Most business owners understand the importance of having a brand identity. With the help of professional graphic designers, they develop a logo and theme for creatives like brochures, letterhead, business cards, etc.
Unfortunately, often that creative process doesn’t consider how the internet is becoming more and more a part of consumers purchasing habits, and that solid offline branding foundation isn’t carried online.
Here are a few things you can do to ensure that your brand is consistent both on and offline.
1. Are your brand graphics web-friendly?
Make sure that you have color versions of your branding (logo, logo with tagline, etc.) that are sized appropriately for the web. Many social networking sites allow for online avatars: pictures that represent your profile, but they are often only 100 x 100 pixels.
2. Is your brand visible online?
Has your website been updated to reflect any changes made to your offline brand image? Do you have other online properties (blog, MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) that are used to represent your business online that need to be updated with your brand image?
As an aside, make sure that your online image is not outdated. Consumers are savvy when it comes to identifying a website that hasn’t updated its look in 5 years.
3. Are your advertisements branded?
If you do banner advertising, Adwords image advertising, or any other image style advertising, do those images reflect your current brand image?
By selecting a creative marketing agency that is also in touch with the needs of online advertising, you can ensure that your online and offline brand identity will be in-synch and in touch with your customers.