Lots of business owners come to us for branding or web design. Not enough come to us for branding and web design.
That’s curious, because the two go together so naturally. Still, the questions about each one are often different points in the growth of a company. Typically, a website comes first. Entrepreneurs and executives know they need one, so they invest in a quality web presence as soon as possible. It’s only later, once they’ve started to build an identity and reputation, that they think carefully about their branding.
This flow of events seems logical at the time, but it’s actually a little bit backwards. To help you understand why, let’s look at what you can do to bring branding and web design together…
Your Brand Strategy Should Come First
In a perfect world, you would have a brand strategy in place before you ever try to build a website. In fact, your branding outlines and style sheets should be some of the first things you create when you decide to launch or revamp your company.
There are a lot of reasons for this, but the biggest one has to do with the fact that a strong brand vision can help guide you through the many steps and questions of the web design process. You’ll already know what kinds of choices you should make in terms of tone, aesthetics, etc. because you will have identified your target market and know how you want to present your business to that audience.
Treat Your Website as the Center of Your Branding Campaign
Although your brand outline should precede your website, the flip side to that coin is that your website is almost always going to be your most important branding asset. In most business situations it’s going to give you more exposure to customers than any person, marketing piece, or add campaign.
Keep that in mind as you work with your creative team through the design and development process. Your website can reach tens of thousands of people (or possibly more). It’s going to do more to establish your reputation than you, your sales team, or any marketing or advertising campaign. It’s important that your pages and messaging be aligned with your branding goals because your online presence will be the dominant force behind all of them.
Grow Your Brand and Digital Marketing Together
Over time your website is going to grow, and so will your brand identity. That’s a good thing, and it’s going to happen regardless of how much research or planning you’ve put into place.
Recognize that and make the evolution an intentional one. As you add new pages or ideas, keep in mind that your brand is evolving. Revisit your branding guidelines from time to time to see whether some aspects need to be tweaked or altered. Then, you’ll be the one guiding the growth of your business and image rather than letting it drift as a response to small changes or inspirations.
Is It Time for Your Business to Follow a More Cohesive Marketing Strategy?
The real secret of marketing and branding is that all the little steps and tasks that have to be followed work best when they are used together in an integrated way. It’s hard to get good results, or make the right impression on buyers, when you’re simply treating each campaign or activity as a standalone step.
At Biondo Creative in Philadelphia we can help you to form the high-level strategy you need and transform it into actionable steps that take you to a stronger bottom line. Contact us today so we can set up a free consultation and show you how!