 It’s not a question of do I need a brand kit. It is a matter of what you need in your brand kit.
Brand kits provide a business a guideline to continue a consistent image, voice, and overall engagement factor. Whether you hire a new employee, or freelance out design work, a brand kit allows everyone to be on the same brand page. The factors and questions listed below should be included in each of these sections of a basic brand kit for your business. Brand Identity What you need to include:
 Let’s talk about color.
A graphic designer will ask you what colors you would like to use in a logo and go from there. And while that is their job, a brand consultant will take a completely different approach to the color selection. I will not ask you what colors you want to use but tell you what colors you need to use for your brand. If you have done any research on color psychology you have most likely come across a color wheel like the one below.  Every now and then after giving out a quote I get a response back that I am too expensive.
I get it your a startup. As far as brand consultants go I am on the lower end of the pricing spectrum because I want to be affordable. And like you I need to make revenue as well. There are many cheap options for startups to get started such as friends who have semi knowledge of photoshop, or students still learning, or even the owners themselves. However do remember this statistic: According to Bloomberg, 8 out of 10 entrepreneurs who start businesses fail within the first 18 months. And if you recall in in my post THE BIGGEST MISTAKE I SEE NEW ENTREPRENEURS MAKE four of those five reasons were due to branding issues. I would bet the majority of those businesses didn’t take the time and make the investment in their brand at the beginning. I say this because my first startup is going on four years now and is still going strong and expanding. My last rebrand project has made more money in its online store in the first three months after rebranding than it did the year before. Branding makes a difference. Take it from an expert like Steve Forbes.  Naming your business is a big decision. Some people overanalyze or overcomplicate an origin or meaning of the business’s name.
No one except you is going to care your businesses name came from an ancient flower or latin phrase that means peace, strength or happiness. What matters is if they remember your business for the right reasons. The reason your business exists, your business's brand. BAMMM! You want that name to hit your customers in the face so hard, they remember it. So why overcomplicate? Sometimes simpler is better. Just make sure it still has some pop to it. I’ll give you an example. 
My biggest pet peeve working in the creative industry is when an entrepreneur tells me all they need is a logo. Wrong!
A new business needs much more than a logo to advertise their business. What they really need is a brand. By developing a brand you know where you advertise, how you communicate with your customers, and even your color schemes outside of the logo. Branding focuses on what makes you unique, creating a strong brand presence. A logo will not get your message across for you, know who your target audience is, and it won't set the tone for the entire way you do business. A logo is only a symbol. A brand includes a logo and everything else about your business. The logo only argument I often hear is “we know what we stand for, why do we need branding?”. Knowing what you stand for is a great start and an important one, however every business out there has some charity aspect, or mission to serve the best beer, ice-cream, etc. This is a tone deaf method to reaching your customers because everyone does it!! You need to do what no one else is doing to reach your customers. That is what branding does. According to Forbes there are 5 main reasons new businesses fail: |
