by Lexie Lu | Nov 21, 2016 | Branding, Business Tips, Social Media
These days, the word “branding” gets thrown around a lot. Everyone knows what it is: Branding is what makes Apple “Apple” instead of “shiny gadget producer,” “Starbucks” instead of “premium coffee seller” and “Nike” instead of “sturdy running shoes.” That being the case, how do you make it work for you?
To be specific, how do you make customers say “Oh yeah!” instead of just “Oh…” when they hear about your company? How do you create a brand that’s memorable, sustainable and true to your company’s values in an age where branding is harder than ever? How do you build something so powerful from the ground up when you’re still new to business?
Unfortunately, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer to those questions. The best branding strategies depend on a ton of factors: Who your target customers are, what those customers think about you, how comfortable you are with your company’s current image, etc.
Better grasp the answers to those questions when you follow the tips below.
- Write Your Brand Mantra: Keep in mind that your brand mantra is different from your mission statement. For example, Nike’s mission statement is “To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete,” while its mantra is “Authentic Athletic Performance.” You can think of a company mantra as a three- to five-word answer to these questions:
- Why does your company exist?
- What makes it different from similar companies?
- How can you make that mantra — and, by extension, your company — memorable?
In Nike’s case, their mission statement answers the first question. However, by adding the word “authentic” to their mantra, they also managed to differentiate from their competitors, which simply offer “athletic performance.” Also, the alliterative “As” make the mantra easy to remember, and a clever allusion to batteries (“AA”) as a source of energy.
- Be True to Your Mantra: Your mantra should trickle down to every aspect of your business. For example, if you have a shipping company and your selling point is speed, it should reflect not only in how fast you deliver the goods, but also in the way you handle customer concerns, the way you change according to the needs of your industry, etc.
- Have a Logo: Your company may have a mantra, but it’s not going to be the one that’ll stick in your customers’ minds. Rather, it’s the logo — which you’ll need to have STAT.
Why? Because people remember images better than words. If your company’s posts pop up on your target customer’s feeds, your logo/profile picture is going to be the first thing they’ll notice. Similar to your mantra, your logo is a deceptively simple element that should be conceptualized very carefully.
1stWebDesigner has a great post on how to design logos in 2016, but to sum it up:
- Remember the K.I.S.S. principle (Keep It Simple, Silly). If you can shrink a logo to the size of your fingertip, and people can still recognize it as yours, that’s a good sign.
- Make it different. Even though your logo should be simple, that doesn’t mean it has to be bland. For example, Coca-Cola has a logo completely made up of letters, yet its unique typography makes it stand out. Try to make your company logo simple enough to remember, but different enough to be unforgettable.
- Make it versatile. No matter what color scheme you apply to your logo — black, white, black-and-white — it should still look good. This comes in handy when you have to use your logos for championship matches, trade shows and other public events where you’ll have to make do with differently colored backgrounds.
- Give it a story to tell. Remember the FedEx logo? If you look closely at the space between the “E” and “x,” you’ll see an arrow pointing to the right. The same goes for these 40 companies with hidden messages in their logos, which obviously work as far as their customers are concerned.
Luckily, you don’t have to get a logo perfect the first time. Many large corporations change their logos every few decades or so. What’s important is for it to reflect your company’s values and how those values have changed over the years — hopefully for the better.
- Build Your Social Media Presence: Since people spend a great portion of their time on social media, it’s a great place to attract as many eyeballs as possible. Also, setting up a profile on sites like Facebook is incredibly easy and inexpensive, making it an efficient, cost-effective way to get in touch with your target demographic.
The only thing you need to worry about is getting drowned out by the social media noise. To avoid that, do one or more of the following:
- Make your posts pop with beautiful, relevant images.
- Cross-post across your social media channels.
- Repurpose old yet evergreen posts. For example, if you had a “How to Prepare an Awesome Thanksgiving Dinner” last 2015, you can promote it again, and make a few tweaks to keep the post updated.
Keep in mind that social media is a two-way communication tool. Don’t be afraid to engage your customers by responding to comments, sharing their positive posts about your company and promoting posts from related, non-competitor companies. Always add value to any conversation, whether online or offline, and it’ll be easier to attract loyal, paying customers.
- Build Your Target Demographic
Before you try to be “all things to everyone,” think about what your ideal buyer is like. Is it a young, hip person who has loads of cash to spare? Or is it a senior citizen who prefers to keep all the dollar bills close to their chest, so to speak?
Focus on grabbing a large chunk of your target buyers’ population first. This way, even if expanding to other markets doesn’t work as well as you want it to, you can count on your core market to keep your profits healthy.
