Over the years I’ve spoken to many of you, and have heard about your struggles as you build a brand for your business.

Brand marketing or brand design: which one is more difficult?

As you know, I believe a successful brand happens when you combine strategic marketing and great design. Most of the struggles I see fall into one of these categories.

Marketing issues:

• You struggle to find a good name or tagline for your business.
• You aren’t sure how to talk about what you offer.
• You don’t understand who your ideal customer is.
• You can’t put your finger on what makes your business unique.

Design issues:

• You can’t figure out which colors would work best for your business.
• You have no idea how to choose fonts that communicate your brand.
• You find it difficult to make your marketing materials look polished.
• You work with a designer, but aren’t getting what you need from them.

Is your brand message working for you?

Your challenges at the beginning of the branding process are very different from those you may have 2, 5, and 10 years after you’ve been in business.

For example, at the beginning of the branding process, you may still be trying to figure out exactly who you serve. Identifying your ideal customer is crucial to building a successful brand, but how can you do that when your business is just coming into existence?

And then there’s the naming process. It’s difficult to find a name that will work today, tomorrow, and ten years from now, especially at the very beginning. And sometimes we outgrow our business names: we change direction, and our current name no longer reflects what we offer.

Is your brand design working for you?

Your marketing may be on track, but if the design elements that represent your visual brand aren’t in alignment with your marketing messages, your brand won’t resonate.

The two elements most people try to line up first are their colors and their fonts.

Sometimes these happen as the result of a logo design. The logo uses specific fonts and colors, and these become the brand colors.

But not all businesses start out with a logo. You don’t absolutely have to have a logo at first, and sometimes it’s better to tackle this after you’ve been in business for a while anyway.

You do, however, need to choose fonts and colors. These are basic building blocks for your visual brand. But they’re tough to choose. With millions of colors to choose from, and thousands of available fonts, many small business just opt for standard fonts and the first color scheme that comes to mind.

Over to you: what’s your story?

So, what brings you here? What is it about building a brand that’s challenging for you?

Let me know in the comments. I might be able to help you with whatever you’re finding challenging right now. And members of the Big Brand System community may chime in with resources, too.

Go ahead and cruise on down to the comment section and let me know what’s baffling you right now. See you there?