Finding (and Flexing!) Your Creative Business Brand

Use these tried-and-true branding techniques to establish your creative business identity and grow your customer base.

For creative entrepreneurs, long-term success hinges on your ability to blend artistry with business savvy. And nowhere is that dynamic clearer than in your brand — the space where your creative vision and business strategy come together to tell clients your unique story.

Establishing an authentic and original brand identity can help create strong, lasting connections with your client base.

Are you struggling to stand out in a crowded market? Take these steps to find your voice as a creative business brand and create memorable experiences that will keep your customers coming back for more. 

1) Shift Your Mindset.  

First things first. To thrive as a creative entrepreneur, you have to adopt a dual mindset: You are both an artist and a business owner. Just as your art requires creativity, passion, and dedication to evolve, your business needs branding, strategic planning, and marketing to grow. Creativity and sound business practices are a reciprocal relationship that can transform your art into your career. Do both! 

Your brand relies on authenticity, so don’t be afraid to show your customers your creative process and what makes your business special. You are the subject matter expert for your small business. Don’t feel like an expert? Remember that you have a community around you to help strengthen your small business; don’t be afraid to call upon them. Engaging your community is a great tool to expand your brand and gain valuable access to support. 

2) Run Through the Exercises.  

Next, engage in simple branding exercises to help you define and articulate key aspects of your brand’s identity, values, and voice. Here are some quick and easy ones to get you started:   

Branding exercises like these can help you get clear about your brand's personality. In addition to spelling out the mission and unique selling points that drive your business, they can point to a consistent tone and style for communicating with your audience and pave the way for deciding on visual elements like your logo and brand colors. 

3) Who’s Your Audience?  

Understanding your audience is essential for effective branding. That’s because your messaging needs to speak directly to the people who matter most to your business — your existing and future clients. When you understand who your audience is, you can shape your brand to connect with them on a deeper level.  

Use tools like HubSpot’s Make My Persona to get a clear picture of who your ideal customers are and what they need. You’ll also want to find out where your audience spends their time, both online and offline. Engage with them on their favorite social media platforms to build a stronger connection.

4) Power Up Your Customer Journey!  

You’ve embraced your reciprocal roles as an artist and entrepreneur, you’ve defined unique elements that make up your brand, and you know who your target customers are. Congratulations! Now you can put everything you’ve learned into practice by optimizing your customer journey. This is where your brand does its magic — turning potential or one-time customers into lifelong clients.

A customer journey is the path a potential customer takes from first learning about your brand to making a purchase, and beyond. It encompasses all the experiences and interactions they have with your business along the way. Customer journey touchpoints include awareness, consideration, purchase, post-purchase, and loyalty.  

Here’s how that might look for a jewelry business:

🔊 Awareness: A potential customer discovers your handmade jewelry on Instagram. They see a beautifully crafted piece in their feed and decide to follow your account. 

💡 Consideration: They visit your website to browse your collection. They read your blog posts about the inspiration behind your designs and watch a video of you crafting a piece. 

💳 Purchase: After seeing a promotion you posted on social media, they decide to buy a necklace from your online store. They like that the checkout process smooth and user-friendly. 

🛍️ Post-Purchase: You send a follow-up email thanking them for their purchase and providing care instructions for their new necklace. They appreciate the personal touch and feel valued as a customer. 

🌠Loyalty: Delighted with their purchase, they leave a positive review on your website and share a photo of the necklace on their social media, tagging your business. They continue to engage with your content and make repeat purchases. 

Notice how branded content across social media, websites, and emails enhances every stage of a successful customer journey, engaging the client from initial discovery to loyalty. That’s your brand in action.

Using branded content is more than just a great cost-effective marketing tool — it's crafting experiences that resonate. By developing and integrating your brand into your client experience, you’ll attract new customers and foster lasting customer relationships that are key to driving your creative business’ success.

Happy branding!