Over to You
These tips may be simple, but it’s important not to skip them. Execute them in the best way you can, and if you ever need help or guidance, remember that Pink Studios is always here to help you with community management, editorial calendars, promoted posts and so much more. Contact us now and let’s elevate your business’ success today!
Lexie Lu is a designer and blogger. She actively contributes to the design world and usually has a cup of coffee in close proximity. She writes weekly on Design Roast and can be followed on Twitter @lexieludesigner.
by Marii | Apr 14, 2014 | Branding
It is world-known that we are no fans of rebranding “just because i’m tired of my logo and want a new look”. It’s part of my job to educate my clients on the consequences of these type of changes. However, there are a few instances where we do recommend a slight rebrand or even a full rebrand. Heck, we even had a rebrand!
In this case, we talk about Melissa Hearts Weddings. On 2013 we experienced how rough of a season it was for Melissa; after a blog partnership she decided to part ways and sadly… start all over! It was very tough but being the workaholic-multitasker-type a personality that she is; we didn’t want to waste any time and wanted to be up and running almost immediately. She came to us and yup, we made it happen.
At that moment, Melissa just wanted her blog up and running and that’s what we did. We made a quick logo to match the new blog and that’s how Melissa Hearts Weddings‘ was born!
Now, almost a year later and many succesful blog posts, she has decided to step it up!
Take a look at Melissa Hearts Weddings‘ new business cards and bookmarks (for her partnership with Jules Bennett on section Heart to Heart). Her blog and rest of branding material is coming soon! Stay tuned!
What do you think?
by marii | Sep 10, 2013 | Branding, Design, Pink Studios
If you’ve paid attention, you’d know we’ve been throwing some clues out there. On our latest article “Rebranding: The exception to the Rule”, we talked in detail about the reasons to rebrand, when to do
it, how it should be done, and more.
Since the launch of Pink Studios in 2009 – we’ve come a long way. The past year has been fantastic for us. We’ve had the pleasure of working with so many great clients, many new opportunities have come our way, numerous amounts of compliments and referrals from happy clients and we just could not be happier. When we first started with this crazy idea called Pink Studios, we never imagined the success we would have. We grabbed our MacBook, a notebook, drafted a quick logo and Pink Studios was born. At that moment, there wasn’t much thought put into what our logo would be, we just wanted something with pink on it and that was it. We didn’t do much brainstorming like we usually do. Our time was spent on getting work
done for our clients.
As time has passed, we’ve realized that we need to expand and become an option to other businesses and our logo and branding was a limitation. Without further ado, we are happy to unveil our newest logo design.
We would DIE to know what you think about it. Please comment below 🙂

Pink Studios logo
by marii | Sep 9, 2013 | Branding, Business Tips, Pink Studios
If you were to ask anyone my opinion about rebranding, they would all say that I am totally against it. Often, people think
that they can rebrand every couple of months or every time they get tired of their logo and colors. Wrong! Imagine if Coca-Cola changed their entire appearance and now they offered their drink on a green carton-box? Would you be able to find it? What if they also changed their recipe? You’ll have so many questions that you’ll feel overwhelmed and will hesitate in consuming it which will result in loss of business for them.
But, guess what? There is always an exception to any rule and with rebranding this is the case.
Before going any further, let’s just explain what rebranding is and the reasons why companies take this route.
What is rebranding?
Rebranding is a marketing strategy in which a new name, term, symbol, design, or combination thereof is created for an established brand with the intention of developing a new, differentiated identity in the minds of consumers, investors, and competitors. Often, this involves radical changes to a brand’s logo, name, image, marketing strategy, and advertising themes. [1]
Is rebranding a smart move for your business?
Business owners will often be tempted to fully rebrand, and while we are often opposed to it, there will be cases in which a rebranding – slight or full – is recommended. Before jumping into this, you should analyze the reasons as of why you want to rebrand. Are you tired of your brand colors? – If that’s the case we’re sorry. Brand colors should be carefully studied and analyzed before launching a brand. Those should not be changed every time you get tired of them. Refer to Coca-Cola example above.
Reasons to rebrand
Limitations
Your brand is not portraying the vision you need it to. As time passes, your taste will definitely change and the vision you want to portray to your clients might change as well. On these cases, a slight rebrand is recommended to – while keeping the basics of your brand in place, introduce a more modern, or classic or simple style.
Merging
Are you merging multiple companies? If that’s the case, then you probably need to rebrand in order to introduce these brands to the world.
