Let's go through a scenario. You started a business a few years ago and got busy getting work flowing through the door.
When you started, you made a quick and easy logo to get up and running, but now things have aged because you've been busy bringing in business.
So, what does a typical business need to keep track of regarding its branding?
Let's go through the key elements that need to be looked at and potentially refreshed:
- Logo
- Colours
- Fonts
- Email signatures
- Business cards
- Website - doesn't have to be fancy, but it should be up-to-date and look like it was made sometime in the last decade.
Social media language & posting templates
Which other channels need to be updated depends on your brand strategy.
If you're in corporate or do a lot of presentations to clients, you should also look into your PowerPoint Presentations and the templates people use.
Note: a great thing to look at is how easily accessible the right brand assets are to your team. Do they have the correct fonts available to download? Are the right logo files in a shared drive? Do they know the colour codes to use? Knowing these and having access to the details go a long way in communicating your brand consistently whenever it's being used.
Corporate or not, you should also look into your:
- Headshots for key team members
- A promotional video for your business
This is the stuff you should look at a bare minimum. You can go further with banner images, brochures, packaging, T-shirts, pens; the list gets long quickly.
These are the fundamentals and you need them working whether your strategy is very digital, all print, or a mixture of both.