With a full spread article in fast-growing Seattle Eastside Magazine, 425 Business, we are explaining why an amazing product without marketing and branding won't go very far and how consistency and visual coherence will build brand trust. We share five essential tips for setting your brand on the right track.

It is tempting to develop an idea and rapidly bring it to market. Most entrepreneurs define the in and out of a product and quickly come up with the answer for why a specific audience will need their product or service offering. Unfortunately very few go through the exercise of defining the company brand or the product brand, two different things. A quick visual pulled off a stock image bank combined with a logo drawn on a restaurant napkin often sum up how the brand was put together and we are in business. So they think.

A common mistake is to believe brand trust and brand recognition can be built later on, once funds have been secured. Many forget why the brand may be the greatest asset of your business. There is a point in rapidly attracting investors and generating buzz and momentum to quickly convert into sales and generate traction. For the long term, entrepreneurs and product managers should also be aware that building a credible story is an essential part of the storytelling and the saying process. Audiences today are sensible to key benefits as much as they are to an emotional connection with the brand; who think alike usually spend time together and build relationship and brand loyalty over time.

Beyond the Graphic treatment, this is a good example of a non-descriptive identity clearly lacking a story which will ultimately not stand out in the marketplace:

This summer, 425 Business, sat down with us to discuss what are the key elements that make a brand and what you can't afford to live without. Full Article Here