The three things we recommend for starting your business —
Our motto—everything you need, and nothing you don’t.
Imagine the following pieces layered together, in order, like a cake, and the cake is your business’ solid future. ;)
Brand messaging lays the foundation by articulating a clear vision and mission in a distinct voice that deeply resonates with the values and desires of your target audience, speaks to your business’ professionalism and credibility, and establishes trust among prospective customers and clients, therefore boosting your bottom line. We recommend first getting really specific about who exactly is your target audience. Pretend they're one particular person, and decide on their gender, age, marital status, income, values, and geographic location. Additionally, consider other aspects of their life that drive their purchasing decisions. For example, do they have children? What do they do for a living? What do they do for fun? With what do they struggle the most? What excites them the most? Then, from the vantage point of your newly constructed customer/client avatar, choose up to three value-descriptive words or phrases that will guide your message focus/tone toward effective communication with the person you have in mind. A few examples of ours most recently used for a design consultant were ‘dependable partnership’, customized convenience’, and ‘approachable hospitality’. Next, construct a tagline—a representative phrase whose goal is to offer the briefest, but most holistically encompassing summary of your business’ model for delivering upon those values. From there, flesh out that strategic messaging into website copy—all the words that live within your website's various pages and introduce both your business and yourself, persuasively pitch your products and services, guide visitors throughout your site, and optimize your site's search engine compatibility.
Visual branding components build upon the values and, therefore, meaningful way forward you decided upon in the first step, and basically encompass a logo accompanied by brand standards (specific instructions for all future use of your brand components), so you can confidently and cohesively apply your unique brand identity across all customer touch points and build familiarity/recognition among your target audience. Highlighted individually, our recommended visual branding components include: One primary wordmark (typographic) logo, One sub mark logo/favicon, a Color palette, and font selection. And when constructing such a package, it’s important that rather than narrow your focus to a particular image, font, or color, you consider whether the net effect of these elements combined produces a mood or feeling that will connect with your target audience—that’s always the goal.
Website design is the combination of distinct beauty that represents your brand identity and user-friendly functionality that supports your needs and converts your target audience, thereby boosting your bottom line. And website design decisions should, by this point, feel like natural outpourings of all your pre-determined strategies. Simply put, an effective website doesn’t just look good, it connects deeply with its visitors. We recommend prioritizing a short list of pages linked to constructing a simple-to-follow sales funnel (guidance for visitors toward completing a desired action, whether that be making a purchase, booking a service, or scheduling an appointment) and polished with settings to support a seamless user experience as well as mobile optimization.
