Branding: Can You Do It Yourself? A Practical Guide to DIY Branding

Branding ‒ simply put ‒ is the identity of your business! It's how your company showcases values, gains trust from people, and stands out from others. People may wonder if they could do branding themselves or seek out help from a branding agency.

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Doing it yourself is very tempting because it’s inexpensive and you keep creative control. However developing a brand identity is much more than designing a logo and picking some colors; it is about defining your brand voice, character, and values; it is about the pursuit of consistency across all of your marketing channels and assets.

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This blog will explore: Can DIY branding work for your business? How do you build a powerful brand, and when to call in the pros?

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What Is Branding and Why Is It Important?  

Branding means more than just your company’s name and logo ‒ it includes everything that shapes your identity. This involves graphics like your logo, colors, and designs. It also covers your business voice, personality, values, and the experience people have with your business.

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In simple terms ‒ it's how you say why you exist, what you do, and who you are. A clear brand helps one get a special spot in the market ‒ makes people remember ‒ and builds trust with the  customers one target.

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Important parts of branding include:

•  Brand Identity: The visual and nonvisual things that make your company unique ‒ e.g. logo, brand colors, fonts ‒ and overall style.

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•  Brand Voice and Personality: The tone and style used  ‒ which should show business values ‒ and connect with target customers.

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•  Brand Story: Your mission ‒ vision ‒ and purpose ‒ helping customers understand why you're here.

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•  Brand Consistency: Maintaining a cohesive and recognizable presence across all platforms, from social media to product packaging.  

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DIY Branding: Pros and Cons

Deciding to take on branding yourself can be an exciting challenge for an online business owner, startup, or small business on a very tight budget. This option also comes with several pros and cons:

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Pros of DIY Branding

•  Cost Savings: Hiring a creative branding agency can be expensive. DIY branding is a budget-friendly way to get started.

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•  Creative Control: You maintain full ownership of your brand vision, ensuring it reflects your unique brand personality and values.

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•  Flexibility: You can adjust elements like your logo design, color palette, or brand voice at your own pace as your business evolves.

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•  Hands-On Learning: By managing the branding process yourself, you gain valuable insights into what resonates with your target market and what doesn’t.

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Cons of DIY Branding

•  Takes a Lot of Time: To build a united brand look, you gotta put in a lot of work. This includes making a brand pack sorting out your visuals, and setting up a style guide.

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•  Not Everyone's a Pro: Brand-making combines design, marketing, and strategy. If you're not seasoned, you might miss stuff like staying consistent or getting your message across right.

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•  You Might Mess Up the Consistency: Without professional brand guidelines, your branding efforts may lack cohesion, leading to a weaker brand image and recognition.

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•  You Could Be Skipping Chances: DIY brands may struggle with strategic branding elements like positioning, market research, or creating a distinct brand voice, and you need these for the win in the long run.

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Key Steps to Create Your Brand Identity  

A clearly defined path is important in the creation of a brand identity to make it not only recognizable but also successful. Having chosen the DIY way of branding, here is how you can ensure efforts pay off in creating a cohesive and impactful identity:

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Define Your Brand's Mission and Values

Explain what your brand does and why it is here. In one or two sentences jot down your mission statement showing the exact reason your business runs. List your brand's values and main principles that steer choices and actions. These parts will lay the groundwork for all other branding aspects to keep messages and visual identity steady.

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Tools:

-Miro: Use this online whiteboard tool to brainstorm ideas while defining your mission and values.

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-Trello: A project management tool helping you organize thoughts and goals as you build your brand’s base.

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2. Identify Your Target Audience  

To create a resonating brand, you have to understand who your ideal clients are. Research deep into their age groups, needs, preferences, and pain points. This will help you establish a brand voice and messaging that speaks directly to them while creating visuals that appeal to what they expect. Knowing your target audience will be the key to communicating in their language and tone and making sure that your branding speaks to those it needs to.

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Tools:

-Google Analytics: By using Google Analytics, you can understand who your customers are and the amount of traffic you are receiving to your websites.

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-SEMrush: This tool is great for competitor research and identifying trends to understand your target market.

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3. Craft Your Brand Personality and Voice  

Your brand needs a clear personality that connects with your audience. Is it authoritative, sophisticated, or fun? Your brand's voice—how it communicates through words—comes from this personality. It should match your company's mission and meet what customers expect from your brand. The voice should be authentic and consistent, helping build trust with your audience.

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Tools:

-Typeform: Create engaging personality quizzes to better understand your target audience's preferences and personality traits.

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-Grammarly: Helps refine your brand's tone and voice by ensuring clear, consistent language across all content.

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4. Design Your Visual Identity  

The visual aspects of your brand are often the first impression customers have, so getting them right is crucial. Key visual elements include:  

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•  Logo Design: Your logo should be simple, memorable, and reflect the essence of your brand. A good logo will help in establishing brand recognition.

