Branding is a way of defining your business to yourself, your employees and your customers/clients. Your brand identity will incorporate things like company names and logos but is more about what the business does, and how it does it.

What do you need to take into consideration when branding your business?

Company Name

You’ll only have to come up with a name for your company if you’ve decided to operate as a limited company, but either way, you might want to operate under a trade name.

When choosing a name it’s especially important to think about your online presence.

Is the name something people will search for and be able to spell?

Is there a domain available for the name?

Also, check to see if there are any other companies with the same name. Your company name will have to be unique if registering with Companies House, but otherwise, you should make sure it’s not used by anyone else both for trademark reasons and because you don’t want to confuse your customers.

You’ll only have to come up with a name for your company if you’ve decided to operate as a limited Company.

Logo

A logo really isn’t crucial, but it can add that extra wow factor that makes you stand out as a legitimate professional. You don’t have to be winning any design contests (unless, maybe, you’re actually a designer) – think more along the lines of establishing the way your brand comes across and keeping it consistent. You can do this simply by using the same fonts and colours across all the work you do and making sure basic design elements like text and date formatting are kept consistent.

Business cards

Once you have a name and logo sorted, you can get some business cards printed to hand out to friends, colleagues and prospective clients alike. Business cards make you look more professional and serve as a handy way to give out your contact details. They’ll also be the first point of contact that clients make with your brand, so it’s worth putting some effort into them.

Website

Not making a website for your business is a bit like organising a party and forgetting to send out any invitations. Today, it’s such a quick, cheap and easy way to get your business more attention that every business should have a presence online. There are a whole host of services to help you build your site, the most popular being WordPress and Wix. Domains are pretty cheap these days too, and depending on your choice could cost you as little as under £10 a year.

Social media

It only takes a few minutes a day to post an update on Facebook, send out a few tweets or connect with someone on LinkedIn – a small price to pay for the extra exposure. Each platform is different and should be approached in its own way.

Are you looking for more advice on setting up your business? Get in touch with our team for support.

Have you read our blog Growing a business in 2018. Top tips