Category: Branding

Branding, at its core, is about communicating your company’s identity in a concise and consistent manner. This all has to be done in a way that also makes a connection with your customers – current and potential. Lately, we’ve noticed a movement towards minimalism in branding as a whole. Here’s why this is a good thing.

Minimalism takes a pared-down approach. Designers get rid of all the unnecessary stuff, keeping only what’s important to the design and the brand. This leaves you simply with clean colors, straightforward graphics, and easy-to-understand content. It goes without saying that the simpler you make it for people to connect with your brand, the more likely that connection will happen.

In addition, simple designs, shapes, and colors make it easier for your brand to be remembered. When you strip away the fluff and leave only what you want to be remembered or what needs to be remembered, you have a brand and design that will stick with people.

Another underemphasized bonus to minimalism in branding is the ability to keep it consistent. Again, this comes back to the fact that you’re keeping only what’s important. The fewer elements there are to recreate and communicate, the easier it is to recognize your brand. And in an age where your branding and messaging needs to match across a broader array of outlets – print, television, social media, internet/website, and more – the easier you make it, the better.

Whether you’re starting your branding from scratch or in need of a brand overhaul, Asterisk Creative’s branding team has an answer for you. Give us a shout, and let’s take your brand to the next level!

Gone are the days when having a superior product or service is enough to be a success in your industry. More and more, consumers are choosing to do business with brands and companies that align with their values. A recent study showed that consumers are more likely to research the causes and culture of a company before buying. This is particularly true of Gen Z and Millennials. Businesses must clearly communicate the causes it is committed to, as a result. But how do you do that?

First of all, a socially conscious brand is authentic. The entire culture of the company reflects the cause or causes the brand is associated with. This isn’t a matter of choosing whatever social issue is popular that day and throwing money at it. This gets into a company being able to show internal policies and behaviors that support the issue, on top of the donations, volunteerism, etc behind it. Otherwise, the public will quickly be able to poke holes in the validity. In turn, the public will lose trust in the brand.

Companies that adopt this type of culture have to be prepared for the policies to be applauded AND criticized. Take, for example, Patagonia’s reaction to the announcement that the size of protected land in the U.S. would be significantly reduced. The company changed the homepage of its website to simply say, “The President Stole Your Land”. Given that Patagonia’s mission statement is “[w]e’re in business to save our home planet” and that they’ve long been known for sustainability and a commitment to earth- and land-related causes, this stance rang true for the brand, and many approved of the brand making such a bold statement. However, some felt the statement went over-political and crossed a line. Either way, it drove engagement in a way that was aligned with what the brand has been known for.

Similarly, to truly be seen as a supporter of a cause, a brand needs to be aware of events and times of year that are significant to the cause. Then they should build timely supportive content around that. If your brand’s cause is supporting the LGBTQIA+ community, you should be broadcasting your support during Pride month and posting your opposition to legislation against same-sex marriage. If your brand aligns with environmental conservation, Earth Day would be a significant event each year. You should also be speaking out against any environmentally-harmful legislation that comes up. No matter what causes your brand aligns with, missing the opportunity to speak out makes your “support” ring hollow to those whom your support means the most.

Make sure your brand isn’t missing the boat when it comes to its efforts on social issues. Contact Asterisk Creative, and let’s get your branding strategy on the right course.

We may be only a few months in to the year, but the top branding trends of 2019 are already starting to emerge. Here are a few of our favorites.

• Conversational marketing being ingrained as part of the brand.
  As technology evolves, applications such as social media and chat bots are also evolving. They’re becoming a bigger part of companies’ brands. People used to be forced to call a customer service line to get an answer to a question. They’re now using social media comments, Facebook Messenger, tweets, Instagram DMs, and email to get in touch. And they possibly get a faster answer or one that doesn’t require them to sit on hold for an eternity. Many companies have built brands known for their responsiveness to these “new” customer service outlets. That’s happening more and more!
• A company’s brand becoming more of a factor in where a customer makes a purchase.
  In many cases, a widget is a widget is a widget. With customers being faced with seemingly never-ending options online and offline for their purchases, they’re often looking to buy from companies whose stance on issues important to them align with their own. As a result, many companies are now publicly stating their policies in subtle and not-so-subtle ways via their social media, advertising, and public relations efforts. This, in turn, becomes part of their branding.
• Influencers as brand ambassadors making an impact.
  As social media continues to be a part of daily life for most, more and more purchases are impacted by what they see there. When a person is in the market for a particular product or service, seeing accounts they follow on social media endorse a specific vendor is making an increasingly profound impact on which vendor they ultimately decide to use for the purchase. So it comes as no surprise that the more popular or famous the account is, the more likely it is to influence purchases.
• Serif fonts making a return.
  For a long time, serif fonts were poo-poo’d because studies showed they didn’t translate well onscreen. They were deemed hard to read. As screen resolutions have gotten better and style trends have evolved into favoring larger type, though, the readability of serif fonts has improved. As such, this has made them viable for use in logos and branding overall.

Ready to bring your brand in line with the ever-progressing trends? Contact Asterisk Creative. We’re here to help!

At Asterisk Creative, we offer branding as one of our services. But what is branding?

Your brand is everything your business encompasses – the name, the image, the culture, the idea that comes to mind for clients and potential clients they think of your company. Basically, it’s everything that differentiates you from your competition and helps you retain your clients.

When we bring on a branding client, we’re used to starting from the ground up. As we say on our website, “we start every project by bringing together people from strategy, media, creative, technology, and public relations.” In order for your branding to work, all of these elements need to gel, to tell the same story or message.

How do you want your company to be known? Everything from your color scheme, your website design, and social media graphics to your print ads and business cards should speak to that tone. Taking phone calls? How you and your employees answer the phone is part of your brand. Sending emails? Your email signature speaks about your brand to recipients. Consistency is key, and using the same “voice” across all marketing and advertising tells your clients and potential clients how you’re going to help solve their problems. And that’s the element that persuades them to buy from you.

The Asterisk Creative team is here to help, not just in creating your brand but in producing the elements that will build it publicly. We offer website design, graphic design for marketing materials and advertising campaigns, public relations, and more! Ready to be on board? Give us a shout and let’s get started!