Your brand is the most potent weapon you have to grow your business. A strong brand is like a magnet for your business in helping you to attract new customers, team members and increase the desirability of your goods and services. At the loft, we help companies of all shapes and sizes create brand communications – everything from beautiful identities to informative infographics to show stopping campaigns.
We are always working within the constraints of tight budgets.. In a few weeks time, we shall be giving a talk on how best to ‘build a brand on a budget’ for Young Enterprise Scotland and Bridge2Business.
In the meantime, here are a few ideas we’d love to share…
Imagination is everything…
Start-ups rarely have cash to build their brands so a great imagination is absolutely essential. You have to make every pound of money and every minute of time go that bit further than all the others to break through. One of the best companies who do this is Brewdog – with everything from roadkill beer packaging to driving tanks past the bank of England – they are the masters at making the mundane interesting and getting lots of attention for doing it in the meantime.
One of our favourite examples of this is the design of these beermats a few years ago. Beermats tend to be one of those unremarkable items that modern-day brewers overlook and just stamp their logo onto. Not Brewdog who created these lovely little gems – giving the coaster a life of its own while hilariously endorsing the brand. Something that is bound to get everybody talking about your company and a definite social media hit – exactly what is required for building an effective brand. Amazing ideas like these cost not a penny more to create and require only a little bit of imagination. Brilliant.
Leverage that content…
Brand, marketing and creative activities for small to medium sized enterprises are considerable investments in time and money for both the company and individual involved. For those that are looking to really build their brand on a shoe-string, it is absolutely essential that a little bit of start-up resourcefulness is used to help get the most out of your investment. We recommend leveraging everything you do so that each and every activity gives you a great return.
Two of the most common activities that SME’s engage in are the design of brochures and the building of websites.
If you are about to engage in either of these activities., you definitely should…
– Make the most out of days with professionals such as photographers/ copywriters/ graphic designers. Most professionals do require a few hours to get into a flow with new clients so the greater number of activities that you can schedule at one sitting the better. They will be able to work much more quickly, efficiently and effectively. You will definitely receive a bigger bang for your buck.
– Leverage any written copy from a professional copywriter for the creation of these individual campaigns.
– Have any infographics re-formatted and prepared for social media channels. You can create a series of mini-campaigns on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Youtube and Instagram with some basic infographics.
– Create mini-social campaigns around photography displaying service imagery, team members in action and even company processes.
– Re-format testimonials and case-studies into individual PDF documents that can be kept on file as print or digital files to be sent out to prospective clients or customers.
– For a little added impact – you can take your infographics, photography and ask your professional to convert them into little animations such as animated GIFs which can also have a great effect on social media.
Continuity is king…
For companies who want to maximise their brand/marketing/communications spend – working with established partners over a longer period of time is definitely a great way to maximise your investment. Building long-term relationships with trusted partners will allow you to build harmonious working relationships between the individuals in teams which is obviously invaluable, it also allows suppliers to give preferential rates for larger projects or additional items, there is a consistency to the the work produced which is of huge benefit to the other party. Finally the time saved in not having to continuously source new suppliers is a huge big deal.
Just a few ideas on how to build a great brand on a budget.
Benedetto
Benedetto is an ideas-driven Creative Entrepreneur. He is on a mission to unleash the power of creativity to create a better world – for people, business and society.
He is the founder of the loft, a design and branding house which operates worldwide helping companies bring their brands to life in the most imaginative and effective ways possible.
The loft serves companies in every sector and is quite simply the best in the business at creating brands that capture the imagination.
In addition to his role with the loft, Benedetto is an avid supporter of young people into enterprise. Having been supported by organisations such as PSYBT and currently by E-Spark, he does all he can to support young entrepreneurs. He provides assistance to organisations such as Bridge2Business, Young Enterprise Scotland and acts as a mentor for young business owners with Entrepreneurial Scotland.
His support to the next generation doesn’t end there, Benedetto is a big supporter of MCR Pathways, an organisation which helps disadvantaged children secure better futures through mentoring. Alongside his team at the loft, he provides creative support to the organisation as well as specialist work experiences for the students in the studio.
A real man on a mission. Benedetto likes to make things happen and happen fast and in a big way. He always wants things done yesterday and is relentlessly driven in his quest to make tomorrow better than today for his company, the people he serves and the wider community.