Although i agree with the last part of your post, the rest of it i completely disagree with, strongly.
Branding is EVERYTHING. It's the colours, the logo, the way in which you address customers, the terminology your website uses in it's content, the product and the way it's packaged. Anything a customer can physically SEE is pretty much a place you can apply your brand and everything together then portray your overall brand image.
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Yes Branding is everything. It's not one bit in isolation. Focussing on the logo or the colours isn't important. Even macdonalds have moved avay from red and yellow towards yellow and green as their business focus changes.
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I only know this because of a satudy I was reading. Ask your average McD customer about the colours and they won't care, all they want is their plastic burger for 99p. All I'm trying to say is that focussing on a color, logo, tagline isn't important. I have a client that has spent 6 months trying to decide on a font. They could have been trading for all that time but are unconvinced that their costimers really don't care.
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I understand where you are coming from. But the psychology behind logos and colours is what Mac D is all about even if the customers don't realise it.
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I have to go now, but I have enjoyed our discussion this morning...it's been my first one on this site!
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T
That Bates Girl
- Original Poster
- #50
To be honest, I think most small businesses get too hung-up on the concept of having a "brand".
It's important to have a corporate identity that reflects your business and appeals to your market, but that's not quite the same thing as having a brand.
The sort of branding that multinational companies do is irrelevant to most of us. These are commodity businesses and branding is how they set themselves apart for the other commodity businesses in the same industry.
In many cases they have become the brand more than they are anything else - the products are simply the way in which the customer consumes the brand.
For most businesses, getting the basics right (difficult though even that can be) is more than enough.
Lyds
It's important to have a corporate identity that reflects your business and appeals to your market, but that's not quite the same thing as having a brand.
The sort of branding that multinational companies do is irrelevant to most of us. These are commodity businesses and branding is how they set themselves apart for the other commodity businesses in the same industry.
In many cases they have become the brand more than they are anything else - the products are simply the way in which the customer consumes the brand.
For most businesses, getting the basics right (difficult though even that can be) is more than enough.
Lyds
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I think what you should have said then is that 'Branding is NOT JUST about the colours and symbology'.
Also, a fair amount of focus should be applied to anything you want to also apply your brand image too. It's over focusing where the problem lies. 6 months to choose a font is certainly over focusing but perhaps a month to choose a colour scheme and logo... not so bad. I'd even stretch to 2 months if i had too.
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E
Excel Expert
- Original Poster
- #52
Lyds - Interesting distinction, but isn't setting out an identity (something by which you are identified and recognised) just branding on a smaller scale? Sure none of us our out to stamp our logo on everything but don't we all need something by which we can instantly be recognised.
Where does setting out an identity end and branding take over? Or is that question similar to the where does marketing end and sales start question?
BTW - I'm 99% sure blue will be the colour I will be running with. I'm just experimenting with various shades on the the website
Where does setting out an identity end and branding take over? Or is that question similar to the where does marketing end and sales start question?
BTW - I'm 99% sure blue will be the colour I will be running with. I'm just experimenting with various shades on the the website
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Which brings us right back to where we began.
Just use any old blue. Everybody will see a different shade to you anyway so it doesn't really matter.
And you may well find in 6 months that a reddish-brown converts better.
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T
That Bates Girl
- Original Poster
- #54
Sure, but that recognition is largely about the relationship you build with your customers. Take this logo...
Chances are that you don't recognise it. And without knowing anything about it, it's hard to say much about the company it represents, beyond generalities.
The difference between branding and identity is about scale, but it's also about scope. Brand advertising and sponsorship works because there is already a high level of recognition and brand association with the product - but brand advertising and sponsorship doesn't (on its own) lead to a high level of recognition and association with a product.
The thing about scale is that, ironically enough, it doesn't scale. You can't get 10% of the results by spending 10% of the budget.
Lyds
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E
Excel Expert
- Original Poster
- #55
Fisicx I've chosen blue for a few of reasons
1. I see the colour as a calming colour. A lot of my clients come to me in a panic about getting reports out etc, so the calming element seems to work well there.
2. In the chart that Lyds posted blue is also associated with trust - as I'm dealing with businesses high end management data I think that is important.
3. In that same chart there appears to be a lot of IT providers associated with B2B (Dell, HP and IBM etc) and as 99% of my business B2B it seems worth emulating.
Shade wise I'm playing with the various shades of blue I will need through out my site rather than just the logo. A shade of blue for the menu bar, another for the headings etc so it all ties together more than anything else.
1. I see the colour as a calming colour. A lot of my clients come to me in a panic about getting reports out etc, so the calming element seems to work well there.
2. In the chart that Lyds posted blue is also associated with trust - as I'm dealing with businesses high end management data I think that is important.
3. In that same chart there appears to be a lot of IT providers associated with B2B (Dell, HP and IBM etc) and as 99% of my business B2B it seems worth emulating.
Shade wise I'm playing with the various shades of blue I will need through out my site rather than just the logo. A shade of blue for the menu bar, another for the headings etc so it all ties together more than anything else.
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E
Excel Expert
- Original Poster
- #56
Great explanation Lyds.
I suppose the scale depends on the size of your market as well. For companies like Coca Cola where the whole population is the market place the amount of branding needed is huge. For a small local business their branding only has to work in their local area so its a lot smaller. We have a few companies here that are well known through their branding but go 30-40 miles away their branding is useless.
I suppose the scale depends on the size of your market as well. For companies like Coca Cola where the whole population is the market place the amount of branding needed is huge. For a small local business their branding only has to work in their local area so its a lot smaller. We have a few companies here that are well known through their branding but go 30-40 miles away their branding is useless.
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The problem with using lots of shades of the same colour is it becomes very tiring to read. And blue is especially bad. Blue logo is fine but choose a contrasting colour for the rest of the page.
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I have read some of this with interest but have no idea if this has already been suggested, but I happened upon a useful information page on a printers site that gives examples and explains the apparent significance of colour.
Hope it helps
http://www.speedprint.co.uk/pages/artwork_logodesign.htm#colour
Hope it helps
http://www.speedprint.co.uk/pages/artwork_logodesign.htm#colour
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E
Excel Expert
- Original Poster
- #60
fisicx in total I think there will probably be 3 or 4 shades of blue. The side bar will be a light blue and have headlines the same darker blue as the headlines in the main area. The menu bar will probably be the same colour as the headlines. The third colour will probably be the single colour used in the logo. That is just 3 shades.
Not sure if I will colour the hyperlinks or just underline them - IF I do colour them then that will be the 4th shade. The idea is to be very clean looking and flat, so I dont want loads of shades - I just need them to co-ordinate in some way rather than be random shades of blue.
Not sure if I will colour the hyperlinks or just underline them - IF I do colour them then that will be the 4th shade. The idea is to be very clean looking and flat, so I dont want loads of shades - I just need them to co-ordinate in some way rather than be random shades of blue.
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That should be OK but make sure your CTA is a different colour. When I stripped the colours from my site bounce went down and conversion went up. Less is more seems to work for service providers.
I would make sure the links look like links. Blue and underlined has been extensively tested and is the best converter
I would make sure the links look like links. Blue and underlined has been extensively tested and is the best converter
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