OK, you got to a point in your business where you all your ducks are aligned. You’ve got the perfect product, great staff, logistics in place and a rock solid marketing strategy. That’s great. So, let’s say your marketing strategy calls for you to think about your brand. There are many things that branding offers. Proper branding invokes trust, professionalism and other feelings of positivity. Imagine that. Something so powerful that it makes you customer trust you even before they understand what it is you sell. Stats say that a viewer can decide within half a second whether they have landed on a website that they want to click on through. That’s the power of branding. It defines you from the competition.

This is where we have to talk about ‘Design Illiteracy.’ I’m afraid it is a very real condition that many people are afflicted with. There are many sectors that have high levels of ‘design illiteracy.’  Accountancy is one them. There, I said it. The reason for this is that creativity is a skill set often lacking with number-smiths. It’s the same in many professions. So often we see fundamental errors in branding because those in charge of it do not possess one creative spark. Perhaps more worrying is that they don’t have the perceptive scope to realise that their brand is wrong or off kilter.

It’s a false economy to put ‘opportunity harvesting’ in the hands of someone ill qualified to make the right calls about your brand. This can be damaging and can impact to your business negatively. All your marketing costs are a roll of a dice when your branding is not on point. It can be the carrot the peaks your customers interest but just as easily be the fly in the ointment that makes them say, no, they don’t look right. That’s where you have to consider professional guidance. A designer will know the right feel for you branding because they assess all the things you should, but don’t. What is the marketplace? Who are the customers? What age are they? What gender are they? What are the common colour ways that define market leaders in the sector? What are colours are available to define a new player?

Let’s presume we have a company that makes Beeswax Makeup products. The following conversation, sadly, is not impossible.

“ Why does your branding have the picture of a lorry on it? – Because that’s the lorry I deliver these boxes of makeup in. ”
“ Why is your company logo blue? I don’t know? I just like blue.”
“ Why do you have a different logo on your website, van and invoice? Because they were all printed by different people.”
“ Who designed your logo. Barry at SmartSigns? He used to be a plumber but he’s great on the computer.”

There’s absolutely nil consideration about the demographic you’re appealing too. A lorry might be more relevant to a transport company but a designer will tell you they don’t give a flying damn about the lorry – your customer wants to see professionalism, someone that looks dynamic because that’s what this industry expects. Branding will give you that in an instant.