We always stress the importance of developing your own signature brand style to differentiate your business from everyone else.

Branding style includes the overall messaging and tone of your business, but a big component of brand style is also the “look” of your business. Your website, logo, marketing materials and more support your overall brand identity and offer people a sense of what your business is all about.

The piece-meal trap

Many business owners understandably develop materials on an as-needed basis. They may start with a logo because they need a business card, later develop a website, and then produce marketing pieces when business picks up.

The challenge, however, is that when you take a piece-meal approach, you may be forced to use different designers, who may have different styles and approaches to design, to create the pieces. It can be difficult to match colors, fonts and visuals from the original logo and earlier designs. Ultimately, you could end up with an inconsistent look across your materials.

At that point, you can either live with the inconsistency, which is not ideal because it makes your business look less professional, or scrap everything and start over. That means you lose your initial investment in the original pieces and must spend more money to reproduce everything.

Branding packages help you get it all done at once

Many designers offer budget-friendly design packages that enable you to create core assets for a flat rate, ensuring that you have a consistent look and unified message across all your materials, including:

• Logo Design
• Web Design
• Business Cards and Letterhead
• Brochures and Other Marketing Collateral
• Presentation and Event Materials

Branding packages essentially set you up with everything you need to support your overall branding strategy. For example, here at Evielutions, we offer three branding packages, ranging in services and pricing. Learn more.

Think about what you want your brand to say

Before you reach out to a designer, think about how you want to present your brand. What is the look and feel you want for your materials? Brainstorm ideas for color choices, typography, visual elements and stock images. Also, collect samples of websites and materials you like with brief explanations of why you like. That way, you can ensure the finished product is exactly what you want.

Of course, a professional designer can offer you plenty of guidance and help you bring your vision to life—just by hearing the goals for your business.