Branding

I've known for awhile that branding is important to the ultimate success of a business and have toyed a bit with it. The first impression of my card or my jewelry booth will leave a mental mark on my potential clients even before they see my jewelry.

Branding can be confusing. Just what is it? How does it help? Much more knowledgeable people than I have investigated this, and I've been reading through whatever I can get my hands on that I think will help ! Recently I picked up a copy of The Handmade Marketplace by Kari Chapin and this little book is just full of information on getting who you are and what you do out to the public.

After reading through about 3/4 of the book, I started to ask if the appearance of my Etsy shop, and my business cards really worked. I knew they looked "nice" but did they really do what they needed to do. So I asked friends and family. Wow can people who claim to love you be brutal ! Everyone seemed to agree that the logo, banner, biz cards, and packaging all "went" together, but didn't show one bit what my jewelry was all about. YIKES!

So I've spent some time pondering how to get the handmade, rustic, comfy, quirky, funky feel of my jewelry into a logo that will also incorporate the look of the packaging materials that I've already purchased and love! The image on the left is my biz card now.

I know it doesn't exactly scream cool jewelry or even metal, right?


So my idea is to actually get some metal on it and more of a sense of what Hitch Hollow actually is. First step taken care of.. design. (pay no attention to the middle tree that seems to have an eyeball in it... no eyeball trees will be in my logo!) Second step is to take this little sketch, grab some metal, and torture it into this design. I've got my work cut out for me this afternoon... I'll drop back in and post my progress !

happy Sunday afternoon everyone. Remember to visit my shop if you're in the jewelry perusing mood :)
HitchHollowDesign@etsy

and please feel free to join me at Hitch Hollow on FB