BRANDING

Creative Branding vs Re-Branding

I don’t know if you’ve realised but Technology & Digital Marketing Trends are moving faster than ever before. It might be that you’ve spent a lot of time and money building a website a year or two ago but you feel that it’s not quite up to the current years standards. You are probably right!

It brings back into the focus the importance of keeping up to date with Business Trends. It doesn’t mean activating something new all the time, it does mean putting things in place to ensure that when the time comes you can refresh your brand at little cost and effort.  We must be RESPONSIVE to trends, target markets, and to technology. 

Few Current Design Trends to highlight

There are a few things really sticking out for me right now:

• WordPress – a perfect solution for an ever changing Technology World. I love WordPress because it means I can change the look and feel of my site when I feel it needs it, shift things around, mix it up, but the CONTENT stays the same. The images just keep getting added and the site gets better and better.
• When it comes to Business Names and creative taglines, less is better. You will notice that a lot of the NEW awesome Brands being promoted on social media right now are one or two word Business Names. They are quick and easy to promote and look great in marketing. I think we need to say GOODBYE to looooooonnnnnnggggg Business Names and Taglines. Find something memorable that can represent your brand well.
• Simplicity – I’m noticing a lot of while, modern fonts (yep said goodbye to Century Gothic a few weeks ago), and the creative use of letters in Branding and Web Design. It’s all about BOLD colours right now. The rustic and light colors are being used less and less.
• Icons are HUGE! In fact with my logo re-brand, I asked specifically for an icon that I can use on my marketing.   I want people to know me by my icon first, second by my name. It’s a great way to make an impression, and I’m having THE BEST TIME, playing around with my new little person, which actually matches some of my ‘out of the box’ professional images that I had taken and use in my marketing.  You can use icons for so many things including Avatars etc.
• FONTS – Please, Please, Please, do a review of fonts!  Times New Roman is so old school. You may have also noticed that Modern Branding sometimes includes handwritten fonts.   I’ve got a hand written font in my logo, and I also then use this font in my marketing stuff.

If you are a service Business, you can use Stock Photos. There are a number of websites you can use but I like www.dreamstime.com because I think their pricing is the best out there, and it’s very easy to use. I can pay between $3 and $6 for a photo.

I ALSO have engaged a Photographer to take photos of me! Being the person behind the business, I thought I needed to get some done. I have then used one of these photos in my other branding to help integrate it, but to also give it more depth. I also think this is quite unique as I haven’t seen it done much!  I loved working with Jaime K Photography.

It’s important to do your research when reviewing Branding.  The options are endless, but you will know when you’ve hit the mark.  If you need help, grab a FREE 30 Min consult, and let’s point you in the right direction.