We all enjoy a good meme poking fun at embarrassing mistakes online.

But, it’s far less funny when your product or package is the butt of those jokes.

Poor packaging leads to worse things than a bruised ego – it leads to lost sales and revenue. And, it’s no mystery why.

People’s brains are measurably impacted by viewing product packaging. Attractive packaging often stimulates the reward centers of the brain, but poor packaging design activates areas of the brain associated with negative emotions.

Here’s why you should care: people aren’t inclined to buy things that they feel badly about.

Packaging design is a vital bridge between your customers and your product. Customers will see and touch your packaging before they ever interact with…

If you build it, they will come, right?

Not exactly.

Wanting a customer isn’t enough. You must plan, strategize, and entice your prospective customers to want the products or services your business offers.

Here are some common questions we hear when we talk with new entrepreneurs and small business owners:

• My business is brand new — where can I find customers?
• How do startups find customers?
• Hod you find the first 100 customers?
• What type of online presence will help people find my business?
• How can I get people to review my products?

You have put in the legwork — we are here to help!

Whether you need 5, 100, or 1,000 customers … it can be challenging.

Here’s how to land and keep the first customers for your new startup or small b…

Small businesses account for 99.9% of all businesses in the U.S., according to the U.S. Small Business Administration.

So, if you’re thinking about starting a new business, you’ll be in good company.

But, did you know that 30% of new businesses fail during their first two years?

Nearly half fail during the first five years and only a third survive 10 years.

Whether a new business succeeds or fails can boil down to luck.

But as General Douglas MacArthur famously said, “The best of all is the luck you make for yourself.”

It helps to have a competitive advantage when you start a business.

Most new businesses fail because they don’t properly assess the market, don’t prepare a strong business plan, don’t invest enough money in the business,…

Ghost kitchen, virtual restaurant, cloud kitchen…

Whatever you’re calling your venture, you’re a part of a new food business experiment.

Ghost or cloud kitchens (also known as virtual restaurants or virtual kitchens), are an evolution of the traditional restaurant model. These spaces focus solely on food preparation (and sometimes delivery) and have no on-premises dining facilities.

The rise of third-party delivery services like DoorDash, Grubhub, and UberEats has facilitated the public’s desire for tasty food delivered right to their door.

And, a new breed of a delivery-only restaurant has evolved to be their symbiotic counterpart.

Together, these cloud restaurants and delivery services are taking the dining world by storm.

Whether…

You’ve probably heard by now that consistent branding is important.

Everyone says so – it’s one of those common business truisms that, for many, goes in one ear and out the other.

But, you can’t afford to let this wisdom fall on deaf ears. It’s too valuable.

Because… Consistent. Branding. Is. Vital.

Your company’s logo design, your business website, your mobile app, your store signage, your marketing and customer support messaging… they must all be instantly recognizable as your brand.

There are multiple reasons why consistent branding is so powerful – and inconsistent branding is so harmful. So, let’s take a deeper look at the whys and hows of branding consistency.

What is brand consistency?

Brand consistency occurs when a business presents the same visual face, values, personality, and brand messaging across every customer touchpoint.

This can be challenging to accomplish if you don’t fully understand your own brand. And, that’s why getting to know – really know – your brand is the first step in any brand consistency effort.

Why is brand consistency so important?

The goal of any brand is to provide a recognizable, positive brand identity people will remember.

Without a consistent brand presentation, you cannot achieve that goal.

Here’s why …

Consistent branding improves brand recognition.

A phenomenon known as context-dependent memory states that people remember information best when they are in the original context in which they encountered that information. However, brand messages usually occur in a wide variety of places (online ads, business cards, outdoor signage, product packaging, emails, etc…).

This means that your brand messages often lack the necessary context that would make it easiest for people to remember them.

So, consistent presentation becomes necessary to bridge the gap and reinforce your brand recognition.

This is especially true for new and younger businesses. As we emphasized in our guide on how to start a business,

A strong brand identity is the most effective way your new business can gain a competitive edge in an increasingly crowded marketplace.

Consistent branding communicates to the world that you know who you are.

Brands that can’t settle on a consistent presentation or voice project their confusion to the world, This undermines people’s confidence in their company.

Consistent brands build confidence by showing that your business can reliably manage its affairs.

Consistent branding shows that you stand behind, and live, the identity that you’ve shared with the world.

People trust businesses that practice what they preach.

If your brand consistently delivers on promises, presents itself in the same way, and acts in accordance with the identity it presents, it proves the authenticity of your brand.

People value and trust authentic interactions.

Consistent branding builds customer relationships.

