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Match Your Website to Your Brand

How many times have you clicked on a website and felt the need to click off the site or find yourself lingering on and learning more? Websites create emotion. Your business creates emotion. And this emotion is part of your brand identity. Your brand is all that encompasses your business – it’s your product, service and visual presentation. The emotion one feels when they think of your business is part of your brand.

What one feels when with using your service, buying your product and/or walking into your shop should be the same sensation felt when they visit your website. Visual imagery that matches your business demonstrates integrity and establishes loyalty and aids in growth of business.  

Take Ralph Lauren for example, walk into their stores and go online, you will feel the same emotion of quality, elegance and lifestyle. Today, their website opens with a video that sets the scene… it takes the visitor to an elevated place. Then take Calvin Klein’s current site, it’s like a catalog with no story. This is a missed opportunity because Calvin Klein is so much more than a catalog of merchandise. 

So often, I see small business websites that don’t match their brand. I can walk into a restaurant or shop, find quality products, experience excellent service and feel a pleasant atmosphere. Then later on, I’ll go to their website to check on some info and I find the website is so disconnected from the experience that I felt when visiting the actual place. Websites sometimes bring down the brand. In these instances, I wonder if I’m on the correct site.

Have you ever researched places to holiday… some are dreamy and some are lacking? Often the website is better than the resort and no integrity is to be found there.

So, what does this mean? How do you create and ensure that your visual identity aligns with your product and service? And how do you make sure it’s good and effective for establishing and growing your business? 

Here are some tips on matching your website to your business: 

• use the same styling and colors on your website as you do in your shop

• use fonts that reflect the mood and quality of your service and products

• select images and graphics that align with your message and mission

If you don’t know how to identify the styling and mood, you can contact me or make a simple change. Coco Channel is known to have said, “Before you walk out the door everyday take one thing off”. The same may hold true for your website – remove something from your website, whether it be one color, font style or graphic element. If the branding is not aligned, then less will be best. 

Lisa Samkoff