Mew Year, Mew Branding

By: Danielle Shearer

Happy Mew Year! Welcome to 2020. We at CreativCat want to say a big congratulations on leading your business, clients, and teams into a successful new year! As you look forward to all the accomplishments the new year will bring, it’s equally important to reflect on your past victories and challenges. Maybe you’ve already done that and know exactly how to interpret the past year to make next year even more successful. Maybe you’re already into a new year thinking it’s too late now, you’ve got too much future work to knock out. We get that feeling, but even so, reflecting on your year is just as important as the operational and financial health of your business, no matter what size. And, in addition to these reflections, it’s equally important to reflect on your brand, and how it’s aligning with your operation. That’s where CreativCat comes in. We’re here fur you and all of your brand alignment (or realignment) kneads.

As you may know, a brand means way more than a logo or color palette. That’s why, when you evaluate the inner workings of your business, you should also evaluate how the different aspects of it feed into your brand, which is the collective visualization of all the parts of your company the world experiences.

Maybe you’ve already thought about and done all this. Even if that’s the case, and whether it was recently or when you first started your business, a quick rundown of the elements that make up your brand will help make sure your brand is in-tune with your operation. We’ve listed them below with a quick explanation. This article goes a little more in-depth in case you’re interested.

Brand identity is how people recognize you and your brand. Is your logo simple and unique enough to stand out and be memorable? Think the McDonald’s “M,” or the Apple’s…apple, of course.

Brand image is, simply put, what people think of when they think of you. Are they thinking of you, the owner, or are they thinking of your most successful project? It’d be good to know.

Brand Positioning is where you sit in relation to your competitors (aka the market). Do the right people and organizations know about you? Better yet, are you clear on which people or organizations you want to know you?

Brand Personality is just like each of our own identities. (Here at CreativCat, we identify by our purrsonality). Is your brand youthful? Professional? Outdoorsy? Patagonia screams outdoor adventures, for example.

Brand Equity is simply the value of your brand. That include both financial performance and certain aspects of your business that make you, well, you. In short, what are your brand’s sales and what’s its image?

We can talk branding all day, but let’s not overwhelm ourselves before we even get started! The last one is Brand Extension, the concept of expansion and breaking outside of your brand’s box. CreativCat, for example, started as a freelance graphic designer and her cat providing feedback. We did one thing and did it well: sophisticated and sleek designs for any aesthetic and industry. Today, Captain Jack and I are a full-service branding agency with a great grasp of the whole library of branding elements.

As you embark on the next year of growth and challenges, ask yourself: what could my brand use to continue breaking boundaries in 2020? Then, connect with CreativCat and get down to the brass tacks of your operation. CreativCat is not only ready to tackle any design need from logo design and concepting, to web design, to print and digital campaign production, and everything in between. We also have the know-how to dive deep with you and figure out what’s working and how to leverage that for your best brand identity and the highest equity. Check out our portfolio and feel free to reach out if you have any questions.