Store Branding

Developing your brand is key in winning and maintaining repeat customers. It’s how a customer can see an Instagram post or logo and instantly recognize that it’s your store. Keep scrolling for 5 simple ways to start and grow your online shop’s brand.

1. What even is branding?

Whether you notice it or not, the products you buy all have a unique brand. The paper towels, bread and even your basic white socks all were created by branding or marketing professionals who planned every aspect of the products they launched.

To dive a little deeper, branding includes a person’s viewpoint of a service, company, products, etc. Brands change. Brands are tarnished or admired. Creating a unique, defined brand will mean your customers trust your company and will want to purchase your products. This is called brand loyalty.

Think long and hard about what you want to communicate to customers. Because your brand is carried through your store name, logo, product photography and copywriting, settling on a defined brand early on will make your future business decisions easier.

2. Build your online shop

Before you create a brand image and story, you’ll need a store itself. Since we’re covering the web world only, we’re talking about your website. The basic components of a retail site are: a homepage or landing page, product pages complete with product photography and descriptions, an about page to share your story and mission, and of course a secure way to accept multiple forms of payment and purchase products. We recommend easy-to-use, clean sites that come with e-commerce add-ons, like Shopify and Squarespace.

3. Seek inspiration

As you decide how you want your brand to feel and read to customers, look around at brands you love. Anthropologie, IKEA, Apple, Nike, Nordstrom, Thinx and kate spade are perfect example of companies with strong, identifiable and beloved brands.

Analyze what you like about those well-known brands. You may how descriptive and helpful Anthropologie’s product copy is. You may instantly trust kate spade as an entire brand after reading their mission statement. You may love how millennial-focused the copywriting and imagery is on throughout the Thinx website. Drawing inspiration from your favorite brands will help you create your store’s vision.  

3. Give it a name

Naming your business is so important. It’s the first thing customers see. It’s how they tell their friends about you. Oh, and it’s incredibly difficult! Take the time to research when choosing a name. When you come up with a name, look for it on Google and trademark search Trademarkia. If a store name is already taken, you’ll lose out on SEO value, have a weaker brand image and possibly even get yourself tangled up in a lawsuit. And once you’ve landed on that awesome name? Register a trademark so that name is legally yours!

Along with a great name that isn’t yet taken, you’ll want to create a logo. Like product photography and copywriting on your website, we highly recommend hiring a professional graphic designer or illustrator to make your logo. You’ll need a high-resolution image that can be used in different places — think on your website, Instagram, Facebook, print and more — and you’ll want it to fit into your brand. Ask your graphic designer to create a logo mock-up. After you’ve chosen your favorite logo, have them create your logo with different colors, sizes, etc. so that you’ll be able to use your logo everywhere, hassle-free.

What’s the name of your business? Do you have a website built yet? Start the chatter below!