Branding a new business? | Rough House Blog

start a new business the right way.

The cheapest time to get your brand right is before you open. Once the sign is up, the menus are printed and the van is wrapped, every change costs you twice: once for the new design and again to replace everything that carried the old one.

I see it all the time. A new business launches on a logo a mate knocked up, does well, then pays to redo the lot 18 months later. The first logo wasn't free. It was a down payment on a rebrand.

Here's what to sort before you open, what can wait and what it costs.

What "branding" actually means for a new business.

A logo is one piece. A brand is everything someone uses to recognise you and decide if you're for them: the name, the logo, the colours, the type, the way you talk and how it all shows up on your sign, packaging, website and socials.

For a new business, branding is mostly about decisions:

• Who are you for? "Everyone" isn't an answer. A café for tradies at 6am looks different from one for brunch on a Sunday.

• Who are you up against? Walk the street. Look at the five places your customers would go if you didn't exist.

• What should people feel? Cheap and quick, or worth the wait? Local and rough, or polished and calm?

Get those right and the design almost picks itself. Skip them and you end up with a nice logo that tells nobody anything.

What to sort out before launch.

You don't need everything on day one. You need the things customers see first, done properly.

Must have before you open:

• A logo that works small and big. On a coffee cup, on a sign across the street and as a tiny icon on Instagram.

• A colour palette and fonts. Two or three colours and one or two fonts, written down so everyone uses the same ones.

• Files your suppliers will ask for. Sign writers, printers and embroiderers each want different formats. Get them all at once.

• A one-page set of rules. How to use the logo, what not to do and which colours go where. It saves arguments with every supplier.

Can wait until you're trading:

• A full brand book

• Custom illustrations or patterns

• A second or third version of the logo for odd spaces

• Photography, beyond a few good shots for launch

The rule: spend on what goes on things that are expensive to replace. Signage, vehicle wraps, uniforms and packaging come first.

Mistakes I see new businesses make.

Designing for yourself. Your favourite colour and the font you like aren't a strategy. Design for the customer you want walking in.

Copying the place you admire. It feels safe, but it makes you the second version of someone else. People pick the original.

Leaving it until the week before opening. Rushed branding means the printer is waiting on you, the signwriter is waiting on you and you sign off on something you haven't slept on. Start two to three months out if you can.

Only getting a PNG. Then the sign needs a vector, the uniforms need a one-colour version and you're back paying someone to redraw your own logo.

Picking a name without checking it. Check the domain, the Instagram handle and the business register before you fall in love with it.

I myself forgot to check the IP on a personal brand I was developing after having paid for the domain, name registration etc only to find a business trading a lot longer than myself was virtually the same. All of it went it the bin and I had to cop those costs on the chin.

What branding a new business costs in Australia.

You can spend $50 on a marketplace logo or tens of thousands at an agency. For most new small businesses, the sweet spot sits between the two.

My packages for new businesses:

• The Slab, $2,800. One logo, the files and the rules, for a business showing up in one or two places first. Includes a BUILD diagnostic report, three mood board directions, three logo directions with one revised, a one-page brand guide, the full file package and two revision rounds.

• The Fit Out, $6,500. For a business showing up in more places than a logo can cover. Everything in The Slab plus an extended logo suite, designs applied to your real touch points and full brand guidelines.

If you're opening a café, bar or shop with a fit-out, signage and packaging, The Fit Out is usually the right call. If you're a service business that mostly needs a logo on a website and a business card, start with The Slab.

Either way, it costs less than doing it twice.

See full pricing

How long it takes.

Plan for four to eight weeks from first call to final files, depending on the package and how quickly feedback comes back. [Check these timelines against your own packages.]

If you're on a fit-out schedule, tell me your opening date on the first call. I'll work back from it so the sign writer and printer get files in time.

How it works with me.

It's just me, start to finish. You won't get passed to a junior after the first meeting.

1. Break down. Your idea, your market and who you're up against.

2. Uncover. Why you're starting this and who it's for.

3. Identify. Where you'll sit in the market and what makes you the obvious pick.

4. Lay out. Logo, colour, type and the rules that hold it together.

5. Deliver. Tested on your real sign, cup or packaging, then handed over with every file you need.

[Your story: one line on why you love working with new businesses.]

Starting soon?

Take the quiz. Ten quick questions tell you which package fits and what launching on a placeholder brand could cost you later. Take the quiz

Or book a call and tell me what you're opening. I work with new businesses across Newcastle and Sydney.