Wondering how to tell if your branding is effective? Branding can be a big investment, and when you throw in other aspects of your branding like copywriting and web design, it’s an even bigger investment.

First, let’s talk about what your branding is. I always define branding as the visual voice of your business. Branding includes the standard design assets that I deliver through Emily Foster Creative, including logo designs, brand colors, fonts, patterns, icons, business cards, and other assets. This can vary for your business. For a caterer, your branding may need menus while a wedding planner may need some Canva social media templates.

Branding also includes your other “voices” including your copywriting (the written voice), website (the way your audience interacts with you), brand photos (what you and your business literally look like), and more. It shows up in the way you do business with your clients and good branding will feel cohesive from Point A when your client first meets you to Point Z, when you send them off or kindly part ways.

With branding and copywriting, it can be confusing to tell if your design and copy is pulling its weight. We really want to make sure you’re seeing a return on investment AND we want you to make sure you’re doing the most to elevate your brand.

So how to tell if your branding is effective?

You feel confident showing off your company.

This is probably the biggest reason people invest in branding. While the ROI on branding and copywriting is boundless, it can be really difficult to deliver analytics or metrics for whether branding is working, especially for small businesses. But, for small businesses, a big value to branding is confidence. When you look your best, you feel your best. That means you can show up as your best self in your company and feel confident that your dream clients want to work with you.

Here are some signs that you don’t feel comfortable showing off your company, and that you may need to invest in branding design or new website copy:

• You feel embarrassed when you share your business card at networking events.
• You feel embarrassed sharing your website URL with potential clients or partners.
• You’re nervous to reach out to potential partners/collaborators because you don’t think your business quality matches theirs.
• When people ask you what your company name is, you feel embarrassed to share it.
• You can’t figure out why you chose your brand colors and they feel stale.
• You don’t put your logo on everything because it doesn’t affect your ideal style.

Here’s an example of a past client who felt ecstatic showing off her branding after investing in a brand and web design project with us.

Your ideal clients aren’t questioning your prices.

There’s a big keyword here: ideal clients. There will always be clients who question your prices, whether it’s because they think you’re too cheap or too expensive. Believe it or not, some people will choose not to work with you because they think you’re too cheap!

However, there’s a specific sector of the market for you and the ideal clients you want to work with. If you want to charge more, you can charge more, and branding will help you to do that. If you want to cater to low-budget clients, you can also do that, and strategic branding will help you to do that. (By the way, you can still make a lot of money catering to low-budget clients, if you create strategic packages and offers for your audience). Here’s an example of a past wedding planner client who works specifically with budget brides. Notice how her branding and copywriting was created strategically to reach those clients.

If you’re consistently getting on sales calls with your ideal client, and they’re not happy with your prices, that’s a sign that it might be time to take a look at your branding and/or copywriting. Here are some comments you might get if your ideal clients are questioning your prices:

• “We are so excited to work with you, your pricing is really a steal!”
• “Why aren’t you charging more? We’d totally pay more for this service!”
• “We went with someone who seems more experienced.”
• “Why do you charge so much?”
• “That’s a big investment, I think I’ll just do it myself.”

You know who you’re talking to.

Another way to tell if your branding is effective is to think about how much clarity you have with your ideal client. Do you know who you’re talking to? Do you know how to reach your ideal client? If you’re lacking clarity in your audience and messaging, that’s a sign that it may be time to revisit your branding and copywriting.

Next steps: how to tell if your branding is effective:

There are a few options to move forward with reinventing your business’s branding, and solutions for all budgets.

If you have $0 to spend, contact me and I’ll do a short brand review of your business’s branding on my Instagram!

For real – if you didn’t know I offer free brand and website reviews on Instagram. You can also ask some of your past clients or business friends for their feedback and then mix that with my review as a professional designer. Reach out to me on Instagram, or shoot me an email.

If you have $250 to spend and want more in-depth feedback, contact me for a branding audit.

During a 1 hour branding audit, we can talk in-depth about your branding and brand strategy! Contact me if you’re interested in getting detailed feedback about how to improve your brand design.

Ready to reinvent yourself completely? Reach out for this special holiday bundle offer.

For a limited time in 2022 and 2023, I’m partnering with Emily Lee and Shanik Ramirez to offer an all-inclusive Squarespace website experience for wedding vendors. The total investment is $5,400 if you invest before the end of 2022 and $5,700 starting in 2023. You get a brand refresh, website design in Squarespace, website copywriting, and website SEO.