Branding represents the core DNA of your company. It establishes the first impression and helps to build trust with your audience. Your messaging, positioning, logo and name are some of the most important components of your brand identity. The execution of your supporting communication materials is just as important for how you are perceived. After years of pulling through, building and refreshing corporate identities for healthcare and biotech companies, one of the most common mistakes I see from a branding perspective is the lack of foundational consistency and structure when executing a brand system across key communication materials. The identity does not stop at a logo—the identity needs to be strategically applied to all communications across the brand.

Here is an outline of steps to guide you through the corporate branding process.

1. Messaging and Positioning:

Good branding does not start with design. It starts with firm messaging and positioning. You first need to make sure that you have a strong long-term vision and a foundational message. Take your time with this and ensure that your positioning is scalable and that your message can be tailored for multiple audiences whether it is investors, potential business partners, patients, healthcare professionals or peers within the industry. Your positioning should not change from audience to audience, rather it may be served with different hierarchies.

2. Name:

From there, you develop a name that reflects your company’s goals and long-term vision. The name should be unique, timeless, simple and a good representation of your company. It should not be a trending word and common words can bury you amongst a sea of results when your audience searches for you online.

3. Logo:

After your name is solidified, you need to develop a professional logo mark. This mark will be the champion of your brand and will help you build value through recognition across your audiences. A good logo is simple, memorable, unique and strategically conveys who you are as a company.

There are many points to consider when developing your logo including:

– Is the font professional?

– What is the typography conveying?

– Do I want a logo mark or just typography?

– Is the logo mark unique, simple, and a good representation of my brand?

– What are my colors psychologically conveying to my audiences?

– Are my color choices unique amongst my peers and competitors within the space?

– Is this logo scalable for my company when I consider its long-term goals?

– Does this logo look professional when it is scaled large and small?

4. Website:

Now that you have established your messaging, positioning, name and logo, it is time to apply those assets across your core communication materials. The website is a great place to start as it will serve as the unsolicited representative of your brand that offers the most important information about your company.

A good process to your website is key. Start simple with a sitemap. After that comes the wireframe. The wireframe is especially helpful when you have robust, technical content that needs to be well organized and intuitive for a user to navigate. After the wireframe, develop your copy. Be sure to keep the user experience and search engine optimization in mind when planning your website content. Also ensure that it is clear and easy to find.

When the content is polished, then you move into design. The website design phase of a rebrand is critical. If this is the first communications piece that is being developed after your new logo is created, you can use this design exploratory to set the tone and creative standard of all of your supporting materials to follow. I recommend exploring a range of design avenues during this phase to ensure that you are comfortable with the concept that you select. After design, you move into development, testing, optimization and launch. Make sure that you have planned for your website to be secure and responsive for all devices.

5. Secondary Corporate Materials:

Now that you have developed a foundational design system that compliments your new logo and positioning, you can apply that design consistently across your supporting materials. The corporate presentation is a good place to start. This is a foundational tool that is viewed by some of your most important audiences. This tool is always underestimated and typically under designed. Good content and design are crucial to your corporate presentation. They work together to provide the reader with an engaging experience, while leaving a memorable and lasting impression. You need to ensure that your presentation is professional, concise, and understandable. Your content and design should be as polished as your website and logo. From there, you apply that same brand system to any other core corporate communications including templates and marketing materials.

6. The Brand Book:

Now that your initial rebrand exploratory is complete, you develop a brand book. The brand book is a repository of branding elements that you need to maintain consistency across all of your marketing materials including social media. The book should be a simple guide for all design partners which consists of your brand vision, logo, templates, fonts, colors, specific imagery, icon styles, graphic elements and photographs. This will ensure that the foundational strategy you have built is applied to all materials moving forward, solidifying your brand identity within the market.

Taking the time to establish a quality brand identity will provide you with long-term benefits in the form of market recognition, professional perception and efficiency when developing communications. Having a good brand system will help to build confidence in your company’s services and offerings as well as establish a positive impression on your audiences.

Graphic created by: Autumn Von Plinsky