Knowing how to create a brand name is of great importance to the success of a business. Branding applies not only to large corporations that are widely known; owning a brand is definitely essential for small businesses, as well.
As you are reading this article, I’m aware that you are working hard, constantly building your website to promote a product or service. And, that is great, but without branding your website the chances of recognition are slight.
If you haven’t already chosen a Brand Name for your business, I recommend taking those steps now.
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What is a Brand Name and Why Is It Important
A Brand Name identifies a business.
A Brand Name is important because it helps to build trust between the operation of a business and its clients or customers
The simple definition is – ‘a Brand Name is the identification of a business‘.
For example – McDonald’s is a trusted brand globally recognizable.
Other globally trusted recognizable brands are:
- Amazon
- FedEx
- Lego
- Walt Disney
- Nike
These are just a few that come to mind, but there are numerous globally recognizable brands.
Think about this: If the companies listed above were without a brand, would we know about them? Would I be writing sentences describing each of these companies logos and the type of services or products they provide? No, I would not be making the effort of referring to their products, for the simple reason I would not be aware of their existence.
This is proof that creating a brand name for your business is essential to the success of your business.
Another thought is Social Media. How much success do you think your business would have promoting through Social Media without it being branded.
I doubt that any business without a brand would gain success from Social Media.
In this day and age with affiliate marketing, Social Media is a prominent component of successful marketing. Again, the need for branding your business!
Even though you may read or hear that businesses are turning away from some Social Media platforms, you can be assured that Social Media is not disappearing.
How Branding Your Business Will Make You Money
Of course, branding is not the only factor in growing a successful business, but it certainly plays a huge part which is reflected at the end of a financial year.
Whether a business is online or brick and mortar, it is essential to promote the business through a brand.
Just imagine an offline business. It is situated in a popular shopping area but every day, week in and week out, very few potential customers walk through the doorway to view the exquisite products waiting to be sold. There is nothing to entice people to enter this shop. The exterior of this shop is totally without signage. The shop frontage is blank. Without a name, without a Welcome message. Absolutely nothing. You can imagine this business will close at the end of its first financial year, as no money was made there.
Relate the above Scenario to Your Website
In saying that, it’s best not to relate the above to your website. What your website needs to help you to make money is – to build a brand.
With some careful thought, you can very easily create a Brand.
Continue reading and you will find the benefits of spending a little time, probably no more than 1 hour, to create branding for your business.
The Essentials to Creating Your Brand
Your Brand will consist of 4 items. These items are:
- Name
- Logo
- Identity
- Colors
Choosing a Brand Name:
Depending on how you choose to brand your business, the name could be Your Name or the Domain Name of your website.
Creating a Logo:
This can be an image, or words describing your business. If you have chosen to use your Domain Name, that will be your logo or the major component of your logo
Identity:
A choice of a Tagline or Slogan will be the identity of your business.
For example – ‘Just Do It’ is the famous tag line of Nike.
Whereas ‘When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight’ is a slogan of FedEx.
I believe that FedEx has had many slogans overtime which proves that a company has the power to change their slogan if they so choose.
Colors:
In branding a business, the use of colors can be powerful. Different colors convey different meanings. For instance, the color ‘Blue’ projects honesty and trust, whereas the color ‘Red’ projects power and excitement.
The choice of promotional colour is a subject on its own. If you are unsure of the right choice of colour for your business it would be worth your while to do some research.
However, before you go searching for the technicalities of using colour, think about familiar logos that include more than one colour. For instance:
- Microsoft logo includes Red, Green, Blue and Yellow.
- Google logo includes Blue, Red, Yellow and Green. The same colours as Microsoft, but totally different design.
- Both Honda and Toyota use Silver-Grey and Red in their logos.
- BP’s logo contains shades of Green, plus Yellow and White
With the use of only one colour, or multiple colours, together with a catchy tag or slogan, you have the power to project to the world whatever emotion is appropriate to your business.
How Much Will it Cost to Create Your Brand
Creating your business brand does not need to be expensive. In fact, you can brand your business at no financial cost at all which is what I recommend while going through the process of getting traffic to your website.
