Branding your business

Importance of branding

Before you build a website or start printing business cards, it is important to think about your brand identity. Branding is all about setting yourself apart from your competitors and building a reputation. Your brand is how people perceive your business, so it is an important aspect to plan out.

Follow these steps to begin building your brand:

Determine your target audience. Research who your potential customers are and what they are interested in. This helps your business cater to these audiences effectively.
Find a brand voice and personality. Think of your brand as a person. How would they act? Write 3 to 5 adjectives that describe your business. Let these set the stage for your voice and tone on social media and in writing.
Choose colours. Think about how you want to visually represent your brand. Canva.ca guides you through the process of picking the right colour palette for your business.

Select fonts. Pick two fonts at most, one for headings and another for body text. The chosen fonts should be clear and easy to read. Try to avoid fonts for body text that use a cursive script or all capitals. For text colour, keep it simple and always make sure it contrasts with the background colour.
Create a logo. This will represent your brand and be used in many areas of your business. Create a logo that is unique and captures what your business is all about.
Register trademarks. Anything that you create like slogans, logos, and product or service names should be registered as trademarks with the government to protect your branding.

Tip: When branding your business, consistency is key.

You can’t build a brand without maintaining consistency as you extend your brand to every part of your business like your website, promotional materials and product packaging.

Design your logo

Having a logo for your business is a key component to branding and recognition. A logo helps build recognition amongst customers and promotes your business.

Don’t have design experience? Don’t worry, building a great logo for your business is easy and there are many free tools that can help. Before you start building your logo, keep these tips in mind:

Know your brand colours.
Keep it simple and clean.
Use a transparent background.
Ensure it is scalable for any size.

Choose a logo type

You have a few options when designing your logo.
Think about which style fits your brand the best: