Your brand visuals should be a reflection of your brand messaging, and the types of experiences your ideal clients can expect when working with you. This means, when interacting with your visuals on your website and social media, your ideal client should feel connected to your brand, and walk away having a better understanding of your expertise and the value your business can add to their life.
...This also means that when your brand visuals lack purpose and come across as unprofessional, your ideal clients will feel turned off from your business and likely choose your competition instead.
So what are the tell tale signs of a brand that looks unprofessional, and how can you make sure this isn’t you?
1.) IT'S MESSY & DISORGANIZED
Brand visuals that feel inconsistent and messy are confusing, and portray a business that doesn’t really know what it wants or adds to its field: opt for a “less is more” approach to your visuals to keep things clean and professional.
Take the time to really get clear on what is and isn’t important to showcase to your ideal clients. For example, you may love images of florals and steaming cups of coffee, but do those images really reflect what your brand has to offer? Does it blend well with your overall message/value?
2.) INCONSISTENT COLOUR SCHEME
A big part of coming across as too busy is the use of too many colours. This is usually the result of a lack of strategy, and the temptation to create something on the spot depending on your mood. By doing this, you send a confusing message to your audience and make it much more difficult to build brand loyalty and memorability.
Instead, aim to choose 2 main brand colours and 2-3 accent colours to use throughout your visuals – you can always experiment with different shades/variations later down the line!
3.) EVER-CHANGING FONTS
On a similar note, too many fonts can be just as damaging. Fonts help to tell your brand story and communicate the bigger picture of your brand by evoking different emotions: Think about brands like Google and Coca-Cola, who can instantly be recognized by their fonts and colours despite no other visual elements!
Without a clear, strategic choice of fonts, you miss out on this resource and once again come off as careless. As a starting point, aim to select one serif, sans serif and script/decorative font to use within your brand.
4.) UNPROFESSIONAL IMAGERY
If the quality of your photos doesn’t align with the rest of your brand, it’s time to consider professional brand photography.
Whether you’re offering a product or a service, it’s important your ideal clients have visual proof of the quality of your work so they can feel more confident investing in your business – alternatively, images that feel irrelevant, poorly edited or designed…etc will reinforce any doubts your audience might have about your credibility and value.
Learn more about branding photography and product photography!
5.) YOUR "WHY'' IS UNCLEAR
Plain and simple: if your brand feels vague OR oversaturated with information, you are hurting your sales. It’s absolutely crucial that your ideal audience can clearly and easily understand what it is that you do, why you do it, and why this should matter to them.
Without this strategic communication and messaging, your audience will struggle to learn where to begin with your business and why it's worth their time and money to do so. If you feel like you’re personally still struggling to define your “Why” join us in this self-paced course and learn how to communicate your mission statement in a powerful one-liner!
Now that you understand the key characteristics of a brand that comes across as unprofessional, it's time to apply what you know to your own brand and biz. Ask yourself: what areas of my business most need improvement? How can I showcase my expertise more effectively through my brand?
Learn all about your steps to professional, high quality marketing here, or send us a message and let us work on a strategy together!
We hope this brings you one step closer to building your dream brand and achieving all the success you’re capable of! We cannot wait to see where you’re headed, friend!
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