We love Canva for all things related to simple graphics and design for our business. We use it for multiple purposes (which we list out in this blog post), especially for our templates in The Creative Template Shop. Basically, it’s the one tool that any small business owner should have in their back pocket to quickly and easily whip up graphics for their biz.

Canva has a free forever version, which already allows you to do most things. However, they also have Canva Pro which unlocks extra perks, one of those being the ability to create your brand kit(s) and have them saved to access easily when creating something. In this blog post, we’ll explain how you can create your brand in Canva, plus we include a video tutorial to show you exactly where to find everything you need!

When you think of “branding”, what comes to mind first? We’d venture to guess a popular logo popped up in your head, or a specific color palette. In all actuality, branding is much more than just the visuals that represent a company. It’s also the voice, personality, mission, and tone that make up a brand.

Even if the brand is run by multiple individuals, the brand as a whole should have its own personality that, well, personifies it! It should coax certain feelings from an audience and specifically target a certain group of people.

It all seems very confusing, but by following just a few steps, you’ll be able to intertwine your personality into elements of your branding and successfully convey that to your audience, whether you’re just starting out or in the midst of a rebrand!

As small businesses competing against larger or more well-known businesses, it isn’t as effective to just talk about what you do as a business. The key to standing out is the brand that you build. A recognizable and loved brand is one of the most valuable assets a business owns.

However, a brand is much more than just a name, tagline, logo, and other visuals. Even though these pieces do play a role in the bigger picture, there are other elements that bring it all together.

Your branded marketing collateral is like the sidekick to your business. They aid you in marketing and promoting your brand across different mediums, which means they play a huge part in your overall brand strategy.

Your branded marketing collateral is what makes the first impression on people, so it’s important to make sure that each asset is planned and designed to effectively let the market know about your brand story and what you offer.

OK, so it plays such an important role, but what actually is it? Keep reading as we dive into how brand marketing collateral can make your business turn heads, plus the different types of collateral!

Having a brand that’s authentic means being more in tune with who you are and where your passions lie, as well as the needs of your audience. Spoiler alert: It isn’t just about an amazing logo and a pretty color palette. When you pull together elements of yourself and your personality, the benefits you’ll reap are well worth the extra time and effort it takes to really dive in and build a powerful brand identity.

With all that said, here’s our 5-step guide to creating a powerful brand identity that stays closer to the things you love, the things that represent you and your business, and your personality!

When you set up a product-based business, you spend a lot of time thinking about the product itself. You’ll devote time to planning how to market and communicate it to potential customers. But often, packaging is last on the to-do list, because it’s seen as a practical way to protect and ship, and nothing more.

By now, we all know that Instagram is the place to be for creatives. This network provides an amazing opportunity to build authentic relationships that feel intimate and true. Plus, Instagram is all about beautiful, artistic, bold images. But while we pride ourselves on being creative, let’s be honest here: it is hard to post stunning content every single day. At the same time, we stumble upon these gorgeous feeds with hundreds of thousands of followers and we start doubting our abilities. We get impostor syndrome, and think that our Insta feed will never look nearly as cool and polished.

With the huge influx of new solo or small group entrepreneurs into the world, the realm of branding has shifted. Where “personal branding” used to refer to the act of dressing up your personality, packaging yourself as a commodity in order to climb the corporate ladder, it now means something very, very different. Now personal branding refers to bloggers, solo photographers, freelancers, and all kinds of entrepreneurs and how they market themselves and their products or services. Furthermore, as these talented and capable people begin to brand themselves, a trend of DIY personal branding has taken over the blogosphere and social media marketing genres.

There is nothing wrong with DIY branding, particularly in the creative sector. After all, branding is something many creatives learn by trade and doing it in-house can save a lot of upfront cash for a new or small business. However, there is an unfortunate downside to the the DIY approach, especially in today’s post Pinterest world. Too often creatives, bloggers, and infopreneurs build a brand from shallow trends in their niche. Driven by the time stresses of the #sidehustle, or the ever-present comparison game, they abandon the core concept of authenticity and originality in branding and clamor to make something, anything so that they can launch their endeavors and build their businesses.

Building a brand that’s authentic and that you love could be the difference between having a successful business and one that’s not. Why? Because having a brand that’s authentic means being more in tune with who you are and where your passions lie as well as the needs of your audience. When I started my business as a branding strategist and designer 10 years ago, I wasn’t authentic at all. I did what I thought I needed to do. I offered a limitless amount of services, I talked about everything that I did, and I left “me” out of the equation. As I progressed in my career, I came to realize that I was making a huge mistake that was basically limiting my success.

So, I made a shift in the way I communicated with my audience and with myself, understanding my passions and being unapologetic about doing what I love. Here are the five steps you should follow in order to build an authentic brand that you love.