Branding is one of the first things people look into when they start a business.

To be frank, I don’t think you need to spend so much time on branding for your small business at the beginning because it’s going to change as you and your business grows.

But, it is good to have something, right? And we have to start somewhere because having no clue is also not good!

I want to share with you my experience with branding for my small business so that maybe you can skip a few steps.

Cookie Cazimi and The Diane Collective colors are hot pink and baby pink. Before Cookie Cazimi’s were orange and yellow; the Diane Collective’s lavender and purple.

So, what happened?

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Different for the Sake of Different

My home bakery specializes in chunky cookies, which are all over the Internet, but I’m the only one who does them in my small town besides big, bad Crumbl.

And as a result, my instinct was to immediately not go with pink. Not just because of Crumbl, but also a lot of bakeries I knew of used pink and I didn’t want to be another pink bakery.

When I became a vendor at the farmers market, I leaned on orange and yellow because I read that McDonald’s uses red and yellow in their branding as psychologically it makes you feel hungry.

And I thought those fiery colors would be fitting for the “cazimi” in Cookie Cazimi since it means “in the heart of the Sun.”

One day, I was working on some flyers and I asked my cousin, who works in design, to give me some pointers on visuals and spacing because I didn’t like what I was seeing but I also didn’t know what to fix.

And the more we worked on the flyer, the more she wanted to change the colors since she said the orange and yellow just reminded her of fast food and that it’s probably what was making things stay “off” for her despite the meaningful changes we made.

Suddenly, she said, “why don’t we see how pink looks?” because pink was my favorite color growing up and so that’s what she associates me with.

SHOCK HORROR!

Not really. But, while I didn’t want to be another pink bakery, I didn’t relent because:

1. Pink is a popular color for everything, like actually… who cares that there’s another pink business; they’re always going to exist. And it’s okay to be like every other girl.
2. My cousin isn’t into bakeries or sweets, so this suggestion came from a very unassuming and ignorant place. Her focus was just on “this would look great” instead of “this will make you stand out” because she didn’t know what was normal or even overdone in this space.

This made me realize that standing out isn’t the real goal. It’s about sending a message.

And the message isn’t “I’m different from other bakeries” because… what does that even mean?

Anyway, this is how we selected the perfect pink…

How to Steal a Color

Okay, so we decided on pink, but which pink? There are a million varieties of one color.

I’m going to just cut to the chase — We started looking at logos from big companies in completely different industries and just took what they used.

Now, we didn’t take everything and copy their entire color scheme!

But, if they have a pink we liked, picked that pink. Then, we plugged and played around in Canva until we liked what we saw because we had pretty much finished the flyer.

Now, if you don’t like the idea of stealing or copying, that’s totally cool.

You can skip that step and go straight to looking up HEX colors yourself and go with what you like.

Just don’t be afraid to do what other businesses in your space are doing like I was. Don’t stay away from pink for the sake of it.

Other businesses are doing it because it probably works. I mean they’re all in the game, right?

And to be clear, I do not endorse stealing from other small businesses because that’s not cool; we’re all trying our best here and working very hard.

BUT, BIG MONEY??? I don’t give a fuck. They already spent the hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars on studying and marketing that pink, so I know it works.

And they probably treat their employees like shit and had a bunch of layoffs so… it’s fine (to me).

Sticking it to the man aside, it’s important to note that I only took that one element.

Because a brand is more than just one color.

Like, I don’t think you would know which pink I got from what company because the vibes with how I used this pink is totally different.

When we finalized our two colors, we just thought the flyer was perfect now because it said “PARTY!”

Because cookies are a fun food and parties are where you have fun. And what that company sold was… definitely not that, haha.

You take one thing and make it your own.

Step 1 of Branding for Your Small Business

I know I just explained all of this and we’re nearing the end of the blog post, so how the hell are we talking about a Step 1?

Well, this is your Step 1 because I don’t want you to go around this big loop-de-loop that I did; and you might not have a relative who’s working in design to help you.

Decide what emotional experience you want to sell.

What meanings do you want people to attach to your business?

With Cookie Cazimi, my chunky cookies aren’t going to be an everyday food like bagels.

So, when we got that fun and festive vibe with the pinks, we felt like we were telling my customers that if you’re planning a good time, think of Cookie Cazimi!

I do want to mention that the decision to go with pink was based on my cousin’s personal association with me.

Because generally you aren’t always your target audience, so you don’t necessarily want to go with what you like.

That’s just a decision you have to make whether you are or not.

A few years ago, I had a spirit guide reading and my spirit guides told me that it’s important for my businesses to be a reflection of myself; otherwise, it’s not going to work out long-term.

I know it’s kind of funny that I’m taking business advice from some kooky lady, but her advice is working for me because while this isn’t my first business… it is my first successful one!

But, it might not be the right advice for you.

And I know of successful founders who say, “I was my target customer so that’s why it worked” but don’t be discouraged if you don’t feel that way.

There are many successful small businesses whose founder is not a part of their customer base.

You have a great product and you want to find the people who will benefit from it the most!

And if you’ve been wondering why The Diane Collective has the same branding as Cookie Cazimi, my cousin said that it’s just confusing to have two different brands.

She said that I want both to be associated with each other (and me), so they need to match.

I did like the mystic purple though… which ironically is the more overdone than pink bakeries, lol.

Concluding Thoughts on Branding for Your Small Business

Picking a color scheme is not that serious. At least, I don’t think so.

And I’m a Scorpio — meaning I take a lot of things seriously, so if I don’t think it’s serious, then it’s really not.

Because color is only a part of your branding. Branding is about the meaning customers attach to you!

The two main takeaways are:

1. Don’t be afraid to do what others are doing.
2. Steal like an artist.