Your Brand Matters: The 3 Most Important Investments You Can Make
7 minute read
Your Brand is how customers perceive who you are and what you do. And if you ask me, it’s the most important part of your business.
Traditionally, we think of brands as big corporate companies like McDonald’s, Apple, and GAP. For them, investing in their Brand involves multi-million dollar budgets and hiring marketing and design agencies to help change people’s minds about their Brand.
To grow your business, you need to make strategic investments in building and marketing your Brand.
What investing in your Brand will look like for you depends on your season of life & business – and your most valuable resources, time, and money.
Pro tip: If investing in your Brand can save you time and make you more money in the long run – it’s a win-win.
🕘🕘🕘🕘💲Research: You can learn pretty much anything in a google search bar
🕘🕘🕘💲💲Education: Workshops, courses, resources, and content from other entrepreneurs and creators who have done what you are trying to do.
🕘🕘💲💲💲Done-with-you: Coaching, Mentorship, and Consultations.
🕘💲💲💲💲Done-for-you: Hiring A Brand designer
Now that you understand why you need to prioritize investing in your Brand and what that investment could look like for you. Let’s talk about the three most impactful ways you can invest in your Brand.
I’ve curated this list after working in digital marketing for over five years and studying firsthand how investing in your Brand can set entrepreneurs like you up for long-term success, fewer headaches, and a more fulfilling business model.
Brand strategy refers to the long-term plan for how a brand will achieve its goals and objectives. Developing your Brand’s strategy includes defining the Brand’s purpose, values, target audience, and unique value proposition.
Real talk- I teach my 1:1 clients to consider their brand strategy as their Brand’s blueprint. It guides the entire project. Without it, you risk encountering structural and foundational issues within your Brand and business. Therefore, every decision you make when building your Brand should be rooted in the strategy and plan to bring the vision for your business to life.
Signs you need to invest in strategy:
How you can invest in your Brand’s strategy:
When something needs to be clarified or fixed, your first step should be to look at your strategy for solutions. Of course, as a passionate entrepreneur, the mission and vision of your Brand should remain true. Still, the rest of your Brand’s strategy is a living, breathing document that will need to be adjusted over time as your business grows and your industry evolves.
The simplest way to think of your brand identity is everything that people see and, more importantly, recognize. Your Brand Identity includes your logo, colors, fonts, and overall brand design, as well as your messaging and how your interact with your audience. Your Brand identity should be one of a kind (just like you).
Developing a brand identity as an entrepreneur has not traditionally been considered necessary. But digital marketing changed all of that. Now, people expect to get a feel for who you are, what you do, and how you do it through a computer screen before ever even having a conversation with you.
How you present your Brand online will directly inform your audience’s impression of your business. Therefore, your Brand should look, feel, and sound like you.
Pay Pal, the og. of online payments, is a great example of a brand recognizing the signs that it was time to invest in their Brand and taking action. In 2014 after 16 years in business, Paypal decided it was time to update their original logo (it’s giving dial-up) to a more modern design that reflected their people-first strategy (let’s scream it again for the people in the nosebleeds – it all starts with strategy).
Then in 2022, that refreshed that logo and their overall identity to meet ADA design accessible requirements and represent the diverse users of pay pal → again, going back to the strategy.
🌶 Hot take: investing in just a logo is a waste of money
You are better off investing in a Brand cohesive brand identity designed so that each element compliments the other and works together to build brand recognition and convert fans into die-hards. #brandloyalty
If you don’t have a brick-and-mortar physical location that your ideal clients can pass by on an afternoon walk – then your website is the online equivalent of your storefront.
Whether they happen upon you in a google search or seek you out directly – people are going to your website to get to know you, what you do, how you do it, and let’s be real here… how much it costs to be a part of your world.
Your website is your stake in the ground that is digital marketing. I often call your website the showpiece of your Brand.
I want you to have a website that gets bookmarked. A website that engages the viewer, speaks to different selling styles and tells your story—helps people form the same connections with you as if they were walking into your storefront.
Signs you need to invest in your website:
Investing in your Brand is crucial for any business owner wanting to grow their business online. Your Brand is how customers perceive who you are and what you do, and it is an essential part of your business. It sets you apart from your competitors and helps you build a lasting relationship with your audience. That’s why it’s essential to make strategic investments as you build and market your Brand to increase its perceived value and brand recognition.
Here at Cedar June, I offer a wide range of services to help entrepreneurs like you develop their brands in every season of life and business.
My branding services are designed to help you build a brand that stands out in your industry and resonates with your target audience. I believe that every Brand is unique and deserves a customized approach. Therefore, I work closely with my clients to understand their business goals, target audience, and values to create a brand that accurately reflects their vision and mission.
3/13/2023
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