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•  Color Palette: Choose colors that depict various emotions and relate to the values of your brand. Your color palette should be consistent across all platforms and materials.

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•  Typography: Narrow down to a few, highly readable fonts that speak to the soul of your brand. Consistency of typography helps reinforce a brand's personality and strengthens its recognition.

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•  Visual Elements: These are the design elements, icons, patterns, and images that give depth and uniqueness to your brand.

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Tools:

- Adobe Illustrator: This is a professional design tool used to create a polished logo, among other complex visual elements.

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- Coolors: Create and refine your color palette with this tool to make sure it fits your brand's identity.

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- Google Fonts: A free library of fonts to choose from to assure consistency and readability in your typography.

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5. Build a Brand Style Guide  

A branding style guide keeps your brand consistent at all touchpoints. This will be a document with detailed guidelines on how to use your logo, colors, fonts, etc. With the help of a style guide, online/offline marketing materials can all effectively correspond to your brand identity—this ultimately helps to further establish and reinforce your brand recognition.

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Tools:

-Frontify: An intuitive tool for building a comprehensive brand style guide that your team can refer to at all times.

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- Canva: Use Canva templates to create easy-to-follow style guides for your brand’s design elements.  

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6. Create Your Brand Messaging  

Brand messaging encompasses all the words and content that convey your brand's purpose, values, and story. Begin by crafting a distinct tagline that summarizes your brand promise. Then determine key messages to support your brand's mission and resonate with target audiences. It is also important to create a brand story that not only emotionally engages customers, but builds loyalty, and eventually trust.

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Tools:

- Hemingway Editor: This will help in making your messaging concise and clear, avoiding unnecessary complexity.

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- BuzzSumo: Research the most popular content in your industry to inform the crafting of messages that will resonate with your target audience.

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7. Apply Your Branding Across All Touchpoints  

With those visual and messaging elements defined, your branding would then need to be applied cohesively on all customer-facing platforms: the website, social media, marketing materials, packaging, email, and all other touchpoints. Consistency enforces the identity of your brand, builds recognition, and instills trust with the audience.

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Tools:

- Hootsuite: Schedule and manage your social media posts to ensure your brand’s voice and visual identity are consistent across platforms.

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- WordPress: Create a branded website with consistency in design, messaging, and layout.

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- Mailchimp: Create branded email marketing campaigns that reflect your brand’s visual identity and messaging.  

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8. Test and Refine Your Branding  

Your brand identity is not something static. Once your brand is launched, request feedback from customers and those within your industry about your brand. Understand how it is perceived and just how well it resonates with your target audience. This can help you identify necessary adjustments to keep the brand relevant. Through this continuous improvement, your branding will remain strong and effective.

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Tools:

- Google Forms: Create surveys to collect customer feedback and gather insights into your brand’s perception.

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- Hotjar: Use this tool to monitor user behavior on your website, helping you refine the customer experience and branding.  

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When to Consider Hiring a Branding Agency  

DIY branding is an affordable option for many businesses, but it may not always deliver the desired results.

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Here are some aspects to consider if you're on the fence about hiring a branding agency:

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Limited Knowledge or Tools

Building a brand means more than picking colors and making a logo ‒ it needs market study, thoughtful planning, and skilled design work. If you lack the skills or tools for creating a shiny brand identity, an agency brings the know-how to fill those gaps effectively.

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Growing Your Business

When your business expands your branding grows too. Agencies fine-tune your brand plan ‒ keeping messages steady ‒ and create custom marketing stuff to reach your bigger audience well.

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Rebranding for Expansion

If your current branding no longer aligns with your company’s mission or target audience, an agency can help you update it. They ensure your visual identity and messaging reflect your new business goals and resonate with your evolving audience.

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Standing Out in a Crowded Market

A distinct brand voice and identity are vital in a competitive market. Agencies specialize in brand positioning, helping you define a unique personality and craft strategies that differentiate you from competitors.

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Conclusion

Branding for startups and small businesses can be quite a challenge. While it offers an opportunity to develop new skills, there comes a point when professional help is needed.  But once there is a situation that needs professional help, it's better to get in touch with a professional branding agency.

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Say you can't polish your current brand, or you don't have the experience needed to grow your business, or even if you've decided on a brand—professional agencies have the tools and insights to help you against other companies in the market. They can specialize in creating a powerful brand narrative and will also be able to help you design an effective visual representation of your brand if needed.

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In the end, it  is a matter of resources and personal goals regarding whether to use a DIY approach or hire an agency.

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Why Choose Bolder Agency?  

At Bolder Agency, we provide expert guidance to help businesses build strong and professional brands. From developing a unique brand story to designing visual assets like logos and style guides, we ensure your brand resonates with your audience.

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If you have decided to hire an agency, contact us now!

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