1. A brand is more than a logo – it’s not just about design. Your brand is the encapsulation of everything your business is about. It’s your business’ persona.

2. Creating a brand is therefore a bigger task than designing a logo and some stationery. It entails getting to the heart of your business: identifying your brand values and behaviours, the key drivers/beliefs of the company that act as goals to strive for.

3. Then your brand proposition and promise will be defined: your unique offer to your customers and the way you stay true to your word. Promise and proposition form the behaviour your customers will come to expect.

4. Brand personality is your company’s innate character – it helps create differentiation for companies in a crowded market – customers become loyal and attached to the personality of a brand so it therefore helps gain competitive advantage.

5. Look and feel – colours, logos, typefaces, layout, positioning – will reflect the brand personality in visual terms.

6. It’s vital that your behaviour to the outside world exemplifies the personality you are projecting. It’s destructive if the promise of your brand’s look and feel is at odds with the customer experience.

7. The approach to branding will vary not just company by company, but your sector and size. Branding a large global business is a different process than that of a sole trader – although the basics still hold true.

8. An organisation’s brand is often a reflection of the personality and character of the business leader – more so in a small operation. So how the organisation is led, its management style and effectiveness, should reflect the brand persona.

9. In defining the communications strategy for the brand rollout, it is vital that all audiences are involved. Existing customers, prospects, the public, suppliers, centres of influence, media, the trade, and of course staff.

10. With all this involved, a good design agency will ask you a lot of questions before embarking on a design brief.

11. Get raycreative to work with you to develop your brand expression.