When many people think of a brand, their image may stop at a logo & maybe some promo materials. However, branding is a wholistic process for your business. Therefore, you need to consider the minute details to create a more consistent brand image and more cohesive brand identity. That means you need to brand your office or place of business, even if clients aren’t going to actually go there.

Okay, you may be thinking, “Why do I need to brand my office?” or “Why do I need to brand it when no clients are going to see it? The answer is that having a consistent look & feel will help not only clients to identify your business brand, but also your staff, contractors, & partners.

Think about this for a second. Take a look at our website and you see a lot of white, black, and some bright colors (pink, purple, green) that pop because the page isn’t full of color. Now imagine that you walk into my office and you find blue walls, a beige carpet, dark brown sofas, a library, & oak desks. Now imagine that you walk into my office and find white walls; modern metal chairs with dark pink padding, white & black tables and cabinets, a few pink, purple, & green glass candle holders, a butterfly on the wall, a glass conference table with black seats, black leather picture frames with just the logos of our sites in each of the frames, an abnormally shaped dark pink flower holder, and so forth. You get the picture, right? The second office would seem to belong to my agency much more than the first one. If clients do come to your office, your brand will make additional impressions without you needing to advertise to them. Even without visitors, having a strong brand cohesion in your place of work will draw out stronger feelings of brand loyalty and brand ownership amongst your staff.

While some of you have a home office, you can still set-it up to give you a feel of your brand. For instance, when I started Happy and Healthy Mom, I bought a light green leather office set that matched my HAHMom logo. In fact, I am working from home as we speak and typing on a purple netbook with a purple mouse. That might sound obsessive, but just think about when I take out my netbook to meet with someone or carry it around in my purple netbook case. How many people are carrying around the same thing? Those little details are memorable.

As always, comments are appreciated. Tell me if you have branded your office or if you’d like to.