If you have purchased your domain name, that cost has already been met. If you are about to purchase a domain name the cost, together with privacy will be approximately $12 – $20 US.
When eventually your website is earning significantly to cover all costs, that may be the time to look at paying for a professionally created logo. Until that time arrives, you have the option of creating a logo free of charge.
Tools for Creating a Logo Free of Cost
There are many tools you can use, free of charge, to create a logo. My favorite tool for creating a logo is Canva. I use Canva.com for creating all types of images.
The image appearing to the right-hand side of this text is a logo I created in Canva.com especially for this article. It didn’t take any longer than two minutes to format the text. Spend a little more time on Canva and you can create something more elaborate, to suit your style.
I recently created the logo for this website by using Canva. It can be seen at the very top at the top of this page. Previously, I had a professional banner on this site which I deleted and chose to use this logo as an example of what can be done using Canva. I absolutely know that had I taken a little more time to do the job, a better version could have been produced.
The message here is that you can create a logo for your business. It is very easily done using Canva.com
However, there are many other free programs you could use to create a logo for your business.
- Paint.NET
- GIMP
- Ribbet.com
These are just a few that I have used to create images. A Google search will identify free programs if you are not getting the results your need from Canva.
Having Your Logo Created by a Professional Company
If your preference is to have your business logo created by a professional company there is nothing wrong with that. But, please do understand that a quality professional logo will cost you into the hundreds of dollars.
Please be aware that as you move on developing your business, your ideas and expectations will change. Along with change, you may need to upgrade your logo. Are you prepared to spend hundreds of dollars on an upgrade? Of course, this will depend on your circumstances and only you can know that.
In the early stages of affiliate marketing, meaning the first 3 to 5 years, I suggest using free tools as often as possible, to grow your business.
In closing, I trust this has been of help with learning how to create a brand name for your business and to produce a logo together with a Tagline or Slogan. Also, I hope you made a good choice of colours. Clicking on this link will take you to some information about color choices for business branding.
Of course, there will be many other online sources about using colour in business. You could find these by doing a Google search.
Thank you for visiting this article. If you have any enquiries or comments, please leave them in the space provided below. I will respond to them.
Hi there. I am in the process of refurnishing my business brand. The logo that we had for 10 years is a bit outdated in my opinion and we are looking to change the design without hiring professionals since we are on a budget.
I just had a quick look at Canva and it seems like a spectacular software. Still don’t know where I would start off with a logo, but I am sure I would find out later.
Thanks for the suggestion.
Thank you Cathy for leaving your comment.
I can honestly say that I had no idea how to use Canva when I first started with it. I had heard so often how great Canva is, so I persevered and eventually found my way around it. I now use Canva frequently to create images for my websites.
Thank you so very much for this post. Whenever I think of branding, I think of big businesses. It is time I turn that attention to my small business. Great information for branding ourselves with little or no cost.
Also, I appreciate the insight for a free logo creator. I wasn’t expecting that, but will definitely use it. All the best.
So very true, Frank. I believe that over-thinking things is one of the causes of delays in making progress. Whether it’s business or pleasure we are dealing with, we can easily make hard work of something that is so simple, such as branding a business.
Thanks very much for leaving your comment. And, I’m pleased to be of help with the free logo creator. I’m sure you will find Canva a tool that you’ll return to often for producing various types of images.
Wow. What a great blog!
I never thought that creating a brand is that much easy.
You are really awesome and you helped me here. I own a brand RJDRESSES. At the time I create this I feel like, we are creating a brand and it will take a lot of time. And to say the truth I take a lot of pressure while creating my small branded company. But while seeing this, I can really follow this step by step and that will be so simple to create a brand faster.
Thanks, Valerie for giving a great blog about creating a brand.
It’s very true how easy it is to make hard word out of what should be a simple task. With so many free tools available online, together with dedication to conveying the right identity of a business, branding should not be seen as a difficult task.
Thank you yoguRJ for leaving your comment.