Questions to Ask When Developing Your Brand Identity or Logo
QUESTIONS TO ASK When developing a new brand or logo
Starting a company is exciting and it’s always tempting to jump into designing your logo, creating a brand, and planning your company’s future. But before you can, you need to think about the type of brand you want to build. There’s more to it then simply thinking about the logo or what you want to sell. You need to give yourself a solid brand foundation to help create a unique and compelling message that resonates with your clients and customers. Here are a few questions to get started!
What does your business do?
Sounds simple, right? You perform a service or offer a specific product. But try to think about what those services and products can do for your customers. What are its defining features that allow you to stand out from the competition and keep customers coming back repeatedly?
What will your mission be?
This is usually a sentence or two that explains your company's goals. It should also consist of some information about your business. It should be clear to an outsider like a freelancer what your business entails just by reading the company mission statement. Also, it's a good idea to not only think about what you want, but also what your potential customer wants.
Who is your target customer?
Who are you trying to reach? What is their demographic? What types of services do you think they're looking for when they need your business?
What's your company's personality?
Think about the type of personality you want to convey to customers. Are you all business or do you like to have fun and play a bit?
What are your brand's values?
What core principles do you want your company to stand for?
Who are your company's top 3 competitors?
Assessing how your business fits within the overall marketplace is very important because it is necessary to understand how potential customers will compare you to your competition in order to create a winning brand identity. Who are your competitors and what are they good at? What do you like and dislike about your competitors?
What is your defining story?
People cultivate deep connections with brands when they feel they can understand them and relate to them in a personal way, and telling your defining brand story is a great way to allow your audience an opportunity to connect with the brand and identify themselves with what you offer. If you struggle to come up with a story, try writing down 5 words that best define what you do. From there, you can extend to sentences that outline your business story!
What are your brand attributes?
What characteristics do you want your brand to have? What colors best represent your brand? What words would you want to use or NOT use to describe your brand? What emotions should your audience feel when interacting with your brand?