So you’ve got an idea for your creative small business, maybe you’ve made some items. You might even have sold a few on Etsy. Fantastic!

However, these days, with so many people starting creative side-hustles, there is more competition than ever before. That’s why you need branding.

What is Branding and Brand Identity?

Branding is what makes a business easily identifiable. Brand identity is more than just a name, it is colours, tone of voice, content… basically, it is anything that a brand puts out for audiences to see. Having a cohesive and effective brand identity is one of the best ways to stand out and create a loyal customer base.

What makes a cohesive, effective brand identity?

I’m so glad you asked!

Here are 9 ways to create a strong brand identity.

1- Start with a name for your brand. This could be something catchy, fun, random or relevant. It could even be your own name. What is most important when choosing a brand name is that:

a) it isn’t already being used by someone- a quick search online should help answer this

b) it reflects the sort of vibe you want to go for. So if you want to create a print business and you know you’ll be making funny, bold prints, you want a solid, bold sounding name. If, however, you’re going for a neutral, more sophisticated vibe, then pick a name that reflects this.

2- Decide who your target audience is. This one is the biggie. Don’t skip this one. It should underpin every decision you make from this point onwards. Who are your ideal customers? Think beyond just age and gender, you need to think about what they like/dislike, what their life looks like, where they like to spend their time, what they do and what it is that they want from your brand. Once you know who your perfect customer is, you can create content that will appeal to them.

3- Choose a colour palette. Now you know who your perfect customer is, you can start to get a sense of the kind of person they are. Perhaps they are sophisticated, demure and mindful, and a colour palette to reflect this would look very different to one aimed at playful, young, bold characters. Develop a range of between 5-10 brand colours to match your brand identity. If you’re stuck here, the internet is a wonderful resource- search for colour palettes that match the mood you’re trying to create and see what comes up.

4- Design a logo. Now you have your brand colours, a name and a target audience, get yourself a logo. You could design this yourself, pay a graphic designer, or have a little look online for a free logo generator.

5- Think about tone of voice. Your tone of voice should reflect your target audience. Choose 3 words to describe your tone of voice. For example, in my creative small business, our tone of voice is Friendly, Informal and Playful. When you create any written content, whether that’s an email newsletter, product description or social media post, you should use your 3 words as your compass.

6- Social Media. I could not have built my brand without social media. Use your target audience research to find out where your peeps like to hang out- maybe it’s Facebook, Instagram or TikTok. Find out where they are and go there. There is absolutely zero point in being on TikTok if your customers are only spending their time on Facebook. Set your brand up with social media accounts on the relevant platforms and start posting consistently.

7- Think about images. Start to bring together your brand’s colour palette to build yourself a library of relevant images for social media posts and product listings. Consider taking photographs that have your brand colours represented. If, for example, your brand colour is light blue, you could make sure that you are wearing a light blue jumper in any social media photographs you post of yourself. Or you could use light blue props or backdrops in your product photography. Consider all images, from social media stories to your Etsy shop banner.

It just makes it more cohesive when you look at your Instagram grid or Etsy shop and see a theme.

8- Choose 1-2 fonts that reflect the brand identity. Think about your audience profile, your colour palette and your tone of voice, and choose appropriate fonts. If you’ve chosen one script style font, I’d suggest picking something plainer for your second font so it’s not too much swirly writing.

9- Harness the power of personal branding. We’ll cover this in much more detail later, but personal branding is where you feature as the face of the brand. I’ve started to do this with Pogofandango, and the response has been amazing. People love to feel a human connection with a brand. If they feel like they know a bit more about you, they are more likely to trust you as a brand. Yes, this means showing your face on social media. No, you don’t have to do live videos if you don’t want to.

Creating a solid and cohesive brand identity can be a game changer for a creative small business. Just remember, the key to this is consistency. Define your style and stick to it!