Considered branding and design is what differentiates your product in the marketplace.
Part 1 of our checklist for getting online gave a rundown on the types of things you need to consider and/or organise to getting a business started in Australia.
The second instalment of our Little Big Shop checklist is all about bringing your brand to life!
Your brand is what your business stands for and what your customer will associate with. It’s the name, design, symbol, colours – the sum total of all the impressions a customer has, based on each and every interaction they have with you, your company and your products.
Logo
Where do you start? A logo is always a great way to kickoff your brand identity.
Your company or brand’s logo allows others to instantly recognise who you are! Think about it as the ‘face’ of your business. Get inspiration from what’s out in the marketplace, research your competitors, give it meaning and make it unique. Also, remember the five characteristics of a good logo.
Simple
Scalable
Memorable
Versatile
Relevant
When it comes to creating your logo, you have a couple of options.
Free: Design a logo yourself! If you consider yourself to be a bit creative and have access to vector-based software such as Adobe Illustrator or CorelDRAW, there’s no reason why you can’t try your hand at creating a logo. It’s a good idea to start with some hand drawn sketches before attempting a digital version.
Alternatively, Canva is a website that provides free graphic-design tools. You can create your logo from a variety of free, pre-populated templates.
Outsource: You can always hire a graphic designer to create your logo. Make sure the following are delivered:
- Adobe Illustrator (.ai) file (the original source file)
- Editable PDF file
- PNG file
- JPG File
Do a search on Google for ‘logo design’, or you can try websites like Freelancer.
Brand Tagline
Have you thought about whether your brand will have a tagline? Perhaps you already have one? If not, they are usually a few words that further explain what your logo/brand name stands for.
Your tagline should be short, to the point and easy to remember. It should convey what your brand is about. For example, the Little Big Shop tagline is:
“The ecommerce platform for small business.”
Our tagline tells you that:
- We’re an ecommerce platform
- How we’re positioning ourselves in the marketplace
- Small business is our target market
Brand Personality
If your brand was a person, what would their personality be? What are the human characteristics you can attribute to it? Your brand personality helps the consumers in your target audience relate directly to your brand, and can help foster loyalty.
Defining these from the beginning allows you to set a benchmark for the language and tone you want to use throughout your website and Little Big Shop.
At this stage, you are probably starting to see your brand come to life! In part 3 of our checklist, we will get you to start thinking about what your website should look like and the types of content you may need. Not long now before your online business is up and running!
