One of the most important aspects of starting a cottage baking business is establishing your brand. Once established, your brand will be one of your most valuable business assets, so it is important to get it right from the start. It gives you an identity, makes you memorable and allows you to develop a relationship with your audience who will eventually become loyal customers. So, before you come up with a name, a logo, or a slogan (or even any messaging or brand communication), it’s helpful to run through a brainstorming exercise first. This exercise will really help bring the brand into focus for you personally, and it will also serve as a creative brief for whomever is developing your brand identity. 

‍

Before getting into some brand development concepts, let’s first define what a brand is. Conceptually, a brand is what defines and differentiates your company, products and services in the marketplace. The name originates from the mark branded into livestock, but it has been extended to mean a strategic personality which encompasses not only your literal mark, but also the values and promises that consumers may perceive and buy into, and it includes voice and tone for messaging. So establishing a brand is about identifying your values, your audience, your goals and your positioning, and then making sure that your brand communicates this in your authentic voice.

‍

First, my credentials: I’m a professional baker leading the artisan bread program for Haymarket, a large, farm-to-table market. I am also a former bakery owner, former chef, and the founder of both Sourdough Geeks and Cottage Geeks groups on Facebook. But I also had a career in advertising, working specifically on branding through design thinking concepts.

‍

Design thinking is a conceptual framework for product development, but it’s useful when thinking about brand because it puts the customer at the centre of the process. And once you have your brand established, it can help you to really hone in to better serve, even delight, your customers.

‍

The first step is to write a few paragraphs in response to following prompts:

‍

1. Values - Write about what is important to you and what you want to communicate to your audience.
2. Audience - Try to define who you think your customers are and what you think their values are as well. 
3. Goals - What you see your business becoming and what your offering will be. Include products, channels (retail, wholesale, special orders, etc.) Where would you like to end up?
4. Positioning - This is the unique value you present to your customer, and what differentiates you in the market. It creates clarity over who you are, and why you are the best choice for your customer.

‍

As an example, I’ve included the creative brief we developed for our bakery, The Grainwright, and I’ll expand on the thinking behind the brand. Ultimately, branding is about storytelling, and the way in which these stories connect with our audiences emotionally. 

‍

The Grainwright is a real bread micro-bakery, specializing in long-fermented sourdough with freshly milled whole grains. We operate a subscription based model, providing weekly pickups of artisan hearth baked breads. Currently baking in the Highland Coffee commissary kitchen, with pickup from Highland Coffee.

‍

Values - We are craftspeople. We value the skills, time and ingredients that a superior bread product demands. That means a focus on local, organically grown, non-GMO grains and produce with traceability from field to loaf. We value transparency in all our practices and believe in sharing knowledge and experience with others. 

‍

Audience - Those who share our values - foodies, the discerning, the mindful, and those who aspire to - the hipsters, the lifestyle influencers, fashionistas and socialites. Our customer values a premium product

‍

Goals - To begin as a micro-bakery producing limited breads for weekly pickup, but eventually moving into dedicated premises and running a full bakery also serving breakfast and brunch. Potential for wholesale through local outlets, artisan bread workshops, and chef partnerships.

‍

Positioning - Real. Artisanal. Premium. Honest. Authentic. Valuable. Wholesome. Simple. Natural. Superior. Small-batch.

‍

The process really informs everything, from naming to fonts and colors as well as the logo styling. The term ‘wright’ is archaic, and means builder or maker. The surname Cartwright, for instance, literally means ‘maker of carts’. So, a Grainwright is a builder with grain (bread maker). We wanted it to be a bit of a throwback, harking back to a time when everything was done by hand. Our font is a letterpress style font, and the logo looks hand stamped even though it’s printed. The fleur de lis is made from wheat, and is an old French symbol but also a symbol that represents Louisville where we live. We used a colour palette that had hues of light brown and gold to represent earth and grain, with black for grounding and lots of white space to reinforce our positioning as a premium brand with strong ethical values. And we always communicated those values with storytelling that was both earnest and playful.

‍