Branding and Niche

Today's Question: How did you go about branding and finding your niche?

Branding may be the funnest and most important (besides your fantabulous product) part of starting your own business. It's really fun researching logo designs, colors and fonts of other artists, designers and brands and then making something that is your own, which represents you, your great taste and image. (Pinterest makes this really easy and there are tons of free fonts sites like Dafont.com to search through.) Easier said than done I suppose; to just come up with a design. But once you see 'the font' or 'the color' or 'that border' you just know it's right. I'm so glad I've been able to do all this on my own; and didn't have to inlist the services of a graphic designer. This way I could test lots of things out and develop my look over time, until I found something I really like... and which also really represents my business in the way that I'd like it to be perceived. With out wasting spending lots of money.

A few tips:
• Stick to a limited color palette
• Limit yourself to one or two fonts
• Don't get 1000 business cards or signs printed right away. Allow your logo design to sink in, so you know that it is just right.
• Take a look at this super inspiring wonderfully type filled Pinterest board by Very Asia.

I've redesigned my website and blog a million times (read 4 - 5 times) and my logo once. I'm finally after 5 years (oops that's a bit too long, but sometimes things take time) got my design and logo finalized. But who knows, I might redesign next year. I just think redesigning too often can be a bit confusing to your followers and buyers. Even this week you may have noticed some changes on the blog as I've been putting much more effort and time here... and needed a space to match. (I'm quite pleased and think this design will stick around for quite a while.)

Your niche kind of finds you. My work is pretty obvious and my niche is most definitely majority women with a love for fashion (but appeals to many ages.) Once this became apparent (after lots of the same sorts of blogs contacted me) I could confidently submit my work to fashion magazines and fashion blogs directed towards a few different age groups. There is no point for me to waste my time submitting my work to blogs or magazines with audiences that wouldn't appreciate my work.