Creating an Authentic and Cohesive Brand Identity

We all have a brand. Whether you’re aware of it or not, you’re marketing your brand at work, through professional networking and on your social media sites. The importance of personal branding cannot be overstated whether you run your own business or are forging a career path as part of other organizations. The more intentional you are with your branding, the more effective you will be in marketing your brand and yourself. Do a quick Google search of branding and you will find enough articles and advice to both confuse and overwhelm you. Defining your brand identity is a lot harder than it sounds but basic branding centers around two key aspects: authenticity and consistency.

Authenticity

In a day where blogs and online businesses are a dime a dozen, authenticity is crucial to your success. If you aren’t genuine, people will see through you immediately. What is your mission and why is it important to you? What is your niche or product? What does this look and sound like? Answering these questions can help you define your voice and communicate this with a complementary aesthetic.

Your Voice

Your voice can be broken down into three main parts: your mission, your product or niche, and your style or personality. Why is your work important to you? What do you hope to accomplish through this work? What is your specialty or what product are you marketing? Are you logical and analytical? Are you creative with lofty goals? Are you funny with a natural ability to make people laugh? How do these things fit with the way you want others to perceive you?

For me, I started my blog as a way to connect with like-minded women but my vision has grown into much more. I want to use these connections as a way to inspire, motivate and uplift other women. Since my blog is told through my voice and lens, I am essentially marketing myself and my personal brand. I’m a passionate, caring person who values supporting others and I hope this is how people perceive me when reading my work. Most importantly, I strive to be more vulnerable in the hopes that other women will view my blog and social channels as safe spaces to be themselves and share their hopes and fears.

Your Aesthetic

Once you know what your brand is and how it sounds, how can you convey this visually? The most common methods are through fonts, colors, photography and logos. Take color for example: a travel blog might be full of bright colors representative of exotic locales while a company selling outdoor gear and accessories would probably lean toward earthy tones and natural colors. Fonts can depict similar identities. It wouldn’t make sense for that same outdoor retailer to use a loopy script but it would be entirely appropriate for a women’s boutique with a soft, romantic vibe to do so.

Since my blog and branding are representative of me, I reflected on the overall visual style of my home and what colors and lines I’m drawn to. It didn’t take me long to recognize that my closet is primarily made up of pink hues and soft grays in delicate fabrics like lace and and chiffon. The primary themes of my home are victorian-era antiques, soft colors, soothing fabrics and accents of gold and rose gold. It quickly became evident that my blog should feature shades of pink and gray with romantic script. My header contains my blog name in script above a photo filtered in shades of pink and containing visual representations of my purpose: connecting through writing and travel.

Consistency

Now that you’ve defined your voice and aesthetic, they need to be communicated cohesively across all channels. Whether it’s LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram or another channel, viewers and potential clients should be able to recognize your brand and understand what it’s identity is. If your blog features articles on fitness, your Instagram is primary made up of pizza and craft beer, and your LinkedIn profile mostly contains shared articles on sports, what is your brand identity really? Viewers won’t know and it’s likely you might not either. We all have a wide variety of interests but our brands need to be cohesive and consistent. If you want to be able to share all of your other passions on social media, be sure to have both personal and professional accounts! Be sure the header across all of your professional accounts is the same, use the same filters for blog photos and social media pictures, share articles consistent with your brand’s identity and utilize the same colors and fonts when marketing your brand through graphics and other resources.

A few months ago, I decided I wanted to explore growing my blog through collaborations and blogging communities. You never know when you might meet a potential client or discuss a future collaboration so I set out to create business cards to carry with me. However, in order to maintain brand consistency in my business cards as well, I knew I couldn’t just use a generic template. I needed to be able to design my own card from layout to color and font and Basic Invite allowed me to do just that!

When designing my business cards, Basic Invite offered me everything from calligraphy to architecture business cards, horizontal to vertical layout, and the ability to insert my logo, photo and graphics where needed. Once I chose a basic design, Basic Invite allowed me to customize every single detail including wording, spacing and color. With over 180 different colors to choose from, I was able to find the exact right shades of pink and gray to complement my website. I was also able to add a pop of gold foil to really make my cards stand out while maintaining an aesthetic consistent to my brand identity. Not only did I have the ability to see instant previews of my online business cards but they also offer custom printed samples so you can see exactly how it looks and feels before completing your final order!

In addition to offering custom printed samples, Basic Invite routinely checked in to update me when my business cards were queued for printing and ready to ship, as well as followed up to make sure I was fully satisfied. I’ve been so impressed with Basic Invite’s quality and customer service, I can’t wait to design and personalize my own stationery! In addition to their online business cards, they offer notepads, thank you cards, note cards, and invites: everything you could need to maintain brand consistency, no matter the function or event.

For a limited time, Basic Invite is offering 15% off with coupon code: 15FF51

With fall rapidly approaching, it’s never too early to start thinking about the holidays and holiday parties! Basic Invite also offers a wide variety of completely customizable Christmas cards perfect for your family or company. Don’t be surprised if you find a Friendsgiving invite or a holiday card featuring myself and my furry family member in your mailbox soon!

This post was sponsored by Basic Invite but all thoughts and opinions on the products are my own.