventional print media pursue your aim of getting a far bigger outreach coupled with online advertisements. This will decrease your costs and increase your exposure.

Brochures will live on a far longer period than online ads as they offer a tactile feel and are mostly retained by people. As they are comprehensive and can offer a great deal of information related to your service, brochures can give you the added advantage of furthering your credibility with anyone who meets you and wants more info about your gig. Legitimacy is a big criteria for a brand’s success rate especially if it’s a start up. Considering the fact that a pretty large number of startups fail, legitimacy can give you your much needed boost and reduce the chances of people not trusting you. Get your marketing team thinking and let them bring up effective ideas for including print media especially brochures into the fray. You definitely need to order your brochures as soon as possible for your start up to get those eyeballs garnered towards your brand!

A while back we talked about the importance of the business card in the digital world of today. We discussed that even in the digital world of today the business card prospers in corporate business circles and is highly valued.

A business card exchange is almost ceremonious in most countries and has its own set of etiquettes. While the business card is important in all business circles, some cultures place great importance not just on the card but on how it is used. You should be well aware of the general business card etiquettes and even some of the norms that are confined to Asian countries and the like, but important nonetheless.

Do not treat the business card like a promotional flyer

The business card is a subtle way to market yourself, but remember the key word here is “subtle”. In no way should you treat the business card as a flyer.

Keep your business card to yourself until you are asked for your contact info. The business card is mainly used for networking, thus it is given to select individuals. Also when asked for your business card by someone, capitalize on that opportunity. If possible write a note on the back on the card, as a reminder of what you were talking about that led to an exchange of contact information. This will lead to your card standing out when they are going through the business cards they have.

Always have business cards on hand, and in good condition

The excuse that you have forgotten or run out of business cards shows you in a negative light. People will judge you as being unprofessional. Ensure that you are always carrying sufficient business cards and carrying them carefully. A business card is like a billboard that is representing you. A crumpled business card sends a very bad impression. Get a proper case for business cards, in order to ensure that they remain in mint condition.

If you are carrying business cards in sufficient quantity and that too of mint quality that ticks two important boxes. One more thing that is often forgotten is that no one likes someone going through all of their pockets and then briefcase just to find something. It makes you look like a forgetful and thus unreliable person. Ensure that your business cards are easily accessible and in a place that you will always remember.

Handing over and accepting business cards is an art

While in North America and even some European countries like Europe the business card is used a formal tool for communication information exchange, some cultures like that of Japan, Switzerland, China and Singapore treat the exchange of business cards very formally.

One habit that you should make is to always distribute the business card with your right hand. Many cultures put emphasis on receiving things of value from the right hand, and it is considered downright rude to put forward your left hand. This applies very strongly in India and the Middle East.

Second, whenever you receive a business card, do not accept and put it in your card case. Take a moment and scan through it. This shows that you are giving due respect to the other person. This is not something prevalent in North America, but Japanese, Swiss and the Chinese value such actions highly.

While the article above covers many important aspects of the business card exchange etiquette, it is not enough. What is required for true success is homework. Before you venture into new lands, always research about the norms existing there. In our environment today information flows with an ease that could not have been imagined 50 years ago, thus ignorance is not tolerated.

Ever saw faces where there were none? Like when the headlights and front bumper of the car gives you an impression that you are seeing a face. This highly interesting phenomenon is called Pareidolia and it’s the best personification of how the human mind sees and perceives things with each thing eliciting a different kind of a response. Brands are not different. We also associate feelings and perceptions with brands due to their external appearance. Stroll down a street and ask someone of what they perceive when they see things related to “Apple”, the highly successful producer of user items such as IPhones & Ipads, and the answers would be close to the words “young”, “edgy”, Futuristic” and lot of similar terms would definitely spring up. The most intriguing part in this is that none of Apple’s visual branding directly refers to any of these words or terminologies rather their brilliance lies in positioning their brand identity in such a manner that the consumers or the general public at large has come to think of it as something really young, edgy & futuristic. This is what the actual purpose of positioning a brand’s identity is, i.e. to elicit a certain response from the viewer each time anything related to a certain comes before him/her.

This trick happens when you learn how to humanize your brand and then let it work in your favor. It might look like a magical instantaneous type of a thing but its anything other than that. This a step by step process, which if done right will give you a feel from the start that its an identity that’s taking shape rather than a forced narrative. Lets give you the breakdown of how to build a brand identity that feels personal from the other end:

The foundational Questions:

Sit down with your brand team and the ones who have great understanding of what the vision of your brand really is and then ask them some questions like Is the brand masculine or is elicits femininity? Does the brand signify seriousness and maturity or is it funny and friendly? These are some fundamental questions that can go a long way into letting you understand what your brand would look like if it would one day come alive. Once you know the answers to these questions, then see whether it matches what you envisioned it to look and feel like. This will really clear you the path and show you the way to correct the branding strategy from its current standing towards where you want to take it.

Stepping Stones:

Now that you know the traits of your brand, its now the perfect time to start adding components and features that match those traits. This is called creative visualization and it includes all the components of the brand, from the type of the logo to the font used, everything starts getting a skeleton or a foundation, around which we can now start intensifying our efforts and build our brand identity through multiple integral components.

Find the Brand Gaps:

As you are now on the stage of building the components of your brand, you will come across various paradoxes known as brand gaps. These are the things which don’t match the personality of the brand you are currently building. For e.g. your brand feel is that of an extroverted person but your website is too strict and has a genuinely formal feel to it. These are the areas that need the highest effort to rebrand as anything too over the line will cause damage to your brand. The brand personality should match the kind of audience you are trying to serve and not just how you like it to be for e.g. if you are selling medical equipment and your client segment includes hospitals and medical institutions then going for a loud and vibrant brand identity will lead to a complete failure of your brand. Just remember, brand identity is the perception that people take away from your brand and looking at it from that perspective will help your cause immensely. Make your brand possess the best possible identity to garner higher attention and imprint a lasting impression of your brand.