I see you, boss lady. You’re in the early stages of launching your business or you’re in the throes of change, exploring how you can represent a new season of business through your visual brand. Guess what? It doesn’t have to be a guessing game, wasting hours scrolling through Pinterest to find the perfect visual inspiration or spending days in Canva trying to pull together a DIY logo! If you’re in a current season where you know you need to (re)brand your business, I want to share with you four simple questions that will enable you to skip all the headache that can go into designing a new visual identity and, instead, go straight to the good stuff.

But let’s be clear about something. If you’re in a season of business that has you ready to dive into a new visual brand, I encourage you to reach out to a professional designer or two to chat about how y’all can best work together to bring your vision to life. Because if we’re going to go to all this trouble to explore these pre-branding questions for ourselves, let’s continue to set ourselves up for success by working with a professional who will empower you to better tell your story, right? Okay, enough of the loving lecture and on to these actionable questions to propel you forward!

1. What do you want to create?

First up, if you are going to share a new visual identity with your ideal clients and existing community online, it’s crucial that you understand what it is exactly that you want to create. What do you want to bring into the world through your creative efforts? On top of that, how do you see your work being different from the other talented creatives in your industry? By knowing not only what we want to create but how that creation differs enables us to confidently invite potential clients and customers into an experience that stands out right from the start.

2. Who do you want to serve?

This question goes hand-in-hand with #1! Now that you know what you want to create, who is it for? It’s not enough to simply know that you want to serve brides with your newly launched wedding planning business. Instead, you should dig deep to discover that you truly want to serve brides who are striving to create intimate celebrations that reflect their unique love story. And, if we take it further, we’ll discover that these brides are also working with limited time as they work a full-time career. By knowing who you want to serve and their pain points, or whatever is standing in their way of having their dream wedding, you can create an experience that meets them right where they are.

3. How do you want to make them feel?

When your ideal clients work with you, how do you want to make them feel throughout every touch point of your process? From start to finish, your time together is brimming with opportunities to serve them well, offer a top tier solution to their pain point(s), and leave a lasting impression. And your visual brand is a truly strategic way to inspire that type of emotion and set the tone for a memorable experience! So, how do you want to make people feel through your work?

4. What message are you trying to communicate?

At this point in the game, we should understand what we want to create, who it’s for, and how we want to make those ideal clients feel throughout the process. So, what message are you trying to share with them that will invite them into this overarching experience with you? If you’re offering your ideal bride an opportunity to celebrate her marriage through an intimate soiree (and one that enabled her to have a fully present and worry-free evening!), it’s important to communicate that message throughout your visual identity so this sweet bride can understand how your work fits into her life. When people look at your visual brand, what message do you want them to receive? When they visit your website, what main takeaways should they receive?

Every facet of your visual branding is an opportunity to tell your story well and, by exploring these intentional questions for yourself, you set your brand (and your future brand designer) up for success in the truest sense. Before you embark on your branding journey and even before you reach out to that brand designer you’ve been longing to work with, write down your responses to these questions to take them into your future conversations about your visual identity. I promise they will equip you to not only create a more effective visual brand, but they’ll make the entire process infinitely more fun!

Are you ready to tell your story through an intentional visual brand, boss lady? Then let’s get to work! I currently have just 5 openings in my design calendar with 2017 start dates, and I’d love to partner with you to create a brand that connects with your ideal client authentically. Learn more about my process here or get in touch directly to schedule your complementary consultation!