5 Steps to Creating Your Personal Brand from Scratch
In this post you’ll find tips and resources on:
How to create your brand’s color palette from scratch.
Where to download fonts’ combination for your brand.
Where to get your logo done under 50$.
What to consider to choose your business name.
How to define your unique selling proposition.
Do you feel that your marketing material isn’t matching your vision or style?
I see very often, practitioners jump into creating their pamphlets, their website, or their social media, without having a long term vision for their brand.
The first step to taking any marketing actions is to create your brand’s foundations so you have solid pillars to grow your business and attract your ideal clients.
Step 1: Define your brand’s color palette
I believe that colors are very important in a business identity, and therefore, colors should be used consistently throughout the business website, social media, newsletter, and print material.
The way I choose a set of colors is intuitive, I will first create a "mood board" with pictures that match the vision of the concept, and then on a Pantone guide, I will pick a few colors that resonates with the mood board.
I sometimes use the palette generator Coolors which generates a palette from a photo or a keyword.
Don't know what to choose? Canva created 20 different color palettes for you, check out Build Your Brand: 20 Unique and Memorable Color Palettes to Inspire You.
THESE ARE THE 8 COLORS OF MY PERSONAL BRAND:
Ideally, by just seeing your visual communication, your audience should recognize you. Think of Tiffany’s!
☞ Want to check what colors your competitor is using on his/her website? I use the Chrome extension Eye Dropper.
Step 2: Define your brand’s fonts
I use 3 major types of fonts on the website. For my social media.
Whatever I design for my brand, I try to keep the same fonts so the marketing looks consistent and clean.
☞ You can browse and download free fonts from the site FontSquirrel.
☞ Want to spy on a website and know which fonts are used? I love this Chrome extension: WhatFont.
☞ Creative market (affiliate link) has beautiful font combinations that you can download and use right away. Search for “font duo”.
Step 3: Define your business name
Do you want your name to be your brand’s name, or make a new name from scratch?
The advantage of using your own name is that there is very little chance that someone else will have the same exact name.
If you plan to create a name using key words such as "Lumiere Day Spa" or "Green Leaf Bodywork", make sure that it has not been registered already, at the United States Patent and Trademark Office's website (if you are considering the US market).
Side note: I first had first chosen “Wellnesspreneur” for my business name. Although I did check for Wellnesspreneur and it was not registered, the USPTO replied that it was too similar to Wellpreneur- which was already trademarked. There was a time to appeal, but I didn’t bother as after a year, I had already outgrown that name, and was ready to be on the forefront of my own business. As a result, in 2019, I changed my business name to Maika Endo.
If you don't want to deal with all this, I suggest you to choose your own name, especially if you’re a solopreneur.
Step 4: Design your logo
You don't have to have a logo, but it is something nice to have!
If you are using your personal name, it is quite trendy to use handwriting style.
You can also have your logo designed with a symbol or an icon. For example, Thai spas love to use the bodhisattva, a tree, or a leaf.
For the logo design, I thought that the free logo maker Tailor brand was a good start to play with the idea and have a feel of what I needed, then I worked with a graphic designer for 40$ on fiverr.com (Get 20% off your first order with my affiliate link). After one year in business, I decided to invest in a brand strategist and designer to do a complete upgrade of my logo and marketing collaterals.
Step 5: Define your brand’s USP
Your Unique Selling Proposition is the answer to:
What is it that you do, that is different from your competition?
What is it that attracted your clients to you?
This part to me is the one step that takes most time.
There is something unique about you, and what you offer, and it is hard to be objective when looking at ourselves, and pinpoint these intangible ideas.
I suggest to either survey your clients, or if you are just starting out, ask a friend or colleague, how do you come off from the other side?
USP can be displayed in all marketing material without reservations. You can consider it as your "indoctrination" motto!
“Employ it, deploy it”
CONCLUSION
So here you are! You now have all the tools you need to create your personal brand from scratch! You can;
Create your color palette with free digital tools such as Coolers.
You know where to get free fonts online.
Where to get your logo done for free and low cost.
How to choose your business name and what to consider.
How to define your unique selling proposition so you can start marketing your brand!
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