Like any relationship in life, it takes time to build strong relationships with your customers.

Consistent branding allows your business to be perceived as the same business they met the last time they heard from you. After enough consistent exposures to a brand, customers begin to feel as though they know you – and the relationship begins to grow.

As we explained previously,

The more customers are exposed to something – a product, a service, or your brand – the more inclined they are to like it.

This is a psychological phenomenon known as “mere exposure.”

So, the science indicates that the more frequently customers… 1) interact with your brand, and 2) recognize it due to consistent presentation, the stronger your brand/customer relationship will grow.

How do you build brand consistency?

It’s impossible to faithfully repeat something if you don’t know what you did in the first place.

And, that’s the challenge so many businesses encounter when they try to present a consistent brand.

If you haven’t given any deep thought to your brand – your values, your inherent and projected brand personality, your unique selling proposition, and how those elements will manifest visually – then you simply cannot expect to achieve a consistent brand presentation.

If you don’t really know your brand, yet, how could anyone else?

So, start by self-reflecting. Determine the values that drive your business and the traits that define it and make it unique.

Then work with talented designers (ahem – maybe the amazing team of talent at crowdspring?) to develop a visual design that embodies that brand. This will be the foundation for all of the visual elements that customers and potential customers will associate with your brand.

If you already have a logo and visual branding elements, conduct an inventory. Ask yourself if these elements properly represent your brand. If not, it may be time for a logo refresh or a complete visual rebranding.

If you’re not sure if a rebrand is appropriate for your business, check out this article on how to rebrand your business.

Create a style guide.

Image courtesy of Shakeupid

A style guide is the one source of truth for your visual brand. This document outlines a set of rules to follow any time a member of your organization wants to publish, present or promote content for your brand.

As we previously explained,

If your brand isn’t captured in a style guide, it can quickly drift into an inconsistent experience for your customers and employees.

And, as you know – inconsistent equals bad.

But, a comprehensive style guide will provide all of the information needed for an employee to accurately create consistently branded content:

This includes visual info such as fonts, brand colors, logo, signage specifications, typography style, and any other commonly used branded graphic elements. It should also cover less tangible items like ideal voice and tone, your branding mission and company philosophy.

So, once you’ve clearly defined your brand and developed visuals to support it, make them official in a style guide you can share with every member of your team.

Give brand messaging time to work.

As we mentioned earlier, relationships of any kind take time to build.

And, it’s estimated that it takes between 5 and 11 interactions (depending on the source) before a customer is ready to make a purchase.

So, when executing any branding strategy, plan to give it enough time to really sink into the public consciousness.

Your business name and logo should remain the same for as long as possible. And, if changes are made, they should be clearly related to the originals to maintain your valuable brand equity.

Your brand position may change over time as the business landscape evolves. But, it should still have a life cycle of years – not weeks or months.

This is just one area where authentic branding has a distinct advantage over contrived branding. An authentic brand is far more likely to have longer staying power since it is grounded in the reality of the business from the foundation up – making it easier to implement and most likely to still be relevant years from now.

If you don’t immediately get the reaction to your brand that you had hoped, don’t give up too quickly and try something new. Every brand needs time and repeated exposure to truly make a lasting impact.

Deliver a consistent multi-channel experience.

Businesses today share their marketing and branding messages in many, many places.

From social media to your website, email marketing to roadside billboards, and mobile apps to your customer support team, people are interacting with your brand all over the place.

And, they should be. It’s in your best interest to be in all of the places that your customers frequent. This makes you easy to find and keeps your business top-of-mind.

But, being in all the right places isn’t enough. It’s crucial to present a consistent brand across all of these locations if you want people to recognize your brand and remember you.

This is especially important when you lead customers on a journey from one point to another. For example… if you send an email with a discount link, the landing page the customers land on should share the same brand messaging and appearance as the original email.

Customers should experience your brand in the same way whether they’re on social media, a mobile app, your website or in your store.

Brand from the inside out.

Your employees are the guardians of your brand.

Employees need to be as well-educated and passionate about your brand as you are. Without their understanding and buy-in, a consistent branding effort is doomed to fail. This is one of the reasons why the best brands happen from the inside out.

Authentic brand values that evolve naturally from your company culture will be easiest for your employees to embrace and enact.

But don’t assume that because your brand values are genuine, that your employees will know how to – or that they will – articulate them. Provide brand education for all employees so that they understand their role in presenting a consistent brand identity for your company.

Consistent = Reliable = Valued

In our personal lives, we value those who are always there for us when we need them. It’s reassuring to know that we can rely on someone.

