As a business owner, having a strong brand identity is important. From communicating the inspiration behind your business to your style and expertise, your brand is something to be shown off! And, because we love a good brand like a good glass of wine, we sat down with Courtney of Invision Events to talk about all of the ways their team has infused their brand into, well everything! Read on for tips about how to make a great first impression with branded welcome packets, how to pull your brand into your sales process as well as her thoughts on how to build a robust (and branded) client experience!
Why Having a Strong Brand is Important
Our brand has grown and evolved over time - as I hope all brands do. I am extremely proud of where we are today. The inspiration behind our branding speaks directly to our design aesthetic for our events: clean, classic, refined. I’m proud that we have reached a point in our business that we don’t have to be unnecessarily bold to catch attention. I am a firm believer that understated always makes a stronger statement, anyways. We are confident in who we are, who our clients are and what our core style is. Having a strong brand identity is important because it allows you to communicate to your clients and the industry at large in both an effortless and effective manner.
How to Bring Your Brand Into Your Sales Process
Most of our branding in our sales process is through our website. Our site is painstakingly curated to put forth the best representation of what it is we do at our core: design and produce classic and refined events. Clients who are finding us through a non-referral avenue always state that our website is what drew them in. We ensure that our brand is repeated in our emails and any communication including our proposals and contracts. It’s important to give these details of your business the attention they deserve. Hitting the ground running with a great first impression and then building upon that with cohesive pieces of marketing continue to enhance the experience for the client, and ultimately, your perceived value.
How to Brand Your Client Experience
First, we want our clients to know that they are working with a team and we introduce them to the team that will be making their day a success. As much as a brand is a visual representation of your business, there are real people behind that brand. And our clients aren’t just another bride on our calendar. They are a part of our lives as much as we are a part of theirs. Upon booking, we send out welcome packages that include items that are branded specifically for our business but also things that are strictly gift items, but that still speak to our brand and are intentional and thoughtful and appreciated by our clients. Throughout the planning process, we love when our clients have our brand reinforced to them. What seems like small things is truly just building that trust in our brand and process. Anything from branded stationery and client notebooks to the online client portal on our website to their Aisle Planner account - it all lays that groundwork.
How to Brand Your Process
Continuing with the concept that your brand speaks to your client and that presenting it cohesively throughout the experience is what can help to differentiate you, we leave no stone unturned. Whether it is a budget sign-off, insurance release form or a hair and make-up schedule, every document from us includes our custom font, color schematic and logo. We also have branded aprons and t-shirts for wedding day execution as well as bags for our staff to tote their emergency kits around in. Truly, the opportunities for a well thought out brand are endless, you just have to take the time to develop them. And in a creative business, it pays to dig deep into your own business, brand and processes in just the same way you push yourself for your own clients.
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