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|  Corporate Branding & Identity Services SC specializes in assisting with the formation of new entities, and helping existing businesses establish identities that will generate credibility and promote their mission. Whether an entity's purpose is to generate profits or raise funds as a 501(c)(3) organization, our goal is to create a comprehensive and consistent image that will encourage brand recognition and qualified traffic. Despite the deceptively apparent simplicity of branding, vast amounts of marketing knowledge contribute to successful branding campaigns. This is why Nike spent millions to develop and protect their famous three-word tagline "Just do it", and how Aflac came to benefit from a seemingly irrelevant "GetQuack.com" domain name. A good brand will seem like a "no-brainer" in the end. This is both the beauty of it, and the irony in it. Although the journey is much more difficult and time consuming than the destination often indicates, it can also be affordable.  Business Names & Entity Naming Services
Having an effective company name is invaluable. A proper name will instill a positive first impression, convey your primary purpose, reflect the right attitude for your industry, and be memorable. Many factors play a role in determining the best name for a business, including its availability and the possibility that it may infringe on the rights of another business. As the example used throughout the marketing community (shown to the left) illustrates, a poorly chosen name can either provide a great deal of free advertising or much worse. SC has experience naming all types of businesses and helping the owners properly secure effective names. We will help you determine the best name, check its availability for you in the appropriate jurisdiction, and help you file the paperwork necessary to use and protect it.
 Logos
The logo is a critical and frequently underestimated part of brand identity. Although many business owners realize that they need one, they may not realize the power and value of a well developed image, even one as simple as the name in a particular font and color. The logo should set the business apart from others, and in either a positive or negative way, it inevitably will. Once logo design is fully addressed, the masses will have an image to associate with the business that will make it memorable in a positive light. An effective logo may take one of a countless number of forms. It may incorporate letters, shapes, fonts, colors, words, or abstract designs. A timeless logo is important, and a good design is one that will be adaptable through the decades without ever needing a single drastic change. Coca-Cola is an example of this. The main logo, the Spencerian script "Coca-Cola" has never changed since originally chosen by Frank Mason Robinson in 1885. A logo must also work in many sizes and layouts, including large billboards, television spots, business cards, pens, and tiny internet icons. For this reason, it should not contain too much complex detail, which will go unnoticed when very small and raise printing costs for such things as stationery. The right logo will work well in black and white, not only in color. Color helps people identify a logo from a distance and among many surrounding others. However, the chosen color palette should merely compliment the design, not make it. McDonalds and Target are perfect examples. If Target's logo were merely a red dot, then in black and white, the black dot would probably not trigger brand recognition. However, the circles surrounding the inner dot remind most people of their brand regardless of the color. Further consider that many people are color-blind, and do not see color the same way that you might. Everyone recognizes "double arches" as the shape representing McDonalds, but the bright yellow and red colors make it stand out when surrounded by other lighted roadside signs passing by at high speeds. This is simply a sample of the things to consider when developing your logo and brand. SC will consult with you to discuss your business and full branding goals to create the best logo possible, and within your budget.  Taglines (slogans)
Just as logos are often underestimated, taglines are too often overlooked entirely. To make this enormous mistake is to leave money on the table. A tagline is what will immediately convey your purpose to your clientele, or even better, the benefit of choosing you. It can be fun, cute, witty, or "all business", depending on your company's intended image. It may be a word or a phrase, straight-forward or colorful. What remains constant between all successful taglines though, is clarity, memorability, sensibility, longevity, originality, and the ability address the target audience with the fewest possible words. Nike's "Just do it" is a famous and very effective example, although there are hundreds, if not thousands, of equally powerful taglines. Some of the most seemingly simple taglines have non-coincidentally become the best known. Such "simple" examples frequently take skilled professionals many man-hours of creative collaboration to devise. This is the reason that large corporations routinely spend millions of dollars developing them. After all, they have billions of dollars at risk if the ultimate product undermines the company image. But, many considerations must be followed, in addition to the client's wishes, to establish a great tagline. SC specializes in providing highly professional results that will exceed your needs, and do so within your timeline and budget. We prove that it is unnecessary and often irresponsible to invest millions to establish an extremely potent brand. We can work within any budget and get the job done to perfection.  Domain Names
You would probably not be reading this page if you did not realize the importance of having a website that people can find and, when wanting to return, remember where to find it. Some things to remember when choosing a domain name is that it should be as short as possible, easy to spell, and make sure that it does not spell anything unintended (see "Business Names" above). If the spelling is ambiguous or contains commonly misspelled words, then you should also make sure that those misspellings are also available and buy those, too. You will redirect the traffic from them to your main web address (domain name). Make sure that none of those already direct traffic to another business or competitor. For example, if you want "2-Tuff-4-U.com" (which we would highly recommend against), then you would also need to register all other possible variations. Think of all the other names and combinations that you would have to register with the following spellings: 2, two, too, to, tuff, tough, 4, for, four, U, and you. Plus, you will need all of those same combinations with hyphen and underscore separators, and no separators at all. Another reason we consider variations with the separators is because there is currently some controversy regarding the effect of of hyphens and underscores in domain names (or the lack thereof) on SEO. If you register a ".com" name for your primary, then you probably just want to register the ".org" and/or ".net" versions of your main domain plus the most likely misspellings. This will catch the most common misentries and prevent your competitors from stealing your customers by buying those similar domains. Businesses that do not want a "commercial" image (such as NPOs) may benefit more from the ".org" domain, although they should check the availability of the ".com" and register that, too. Many people enter ".com" habitually, and you may lose some business by not considering this. There are many top level domains (TLDs) available. But, be very careful when straying away from ".com" and ".org" unless you want to focus on geographic targets on other continents. Although there are numerous other considerations to take into account when choosing a domain name, make sure that your name is not too similar to that of another company in the same industry because it may infringe on their intellectual property rights, thereby allowing them to force you to change it, and possibly recover additional remedies.  Vanity Toll-Free Numbers
Hopefully, you have chosen a great name for your business and have a matching domain name and catchy tagline. We recommend that you further reinforce your brand by getting a matching "vanity" toll-free number. Sure, technology has made toll-free numbers less necessary for customers since many now call throughout the nation and/or continent for a flat monthly rate. However, those same technological advances have also brought the cost of offering toll-free service to a mere fractional level of what it was only ten years ago. Additionally, large, established, reputable companies are historically known—and even presumed—to have both vanity and toll-free numbers. By obtaining one for your business, for the nominal investment, you add to your brand immediate credibility. Another popular benefit of using toll-free numbers is that, since they are so inexpensive and you can choose any "ring to" number, you can easily use them for tracking multiple ad campaigns. There is a very small one-time fee to buy your vanity number (and yes, you actually own it when you buy it through us). Many companies offer these numbers, but retain ownership of them. They make their money by renting or leasing the number to you, therefore having the potential to hold your business hostage at their discretion. SC has no interest in your number and never owns it. We will charge you only for our consulting work, which will be explained in advance. We will secure for you, the available number(s) of your choice. You will receive proof of ownership and a package explaining every aspect of it, including creative ideas and recommended companies and plans regarding the various services available for use with your toll-free number. The last step will be for you to choose your service provider, who will probably charge as little as 1.5-4¢ per minute—well worth the expense. | |
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