Blog | Freelance Graphic Web Designer Toronto

Five Things to Do Before You Build Your Personal Brand

Most people don’t take the time to discover their own personal brand. I believe the reason for this is because of the very many influences we have on our lives, from our parents, to our teachers to our managers and even our friends. I have many friends who are instructed to become lawyers, doctors and accountants by their parent who is already in that field and wants to mold their child in their shape.

When you choose someone else’s career path, it can have a negative impact on your work and life. Also, most people don’t take time out of their day to think about who they are and what they want to do for the rest of their lives. Instead, they become so overwhelmed in the moment or are so focused on climbing a corporate ladder, that they aren’t true to themselves and, as a result, get lost. Creating a personal brand is the easiest part of the personal branding process because social media tools are free and marketing documents are easy to make, even if you aren’t a technical expert or graphic designer. People, as well as companies, don’t invest the time in figuring out the right branding strategy before they start using these tools, so they don’t obtain the desired output.
In order to help you in your personal brand development, I’ve laid out five critical things you need to focus on before creating your personal brand. They will help you with your brand positioning, as well as make you think about where you’re going (your destination), so you’ll be able to reach your goals and have the results that you desire. I know it might seem like tedious work, but when you can communicate what you do to the right audience, you’ll be much more successful in the long-term.

1. Brainstorm a mission and a vision statement

A mission and a vision statement are much different. Your mission is what you do everyday, while your vision is your future. To create a mission statement, you should think about what you do and why you do it. Your mission should be simple and clear and only one sentence long. It should touch upon your behaviors, traits and values. For your vision statement, imagine yourself at least ten years in the future. What will you be doing then and why? What are you looking to give back to the world? Both of these statements can be stored privately or publicly displayed on your website, just like a company would.

What is a CMS website?

Why every small website needs a CMS

You are about to get a website built for your business. Having found a good web design house, you are looking forward to seeing the results of their creative efforts. So far so good.

Once the website is setup, and the customers start rolling in, you will want to make ongoing changes. These could be very small, such as changing a phone number, or adding a news item. New products, or shifts in business direction, will necessitate larger updates to the site. Chances are, though, you will still be happy with the design, and it’s just the text that needs to be changed.

While the web design house did a great job, you don’t want to have to go back to them for every change. A hundred small changes in a year will leave you both frustrated, and is not economic for either party.

This is where a content management system (CMS) comes in. Sitting behind the scenes, it gives you the ability to maintain your own site.

No website larger than a few pages should be without a CMS to manage it.

What is a CMS?

A content management system is a software package specifically designed to manage a website. It is installed by the web designers, but intended to be used by you.

First off, it provides you with a simple, non-technical way of updating your content. This is typically (but not always) done via a web-based interface that works much like Word does.

Just point-and-click, type in the new words, and hit save. Your site is instantly updated.

Equally easy is adding new pages, deleting old ones, or restructuring the site to match your new business model.

The CMS also automates menial tasks, such as applying the same page layout and appearance across the site. Menus and other navigation are also automatically produced.

Along with the many other administrative tools, this leaves you to concentrate on the words, and not on the technology.

The power of a strong brand

Every small business owner would like to be able to charge more for their services or products than competitors without losing demand. With a strong brand, you can.

If you don’t believe me, visit your local drug store or neighborhood wine shop. There are generic drugs available at pennies a piece sitting alongside the same exact product but with the name of a major drug company somewhere on the box. Want a good bottle of red wine? You can buy one for thousands of dollars a bottle all the way down to $5 a bottle. Vineyards that are known for great wine can sell just OK wine at a premium price just by virtue of their name.

A strong brand takes the concept of pricing out of the equation. David Avrin in his book, It’s Not Who You Know It’s Who Knows You, says that the four most dangerous words to hear when pitching a client, asking for a raise, or selling a product, are: “All things being equal.” This implies that you haven’t been able to differentiate yourself from competitors and haven’t effectively communicated the promise of quality or unique value. Instead, you are now competing on price, location or any other factors that have nothing to do with the value of the service or product you provide.

A strong brand should convey quality, consistency and reliability. A company or individual with a strong brand can command a premium over competitors who offer the same product or service…

Why Design Is Important

Why Design is Important

In the world of FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) companies some succeed, some fail and some make an impact on society. This impact is mostly due to a perfect match between the actual product and the way it is designed, packed and sold. In order to optimize packaging, product appearance as well as point-of-sale, advertising and further media, DESIGN is today a must. To make a long story short, here are 10 reasons why design has to be taken more seriously in FMCG companies:

1. Great design sells more!
A great design makes a product more attractive through aesthetics as well as functionality, durability, efficiency, ergonomics, etc. Furthermore, great design is economy as that is what efficiency is all about, not necessarily cheaper, but what the British call ‘value for money’. The product can therefore have an image of high value as Apple or right value as IKEA. Steve Jobs said: “Design is not only what it looks like, it is how it works”.

2. Great design is innovative
It does not copy existing products, but improves upon what is already existing. Karim Rashid, one of today’s most productive designers said: “people see the past, artists see the present, but designers see the future”. Judgement is concerned with what is. Design, however, is concerned with what could be.

3. Great design is honest
Great design is always transparent, easily understood and not cheating or hiding defects or weaknesses. An honestly designed product does not claim features it does not have.

4. Great design is emotional
We like to be rational and logical as it is easier to test, but great design is more of an emotional business as it incorporates values that have to do with feelings, liking, preference.

5. Great design is as little design as possible
If something looks ‘too designed’ it immediately communicates costs which is ok if the target audience is willing to spend the money (e.g. Bang & Olufsen, Cognac, etc.), but which to most people is seen as something extra they are not willing to pay for.

6. Great design is concerned with the environment
Great design doesn’t use more energy than necessary, uses as little raw material as possible, can be recycled, etc. In other words, great design is not waste.

7.” Great design, as music, helps people to get a smile on their faces”
(Claude Nobs, Montreux Jazz Festival)
Yes, great design makes us happy, makes us see positively; whenever we have to go out of ‘standard routine’ we need design.

Trademark your Logo

How to register a company name or logo

To cement ownership of a particular mark or business name, it’s necessary to register the name of the business and logo with the government.

Using the services of a trademark attorney for the logo process is key, although business name filing can be done independently. Here are the steps necessary to complete both business logo and name registration.

Instructions

Registering a Logo

Perform a design search to see if the art concept resembles an already registered design. It would be very wasteful to design a logo only to find that someone already has something so similar that it negates your idea. Therefore, perform a thorough search first.
Hire a trademark attorney to do more thorough searching, as well as processing all necessary paperwork for the registration.

Registering a Company Name

Think up a name concept that is descriptive, professional and memorable. Do a search to discover if there are other businesses with the same or similar name.
File for a business license. According to Nolo.com, “If your business is organized as a corporation, LLC, or limited partnership, in most states you automatically register your business name when you file your articles of incorporation, articles of organization, or statement of limited partnership with your state filing office. This ensures that no other corporation, LLC, or limited partnership in your state will be able to use the same name.”