In a world built on abundance, where clients have their unlimited choices—with numerous competitors offering similar products and services—becoming noticed is becoming more and more difficult. Now more than ever, it is important for a petrepreneur to have an effective brand and marketing strategy to consistently attract ideal clients.

So, what is the key to standing out from the pack? Having a BRAND WITH BITE.

In hopes to further help you with your business endeavors, we have included a free pet business branding checklist, be sure to download it today!

1 – BRANDING BUILDS TRUST

Your brand is the first experience most clients have with your company. It’s the persona of your business—the voice, feeling, design, and strategy that calls your audience to action and compels them to stay. A solid pet business brand helps to serve as a visual reminder of who you are, what you stand for, and the problems you solve, so it is important to remain consistent and cohesive.

Before you jump straight to the design portion of your brand image, think about the adjectives you want people to think of when they think of your brand. Does your brand reflect those adjectives? If it is not, then your customers will wind up confused and your messaging will be muddied—not exactly the ideal situation if you want to attract your ideal client.

For example, the brand image below was created for a new pet business located in Texas. This business wanted to create a design that read as upscale and soothing while still projecting a modern minimalism. The softened blue palette gives their brand that soothing, trusting feeling and the thin, long fonts give off a dainty, upscale feeling.

2 – BRANDING MAKES YOU RECOGNIZABLE

Having a custom and cohesive guide for your brand visuals helps you create a memorable and recognizable image for your company. A simple logo alone does not make for a strong brand identity to start. Simply put, your pet businesses brand needs to be a series of thoughtful and professionally designed elements specifically created to help you be:

Distinct – stand out from the pack

Memorable – strong visual impact and therefore, easily recognizable

Cohesive – various print + digital assets that compliment each other while establishing a consistent message

Authentic – tells a story that is uniquely you

Iconic – allows your brand to be timeless while still being able to evolve

This pet business brand was designed to be distinguished and easily recognizable by utilizing bold and striking shapes to make their logo. To add a personal touch, it also showcases the client’s love of Boston Terriers. A set of patterns was also used to help further this brand’s all natural look and feel; since their treats are truly all-natural. After the launch of their new brand, their online and offline sales have nearly doubled. With a strong brand, your customers will have no problem remembering you for their future needs.

3 – BRANDING SETS YOU APART

With the pet industry consistently growing and not showing any signs of slowing down, it is more important than ever to set yourself apart from your competition. A strong brand identity leads to increased engagement, conversion, and growth. After all, first impressions matter and you’ll never get a second chance to make that first impression (you WILL be judged on how your brand or lack thereof, is initially perceived). Clients often make assessments on service or product quality based on how polished (or unpolished) a brand looks. So, if your brand image is less than stellar, you could be leaving sales on the table. A professionally-designed brand matters when it comes to everything you do and it adds value. Ultimately, it will give you a major competitive advantage because branding is a visual, tangible, and controllable area that will set you apart from your competition. Make your audience’s experience with your unique and tail wagging-ly exciting.

This pet business re-brand for Catnip Takeout is truly unique. Not only is it for a feline pet business, but also was designed and developed to only use two colors. This was then carried throughout the entire company branding. A custom typeface that uses a strong pattern was created to emphasize that this toy maker is known for their use of bold and beautiful patterns for their cat toys.

4 – BRANDING GIVES YOU CLARITY AND DIRECTION

There is no point in having a great pet product or service if your visual communication fails to connect your audience with your messaging. If your visual identity isn’t consistent and appealing then your audience may not take you seriously. Worse yet, your client or customer may choose your competitors instead of you – just because your competitors looked and felt more professional.

Branding is the key tool for meticulously connecting and presenting all of your communications in a way that provides clarity on your company differentiators and product offerings. Setting the brand standards for your company’s voice and visuals provides focus and guidance—no more aimless wanderings. With brand standards, you’ll be able to create content with intent.

An example of brand clarity and direction is seen here in The Tell-Tail Paw, LLC. This pet business’ brand was created and developed around the client’s formal background in gourmet baking and her love of literary classics. This brand was designed to exude a look of sophistication and class by using a bright, yet elegant color palette combined with a classy and upscaled pattern and iconography to match.

5 – BRANDING CONNECTS EMOTIONALLY

As mentioned previously, creating a consistent, cohesive brand will help to build brand trust and emotional connections with your target audience and since most consumers purchase based on emotion, it’s important to have this established from the beginning.

This pet business  knowing their audience well, had a sweet, bright and sophisticated brand look created that would instantly connect with her upscale clientele. In addition, the brand also included her two moms’ favorite colors: feminine pink and chocolate brown. To top things off, custom illustrations were created to further and solidify her brand. This logo has been around for years and yet still connects with customers today.