The same is true for a consistent brand. When people find a brand that not only meets their needs but does so reliably in a familiar way – that breeds loyalty.

Embrace these consistent branding tactics for your business and, in time, you’ll leave your competition in the dust.

If you’re opening or operating a restaurant, then you’re probably pretty passionate about food.

But, are you passionate about your brand?

If you want to succeed, you’re going to have to be.

A restaurant’s brand identity is the cumulative effect of what your guests see, taste, smell, feel and hear at your restaurant, online, and in the world at large. And, as we’ve previously explained:

Every company has a brand identity.

This is true for your company whether you’ve made a single conscious branding decision or not.

And that’s why it’s vitally important to make conscious, consistent branding choices. The decisions left unmade, and a brand left untended, may hurt your business.

Restaurateurs put great passion into their food, their concept, and their decor. But, a restaurant’s brand identity – and visual brand design – is equally important and not to be forgotten.

The best restaurant branding evolves from clearly defined core values, personality traits, and a unique value proposition. We recommend you start your branding journey with the brand audit process we’ve outlined here.

And, once you have a thorough understanding of your restaurant’s brand, you can begin to plan how you’ll communicate that brand visually.

What is a visual brand?

A visual brand is the sum total of all the branding your customers can see. This manifests in many forms – and we’ll explore the most important ones for your restaurant below.

Visual Brand Assets

There are fundamental visual branding assets that every business must have, regardless of industry.

At their most basic, these include a logo, fonts, and brand colors.

These assets are then used to construct larger and more complex elements of your visual brand – like your website, outdoor signage, menu, and more. But, let’s not get ahead of ourselves…

Your Logo

Your logo is the visual symbol that will represent your restaurant to the world.

Your customers will recognize your business (or not) by your logo. To that end, it’s essential that your logo be easy to recognize.

And, to achieve this lofty goal, a logo must be unique, relatively simple, and memorable. But, in today’s crowded marketplace, this is becoming harder and harder to accomplish.

Your brand is the secret ingredient that will guide your logo into that sweet spot of specific, unique, and memorable. In fact, it’s the most important ingredient in any successful logo. As we explained previously:

In art for art’s sake, it’s okay to make choices based on aesthetics alone. However, a logo’s primary function is to communicate brand identity. Arbitrary design choices just won’t do. So, all aesthetic considerations – from line weight to color, to form – must serve the brand.

So, don’t rush the logo design process – or, even worse, use a logo generator that spits out generic logos that will fail to deliver a unique visual brand identity. Even if you have a unique business name, a generic logo design will quickly get lost.

Your logo is the cornerstone of your visual brand – impacting every other visual branding decision you make. So, give it the consideration it deserves.

We may be a bit biased, but we recommend a crowdsourced design platform like crowdspring. Crowdsourced design provides new restaurateurs with many logo options to choose from at an affordable price.

If you’re not a branding expert, this variety of custom options will help you find a logo that speaks to you and embodies your new brand.

Your Fonts

Choosing the right typography to represent your brand can be a tall order with so many fonts available to choose from.

The most important factors to consider when selecting your brand fonts are legibility and brand-appropriateness.

Any font you choose must be easy to read or it will fail at its primary job – communication.

But, the font must aesthetically jive with your brand personality, too. For a comprehensive look into choosing the best fonts for your brand, click here.

Finally, we recommend choosing at least two fonts – one for headlines and one for body copy. You can get a bit more creative with your headline font, but prioritize legibility for your body font.

Your Brand Colors

Torafuku brand colors – Image courtesy of BPandO.org

Choosing the right colors to represent your brand will communicate a great deal about your restaurant.

People are deeply influenced by color on a subconscious level. So, it’s important to make wise choices that are in alignment with your brand’s personality and values.

When used consistently, these brand colors will become a visual identification shorthand for your restaurant.

Check out How 21 Brands Use Color to Influence Customers and Small Business Branding: What Color Says About Your Business to learn more.

We recommend choosing a palette of colors that support and complement your logo. This will contribute to a visually unified brand identity.

And, also, remember that your brand colors will be used on your interior and exterior decor, signage, menu, and website. So, choose colors that will be versatile enough to work in all of these contexts. More on those below…

Mascots

Simon Camaron – Image courtesy of Grits and Grids

A mascot is not a required branding element by any means. But, mascots are powerful branding tools that restaurants have embraced for years.

From classic mascots like Ronald McDonald and Bob’s Big Boy to exciting newcomers like Simon Camaron, these brand-influenced characters can connect with your audience in a more direct way than your logo or brand colors.

