You only have a few seconds to grab someone’s attention when they land on your website or social media platform. With the wrong look, you could potentially lose a client! (No pressure, right?!)
Branding doesn’t have to be complicated, however. In this post, I’ll share my favorite branding tips for virtual assistants, cover the elements you need to have in place, and give you some fun projects that you can do to create the perfect brand for your business.
This article may contain affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase through the link, I get a small percentage at no additional charge to you. See my disclosure for more info.
BRANDING TIPS FOR VIRTUAL ASSISTANTS
What is branding?
Before we dive into the branding elements that you need, let’s cover what branding is.
Simply put, branding is a lot of things. It’s not just the “pretty things” like your colors, fonts, and logo. It’s also your voice, the way you take care of your clients, and much more.
Why is branding important?
There are many reasons why you want to take the time to figure out your branding.
1) Your brand is your business’s first impression – As I mentioned above, you only have a few seconds to grab someone’s attention. If you don’t, they’ll just click away. Adios, potential client!
2) It’s a way to get your prospective clients’ attention and connect with them – When you create a brand that communicates your style and also attracts your ideal client, you’ve hit the sweet spot!
3) It’s your business’s personality – Your brand communicates what you believe in, how you treat clients, and so much more.
4) It helps to distinguish your business from others – A brand helps you stand out from others in the same niche or industry.
In this post, we’re going to focus on the design aspect of branding, specifically your business’s tone and look.
DEFINE YOUR BRAND PERSONALITY
Step One: Set the Tone
Your tone is the overall look and feel of your brand. It’s basically the vibe your business gives off.
Do you want to give off a bright, sunny, happy vibe? Or a cool, calm, relaxing one? Do you want it to be modern with clean lines? Or do you want it to be romantic and ornate?
TAKE ACTION: Choose 3 words that describe your brand’s tone.
Next, we’ll be choosing the colors, fonts, and imagery to go along with the tone to make your brand come together.
Step Two: Pick Your Colors
Have you ever noticed how certain colors make you feel? For instance, yellow is a happy color that might remind you of the warm summer sun or a happy smiley face. Green might make you feel vibrant and healthy. That’s the power of color psychology.
You’ll want to find colors that match the vibe of your business.
Create a color palette of colors that complement each other. Typically, you’ll want to choose up to 3 colors and 1-2 neutrals for your brand. One of the colors will be your main color and the other two will be accent colors. Neutral colors to choose from are white, black, grey, brown, ivory, silver, tan, and gold.
When you create your color palette, jot down the hex code of each color. The hex code is a combination of unique letters and numbers that create a specific color. So instead of choosing “blue” for your brand, you’ll choose a specific shade of blue.
Tip: Seach “color palette hex codes” on Pinterest and you’ll see tons of ideas for your brand colors that also include the hex codes.
Below is an example of a color palette that includes the hex codes:
TAKE ACTION: Choose 1 main color, 2 accent colors, and 1-2 neutrals for your brand.
Step Three: Pick Your Fonts
What kinds of fonts communicate the tone of your brand?
Just like your brand’s colors, your fonts set the mood. There are TONS to choose from! There’s serif, sans serif, script, novelty, and much more!
You’ll need to choose one of each: heading, body, and logo.
Heading and body: Choose a basic, easy-to-read font that you can use for your website, blog, proposal, etc. like serif or sans serif.
Logo: You can pick a fun script or novelty font if you like. Just as long as it fits your vibe and is easy to read.
Below is a description of each font style:
TAKE ACTION: Choose a heading, body, and logo font (we’ll be covering logos a little later).
Step Four: Choose Additional Elements
The additional elements are like the accessories of your brand and include things like photos, icons, and patterns. Just like the colors and fonts, you’ll want to pick additional elements that match your brand’s tone.
For example, if your ideal client is a blogger, she might like photos of a woman working at a desk. If your ideal client is a health coach, she might like seeing photos of healthy food.
Below is an example of 4 different photos and the vibes they give off:
TAKE ACTION: Off the top of your head, what kind of photos, icons, or patterns would appeal to your ideal client and match the tone of your brand? I recommend Ivory Mix, Haute Stock, or Canva Pro for images.
Step Five: Create a Mood Board
Now that you have an idea about the direction you want your brand to take, you’ll want to get a little clearer by creating a mood board on Pinterest.
It’s really simple (and fun) to do. Just create a secret board for your new brand, and start browsing! Try searching your descriptive words to see what comes up. Pin anything that fits with the look and feel you want to create.
Below is an example of a mood board:
TAKE ACTION: Create a private mood board on Pinterest.
Step Six: Design Your Logo
Use your brand’s colors, fonts, and imagery to design a logo for your business. Don’t spend too much time on this though. At the very least, you just need something clean and simple.
You can simply create a logo with your business name written in a script font or you can use Canva’s logo templates to create a professional-looking logo in no time.
TAKE ACTION: Design a simple logo in Canva.
Step Seven: Create a Branding Kit
A branding kit is a visual reference or style guide for your brand.
Basically, you’re creating a document that details the different aspects of your brand. When you’re just getting started, keep it simple! Stick with your colors, fonts, those descriptive words you came up with earlier, and your logo.
If you ever forget what shade of pink your brand is, you can reference your branding kit and find the hex code. It also helps to see all the elements laid out so you can remember to keep that tone or mood with your business when you create something new for your site or social media.
You can add all of this information to a Word Doc or Google Doc, or you can create your branding kit in Canva.
Now you have a reference whenever you design something new! It’s also great to hand over to a graphic designer if you decide to hire one.
Here’s an example of a branding kit I created for a fake business:
TAKE ACTION: Create a branding kit that includes your logo, hex codes, fonts, and imagery.
Congrats! You’ve now got yourself a brand that not only shows your business’s personality but also grabs your ideal client’s attention.
Keep in mind that you can always tweak your brand elements later on. So if you’re not totally in love with it yet, it’s ok. Go ahead and launch your website and work on fine-tuning your brand later.
Want to learn more branding tips? You’ll find them inside the Introvert VA Club along with courses on blogging, SEO, WordPress, and more!
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