Developing and articulating your brand is crucial in every business startup. The brand shares your story and mission through materials such as business cards, a custom website, and logo design. Reference these steps to set you on the best track to building a brand for your business startup.

Mission Statement

The mission of your startup does more than state what you do. It identifies how you want to influence and interact with your consumers. Quality mission statements typically appeal to emotion and evoke deeper meaning in order to develop a voice that engages and resonates well with audiences. 

Take time to craft a mission statement for your business startup that is based on what you want to accomplish, what you value and what you want consumers to understand about your business. 

Here are some tips to help create a clear mission statement for your small business:

• Define your purpose. Why does this small business exist?
• Be specific instead of using fluffy words.
• Be inspirational. Make it powerful enough to evoke emotion.
• Keep it short and concise

Logo

Unless you are an artist or graphic designer, reach out to a professional who can design the logo. Provide them with general information about your small business, a potential color scheme and the overall look you want. A good idea is to have a brainstorming session and work together to create something in line with your vision.

A logo is one of the most important aspects of a business startup. The logo is what people will associate with your business, so make sure it visually speaks to what your small business is truly about.

The Nike swoosh logo is a perfect example of consistency in logo design. While Nike uses a single image to represent all of its branding, this technique is not a hard and fast rule for logo design. It all depends on your business. 

An alternative may be utilizing a primary logo and expounding on the look with different icons for specific target areas. Just be sure that the icons still connect with the main logo design. For example, the Google Maps icon is different from the main logo, yet the style and color palette remain cohesive to the visual branding rules of Google as a whole. The Google Maps icon successfully integrates innovative design while maintaining the brand integrity.

Brand Collateral

Collateral serves as tangible evidence of the brand with a design that correlates with the personality, core values and objectives of the small business. This can be a collection of materials such as business cards or brochures, intended to showcase a brand and market its products or services to consumers. 

Other materials include business letterhead, stationery, digital ads, coupons, flyers, product shots, traditional ads, and social media accounts.

Website

When it comes to creating a website for your startup, there are many ways to build one. There are user-friendly website platforms, affordable hosting services, and online resources that make it possible for you to build a free or inexpensive small business website. 

However, it can be tricky to build a website from scratch that’s SEO friendly, mobile responsive, functional, user-friendly, and customized to fit all of your needs. 

There’s nothing wrong with hiring a professional to create your website for you. LegalZing specializes in organized and beautiful website designs for business startups that are easy to navigate and SEO friendly.

If you want to dive into the website creation process on your own, be sure to start with these guidelines:

• Create your site domain name: This is your website name. Many companies offer free domain registration with a hosting purchase. Your domain name should be brandable, pronounceable and short. Be sure to avoid trademark infringement.
• Register for a hosting account for your website: You will host your website through a company for a fee — almost like renting out space on the internet. Different companies provide different capabilities. When considering which hosting company to use, research reviews and pay attention to details.

For smaller businesses, a style guide fills a huge void. While many companies outsource a variety of their projects, it’s important to keep a clear and consistent look and message when you receive the final product.

Pro-Tip: Specificity is king when it comes to making a style guide. You have to be specific and clear in your style guide so that all your content is uniform and looks like it all came from the same place, even if many different hands were involved.

Need some help developing and articulating your brand? LegalZing specializes in sharing your story and taking on your brand management with authenticity, creativity, integrity, and dedication. LegalZing can help you hash out your ideas and bring your brand to life. Let’s begin producing brand collateral and a web design that best fits your needs and articulates your brand.