I have been a developer for 12 years, dealing with sites of all sizes and working through the change from CSS tables to mobile-first responsive design. But very rarely in my past as a developer did I think through the whole brand messaging, how it looks from business card to site to in-store signage.
Until I met Chrissy.
I think it’s important for you all to understand from my uninitiated perspective just how much it matters that everything in your business is fluid and matches.
Branding is Key to Telling Your Story
With several years of copywriting experience as well, I know how important in today’s marketing it is to tell your story. We’ve talked about how important it is that your website tells your business’s story, but it’s so important that your story and your message is cohesive across multiple platforms.
Think of it this way. When someone hands you a business card and then you visit their website or even their physical location does it all match up? Especially if your business name is less than unique, mismatched branding can create confusion, making your users wonder if they’ve actually gotten to the right website or if Google Maps took them to the wrong store front.
You want anyone you come in contact with to understand your business and your values, so why make it difficult for them to understand?
Your Signage is Part of Your Branding
Let’s take a minute and think about your physical location. Whether you’re a service-based business and you just have an office or you’re a retail location – does visiting your website kind of make it feel like you’ve walked into your physical location, too? It should. Yes, they’re different mediums but it’s amazing what that cohesive design can do to help your customers feel reassured that not only they’re in the right place, but they also feel like they know you.
[row][column sm=”8″]Take our office for instance. There’s a reason we have a pink wall and a blue wall – they are major parts of the color scheme of our branding. Sure, we can’t get the hexcodes off our website and digital artwork to exactly match our Sherman Williams paint colors, but we came pretty close. Everyone comments on how the office just feels like us, and that’s because it is us. It’s our branding and our personalities, manifested in a physical location.[/column][column sm=”4″]
[/column][/row]
[row][column sm=”4″]
[/column][column sm=”8″]And then there’s our signage, too. Our hallway sign not only matches our branding, but it’s a nice blend of what the rest of the building’s hallway signage looks like. Then as you enter our actual office, we have this unique aluminum-look sign that again matches our wall color and branding. It doesn’t feel out of place because it all blends in together and feeds into our overall branding concepts.[/column][/row]
We Know Branding is a Scary Word
As someone who’s relatively new to the whole branding concept, I know that branding, especially in your design, can feel overwhelming. A lot of people think it’s a large branding book and document with specific instructions on what all you can and can’t do. And honestly for some companies it is very much that.
Think of branding differently – all it is really is telling your story cohesively, no matter where your prospective customer meets your brand. Whether they find you online, through social media, in a print leave-behind, or walk into your store, you want them to know they’ve got the same company all the way through that process. Ensuring that your designs complement each other and help to tell snapshots of your story is the best way to make sure your branding is smooth and your message is clear.
