What Comes First - Branding or Website?
the eternal question with the fine line between the two - even though they are two different things they also somehow go hand in hand. if you were a brand and your car was a website, what would you say which one of the two can live without the other?
It’s a no brainer I know, website being a vessel here to take your business places. Only, I wish it was actually that simple.
Let’s say you have decided on your business name, purchased domain and got yourself a logo. Then someone makes you a website and you think job done, but is it? You see, in this case your website came first because maybe you just needed to have a fill out form or you were eager to share your offers and or be able to open an online shop. Make no mistake though, logo is not branding. And let me say it louder for the people in the back.
logo alone is not considered as branding!
Sorry if I was being too loud but someone had to say it. There is nothing wrong with taking things and your business one step at a time. I’m not suggesting you should feel bad or think that you are doing something wrong if you have gone as far as creating logo for yourself for now. I just wanted to clarify what branding was not.
Another scenario could be that you really wanted strong presence on social media and you’ve invested in visual identity. Branding consisting of logo variations, colour palette, font combination and some brand graphics can secure you quite the awareness and make scroll stopping impression on your audience. Once they are ready for the next step and decide you have the service / product they need but then discover that the only way to reach you is through DM, chances are they’re going to move on. Yes, you’ve guessed right - you still need that vehicle to drive the traffic. Your customer needs an full itinerary and means to get them to the point B no matter where they have started.
Bottom line is, in a perfect world you would have both at the same time. Not one gets first, they rather come together! However, running or starting a business is a no joke and process definitely could be bumpy and messy. If you find yourself struggling and not knowing where to start don’t be too harsh on yourself. Before you even think about where should you invest your money and energies, I would make it my priority to be sure about the very foundations of the business. Because once you’re sure on the core pillars and know where you’re going, it is way easier to decide what is going to be priority for your business - branding, website or both.