You wouldn’t build a house on a shaky foundation… but you may be doing that with your business.
Your brand is the foundation of your business. If your business’s branding isn’t great, you’ll struggle to grow an audience and make sales.
We get it. You don’t have time to study for a masters degree in branding. You’re just doing your best, putting in late nights and coffee-fueled hours each day to keep your business running. You’ve tried to learn some things about branding but you wish you knew more.
But what if some of the things you learned are myths?
Too many business owners don’t realize they’ve bought into branding myths. Friends don’t let friends believe branding myths. So let’s do some myth-busting right now.
Myth 1: Logo, check. Color palette, check. I’m all set!
Hold on one sec, there’s a lot more to branding than that.
A logo and color palette are just two instruments of an entire branding orchestra. When you zoom out to the big picture, you’ll see that branding is everything that defines what makes your business one-of-a-kind. Branding is your way of standing out from other businesses that sell similar things to yours. To stand out, your brand has to have a unique personality. A story. A message. A voice.
Your brand is the way your business shows up in the world and the impression you make on your audience. Branding isn’t just a logo – it’s a whole attitude.
Building a brand means defining your business’s mission and values and crafting the message you want to shout to the world. Then there’s positioning: What kinds of people are you trying to attract? What are you doing that’s different from what similar businesses are doing? What makes your customers rave about you?
When you’re clear on messaging and positioning, visual brand design brings it to life through logos, colors, fonts, photos, graphics, packaging design, and more. That’s what we do at Bold Zebra, and it’s all rooted in brand strategy.
Swipe right to see a full brand Identity vs just a logo...
Myth 2: Brand strategy? That sounds like one of those things 7- and 8-figure companies do with meetings in a boardroom with stuffy-looking people in suits. I’m just a small startup…
And you still need a brand strategy. It’s necessary for every business. Even if you’re a solopreneur who’s just starting out, having a brand strategy will help you in a huge way.
With a solid brand strategy, your business can show up on your website, social media, email newsletters, and more with a consistent, standout style. This will make people more likely to remember your business and be interested in your products.
So how does brand strategy actually happen?
With us, it’s easy and smooth. We won’t put you on a long call and make you answer complicated questions about your brand on the spot. Instead, we’ll give you a brand questionnaire to do on your schedule so you’ll have time to think. That’s the first step in your branding transformation.
Myth 3: As long as I have good quality products, they’ll sell themselves. Branding doesn’t make much of a difference.
This is one of those branding myths that can hurt you a lot.
You can have an incredible product, but it doesn’t matter if no one knows about it. There are other businesses selling similar things to what you sell. If you don’t have a strong brand, most people won’t notice your products because they’ll be too busy gazing with lovey-dovey eyes at products from those other brands.
Even if a few people do look at your products, they probably won’t buy because they won’t get why your products are special. If they don’t understand what your products do and why they’re different from other things they’ve tried, they won’t pull out their credit cards.
But when your branding is on point, more people will be attracted to your business, trust that you’re legit, understand how your products can help them, and say those sweet words: “Shut up and take my money.”
Holiday's Collection box for The Skincare Bakery designed by BoldZebraStudio.
Myth 4: Okay, I get that branding is important. I'll just copy designs from successful brands and use them for my business, and that’ll work well for me.
Not cool. Copying other people’s designs is unethical and might land you in legal hot water. You don’t want to go down that road. Or maybe you’re thinking you’ll use most of the other brand’s design and change a little bit here and there. That won’t work either.
If you’re copying (or mostly copying) someone else’s brand design, you’re not doing anything unique and different. You’re showing people the same thing they’ve already seen. Maybe you’ll get a few customers who haven’t seen the other brand before. But once they find it, that’s it. There’s no reason people would buy from you when they could get the original that’s been around longer and is more established.
Your brand has to revolve around your unique selling points and your ideal customer. Just because something works for another brand doesn’t mean it’ll work for you. You have to have a brand that fits your business, not someone else’s.
Myth 5: My brand design needs to look corporate, professional, and serious, because that will give me a good reputation and more sales.
This is one of the biggest branding myths out there.
Soapbox time… Society has taught us that “looking professional” is the only way to get people to take you seriously. Forget that. It’s boring. At Bold Zebra, we create energetic, eye-catching brands that demand attention and send a clear message.
The problem with boring corporate brand design is that tons of businesses already do it. You can’t stand out if you’re doing the same thing everyone else is doing. When has the boring corporate look ever inspired anyone? Never.
You know those “cult following” brands that have people obsessed to buy from them over and over? They’re not doing the typical corporate look, so why should you? When your business has a distinct brand, it gets attention and creates a powerful bond between you and your audience.
One of our boldest and most daring designs is hitting almost 1M views on Instagram!
Myth 6: Cool. I want my visual branding to look amazing! That’s all I need to make more sales.
We’re big fans of amazing visuals over here. But visual branding isn’t just about looking good – it has to fit into the whole brand strategy. It’s pointless to have a brand design that looks pretty but doesn’t bring in sales!
Visual branding has to match the business’s message, story, voice, unique selling points, all that good stuff. If a brand has nice-looking visuals that aren’t backed by brand strategy, people won’t see a reason to buy. (They’ll like your IG posts, but you can’t pay the bills with that.)
Myth 7: Cool. I want my visual branding to look amazing! That’s all I need to make more sales
Those results may not be as good as you think.
When people DIY their branding, they’re usually not aware of the complex factors that go into brand design. Some people waste hours on Canva just to end up with something they don’t really like. Others come up with something they think looks nice, then they’re confused when they barely get followers, engagement, or sales.
When you miss out on sales because your branding isn’t what it needs to be, all those missed sales add up to be pretty expensive…
We have a proven brand design process to create brands that actually sell. We’ll save you from DIY frustration and take time to deep-dive into your business to build a brand strategy. Then we’ll create brand assets for you that not only look great but are designed to be magnetic to your ideal customers.
Like the sound of that? Discover our branding services here and click here for a step-by-step walkthrough of our process.