The power of visual branding: make it work for you

4 MIN. READ

Make no mistake. When it comes to a successful branding campaign, visual imagery is key. Want proof? You have about 15 seconds before a website visitor moves on to something else, according to Chartbeat. You can’t say much in that time, but you sure can show a lot.

Images, colors, styling, typefaces. These elements all spring from your brand strategy and bring your brand story instantly to life. A strong visual brand identity not only introduces your brand to new clients and customers but also cements your brand's vision in the eyes of current customers.

Let’s talk about how your visual branding can help you win in the marketplace.

1. Build a community and create authenticity.

Strong brands share a common denominator – they’re selling a community and a story, not just a product or a service. Visual branding is crucial in communicating that story.

Take a look at Dollar Shave Club's ads. They’re first infamous video advertisement essentially defined the success of the business. Within 48 hours of the ad's release, the unknown start-up had 12,000 members.

They knew exactly the community they wanted to tell their story to and focused in on every visual detail – the setting, the people, the clothing – to convey they were a very different kind of company. Their visual branding showed an authentic, engaging story and invited customers to become part of a community of believers.

2. Unify your visual messaging across all mediums.

Where do your customers meet up? Will they instantly know it’s you when they see an ad on Facebook, or TV, Pinterest or in print. Every medium, including social media platforms, has a unique demographic. If your brand speaks to multiple demographics, you’re likely to be utilizing multiple mediums. Relevant content for each of these audiences is likely to be somewhat different. The format will vary, too, from still photography to video to long copy. But strong, cohesive visual branding can make all the messaging, across all media, indelibly and uniquely yours so your customers will know you anywhere.  

3. Expands the reach of your campaign.

You’ve created an amazing visual brand for key media, but that’s not enough. A successful brand campaign should take every customer interaction into account. When customers get to your website, does the visual branding match the media message that drew them there? Does your packaging continue the story? When an order arrives, will your customer smile, knowing it’s you?  

For University Tees, the visual brand story flourish created was meant to not only capture the fashion of their products, but showcase the bold college spirit the drives the company and creates a campus community. From web to catalog to thank-you notes in every delivery; visual branding reinforces the brand strategy with a consistent look, feel, tone and personality.

4. Boost your brand spend.

Brand building on a budget? If you use visual branding elements effectively, you infuse every message with all the “brand juice” you’ve built up over time. For example, even low-fi tactics, like employee interviews or a simple community-building story have more immediate impact and lasting effect when they’re visually true to the brand. That helps you get maximum value from any spend.  

One of the most surefire ways to increase brand awareness is visual stories enabled by visual branding. And the best part is, they can be created for any business of any size or scope, leveraging any budget for higher impact and better results.

To learn more about flourish and how we help our clients with visual branding click here.