BRANDING

101 crash
course
YOUR
BLOAT-FREE
GUIDE TO
BRANDING
& logos
OVERVIEW
Who is this for?
Anyone who wants to understand
branding in a digestible format

Why was this guide put together?

To educate people on the power of
branding & give them the tools to
start building their own brand

What will you learn?

• Branding essentials
• The benefits of branding
• How to build your brand
• What makes a good logo
• Pink cows & why you should care
BRANDING
EXPLAINED
BRAND
perceived emotional
corporate image as a whole
You could describe a BRAND as an
organization, product or service with a
personality that is shaped by the
perceptions of the audience.
Jeff Bezos, owner of Amazon and
subsequently the world's richest man,
said it best:
"A brand is literally what people
say about your business when
you're not in the room".
Basically everything they *think* and
*feel*, which is why branding is so
important.
IDENTITY LOGO
visual & sensual aspects identifies a business
that form the brand via a mark or symbol
The IDENTITY or image of a company is made up of many
visual & sensual devices like:
• A Logo (The symbol of the entire identity & brand)
• Stationery (Letterhead + business card + envelopes, etc.)
• Marketing Collateral (Flyers, books, websites, etc.)
• Products & Packaging
• Other Sensual Communication (Audio, smell, touch, etc.)
All of these represent a brand's identity and should support
the brand as a whole.
A LOGO should identify the business in a simple way that is
recognizable and memorable. It does not literally show what
the business does. ie. A car logo does not show a car
BENEFITS
OF BRANDING
Everyone’s idea of branding is different, but
there is one thing they can not deny...
The power of branding.

1. CUSTOMER RECOGNITION 5. INCREASES CREDIBILITY

Makes a brand stand out from Establishes a company as a
its competitors serious professional business

2. CUSTOMER LOYALTY 6. ATTRACTS TALENT

Keep customers coming back When a business has great
for more branding, people notice

3. CONSISTENCY 7. ALLOWS SHARED VALUES

A consistent brand is Emotionally connect with
memorable & more effective customers creating loyalty for life

4. BRAND EQUITY 8. GIVES CONFIDENCE

Every branded element helps A solid brand knows its values
build brand equity and this evokes confidence
HOW TO BUILD
YOUR BRAND
#1 DEFINE YOUR #2 DEVELOP A
BRANDING STRATEGY BRAND IDENTITY
A strong, well defined brand will make growing For a strong brand, you’re going to need a:
your company much easier.
Logo – a symbol representing your business
But what makes a strong brand? Tag line – a short & sweet motto
Visual Aesthetic – a consistent color palette,
Typically, what makes a brand great isn’t just one fonts, design style, and overall concept
amazing thing—it’s a combination of several. Voice – The brand’s tone, vocabulary & syntax

This is where most people get it wrong and Once you have these set up, you can start
because of this, you need a brand strategy. building the rest of your brand's collateral.

And your brand strategy has to be aligned with eg. Your website, social media graphics,
your business objectives (the reason WHY you packaging, stationery, etc
exist), your target client and unique selling point.

#3 IMPLEMENT, TRACK
To put this in perspective, consider Ikea.

While they’re definitely not a small startup, they

perfectly exemplify a strong brand.
AND ADJUST
Why? Because they’re known for their low prices,  No brand is set in stone. Overtime, you may want
giant stores, customer experience, inspiring ideas  to update it or do a complete re-branding.
and innovative products. 
Your clients, new emerging technology and the
Ikea's brand is more than just a logo. Agree? ever evolving economy will dictate when you may
need to consider re-branding.
So, define your why and the rest will follow.
WHAT MAKES
A GOOD LOGO?
A good logo is effective. It is distinctive,
appropriate, practical, graphic, simple in
form & transmits a predetermined message.

SIMPLE TIMELESS
A plain logo design is easy to
5 PRINCIPLES A practical logo should
recognize and allows the logo
to be versatile. Good logos
of effective endure decades. Ask
yourself, will the logo still be

LOGO DESIGN
feature something distinct adequate in 10, 20, 50 years?
without being overdrawn.
Think Coca-Cola!
Think Apple's bite!

VERSATILE MEMORABLE APPROPRIATE

An effective logo should be
able to work across a variety
of applications. eg. On your
website, clothing & more.
Think Nike!
An effective logo design
should be memorable and
this is achieved by having a
simple & appropriate logo.
Think McDonald's!
The logo should be designed
for its intended audience.
eg. A toy-store's logo would
be vastly different from a law
firm’s logo.
Think Toys ‘R’ Us!
PINK COWS
- WHAT?!
WHAT IS A 'PINK COW' AND
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE
You do know that "branding" is an old topic, right?
Yet, with the rise of social technologies, branding is
as accessible as ever, meaning you have so much
more opportunity, but also so much more
competition, to build and grow a business
which thrives.
For this reason alone, you have to stand out and
create a one-of-a-kind brand.
You're either dominating competitors, or you're
invisible in the market.
You don't want to build a "me too" brand.
You want to be completely different.
You want to be the 'pink cow'.
(Seth Godin talks more about this in his book Purple
Cow. I’ve simply re-branded this idea as "pink cow"
because, you know... pink rocks.
Here's how to brand yourself as the 'pink cow' of
your industry...
#1 DEFINE YOUR
'PINK COW' BRAND
Before creating your brand, you must have a
target market, set specific goals and plan
accordingly. Take a look at where you are at now
and where you want to be in the future.
Ask yourself:
• What do you personally want to be known for?
• In business, what do you want to be known for?
• What about in 2 years time? 5 years? 10 years?
Maybe you want to become an authority in your
niche or perhaps you want a popular ecommerce
store. Or be the next Google.
Whatever your goal, plan correctly from the start.
Be the pink cow.
JUST
TM
W
A PINK CO
 #2 BUILD YOUR BRAND NEED A HELPING HAND?
After you've set your goals, outlined your target Email Jacob Cass
market & defined how you wish to be perceived, jacob@justcreative.com
then you can start to build your brand.

Start with these 3 brand essentials:

A) Your Unique Visual Identity

Having a unique visual identity is one of the easiest LOGO
fonts
ways to differentiate your business from the
competition. Your identity should be consistent and
reflective of your initial goals, yet flexible enough to
work across all communication.

This includes your logos, fonts, colors, stationery,

social media profiles and more. COLORS

www. B) Your Own Website, Domain

Name & Email Address
Do you know what comes up when people

john@smith.com type your business into Google? Hopefully your

own website (e.g. JohnSmith.com) and social
media profiles. Are you using a customized
email address such as john@smith.com?
These all reflect on your brand's image.

C) Your Social Networks 

It's not enough to have a Facebook or Twitter
account, you have to actually be active there; Facebook LINKEDIN
share content, provide value, ask and answer
questions, and as frequently as possible.

Remember that everything you do, say and share

is reflective of your brand. TWITTER
If you implement these 3 steps, you’ll be on your way to creating an irresistible brand!
Questions? Please email jacob@justcreative.com
HIRE
A PRO
Logo Design Web Design
Branding Print Design
Brand Strategy Consulting

Jacob Cass
Jacob Cass is an Australian graphic designer who runs the popular design
blog, JUST Creative, which doubles as his award-winning design & branding
firm. Jacob’s clients have included Disney, Coca-Cola and Nintendo. Jacob
has spoken at TEDx, been featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur and has been
awarded LinkedIn’s exclusive “Best of” for graphic design. He enjoys writing
in third person and would love to take your brand to the next level.

Contact Jacob Cass

Visit justcreative.com
Go to Blog
jacob@justcreative.com