Branding on a Budget: For Lifestyle Bloggers & New Businesses

Have you ever thought about starting a blog or business online?

Have you ever made yourself a vision board?

Whether you want to start a lifestyle blogger page via your Instagram, a YouTube channel, or a business doing something virtually; you need branding.

What is branding?

“A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition.” - Courtesy of Wikipedia

Branding isn’t just your logo, it is everything that creates the “vibe” for your business.

I have elaborated on what branding is on my business blog here if you’d like to read more in-depth.

OK, so you’re ready to dive in. Let’s do this.

Step one: 

Outline your ideal client avatar

This is as simple as jotting down all the attributes the person has that you believe would get the most out of your service.

• What’s her name? 

• How old is she?

• Where does she live?

• What does she value most?

• What does she do for a living?

• What does she do as a hobby?

• What’s her income range?

These attributes aren’t narrowing down and eliminating those that don’t match perfectly, they are just giving you a better picture of who your PERFECT avatar would be. The girl that would 100% purchase whatever you’re selling without hesitation.

Create a character, make her feel *real*.

Create two or three if you’re feeling wild ;)

Step two:

Write out your mission, vision, and values statements.

I know, this is getting to be a lot of work, but trust me, you’ll be glad you did it.

Whether you’re running a business or writing a lifestyle blog, you have a vision, you have values, and you have a mission. Getting clear on what those are BEFORE you dive into the branding will save you a lot of time (& maybe money) in the long run.

If you get stuck here, jot down keywords, check Pinterest for guides, and see what other big-name brands wrote. You’re sure to find inspiration!

Step Three:

Okay… it’s time for some fun. Head to Pinterest! 

This is where your experience making vision boards comes in. Pinterest is legit like a digital vision board… on steroids. You can find so much inspiration here. You can also use (royalty free) images on sites like Unsplash, Pexels, Pixabay, etc.

When I send my clients to Pinterest, I tell them to “go wild”. Pin literally ANYTHING that inspires you. I’m talking about photography, textures, fonts, other logos, colors, quotes, clothing, etc. Anything goes. The more you pin, the better, in my opinion! 

Now you should grab a handful of your inspo (more than 5, less than 25), and head to your chosen design software. This can be done on Canva, Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, or Affinity. Whatever you’re comfortable with.

Layer and collage like you did with the fashion magazines in middle school!

Step Four:

When you’re satisfied with the “vibe”, head over to Coolors.co and upload the mood board. You can let it choose random colors, or you can pick which colors you want it to pull. Then, adjust your hues as you wish, and save your new color palette! I recommend 5 colors, with the addition of black and white on top of those. These can be 5 completely different colors or just different shades of the same color

Step Five:

Now, the easiest branding for the “non-designer” is a text-based logo. If you are a lifestyle blogger, this is absolutely suitable for getting started. A good place to find fonts is from Creative Market. This is a nice way to get a more custom font, and support a creator! Just be sure to check the licensing terms of the font you choose. You can also find brand collateral here, such as social media templates, patterns, icons, etc. 

Anyways, back to that logo! Take everything you’ve gathered and put it together in your chosen design software.

Depending on your goal (blogger vs business), this may be a stage where you choose to employ a designer for a quick edit--it’s important to have the correct files for logos to meet different needs (such as print). 

If you are using Adobe Illustrator, you’re in the clear--export as a PNG, JPG, PDF, and SVG. Make sure the PNG has a transparent background! It’s also important to “outline” your text.

Finally...

To really round out the branding, I would choose a secondary font that can be used as body text (the simpler the better!) and then create a style guide to follow!

Ok, you have colors… you have a logo. Cool. The big thing to remember about branding is that it is about CONSISTENCY. You will become recognizable by more than just your logo if you utilizing your branding correctly. Use the same colors for everything, on your website, on your Instagram stories, etc. Use the same fonts in everything. Think about your client avatar in all the content you create. Review your M,V,V regularly and update them as your business/blog grows and pivots.

And remember, as you grow, pivoting is normal. And rebranding is even more normal. When you get to the stage where you feel “stuck”... please think about investing in professional branding. I’d be happy to help you grow.