#craftcreative

Company branding is a pinnacle of the world of marketing. This is more important than just running specific colors and someone’s cousin’s photoshop creation as your logo.  Logos are often an afterthought of the company, something usually not considered in budget discussions.  A logo is the helm of your ship, a visual representation of your brand. It functions as a shorthand to the public immediately helping them understand what they can expect from you.  Logos provide security in purchasing decisions and are translated into many different forms over the branding life of a company.

The logo for your brand should be carefully constructed by a graphic designer.  So much design work lives within the details, shape, color, and typography choices that make a successful brand image. Nothing is ever done solely because it “looks cool.” It’s done to evoke a response from the viewer and nudge them in the direction of your business. Subconscious reactions to images are one of the things that make us deeply human. Designers understand the intricacies of this practice and utilize them through a successful logo design.

The logo is the face of your brand and the most important step towards branding the business and the operators. You’ll fly under the flag of your logo so it better be one of the best aspects of the company. A logo is an investment, aside from the time and effort of your graphic designers.  Everything purchased for your company such as merchandise, office supplies, equipment, even vehicles become branded with this image. That makes changing it nearly impossible.

The world exists at our fingertips. Tap, swipe or speak a command to travel, communicate and self educate.  The tiny computers attached to our hips have revolutionized most people’s daily lives, especially the way we buy and sell. We could conceivably sit on a couch all day and using the correct combination of taps on a screen provide ourselves food, contact loved ones, pay bills, and keep tabs on exact geographic locations. A business that does not pay close attention to ever changing technology is a business not long for this rapidly developing world.  Social media is the most exciting and accessible marketing tool in use today.  Never before have companies been so touchable. A message, a like, a photo, a tag goes a long way and engagement plays out in front of a global audience. PR has to wildly alter itself to keep up with the company’s very public and ever evolving image.

Deciding which social media platform to exist on will affect the company in a variety of ways. It will create openings for comments both positive and negative and establish a direct line of communication with your company. Some businesses want to paint the town with their name, they want a Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, VSCO, Twitter, as well as a website with digestible content. This is effective only if you have a substantial enough audience on each platform to justify the time spent managing the page.  

Curating a social media presence is not quick and easy. Effective social presence is engaging and consistent.  This does not mean that every hour needs to be active, but your company should be publishing content several times a week at the very least. The social presence of a business is only effective if it’s on the same platform as its customers. Attention is everything. You have to meet your customers where they are rather than expecting them to search you out. For example, if you own a pizza shop and spend hours at a time sending snapchats of gooey cheese you won’t find much success. Look towards a platform like Facebook instead as a place you can post photos, talk to customers, manage reviews and post hours and other business information.  Find your audience and market there. If your customers are mostly young people, opt for Instagram, middle aged, Facebook, if they are readers try Twitter.  Know your customers to know your place. It’s better to have one or two well managed social media platforms than many underrepresented and under engaged profiles.