Your branding is much more than just the logo file that goes on the top of your theme. This episode will break down why you need to be sure that your blog has more than just a logo. 

Can’t listen to the episode? Read on for the transcript!

Having been in the food blogger world for quite a long time now, I’ve seen people cycle through logos over and over again. I’ve also seen people who don’t put together their branding and logo at the beginning and then their brand grows too quickly without a logo. Then they have to play catch up to come up with a logo that fits their brand. 

This episode is going to be an honest look at why I really believe your brand needs (and deserves) more than a logo. In the last episode, I broke down my process for creating a strategic brand and that episode is worth a listen if you are looking to hire a branding expert in the future OR if you are still in a DIY phase of your branding. Either way you will get some valuable insight into your branding! 

Why your brand needs more than a logo

When you’re designing a brand, it’s really easy to pick fonts, colors, or icons that are really trendy right now or that you love. 

But what happens when that font is out of style in 6 months? Or the watercolor style isn’t in style anymore? Your brand will stop feeling like “you,” and you’ll start to feel like you need to rebrand. 

You may have heard the idea about fast, good and cheap…. you can only choose two:

• Good & fast: won’t be cheap. 
• Fast & cheap: won’t be good. 
• Cheap and good: won’t be fast. 

This isn’t a conversation about the price of branding or what it should be, but I think it’s important to set the expectations that when you are building a brand strategy. It takes time and it might be a bigger investment than buying a premed or semi-custom logo off a freelance site. 

Often when you try to get a quick fix for a logo, you may be able to tell the designer exactly what you are looking for and they will create it. But you may not have the brand strategy backing it. 

In general, using a freelance site to get a logo is a temporary solution. A good logo will have that strategy backing it! 

When you’re focused on “just a logo”: 

1. maybe a few files, like your header or a logo file for your business card
2. you can put that logo on top of your theme
3. then you can struggle through trying to create graphics or updating your website to reflect the new logo you just got

Sometimes when you work with a brand designer, you’ll get a logo and a brand board to help you see the fonts and colors used for your brand. 

But for food bloggers, it’s often hard to take that brand board and use it as a foundation for other graphics. 

So you may end up having a beautiful logo on your site, but the rest of the graphics for your brand aren’t aligned with that same style and strategy. 

When you are looking for “just a logo” you are also missing out on the key component of branding, which is the strategy. 

You can still have that IF you just purchased a logo, but you’re going to have do the work to put the pieces together. 

Your brand strategy will grow overtime and change, but it’s important to at least set a foundation for the branding. 

When thinking about brand strategy you want to think about things like your: 

1. Brand messaging
2. Audience and who they are struggling with
3. Niche
4. Tagline 

Without this brand strategy, you run the risk of your blog growing slower, possibly getting burnt out and giving up or not being able to connect with your audience. 

This brand strategy is the backing for all of the graphics and visuals on your site.