Branding is one of those words that’s often thrown around and just as often misunderstood. Although the process involves several steps, the idea is really quite simple.

Branding is what Coca-Cola®* has – the minute you catch sight of that curly red “C,” you know beyond a shadow of a doubt what you’re dealing with. Your mouth may even water at the thought of that cool, refreshing liquid pouring down your throat. And all it took was a single letter!

To do what Coca-Cola did, you’ll need to create a brand for your company. How? Simple. Present an image and message that appeals to your target audience over and over again until your customers begin to associate that image and message with your company and yours alone.

The branding process usually begins with the creation of a logo and a tagline.

• A logo may be made up of words (your company name), an illustration and/or graphics.
• A tagline should sum up what you offer to customers that they can’t get anywhere else.

You sell domain names and related products to [fill in the blank with your niche]. Who else does that? What do you offer that your competitors don’t? A broader selection of products? Then your tagline might be “Your one-stop shop for all things Internet.” Or maybe your biggest sellers are domains and hosting and your biggest customers are extreme athletes. If so, a good tagline would be “Xtreme domains & hosting” or “Domains & hosting for those who live on the edge.”

Unless you’re a graphic designer, creating your own logo can be tricky – it needs to work in a variety of mediums and that kind of flexibility takes some skill. Regardless of whether you do it yourself or hire someone else to create your logo and tagline, be sure to run them past people who represent your target market (not your couch-potato uncle if your company caters to women runners) before putting them to use.

Once you have a logo, use it everywhere – on every page of your storefront, in newsletters, on receipts, on stationery, signage and business cards. You can even incorporate it into your Express Email Marketing® emails with a little HTML know-how.

If it’s short enough, your tagline can appear with your logo except in cases where the logo is too small to make the tagline readable. Your tagline should also appear on every page of your Web site. For bonus points, make your tagline clickable and link it to a page that describes your key promises and how your company delivers on them.

Over the long haul, branding pays off. It not only increases customer loyalty, ensuring that your customers continue to buy from you for years to come, but allows you to charge more than your non-branded competitors. How sweet it is!

DOs
>Test. Get feedback on your logo and tagline from people who represent your target market.
>Follow up. Your long-term success depends on how well you deliver on your promises.
>Stick with it. Coca-Cola’s been doing it for decades; that’s why their brand is so powerful.

DON’Ts
>Alter the individual elements of a logo once it’s been created and approved. You want the viewer to take one look at that logo and think of you, so don’t confuse them. Use it consistently.

RESOURCES
Don’t feel comfortable creating your own logo? Ask our Dream Design Team to create one for you.

*Coca-Cola® is a registered trademark of The Coca-Cola Company.