If a mascot doesn’t resonate with your restaurant’s brand, then don’t have one. But, if you have a playful style that could be embodied by a mascot character, consider developing a fun mascot figurehead to speak directly to your customers from your social media posts, signage, menu, website, and maybe even merchandise.

Your Website

Olivia Website – Image courtesy of Grits and Grids

Your online presence is almost as important as your restaurant itself.

You may think that’s overstating, but… According to Restaurant Insider, 90% of guests research a restaurant online before dining there. And, of those researchers, 57% visit the restaurant’s website.

So, if you have a poorly branded or badly designed website, you stand to turn away 57% of your prospective diners. That’s staggering.

Custom-branded website design will communicate to visitors exactly what they can expect when they visit your restaurant. And, for many, your website will deliver your brand’s first impression. So, make sure it’s a good one.

Here are a few guidelines to get you started:

• Feature your brand colors in your website design.
• Place your logo prominently so it’s easy to see.
• Make it easy to find important things like your menu, location, phone number and hours of operation.
• Use similar language on your website that you use in any advertisements.

We recommend working with professional web designers to develop your web design and launch your site. But, if you choose to use a website template instead, be sure to customize that template with custom illustrations or original photos to visually link it to your brand.

Your Signage

Signage is an important practical element of a restaurant’s visual brand design.

When guests seek you out, your outdoor signage will signal that they’ve found you. Outdoor signs also act as a sort of bait for potential clients seeking a place to eat. So, if your sign is unappetizing, people will assume your restaurant is, too.

Here are some tips to help you develop an enticing and functional sign to welcome your guests…

• Choose a font that is both brand-appropriate and legible. Ideally, this should be one of your chosen brand fonts.
• Feature your brand colors and logo in your sign’s design to help reinforce your visual brand identity.
• Choose background and typography colors that stand out for good visibility and legibility from a distance.

An easy-to-read, on-brand sign will always welcome the right customers to your door. That’s why it’s a vital part of every restaurant’s visual brand.

Your Menu

Every restaurant must have a menu.

And, it’s a prime opportunity wasted if you don’t use that menu to communicate your brand in a meaningful way. Successful restaurant branding touches every aspect of the diner experience.

A unique, on-brand menu is an excellent tool for reinforcing your brand in guests’ minds. And, a smart menu layout will create a pleasant reading experience and can prime diners to want to order more.

And, don’t forget your online menus, either. Just as your in-restaurant guests need physical menus, your online visitors should be able to easily find a digital version to peruse.

It’s common practice for people to read restaurant menus online before visiting a restaurant. So, your online menu acts as an advertisement or preview of what they can expect.

It’s in your best interest to make your online menu easy to view on mobile devices as well as larger screens.

For both your in-house menu and your online menu, plan to incorporate your brand colors, logo, mascot (if you have one), and brand fonts. The consistent use of these visual assets across all of your customer touchpoints will strengthen brand awareness and build trust.

Pro Tip: Avoid the recent trend of requiring online visitors to download a PDF in order to see your menu! It’s a hassle and many users just won’t bother – they’ll go to another restaurant instead.

Your Interior Decor

El Sapo Bar – Image courtesy of Grits and Grids

When it comes to visual branding, consistency is key.

When guests walk into your restaurant, they want the reassurance of seeing a space that’s consistent with the brand they’ve seen so far. If they find a space that doesn’t meet those expectations, they will feel mislead.

That’s not a good first impression. And first impressions can be hard to overcome.

Here are some guidelines you can follow to create a positive and cohesively branded interior design…

Color Palette

Your brand colors should feature prominently in your decor. But, don’t be afraid to supplement your brand colors with some neutral shades to create visual balance in your restaurant.

Colors that may look amazing on a smaller scale (like a computer screen, sign or menu) could become overwhelming if you paint or carpet your entire space in that shade.

More intense colors should be reserved for accents throughout the decor.

Using neutrals colors like black, white, grey, beige or taupe; or neutral textures like natural woods, stone or fabricated metals generously can help to offset more vibrant shades. This leads to a more open and relaxing feeling in your space.

Atmosphere

Yellowbelly Glassware – Image courtesy of Grits and Grids

Selecting the right color palette is only a part of the larger puzzle of designing branded decor.

To get the atmosphere right choose furniture that reflects your brand’s personality. Is your brand quirky and casual? Then choose playful furniture to reflect that. Is your restaurant earthy and organic? Serve up furniture made from sustainable materials along with your seasonal fare.

Think about the impact you can make with lighting fixtures. The design of the fixtures – as well as the quality of light they spread – can create many different moods. What mood is best for your brand?