Market Growth
There might come a point during your business’ lifetime where you’ll want to expand your niche. Your type of brand might appeal to a specific target audience, however if you need to expand that range a rebrand (slight or full) could be a good option for you. Let’s say for example that your business is called: “Annie’s Hair Supplies” and this business originally sold hair products & hair extensions. One day, you decide that you want to expand and sell a broad range of products within the beauty industry. How about massage chairs? Wax products? Nail supplies? With a name like “Annie’s Hair Supplies” people might not consider your business when looking for manicure or massage supplies. In this case, a rebrand is recommended.
Trademark
If your brand is too similar to another trademarked/copyrighted company, you might want to implement some changes in order to prevent legal battles.
If after great analyzing and brainstorming you feel like you need to rebrand, here’s a few steps to implement it successfully:
1. Strategy:
Have a strategy in place. Determine why are you doing this. Will it increase your business? Analyze the competition. What are they doing that you can learn from? What are some of them doing that you absolutely dislike? Make sure that this rebrand will absolutely portray who you are, how you want to be seen by others and the direction you are going.
2. Brand Summary:
Write a document describing who you are, what you offer, etc. This will help you stay focused on the new strategy and will also help you when talking to others about your brand.
3. Costs:
Keep in mind the costs involved in rebranding efforts. Make a list of all the items that will need to be edited to fit your new style and brand.
Remember, you will need to invest on a graphic designer and printing company to get your marketing materials in place.
Some of these items could be: logo, website, blog, social media, brochures, business cards, flyers, outdoor signs, email marketing, promo items, radio, tv, static clings, vehicle signs, invoices, proposals, email signatures…
3. Typography:
My love for typography is almost as big as my hate for ugly/over-used/non-legible fonts.
- If you like girly cursive fonts, that does not mean that your logo image should incorporate those.
- Go for a font that will always be legible.
- Avoid over-used fonts. Select a font that will make you stand from the crowd without looking like you are stealing someone’s identity.
4. Logo Variations:
While your logo should only be one, you can have different options to make sure its legible in all the different uses you might have for it. If your logo font is white, make sure to have a black version or a darker color version for when used on a light background color.
5. Colors:
While we tend to choose colors based on our likes and dislikes, colors have a psychological theory behind them. Make sure to select them carefully.
Once you are ready, let’s launch this baby! Make sure you have a consistent image throughout your media outlets – newspaper, magazine ads, website, social media, blog, printed material, etc.
Take a look at our most recent rebrand for New York-based event planner Melissa from Events by Missy.
Brochure & business cards: http://pinkstudios.net/portfolio/print-events-by-missy/

Left: old | Right: new
Famous brands who at some point have rebranded (sccuessfully or not): Gap, Tropicana, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Delta, and most recently: Yahoo!
[1] Rebranding
by Denice | Jun 26, 2013 | Branding
I may be a baker now, but I actually studied marketing and advertising so I know a thing or two about branding. In fact, I think branding is one of the first things you need to consider when you’re about to start and/or promote a business.
From the moment baking went from being my hobby to being my business I knew I wanted it to be and look as professional as possible. Once I had the name for my business I called Marii from Pink Studios so she could design a logo for me. I wanted something pretty but simple. She nailed it and let me tell you, pretty and simple has been our motto ever since.
I studied all the options she sent me and chose what has been our logo for the past three years. Now, here’s when branding became very important. I wanted my clients to be able to identify our business and
I wanted everything to be related. Since then, we’ve launched our website, made flyers, labels and business cards, and established a presence in social media. And every single one of those things has been made with a specific look and color scheme to match our logo and brand. And to my satisfaction, we get a lot of compliments for it.
I honestly believe that in order for your clients to recognize your business you need to be consistent. It doesn’t matter if it is a small business. You might think people don’t notice that kind of stuff, but they do. If you change your logo too often people won’t know what to look for and quite frankly, it doesn’t look professional. Yes, you can make a few slight changes every now and then to keep things fresh but always thinking about your brand as a whole.
Long story short, branding has been extremely important for my business almost, if not, as important as my products.
Your look speaks volumes about what
you have to offer. If you want people to take you and your business seriously, you need to look and be professional.
Take a second and stop by our website to check out all of our amazing branding by Pink Studios.
Güd Stuff by D
W
ebsite: www.gudstuffbyd.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/GudStuffbyD
Twitter: www.twitter.com/GudStuffbyD
Instagram: www.instagram.com/GudStuffbyD
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/GudStuffbyD
{Thank you Denice from Güd Stuff by D for such a great post! We are glad to have helped your business in such a fun and creative way! Your treats are delicious!}