At JB Social, we work with clients large and small who all have one thing in common: They want to look professional online, attractive to their clients, and most of all want to be successful in business. It’s one thing to have an idea. It’s another to build upon the idea with messaging, tone, design, typography, color and more. So, we put our heads together and summarized a few important questions for boss babes to ask themselves when it comes to developing a look and feel for your biz. Whether you’re on a mission to improve your insta account, creating a business or selling a product (or maybe all of the above), make sure you show up in a way that feels cohesive for your consumer. Here’s a checklist to help do just that.

• This should be 2-3 sentences that explain your brand or business. If you’re a blogger, this could be your “why.” You may never need to actually “present” your elevator pitch to anyone — but knowing how to succinctly talk about what you’re creating is important in message formation. 

• What motivated you to go into business or start a blog/social following? What are the milestones or “ah-ha” moments in your life that drove you to this point? Your story about how brand, business, product or following came to be is a big differentiator. Spend time outlining your story and the key points in your journey that brought you into business. Then, think about how you can best communicate your story. Do you have a website with an “about” section? Do you want to invest in videography to help bring your messages to life? Whatever you choose, don’t hide your journey from your consumers. 

• Speaking of consumers…who is your #1 fan? Whether you’re sharing content, a product or a service, you should know who you’re selling to and why. There may be multiple audiences, but try to focus on the top group first in your brand content.  
• PRO TIP: Create a “buyer persona.” In marketing, a “persona” is a fictitious person who represents your top tier consumer. The persona you develop should include all the things you think you know about your consumer, and it’s something to keep in the front of your mind when you’re developing marketing materials and/or content. A few more tips regarding personas are available here. 

• What problem does your content, business, product or service solve, and where are you communicating that solution? Make sure it’s clear that you are the industry leader when it comes to [insert anything here!]. Don’t be shy about sharing your solutions front and center.

• These words should describe the look and feel of your brand, but could also describe the mission and morals of your business. Are you flirty and fun? Modern and clean? Think through those brand descriptors as a way to inform the messaging, look and feel of your brand. Plus, if you’re collaborating with a designer, those words can help bring vibes to life visually. 

• You may have the perfect vision of what your brand should look and feel like, but the challenge for most designers in bringing your brand to life is just that: extracting the vision from your head and putting it to paper.  Get a head start on collaborating with your branding team and create a mood or vision board that’s filled with imagery, photos and colors that you love. 
• PRO TIP: Don’t overcomplicate things — just use Pinterest to create your board. Plus, it makes sharing super easy.

• It may sound obvious: but after you’ve crafted a logo and look and feel for your business, product or service, you need a strategy. To get started, think about what you want your consumer to think, feel and (ultimately) do when they see your message.
• Remember: it takes most consumers 7-9 interactions with a product or service before they take action. Consider engaging with them in a series of emails, plan content that’s focused on the problem-solution you outlined above, and spend time showing the consumer you’re the one when it comes to [insert anything here!].