Branding is very important for any business – especially when you’re a small business owner, side hustler, or start-up. And, with the increased use of social media for marketing businesses, you want your product or service to pop-up or standout.

Think about brands in your life. The look, the font, and the feel of a product’s branding can subconsciously attract or distract you. There are some quick basics that can help any business owner without a creative bone, create catching and captivating digital branding. Some key things to think about when creating posters, flyers, adverts and more for your business:

1. Always have a logo from the get go! Having a unique logo allows your customers to identify and associate your product or service with an identity. It also builds a professional reputation for you.
2. Colours matter. If, for example, you were perhaps selling baby clothes, using colours like black, red or navy blue are colours not typically associated with babies. Think about what emotion or tone your product or service evokes, and choose colours which flow along those lines. For baby products, pastel colours might, for example, be more enticing and appropriate.
3. Fonts matter too. It always helps to have a maximum of three fonts which you use. You could have one for headings, one for sub-headings, and one for small texts, or use them interchangeably. Fonts also set the tone for your product just like colours do, so be sure to choose fonts that align with the look or feel of your product or service.
4. If you’re photographing your products or service, it might be useful to make use of a professional. Customers often create their first impressions from the photos they see of your products online. Good photos can be the make or break between someone deciding to support your business or not. It is definitely something to prioritise if you advertise your product or service online. However, you and your own smartphone can do the job just as well too – read up on some smartphone ‘’product photography’’ and get shooting!
5. Never overload readers with text. Keep your text short and simple, big enough to read without zooming in, and to the point.
6. Make good use of spacing. Spread your text, pictures, icons, and photos well so it is pleasing on the eye – whether a poster, logo, social media post, etc.
7. Now, put it all together. There are tons of poster makers and design apps online which make all of this easier for you! Our recommendation is Canva, which is used by millions of businesses, students, organisations and more online to create logos, posters, invitations and pretty much anything creative that’s 2D. Websites such as Canva create pre-existing templates for you, suggest fonts and colours to you, which will make you feel like a proud creative in no time. It is simple and easy to use.

Once you nail these basics, you’ll have a great basis to work on for digital branding of your business.