According to Seth Godin, ‘a brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another.’
Entrepreneurs are well aware that branding is important, it’s no coincidence that the top players in every industry are those with the strongest brands. Once you’ve got your brand strategy figured out, that doesn’t mean you can sit back and relax. Brand trends are constantly changing, which is why your company should seek to evolve too.
1. Use nostalgia
Nostalgic branding is useful to appeal to the emotions of your target audience, which is why many companies use nostalgia as part of their campaigns. One company who’ve recently used nostalgic branding is Motorola. Remember those tiny flip phones that were in vogue in the early 2000s? Motorola’s version was the Razzr. In 2019, the company brought out a new touch-screen version. Nostalgia can take your audience to a ‘simpler time’ and bring back great memories of the past or their childhood.
2 . Adapt your logo
Businesses need to show up everywhere if they want to widen their reach, which means promoting yourself on various social media platforms. Brands have started to create different forms of their logo depending on where the logo will be used. Creating several forms is useful when you consider that sites like Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn all have different layouts. Your website will of course have your ‘main logo’, which will probably be the most detailed version. Then your social sites can have slightly more simple versions, as appropriate.
3. Authenticity sells
Authenticity is increasingly important to consumers, people want organic companies as opposed to airbrushed brands that try too hard. According to Venngage, ‘91% of consumers would rather buy from an authentic brand.’ As time goes by it seems that heavily photoshopped ads and a ‘picture perfect’ image no longer appeals to many people. Brands can benefit more from producing authentic employee generated content, (or posting funny videos on Tik Tok)!
4. Simple fonts
In 2020, the best fonts for branding are those that are simple. Minimalism is still very much trending which is why it’s useful to go for fonts that are simplistic and raw. Fonts that mimic real handwriting are a wise move. Overdone fonts and graphics can really over complicate the design. Never underestimate the importance of your brand logo and your graphics. It’s by these visuals that a potential new customer makes a snap decision about what kind of brand you are.
5. Imperfect drawings
When it comes to brand design, we’re seeing a lot of imperfect drawings, the kind of illustrations that look hand-drawn and utterly unique. These kinds of quirky illustrations keep to the same theme of simple fonts and authentic campaigns. Illustrations are perfect to improve your landing pages, and these are far more engaging than photographic content alone.
If you want to improve your branding, unfortunately it’s no quick fix! It takes a whole lot of creativity, plenty of planning and the willingness to take a few risks.