Wrong branding is the reason you are not getting customers for your sustainable skincare brand.
Branding must-haves for any brand moving towards profitability - No you can't skip the step 1.
We were commissioned to work on a sustainability pitch deck for a couple founders from Sweden, raising their first pre-seed round.
The founders have already spent roughly $19K on their branding.
When we went on to develop their handcrafted pitch deck, we asked for customer personas.
And they did not have it.
Their branding agency did their whole branding & packaging without creating detailed customer personas.
They were in a highly saturated market, great branding plays a huge role in customer acquisition and retention.
They already switched 3 agencies, and still, they were not completely feeling the branding — it lacked the soul.
In my experience of working with startups generating massive profits in a similar industry, they know their customers way too well and have an in-depth discovery and analysis.
People buy things that they can relate to, packaging & messaging that appeal to them highlight a unique offering, and feel exciting.
They launched their marketing campaigns with the latest branding they have had in their hands.
Only to find out that their ideal customers do not resonate with their brand.
They were passionate about climate change and wanted to make sustainable and chemical-free products an everyday choice for people in Sweden.
After going through rounds of discussions, we have to take their rebranding project in-house for redevelopment.
If you have gone through this, you would know that rebranding a whole business is a mess and expensive. You have to wipe out all the old branding and think from a blank slate.
Figure out a plan on how to deploy new branding into the website, product packaging, and social media without hurting the existing sales.
Ideally, anyone should approach branding for any sustainability-focused skincare brand in a certain way, as mentioned below.
If you are going for branding for sustainability branding make sure you work with someone who understands strategy and not just how to create pretty products — they often don’t perform well on shelves
Here is what a strategic and pretty branding kit should include.
Market research
A micro-level research of the ideal customers, 3 to 5 personas.
2. A macro-level research of the whole market, how many potential buyers belong to the customer personas we built.
3. Competitor analysis -> You need to stand out and look fresh & different
A good brand name
Based on the customer personas, identify & create 2 to 3 brand name options that are
Easy to remember,
Easy to find on Google,
and feels relatable
Check out domain names in advance.
Logo
A great brand mark, which is simple and encapsulates the brand essence, but at the same time helps you stand out from other brands.
Make sure you receive the logo in 15 different file types and different sizes, as you would need the logo for multiple purposes and thus in multiple file types.
It’s a very long topic leave it to designers.
A great brand story & messaging
You cannot sell volumes without a good brand story. Why did you start this brand, and why are you selling one more skin care product?
What makes you so unique and different?
How do you want to communicate with the will people
Are you a humorous brand?
A sophisticated brand
or
A scientific brand
A unique yet easily workable color palette and fonts
As a completely creative endeavor, it needs a blend of analytics and intuition.
Founders must know that a complicated palette won’t work for a lot of people who will be using this as a guide to build their products
->Product label & packing printing depends on it — it needs to be simple
->Marketers will use it for — Social media banners and posts, and creating content
>Developers will use it as a guide to develop your website.
Social media template
We generally do it complimentary for our clients and include it along with the brand kit.
But you can request your agencies to do it for you; they do charge some extra for it, but it's worth it.
A lot goes into developing a great brand that lives in people's hearts and stands the test of time.