Design & Images

Branding

Branding is an important aspect of a business. Not only is it a way to promote a business but it also is an indirect promise to buyers. It is a way to communicate a promise, differentiate businesses from competition, foster brand loyalty, and makes brands memorable.

            With branding, there are three C’s to follow. The first one is clarity which is the clearness of color, logo, and typography. The logo of a brand is an image that represents the brand being presented. A key element is to make sure a logo is easily distinguishable; that is how it’s known a brand will do well. Color has to do with the images, text, and graphic design. Colors appeal to people and brands like Nike, Target, Starbucks, are a few logos that anyone will recognize. 

These companies are successful not only due to their sales but also because of their logo. Typography is fonts and page layouts. The right font will also appeal to people when it is either fancy or simple.

           

Constancy is the second C of branding which has to do with loyalty, dependability and steadfast. Every brand’s page online has an “about us” describing the clarity of who the brand is and what they are about. Reaction to change on the other hand such as agility and adaptability happens with brands over the years. Brands adjust their logo, slogan or image to keep up with the changing times. Coca Cola is such a brand to change over time.

            The third C in branding is consistency, otherwise known as patterns. Brand consistency provides the trust that underpins marketing efforts.  Brand consistency is a company-wide effort.

Encourage employees to get involved with understanding the company values and the story behind them. Consistency also coincides with clarity because of colors and patterns. It is how the brain perceives actions thoughts, memories and behavior in order to inform belief. Keeping the idea of patterns simple or one logic replicated across platforms will make the brand less confusing. The core brand doesn’t change but creative elements such as the slogans, themes and colors will over time.

The improvements of these creative outlooks for brands will make the brand consistency stay relevant in the changing times.

All photos courtesy of the internet.

Infographics

Infographics are graphs comprised of visual representations of information of any given subject.

Infographics can relay any information about any given topic.

Literally about any topic. Typically useful when giving a presentation and easily access information. 

Infographics can also be looked at as a flowchart. The idea of infographics is to show a simple flow of information easily legible.

An example of a bad infographic because there is too much information all at the same time. With the arrows following each piece of information, the flow is lost in this chart.

Sometimes infographics are simple enough to follow along with, laying all the information out side by side.

All photos courtesy of the internet.

Social Media

Social media and web production have become a major part of life in recent years; Some people even major in social media management because there is so much to do with social media. Companies use these social sites as a way of communication and promotion of their brand because it’s an easier tool to use for promotions. Newspapers and magazines have become obsolete due to the internet. 

Social Media Management Tools such as Hootsuite and Buffer work with people who use social media as a profession. Both platforms are used to schedule articles or statuses ready to be published. Companies use these as a way to stay continuously updated.

Buffer for example is better to use for small businesses or individuals needing tools to schedule out posts on the most popular channels. Not much devotion is needed for this site because of its simplicity. If a person is constantly busy with the hustle and bustle of everyday life and uses social media to constantly post updates about their brand, then Buffer will publish their posts when scheduled.

Hootsuite is another social media management tool which is better for larger teams with a dedicated marketing department capable of harnessing diverse capabilities. This is more complex a management tool and can work with multiple accounts at a time. Google for example would be a company conglomerate that would use Hootsuite for its social media status posting.

The measure of success for a brand on social media depends on how the following questions are answered. How searchable is your brand? How reputable is your brand? How popular is your brand? Other things to consider when using social media to promote your brand is the following:

1.      Make content users desire and share.

2.      Usability and high-quality design.

3.      Ensure spiders can parse all content and duplication isn’t an issue.

4.      Make it easy to reach deep pages in little clicks as possible.

5.      Choose keywords to garner traffic.

Keeping this makeshift checklist in mind will help with gaining popularity on social media, gaining followers and recognition for your brand. Encouragement is also key to becoming a reputable brand on the internet. Encourage followers to share your content; in this day and age the consumers become the producers.

            Learning to create content for social media is just like riding a bike: practice makes perfect. Constantly attempting and trying will make it easier in the long run; mastering the idea of branding through social media.

Practice the expanding of the growth of followers, optimize posts for search queries, be local and increase brand awareness. The most important thing to do when working with social media is encouragement of your followers. Encourage them sharing your brand and encourage sharing external links.

It’s imperative to let followers know they have permission to share your brand. The way for a brand to get off the ground is because of the people helping make it known.