Visual Branding and Thought Leadership
Visual branding accomplishes several things, all of which are incredibly important to Thought Leadership.
Visual Branding signals the presence of your company.
If I see a piece of mail from you, glimpse your business card in my file, or click through to your off-site event registration page, your consistent Visual Branding lets me know that all those different interactions are related to you and your company. Assuming all those things are positive experiences, this helps build trust and loyalty.
Visual Branding signals quality.
Very basic.
High quality design = high quality company.
Cheesy, low quality design with little consistency = cheesy, low quality company with little consistency.
It’s amazing how many small businesses, especially sole-practitioner professional services, have crappy business cards, crappy websites, crappy offices, and think that it doesn’t matter because, “my business relies on my sales skills and networking, not on branding and PR.”
I like to ask them, “Would you buy from yourself, if this is what you saw?”
Visual Branding signals culture, values, and style.
Conservative? Fun? Safe? Daring? Hip? Crazy?
Big huge companies spend a lot of time, energy, and money deciding what they want to be and who they want to appeal to. If you’re a solo shop or a very small company, you are who you are, and you will do best to appeal to people who will respond well to who you already are.
Visual Branding can go a long way toward making sure people understand what they’re going to get when they work with you, which helps the right clients and customers self-select into your services.
That’s one of the reasons templates or generic designs are such a bad idea—
they may look “professional,” but they are, by definition, not specific to you and your culture.
