If you’re a solopreneur overwhelmed by the branding process, we break it down step-by-step so you can look like a pro without the pro budget.
There’s a plethora of branding articles for small business owners and entrepreneurs, but what about solopreneurs? If you’re a lone wolf, running your business has unique challenges, but branding doesn’t have to be one of them.
There are four key questions every solopreneur needs to answer when it comes to developing your brand and business identity.
1. How Personal Do You Want to Get with Your Business Account?
Think back to the last time you watched your local TV network. Chances are, many of the commercials were for local businesses.
Those businesses usually chose one of two routes: Either they have the owner’s cute kids singing a jingle, or they try to look like their big box competitors despite their limited acting skills.
That’s the same decision every solopreneur needs to make for themselves. Just how personal do you want your brand to be?
Will you maintain separate social media accounts for your business and personal use? It’s twice the work, but the privacy is worth it for some people.
If you want to keep your business separate from your personal life, write out your “hard no” list.
For example, if you’re a parent, will you include your kids in your advertising at all? Your spouse or partner? Your friends? Align your thoughts with any family members who may be affected.
The answer of “how personal is too personal” will differ from person to person. While no choice is wrong, the decision is one that you need to make mindfully. You can always add personal touches later, but once that cute kid is on your social media feed, you can never undo it.
2. What Is Your Goal with Branding?
At its core, branding is where emotions meet action. Your brand should elicit specific feelings every time your client sees it.
For me, when I see a Campbell’s Soup label, I immediately think of my mom bringing me chicken noodle when I had the sniffles. It symbolizes love, home, and comfort.
But, when I see the NCAA label, I immediately associate my university’s fight song, and I’m ready for Yell Practice.
What do you want your customers to feel when they see your brand? Family? Security? Safety? Fun? Take some time to brainstorm the why behind what you do.
Branding isn’t about selling your product or service. It’s about selling your story and making a commitment to your audience.
3. Should I Outsource My Branding?
One of the biggest challenges solopreneurs have is knowing when to ask for help. It used to be that branding was one of those places that people really needed a professional to step in. But, with today’s tools, it’s no longer necessary.
As a solopreneur myself, I’ve gone through the expense of paying someone else to create my website, create a logo, and handle all branding. The price tag was astronomical to my minimal budget but, 15 years ago, there really weren’t a lot of options.
Luckily, as small businesses have become the backbone of the economy, tools have been created to make design user-friendly.
Even for someone who has zero coding experience.
When I shifted my business and needed to rebrand, I chose to do all the branding and website design myself. It is now completely in my hands and in my control. I can tweak and change colors, fonts, and messaging whenever I want, and I don’t have to pay someone else to do it for me.
4. How Do I Capture Emotions with a Tangible Brand?
Now comes the challenge . . . doing the actual branding work. This step can often feel overwhelming, but there’s a solution available. Shutterstock Create is a free design tool that allows you to bring your creativity and campaigns to life quickly and effortlessly—even if you have little-to-no design experience.
Take the emotions and key words that you want to elicit from your clients. Head over to Shutterstock Create to choose a consistent color palette, design a logo, and choose your fonts. Make sure that each item brings up those key emotions.
Shutterstock Create, part of Shutterstock’s all-in-one Creative Flow platform, makes it simple to maintain consistent visuals across all areas of marketing.
Plus, it’s easy to adjust to seasonal promotions by utilizing stock images without having to take your own. You can customize a variety of pre-sized templates to fit the unique needs of your business.
Now that you have the tools, it’s time to take your business to the next level with a totally new, totally original, totally Y-O-U brand.
Try out Shutterstock Create, or to get inspired with step-by-step tutorials, check out Shutterstock Academy.
Find even more creative guidance for solopreneurs from these articles:
- Quiz: What Kind of Creator Are You?
- Solopreneur Diaries: Inner Realm Wellness Meets Shutterstock Create
- Solopreneurs: Building a Brand on a Budget
- Too Many Design Tools, So Little Time
- The Top 6 Pain Points of Solopreneurs
License this cover image by Stone Pictures.