Once you’ve got the essentials like paint, carpet, furniture, and lighting covered, consider additional decorative elements like draperies, wall murals, or other unique brand-specific tableware.

Remember – in the age of Instagram, no detail is too small to be celebrated on social media.

When deciding what to include in your restaurant decor, no decision should be arbitrary. Make selections that will communicate your brand essence and deliver the kind of experience that will make your restaurant memorable and worth sharing.

Your Staff Uniforms

Poco Blu Apron – Image courtesy of Kaizen Brand Evolution

Your staff is the living embodiment of your brand.

They must walk and talk about your brand values and personality. And, they must also look the part.

Staff uniforms don’t need to be complicated. Not every restaurant brand requires 15 pieces of flair. But, it is important to think about your brand and make uniform choices that support your brand personality.

Here are some options for you to consider:

• Ask staff to wear neutral pants and a polo, tee, or button-down in one of your brand colors.
• Provide servers with  custom t-shirts featuring your logo and perhaps a tagline.
• Incorporate themed garments like Hawaiian shirts, poodle skirts, or cowboy boots, if appropriate.
• Opt for all black for a simple and elegant attire solution.
• Provide a uniform apron to be worn over neutral clothing of the server’s choosing.

There is no right or wrong answer here. But, whatever your staff wears, make sure it makes sense for your brand.

Consistency

The key to modern restaurant branding is consistency.

Your guests want a reliable experience that they can trust – and consistent visual branding is reassuring.

If you want customers to remember you and keep coming back, develop a consistent and cohesive visual brand everywhere your customers look.

Interested in other types of businesses or how-to guides? Here are our comprehensive guides:

The art and craft of logo design constantly evolve.

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As logo design and branding experts, we…

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Between 2012 and 2017, the number of craft breweries in the US jumped from 2,420 to 6,266  – that’s an increase of 159%! This growth continued into 2018 (see chart below), grew another 4% through mid-2019, and is expected to continue to grow in 2020:

That growth doesn’t include microbreweries that produce fewer …

Many people want to start a clothing line or clothing brand. After all, how difficult could it be?

The truth is that clothing brands become successful in part because they’re created by people who are passionate about clothing.

But, a clothing brand needs more than just an exquisite apparel design to create a lasting business. It needs all the…

You’ve put in the hours. You’ve paid your dues.

And now all that effort has paid off – you’re the expert.

So, what’s your prize at the end of the day?

For some, it’s enough to know that you’re great at your job. But others, like you, yearn for something more.

Admit it – you’ve thought about starting your own consulting business.

Flexible hours,…

As the price of high-quality cameras has continued to fall, the art and craft of photography have flourished.

For many people, photography isn’t just a way of capturing a memory.

Photography is a fulfilling way to express yourself. It’s a way to interpret the world and make the invisible visible.

And for many, it’s a way to make a …

This is the most complete guide online on starting a business.

There are more than 30 million small businesses in the United States, according to the Small Business Administration.

In fact, small businesses make up an incredible 99.9 percent of all U.S. businesses.

Small businesses in the U.S. employ 58.9 million people, which represents 47.5% of…

If you’re interested in starting a real estate business to help buyers and sellers navigate the stressful and complicated process of working through one of the biggest transactions of their lives, you’ll need to make sure your business is well prepared.

The real estate market is enormous. Here are the relevant statistics you should know:

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This is a comprehensive guide to Facebook Messenger Marketing using chatbots in 2020.

We know that the idea of using a chatbot can be a little intimidating, especially for startups and small businesses.

But the truth is that chatbots can improve marketing and make marketers’ lives easier.

To create this guide, we partnered with Larry Kim, the CEO…

You’re creative. And you love to craft!

Not to mention, you’ve gotten pretty darn good at it.

Or, you have an amazing eye for vintage finds but your closets are overflowing.

“You should start an Etsy shop!” your friends say. And, you’ve secretly shared that very same thought.

Etsy is a booming online marketplace full of amazing hand-made items…

Silicon Valley has dominated the U.S. startup ecosystem for many decades.

Despite repeated efforts, only a few cities outside the Valley (New York and Boston) have historically had the critical mix of VC funding, network, and talent to fuel vibrant startup centers. Best startup city rankings have reflected this truth for a long time.

But this is …

When I was a kid, Friday was B & C Pizza night at our house.

The local Chicago-style pizza is a Michigan favorite.  And, while their delicious fare is something I still crave as an adult, it’s their marketing strategy that remains at the forefront of my memory.

B & C has hosted an eating challenge since they opened over 33 years ago.

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