All about Australian Women
Branding; for some it can be an abstract concept. That ‘thing’ that we just don’t quite get but know it’s important.
For others, they might think it’s just a fancy way of saying you need a logo but by giving it a new name gives the designer a licence to charge more.
For some, they just don’t even know where to begin.
And, I’ve discovered, that is ok. It’s quite common actually.
Why am I telling you this? Well, there now exists a practical and helpful book to help you get your head around branding, your brand and what you need to do to create a total brand experience for your customers/clients.
Recently, I went along to the launch of Beyond The Logo by Emma Carter. Emma is a successful creative who led her own award-winning design agency over in the UK before moving here to Australia in 2013, where she continues her work with brands and businesses over here.
Beyond The Logo is Emma’s first foray into publishing but she has done a great job of putting together a book that provides valuable content and talks directly to her market. If there are more books to come, I can’t wait to read them.
Emma noticed that many business owners held a common misconception—that a logo is a brand. They weren’t understanding that a brand should encapsulate the entire personality of an organisation and communicate to the outside world: your promise, visual identity, tone of voice, ethics and more!
“Over many years of working with different businesses and brands I have noticed the same issues, a large number of business owners either don’t understand the importance of branding or have a vision for their brands end goal but don’t know how to achieve it” Ms Carter said.
“Often this is the result of being confused about where to start and who to talk to – should they be talking to a designer, website developer or communication consultant first?” she said.
“Coming from a creative background and running a successful business myself, I found that I could bridge the gap between creative and business, and really understood the broader business factors that impacted brand development.”
During the launch Emma shared her story with guests and talked them through how she found herself penning her first book, which was something she never expected to do.
What I like about this book is that unlike other branding and business books out there, it’s not just theories; it’s a practical tool. You get information, an action plan and tips for implementation. It applies whether you’re refreshing an existing brand or creating a new brand from scratch!
Emma tells me about why she wrote the book the way she did.
“I created this book to help business owners, creative, marketeers and the like to truly understand how to create a total brand experience,” she said.
“The book contains insider knowledge on the different and creative ways in which businesses can communicate their brand.”
I’m not the only one impressed by Emma’s expertise. The Q&A session after her presentation saw the other guests ask some great questions of Emma, which really showed her that she knows her stuff—she barely paused before jumping into detailed and relevant responses to each question.
The event was not only a great opportunity learn more about the book and branding for business, but was a fantastic example to everyone about how they can share their knowledge and expertise with other people.
I’m sure many of us would never thin to write a book, but my question is, why not?
We’ve all got a unique repository of information, expertise and experience to share.
If you’ve read Emma’s book, I’d loved to hear what you thought of it. Post your comments below.