How to Tell Companies Apart
Defining Your Brand
Before the world can know your brand, you need to know it. You should be able to answer these questions:
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- Does your company fill a need? If so, how?
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- What products or services do you offer?
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- How do you want your audience to perceive your company?
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- What is your company’s vision? What does it value?
- Why are you in business?
Branding: What to Know
When it comes to creating or maintaining your brand, there are a few things to keep in mind.
Everything you do affects your brand
Make sure your messaging is consistent



Any variation—such as a different shade of green in your logo—no matter how slight, can be confusing for your customers. Foster familiarity to help your audience perceive your company for the aspects important to you.
Your logo is not your brand
Your logo is not your brand, but it’s a vital part of it. A brand is the feeling your audience has about your products, services and company. It differentiates you from like-companies and explains your company’s values and mission.
Your brand may need to change
A company may need to change its brand, logo or both due to acquisitions, mergers, and time. For instance, Office Depot had acquired rival OfficeMax. So when Office Depot and OfficeMax merged, the company combined logos and websites instead of creating a new identity.
Branding Offerings
Here is a comprehensive list of some of the services we offer at Paragraphs.
Brand Guidelines
Design
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Logo, including recommended sizes; spacing; adaptations; examples of incorrect usage
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Color palettes: Corporate (main colors) and extended (complementary)
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Typography: Corporate and extended
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Photography: Rules for product shots, acceptable/unacceptable modifications and stock photo use
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Illustrations, acceptable/ unacceptable style rules
Messaging
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Tagline/slogan
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Print collateral: Rules for Corporate, franchises and products
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Advertising: Logo/wordmark treatment and advertising for corporate, franchises and products
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Trade show booth, exhibit or display designs
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Promotional items: Wordmark treatment and acceptable giveaway items
Brand Platforms
Corporate Identity/Logos
What visual best represents your brand? Some companies choose to use a wordmark (logotype) for their visuals. Recognizable examples are Google, Sony, CNN and 3M. Others opt for an image—Nike’s famous swoosh, McDonald’s Golden arches and Starbuck’s siren—that accompanies their name. As the brand becomes more recognizable, visuals often stand as company’s sole representation.
Launch Programs
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Make sure your product or service fulfills a need: Does it fill a niche or create efficacy? If not, you may doom the launch from the start.
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Reiterate the benefits and effects this product or service will have. How will it impact the user?
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Get people excited. Give enough information to stir hype, but not enough to flat line your launch before it gets a chance to live.
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Host an event to get individuals involved. It doesn’t have to be extravagant, but a launch event can set the moment for the new product or service.
Naming
What’s in a name? A whole identity! For the same reasons parents scour through baby naming books, companies take their time in thinking up the ideal name. What name best represents what this company is—or what we want it to be?
Who is your company?
It’s a question that companies define each day through messaging, new products, acquisitions and more. A company’s brand tells customers who they are, what they aim to achieve and how. And when customers are on-board with your brand, they trust you and they believe you will do what you say you will do. They’ll go back to use your services every time.
For all forms of brand consultation, B2B marketing strategies or general business advice, say hello to Paragraphs today.
312.828.0200 | hello@paragraphs.com