We continue to give you a rare behind-the-scenes look at our rebranding strategy to help you with your own rebranding journey, and it’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for!
Rebranding Through Brand Identity
This third article in our rebranding series (finally) focuses on the visual elements of branding including logo creation, colors, fonts, and typography.
We are focusing on our own rebrand to help you learn the how, what, and why behind branding so that you can create your own wow-worthy brand.
The first and second installments of our rebranding series covered our rebranding strategy and ideal client research including:
- The reasons behind our decision to rebrand
- Our brand purpose
- Our brand promise
- Our brand positioning
- The evolution of our ideal client avatar
Read on to learn about everyone’s favorite part of branding. Learn how to incorporate the previous branding steps to build your own successful and cohesive brand.
Colors, fonts, and logos – oh my!
The rebranding identity phase of the rebranding process is often the most exciting for our clients. We’ll cover our logo redesign, color palette and font selection… plus we’ll also give you a peek at the logo we almost chose but ditched last-minute.
Understanding what goes into a brand identity will hopefully spark some ideas and inspiration for your own branding journey.
What is Brand Identity?
Brand identity is the set of elements that helps us recognize, understand, and feel towards a brand. Each brand has its own personality and gives people something to remember.
When you think about McDonalds, everyone envisions the large golden arches. The arches convey a happy feeling with a no-frills dining experience, an easy-to-order menu, good value, and a fun play area for kids.
Your brand identity includes four elements:
- Business name: The name of your business is often the first touchpoint a consumer has with your brand. If you are the face of your brand, consider using your name. Otherwise, make the name memorable, simple, and catchy. (Pro tip: If your business name does not include your legal first and last name, you likely need to register for a DBA, “doing business as” or “fictitious business name,” with your county. Be sure to check with an attorney and/or your specific county regulations.)
- Logo: A logo demonstrates the essence of your brand and its personality. Make it memorable enough to be remembered and identifiable by your audience. Think about the Nike “swoosh” or Apple’s “apple.” Clean and simple logos are the most powerful, so please re-think using text, a tree with deep roots, floating butterflies, and twinkling stars in the same logo. Typographic text-only logos can also be impactful in their simplicity.
- Color palette: A brand’s color palette should be based on the psychology of color. Your palette should be used consistently across all marketing and communication materials. Your branding colors will often be remembered more than any other element. For example, the red and yellow colors of McDonalds are associated with a fun, energetic, and happy feeling while the green of Starbucks communicates natural and organic.
- Typography: Font selection should reflect a brand’s values and should be used consistently across all marketing materials.
Let’s take a look at each item in the evolution of our brand identity.
Business name: Client-specific to personable
Growing Therapists served us well but became limiting as our clientele grew to include coaches and other private practices. We wanted a name that underlines the personal attention we give to each and every client. So what better name than our founder and principal who personally nurtures each client’s growing practice?
Logo: Kitschy to growth-oriented
BEFORE: Our original logo emphasized our mentality of helping the helpers through a pictorial representation of the therapy couch and supportive hands. It had a fun, playful feel.
AFTER: Our new logo emphasizes our personalized three-pronged approach to growing the reach of your practice. Just like a tree needs air, water and energy to grow, we wanted a modern logo to represent the three growth stages of a successful practice.
Color palette: Bold to growth-oriented and warm
Our old website featured watery blues with bold red for all calls-to-action and section titles. We wanted our new site to represent our growth-oriented approach to helping private practices achieve steady and sustainable success. We chose greens and orange.
Typography: Bold to professional
Our original fonts were bold and impactful while our redesign shifts to a more organic and professional feel to better represent our brand. Likewise, our previous site featured minimal imagery while our redesign includes playful and organic imagery. We want to show that building a successful practice can be fun.
What Creates a Successful Brand?
Learn the five key steps that your brand needs to have in place to create a successful brand identity.
Coming Up Next
Stay tuned for an in-depth look at our website redesign so you can apply the same process to your own rebranding journey.
If you want a (re)branding or marketing strategy that will connect, get you noticed, and make your ideal clients choose you over your competitors, contact us today. We have helped hundreds of private practices just like yours fill their calendars with best-fit private pay clients with less effort.
Let’s grow your (re)brand and get you noticed.
