What Comes First - the Brand Identity or the Website?

I’ve previously written about why having a brand identity is extremely important to the success of your business and how it includes so much more than “just a logo”. [Click here to read the full post] In summary, your brand identity is how you market yourself to your audience through design, social media, color palettes, packaging or any other avenue of messaging. It’s the characteristic of your business’ persona. Without knowing who your business is how can you accurately portray it to garner a relationship with your target audience?

With that in mind, let’s talk about creating a website for your business. In short, your website is your business’ dating profile. Your audience will be checking it out to see if they are interested in committing their time and money. (I would make a dating app reference here but, I’m going to be honest, I completely missed that train so I would just be embarrassing myself. Swiping left is good, right?)

When a prospective client reaches out to me asking for help designing their website or even just getting it up and running, my first question will always be: “Do you have a brand strategy or identity in place?” More often than not, they’ll respond with a head tilt. Personally, I do not provide web design services unless either myself or another designer has created a brand identity for the business in question. Why?

When creating your website it’s important to know who you are as a business, your values, and how you want to be perceived by those who come across your site - especially if they are new to your products and/or services. That is where having a concrete brand identity comes into play. Without an established brand identity, it’s hard to keep style and messaging consistent - not just on your website but across ALL of your marketing materials. Think of it this way: if your name or logo was not at the top of your website, how else would your audience know that they were on your site?

I challenge you to look at the websites of some of your favorite brands and cross reference them with their social media channels, and even their packaging. It feels like they are speaking directly to YOU in every instance, right? That’s the sweet spot you want to find yourself in. Cohesive branding across all channels.