So your brand has been designed and its all ready to do its job. So how do you take this onto the next step and make the impact on your business? Read on and suck up the knowledge&

Your Scope

First things first, you need to look at what your business is doing at the moment to promote your brand, or if youre a start-up, you need to look at what you WILL be doing.

Try to remember what Branding is about  its exposure, exposure, exposure! That means, everywhere you can get your business exposure (the word tastefully comes into play here) the better, and naturally that means showing off your logo. Think about such ideal exposure grounds as stationery, websites, signage, clothing, literature, advertising, emails, faxes, vehicles, job advertisements and sponsorships (did we mention Red Tiger can do all this for you?). Sit down with your pen and paper and note down everything that youll need to add your brand to.

Once youve finished the list and double-checked it, you have your Scope. This enables you to clearly outline exactly what exposure areas you need to address. Depending on your budget, you may want to brand some areas now and the rest over a period of time  this isnt good on your profile, but its good on the wallet if you happen to be in that position.

Involving the Agency

As long as everythings gone to plan, you should now have a good relationship with a marketing agency or at the very least a branding designer/consultant. Do they have the capabilities to carry out all or any of your Brand Impact projects? Ask them and see how they can help.

If they cant, or only in a few areas, ask them to recommend suppliers for the rest. Usually an agency (marketing or simply design) should have a network of contacts to be able to help you; if they dont, find the useful people yourself. These obvious rules apply when questing for your needs:

• Ensure they have a solid background in the field you need them to perform in.
• Its all about relationships; if you dont trust them, dont use them. Simple.
• Never give all your money up-front and make sure you can contact them with ease.
• Make sure their work is to standard, dont work on promises of high-quality.

Oh one shameless plug for you; we do all of the above and so, so much more. In fact, we cant think of anything to do with Branding Impact that we DONT do. Enough said.

Youll need to go through the process with your/each of your suppliers and theyll all very likely to work differently; dont get worried though, just remember the basic principles of marketing design work and youll be fine;

1. Develop a brief of your requirements, give as much detail as possible.
2. Receive a concept or concepts.
3. Revise concepts where required.
4. Take thinking time (rushing will cost you money in the long run).
5. Sign off, they deliver artwork.

Oh and one CRUCIAL point; make sure whatever they design, they use your brand and/or its colours. Youll be gob-smacked at how much marketing material weve seen where the company logos/colours have just simply been ignored to fit in with the designers concepts. Designers fit in with YOU and YOUR BRAND, not the other way around  never, EVER forget this. Read this paragraph again to burn it into your gorgeous mind.

Finding suitable suppliers isnt always as mellow as all this though and its easy for us to just say how well we do things and to come to us, but, well; we do things REALLY well& so just come to us! If only for a little bit of friendly advice!

Taking to the Skies

It goes without saying (but well say it anyway) that youll need to take all your branded areas into the physical realm and have them printed/manufactured etc. Your designer(s) will be able to help you with this; usually they outsource the work and manage the project for you. Two things to remember here:-

1. Dont be afraid to shop around a little if you think something is a little pricey. Just make sure your new quotes will deliver at a high quality and service level. Its not worth scrimping on a few quid and risk damaging your brand.
2. Proofing  fall in love with the action of Proofing work before it goes to print. Yes it may cost a little bit more to get a printed proof (Digital or Lithographic) but what if the job doesnt turn out as expected? Remember that colours on screen wont be the same when theyre printed.

Okay, Stage Two is over. Assuming everything went well, you now have effectively built your brand by impacting it across your business. Where people see your business, they see your brand, and more importantly where people see your brand, they see your business. Feels good saying that doesnt it? Hold on to that feeling, thats what Branding is all about.

In this guide its the shortest stage to get through, but in principal it can be a fairly drawn-out process. If you get stuck, want a chat or just a professional opinion throw us an email through www.redtigerdesign.com or call us on 0870 365 1279. Happy to help!

The next stage is Awareness/Building  where you take your impacted business and move it forward to build your brand and its awareness.

Thanks for reading!