Not so hot, hot take: not every business needs brand design.
Brand design, as we laid out in What is Brand Design is a multipronged, multi stepped process and realistically can end up being expensive. And for a lot of businesses, especially small businesses, this may not be necessary. Or at least not in the same way that a SaaS platform or consumer product would need it.
For a small local business that is going to operate a single location, brick and mortar, you probably don’t need to do a deep dive competitive analysis. You can physically walk around your neighborhood and understand whether or not your community could support what you’re building. Presumably, you are part of the community and understand what is missing. This is your data.
Are there no coffee shops in walking distance but a whole bunch of young people?
You’ve been looking for a gluten-free bakery but there is none that are accessible to you?
Looking for a place to find eclectic home goods but coming up dry?
For most small businesses, branding comes down to building consistency and setting expectations. And this can be done through investments in your in store experience and building strong customer relationships.
As a consumer brand or SaaS business, you don’t get the same opportunity to build that strong in-person customer relationship. You have to invest at every customer touch point, and stand out from the competition, and sell to a customer who is likely to only ever learn about you because of your marketing. And they might never once talk to an actual person while engaging with your business.
This is why brand design is so important to some businesses but unnecessary for others.
The goal of brand design is to ensure that you’re finding and talking to your customers in a way that resonates with them.
Here are a few questions that could suggest that brand design (not just a visual identity) is something you should think about:
You have multiple locations across various communities and need consistency across them
You have goals of having multiple locations across various communities
You sell most of your product through social media
You sell most of your product through a distributor
Most of your customer interactions will not be face to face
You operate fully digitally – your customers never come to a single location
You are trying to reach people far beyond your immediate community
You sell a consumer product at scale
You sell a software product or service
Your primary product is an app
If you answered no to all of these questions, you probably are okay just investing in a visual identity. There are things that you should take from brand design, especially on the operations side of things, but it’s okay to invest that money elsewhere.
But do not forget about consistency! You still need consistency. You may not need the same depths of research or strategic planning but you still need to build a brand.
If you answered yes to any of those questions, brand design is going to be wildly helpful in aiding your growth.
Through the brand design process, you will be able to best understand how you fit in the larger market, how your customers feel about your brand, where your biggest opportunities exist, and will create a plan to be able to strategically scale without losing your core values.
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About The Author
Olivia Wisden is the Founder + CEO of TwoLips Creative. She has worked with dozens of brands over the years ranging from city initiatives to product launches and beyond. When she’s not fan-girling over the design team’s illustrations she can probably be found reading a novel or exploring her new home of Chicago.
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