If you are not a designer, thinking about your branding can be overwhelming. Trying to stay on brand can confuse any business owner. Having a strong brand is so important regardless of the size of your business, and regardless of whether you hired a top agency and need to keep running with the magic they created, or whether you are going the DIY route and need to create (and maintain) all the magic yourself.

If you’re not sure whether your brand needs some TLC and you don’t know where to start – read on for some useful tips!

 

When was the last time you did a check-in on your brand?

It’s important to regularly check in and make sure what you’re putting out into the world – your marketing pieces, your social media, your website presence, and how you speak about your business – resonates with your audience and reflects the services or products you are providing.

I like to take a quick look at our brand assets as a whole every 6 months to make sure we are being consistent and that there are no gaps.

What is a brand asset? They are the visual and auditory elements that make up a business’s brand strategy.

Brand assets you may have:

• your brand voice
• logo
• colour palette
• fonts
• slogan
• brand guidelines
• background patterns
• image style
• illustration style
• icon suite
• other graphic elements (like frame shapes, abstract design details, etc)

Your brand assets are so important because they:

✔ Provide consistency – are recognizable to others and build trust

✔ Create an emotional connection with your customers

✔ Are the building blocks needed to build out your marketing assets

Remember: If your company is a person, your branding is their personality

 

And what about marketing assets?

If your brand assets are the building blocks your marketing assets are the things you are creating based on the brand assets.

Marketing assets you may have or need:

• website
• social media templates
• project proposal templates or pitch decks
• product catalogue templates
• pop-up banners for trade shows and events
• brochures
• postcards
• rack cards
• leave-behinds
• branded swag
• email newsletter template

How to audit your assets

What are some things to look out for?

Open up all the brand assets and marketing pieces you are using regularly. This could include your logo, the photos you are using, a screenshot of your instagram grid, a printed postcard, your website, the packaging of a physical product.

Ask yourself:

1️⃣ Are there gaps in my current brand assets?​
Rank how happy you are with each of your current assets from 1–5.

2️⃣ Which brand assets need the most work?​
Order them from most critical to least critical. Something used often that doesn’t feel on brand should be more critical than a piece that isn’t used as often and feels like a closer fit to your brand.

3️⃣ What are five small actions I can take to improve my brand assets?​
Choose the asset that needs the most work and break down the task into actions that are easier to complete.

4️⃣ Do all my marketing assets feel on brand?​
Ask yourself the same question for your marketing assets. Rank how happy you are with your current marketing assets from 1–5.

5️⃣ What are five small actions I can take to improve my marketing assets?​
Choose the asset that needs the most work and break down the task into actions that are easier to complete.

If it was challenging answering these questions, ask someone else who knows your brand but isn’t quite as close to it as you, to weigh in with their thoughts.

Bonus points if this person is also your dream client since they will have the best insights into your brand.