Your brand is made of three primary components: visual, verbal, and action.

The first creative part of virtually every brand development is visual design. I’ll cover the verbal and action components in upcoming posts.

Your logo and corporate identity, including your business card and website, set the visual tone for your brand and many of your marketing communications. Colors, graphic standards, and type selections are all determined at this phase.

One of the most common questions I get on first contact from someone looking for a graphic designer is, “What items do we need for corporate/brand identity?” There is some variation according to usage and business type, but for nearly every businesses I recommend the following basic items as a start:
1. Logo
2. Business Card
3. Website
4. Letterhead
5. Envelope
6. Tag line
7. Overview Brochure
8. Mailing Label

Here is an overview of each item, along with the reasons why nearly every business needs them:

Logo
Your logo is the visual cornerstone of your brand that tells people who you are, and does so in an incredibly memorable way. It sets the tone for all pieces and graces nearly all of your marketing communications. Love it, and never leave it.

Business Card
Even if you never leave the dark dungeon of your home office or the confines of your plush leather chair, you must have a business card. And not just any business card. Your business card has the power to make a huge first impression, or to be silent as a lamb – even if it’s coming out of an envelope. Never skimp on your business card design or printing. Avoid cheap online printing of your cards, at all costs. If you have to go that route, fine, but consider it a temporary stop-gap measure. Or better yet, find any way humanly possible to budget for a great card, and it will pay off in spades.

Website
Your website is the first or second point of contact for many people. Make it great. Budget well for it. Do not put up a website that you have to apologize for. If you’re not impressed by it, no one else will be either. If you have a small budget, keep an open mind, and find someone who offers an outstanding solution within your budget. It may take time to find them, but someone can do it. Work incrementally if you have to. Never settle for a lesser website than your brand deserves.

Letterhead, Envelope and Mailing Label
Many businesses use these items few times in a year, however, those few times are usually worth investing in good design and printing. If you send someone a fat proposal on a lasered letterhead in an ink-jetted envelope, with a hand-written label, you’ve just sealed your fly-by-night look on your hard work. Why risk losing that $43,000 contract? Spend the $400 on offset printing, and look professional every time.

Tag line
While your logo tells everyone who you are, you tag line succinctly tells people what you do and what you stand for. Your logo and tag line are a potent combination of meaningful, memorable brand smack.

Overview Brochure
Think brochures are outdated? Think again. When your computer, iPod or iPad are absent, your brochure can make the sale. I’m not talking about that yawn-inducing tri-fold in your dentist’s office. I’m talking about the uniquely formatted and crisply designed rockstar brochure that makes you feel like two million bucks handing it out. The one that can be passed on to someone easily and with a word of recommendation. The one that makes eyeballs bulge and helps people connect with your company. Your overview brochure is your impressive, convincing voice when you can’t be there.

Investing in professional brand identity materials does three things:
1. It makes you feel more professional.
2. You project more confidence, thus you sell better.
3. It makes the difference between looking like a fly-by-night organization or a real business.

A good graphic designer can put together a package of the above items that best suits your needs and budget. Sometimes we add in t-shirts, thank you cards, bookmarks and other branded items. Going in with a list of what you want can help. During your graphic designer search, make sure your prospective designer can handle all of these elements well.

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