You’ve come up with your business idea.  Now, whether it’s a coffee shop or a shoe store, you need to design your brand.  A brand is more than just your logo – it encompasses your look, your style of doing business and your values; and it’s showcased to the public through your logo, your marketing materials, uniforms, store décor, and everything you say and do.  Here are our tips for branding your business. 

1. Know what you want your brand to say

Customers buy into a brand, not a company, so know what you want your brand to say.
When we started our business, we knew we wanted our brand to represent a timeless product.  Our Cupcakes are and always will be a sweet treat escape for our customers in all age groups, both male and female.

2. Come up with a visual theme for your business

Know what feelings you want your visual story to convey, and do some research to know what feelings certain colours evoke in people.  Colours can make people feel anxious, calm, even hungry.

We wanted our stores to look and feel as if you were stepping inside a magical cupcake factory. We chose colors that represented a cupcake – candy pink, dark rich chocolate brown, creamy caramel and soft vanilla - appealing to the taste buds and teasing the customer without them even having to step into one of our stores.

3. Design your logO

Get professional help if you need it – your logo is crucial.  It should stand out and differentiate you from the competition.  It should be a clear representation of your company without needing extra words to tell your story.  It should be easily recognizable.  

Our Cupcakes brand is best visually represented by the image of a cupcake using color, but it also evokes the sense of taste and smell.

4. Roll out your visual theme and logo

Incorporate it into ALL areas of your business – your interior design, equipment, visual displays, employee uniform, employee hand outs, as well as your merchandise.

5. Saturate your corporate culture with your brand values

In addition to the physical look of your business and logo, think of the values that you want associated with your brand.  Incorporate them into everything you do in every point of your business from hiring and finance to organization and customer service.  

Our values are about old-fashioned personalized service with our clients and vendors; we strive to remember our customer’s names and favourite flavours, and our employees are always cheerful, sweet and friendly, just like our product. 

6. Educate your staff

Your staff is selling your brand (not just your product) so they need to know it well.  Inspire them to get involved by including them in team brain storming and gathering their feedback on new initiatives.

7. Educate your customer

Your customer’s word of mouth is your best sales tool.  Educate them about your product and your merchandise through your displays, marketing and in-store service. 

8. Back up your brand

You can establish your look and values, but of utmost importance is the quality of your product.  No matter how good your image is, it all has to be backed by your product.  

We continuously monitor the quality of our product and constantly drive home to our consumers through buzz marketing and advertising that the quality of our cupcakes is what differentiates us.

9. Refresh your look

This doesn’t mean change it – customers like consistency – but keep it fresh.  By constantly refreshing your product, your stores and displays, it keeps your customers curious and coming back for more.

10. Live, eat, and sleep your brand!