A brand is everything tangible and untangible that makes your pet product, service or store unique. It is the colors, fonts, symbols and imagery used to promote your business in any form: business papers, brochures, vehicle wraps, store signage, Web site, advertising, etc. Your brand even includes the name of your business and its tagline. Do you know if your brand working for you?
A small exercise to begin diagnosing this would be to take a look at your own logo, also known as a brand identity. Does it visually convey to your customers the type of business you want to be? If yes, move on to the next step. If no, then email me (dara@turransky.com) and I’ll send you a worksheet to help you realign your brand. Now, take a look at your competitors. Is your brand compelling and unique when compared to theirs? It should be. You only have 3/10 of a second to grab someone’s attention so your brand needs to cut through the clutter as quickly as possible. This also means that your brand identity should convey the very essence of your brand to your customers in only one simple concept. This is difficult to do. Branding requires a process to not only determine the strengths of your brand, but also how to convey these characteristics visually.
About the Author Dara is a brand identity and marketing design strategist at 7 Lucky Dogs, a consultancy in marketing to “pet parents”. Through customized marketing and brand identity packages, 7 Lucky Dogs helps you discover what makes your company, product or service different from your competitors. We then translate this differentiation visually into a logo, product packaging, an E-commerce site and promotional materials to reflect those unique attributes. We make our clients look credible and memorable to their prospects while they increase their bottom line. As the owner of 7 Lucky Dogs, Dara is passionate about helping independent pet businesses stand out in front of their competitors and attract more clients. She blends business smarts with creativity with over ten years of design experience with formal education in both graphic design and marketing.
