Branding 16: Your Questions Answered

As we come to the end of this surprisingly long segment on all things branding let’s stop to answer those lovely questions sent in my the readers.

I’m branding my start up with no funds, how can I keep the costs down?

First of all, for any startup reading please don’t spend your seed money on a nice website or a sharp logo! It’s just poor business sense. Your business will undoubtedly change in the first couple of years so its only natural that your brand will. The best way to keep your costs down when branding would be to stick to something simple and bold, using one primary colour. The other thing to do would be to look for a template of some description, there are plenty of websites out there where you can get something that might be a little generic but completely usable for a reasonable cost.

What is the most common branding mistake you see other companies making?

Assuming people care. It’s quite natural that when you are close to something and you see it day in and out that you will become accustomed to the fine details in your brand, but to many of the outside world this will not be the case. Many people chop and change and play around with their brand because they assume people care and are as bored as they are with it, when in actuality sticking with something over a period of time is always a better option.

You say people change their branding too often, when do you know the right time to change?

It all comes back to that 3 core attributes you want your company to be known for. If the brand has stopped conveying those, or if those attributes have changed then its time to change your branding. Another drivers should be technology, with bigger and better resolution at play its only natural that you’d need to update your graphics etc. In general it’s a good idea to refresh every 5 years or so but I use the word refresh and not rebrand. It should be a new take on the same formula in the same vein as a bond film.

How important do you think branding is to a company’s success?

Branding is like the icing on the cake in that it makes your cake look appealing to the outside world. If that cake is full of worms people won’t be coming back to your bakery, but you don’t necessarily need icing to enjoy a cake.

If you have a question you can email them in and I’ll do my best to get back to you! hello@olivergwynne.co.uk