Branding Basics: A Solopreneur’s Must-Dos Before Web Design

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Picture this: you just invested in a shiny new Squarespace plan (domain and all), chose a few brand colours you love, and are eager to get your website off the ground.

But halfway through your website design, something starts to feel off. 

Those colours and fonts you loved suddenly don’t seem right, but you aren’t sure what’s wrong, and your design looks a little like everyone else’s. You power through – after all, you’re a solopreneur who needed a website yesterday – and launch. But the clients trickling in aren’t the dream clientele you envisioned. 

What’s missing? 

Here’s some advice straight from my designer toolkit: You’re missing a deep-rooted brand identity that mirrors your story and connects with your audience. Before you dive head first into designing a website, we need to take a step back and plant the seeds with some branding basics.

Let’s Break It Down: What Is Branding?

Think of branding as the roots of your business – not the colourful petals. It’s the foundation of everything you do and grow into. 

Sure, your brand identity includes visual elements like your logo, colour palette, and typography, but they aren’t chosen on a whim. Strong branding goes deeper and sprouts from your business’s values, mission, and distinct story.

Why Is Branding Important For Solopreneurs?

As a solopreneur, you’re tending to every part of your business from client relationships to admin tasks. It can feel like you’re watering every plant by hand in a vast garden – both rewarding and overwhelmingly demanding. 

But those daily tasks become easier when you have a brand with strong basics. Here’s how:

• Simplifies decision-making because your brand intertwines your visuals, services, and messaging with your personal stories and values.  

• Nurtures relationships by communicating your purpose through your visual identity and fostering kinship between your business and your audience. 

• Finds and claims your distinct spot in your bustling industry by making your business easily recognizable and trusted. 

• Makes marketing feel less like a chore and more like excitedly sharing your vision with a community. 

• Opens up new paths and opportunities with like-minded partners who instantly understand what your business is all about.

What Branding Basics Do Solopreneurs Need To Know Before Designing Their Website?

So, what’s the lowdown on branding for solopreneurs? Let’s break down basic branding terms you should know before you start designing your website and I’ll give you a sneak peek at what’s included in my Mini Brand Sprint designed specifically for solopreneurs and new business owners! 

1. Brand Identity
   Brand identity is the face of your business – your logo, colours, fonts, and patterns – that makes you recognizable. These are rooted in your brand’s values and heart. 
   
   Mini Brand Sprint Includes: A basic but custom brand identity. 
   
   

2. Brand Concept
   Your brand concept is the big, overarching idea behind your brand. Sometimes this can be a fun theme (like garden plants) but essentially, it’s the unifying idea that distinguishes your business from others. 
   
   Mini Brand Sprint Includes: One strategic concept carried across your entire brand identity. 
   
   

3. Mood Board
   A collection of visual inspiration like images, text, and objects that capture the essence of your brand. It’s used to help inform and guide the development of your brand identity. 
   
   Mini Brand Sprint Includes: Combining your inspiration with research to create a custom mood board. 
   
   

4. Brand Personality
   Brand personality is the human traits applied to your brand identity (colours, typography, tone of voice) to guide you when interacting with your audience.
   
   Mini Brand Sprint Includes: A selection of 6-8 personality traits. 
   
   

5. Creative Direction
   Creative direction is the vision that guides how your brand looks and feels to ensure everything from social media to your website to your merch is cohesive and true to your brand’s vibe. 
   
   Mini Brand Sprint Includes: A creative direction that combines your mood board and personality.
   
   

6. Colour Palette
   Your colour palette is the set of colours, typically 3-8, to use across your brand and marketing. These are chosen based on your business, audience, accessibility, and colour psychology.
   
   Mini Brand Sprint Includes: A primary, secondary, and neutral colour selection. 
   
   

7. Typography
   Typography refers to the different fonts, typically 1-3, you use in your brand and marketing. These vary in styles, weights, and spacing for readability and brand vibe. 
   
   Mini Brand Sprint Includes: Free font pairings.
   
   

8. Brand Logo 

   There are two common types of logos: combination and wordmark. A combination logo is a unique design that includes both text and imagery to represent your business. A wordmark logo is type-based and uses fonts and colours to reinforce the memorability of your brand. 
   
   Mini Brand Sprint Includes: A wordmark logo. 
   
   

9. Brand Guidelines
   Brand guidelines are the rulebook for how your brand should look, feel, and communicate. These can be comprehensive, covering everything from mission statements to competitor research, or more straightforward, focusing on key elements like your fonts and colours.
   
   Mini Brand Sprint Includes: A brand style sheet for easy reference of your main brand elements.
   
   

Where Do You Use Your Branding?

Look, there are the obvious places your branding shows up. Places like your website, social media (like this!), and business cards. 

But those aren’t the only spots where your branding comes into play.

Consider all the ways people see, interact with, and experience your business. Merchandise you create for clients or staff, internal documents, advertisements, presentations and pitches, brochures…even postcards! All these places are opportunities for your brand to bloom.

Doesn’t Branding (Even The Basics) Cost A Lot?

Just because branding is important for growing a sustainable and enjoyable business, doesn’t mean you need to go all in on a 5-figure branding package in your first year of business.

For many solopreneurs that’s not only *not* in the budget but it often doesn’t make sense if you’re still developing your understanding of your business, audience, and services. 

Yet at the same time, you have enough on your plate. Do you really want to spend every free minute of your weekends trying to learn colour psychology and DIYing your brand from scratch?

Probably not.

There is a middle ground in design packages. You can have a strong and professional brand – that isn’t copied and pasted from other businesses – without shelling out 6 months of income. 

This is exactly what I create in Solopreneur Sprints.

With a Mini Brand Sprint, you get the foundations of a custom brand identity that not only serves you now but also allows you to build on it later as your business grows. You’ll have everything you need as a solopreneur to design a simple website, market your business, and create promo materials without the 5-figure price tag.

Ready to nail down your branding basics? Then fill out my contact form and let’s book your Discovery Call to get started!