My interview with Gil Sandoval the Founder and Creative Director at Sandoval Design.
I know a lot of people struggle with choosing a brand for their business. If you are an individual that operates a service based business and at this point don’t see yourself ever adding employees or even if you do, What do you name your business? Do you use your name or do you have to think of a one word name with a limited number of syllables? Or maybe you have to think of something really catchy and clever to attract people? Or even using a trendy or bus word that might show up more in a Google search? All things that you might be wrestling with when trying to make this kind of decision.
“One of the biggest misunderstandings of a brand is that it’s just a logo. A logo is a logo. There are a lot of companies that have a name and a logo that don’t have brands. A brand encompasses everything that you do in your business… Your brand has to be rooted in intentionality”
“Step 1: Establish what is important to you
Step 2: Identify your target audience and find out what is important to them
Step 3: Marry the two”
In order to figure out and identify some of these elements there are several questions that you can ask yourself. Then WRITE DOWN THE ANSWERS. There is something significant about actually putting something down on paper. It forces you to conceptualize it with greater intention and you also are less likely to forget or pass over something important. Here are some the questions that Gil suggested asking:
You have to ask yourself why?
Why do you do what you do?
What got you into the industry that you are in?
What makes you different from your competition?
Who is your target market? Or Who is your ideal client?
Why should they choose you and your business?
Maybe at the end of this exercise you realize that who you are is the answer to a lot of these questions then maybe you should just use your name as your brand! Don’t let yourself think that using YOUR NAME as your brand is a LACK of creativity! If YOU are the reason that your business will stand out and people will choose to work with you, be proud of that and OWN IT!
“Go with your gut and don’t look back! Your brand is really what you make of it”
In the end I think the most important conclusions I got from our discussion is that ultimately it’s not your name or your logo that defines your brand! Its what you make of your business! It has more to do with your values and how you are perceived by your clients that will define your brand!