How We Use Pinterest as a Tool for Our Branding Clients

We always ask our clients to build a private Pinterest board to make sure we’re on the same page with what we’ve discussed at our meeting. This homework gives the client the chance to visually clarify their ideas and has improved the need for revisions tremendously. It also has proven to be the most successful communication tool we’ve used with our clients to produce winning logos in the shortest amount of time and least amount of revisions! Everybody wins!

Below are specific instructions for you to create the best private board for your brand.

Remember Old-School Scrapbooking?

When I was a little girl, my sisters and I each received a big book of empty pages – it was huge, maybe 11 x 17″ and the pages were exceptionally durable. It was the 1970’s version of scrapbooking and we spent hours cutting up our mother’s Women’s Day and Good Housekeeping Magazines. We’d rip out all our favorite things and use rubber cement to stick them to the pages.

Why did we do that? We were dreaming, planning, finding inspiration for what we wanted out of life!

I think we all love to collect our favorite things as we dream about our future. Pinterest makes it easier than ever before AND we don’t have to worry about the glue drying up or the pages sticking together!

What is Pinterest?

Pinterest is a visual search engine, similar to Google, but for images. If you’re looking for ideas for painting a bedroom all you have to do is type “Bedroom paint ideas” and you’ll have hundreds of images of beautiful bedrooms of all different colors in your feed. If you want to be more specific, type in “Blue paint colors for bedrooms” and it’ll limit your feed to bedrooms painted blue.

Once you’ve filled your feed of images – you choose your favorites and “Pin” them to a “board.”

If you’ve never used Pinterest and would like a little more help on how to set up an account and build your boards – check out this HOW TO USE PINTEREST FOR BEGINNERS or All About Pinterest from Pinterest Helpdesk.

Why We Encourage Our Clients to Use Pinterest

Creating a brand for a business requires research and understanding of you and your business model. We use the combination of visual imagery from your Pinterest boards and the written client discovery form we have you fill out to fuel our creativity.

Pinterest helps designers:

• Pull ideas out of your head – which gives us clarity of your expectations
• Identifies color to make sure when you tell us you want “sea foam green” we know what that really looks like to you!
• Explains your personal style in a general way which helps know who you are.

 

What Should You Pin?

As designers we understand color theory, typography, and design and we will use our knowledge and expertise to create the best visual identity for your business. But knowing your style and preferences gives us the specific little details that make you unique – and adding these elements to your brand will make it perfect for YOU!

Typefaces – Myfonts.com is my favorite typeface company. They have a nice Pinterest presence here. But feel free to just search “fonts.”

Colors – Design Seeds uses photography to identify color palettes. Scroll through their boards for inspiration.

Interior Design Styles – Do you like Joanne Gaines, Mary McDonald or Kelly Hoppen your personal style gives us another clue to who you are and how we can design your brand.

Other Logos and Branding – Do you prefer a simplistic icon or a creative stylized design? Just type in “logo inspiration” you’ll have plenty to choose from.

A few of your favorite things… what other things catch your eye that you really love, pin a few of those too!

Great Your Brand Board is Done –

Wasn’t that fun? Now it’s time to share the board with us so we can see all your pins. Below are the step by step instructions to share a board with anyone. To specifically share your board with me use the email address here.

How to Invite Someone to Collaborate with Your Board

See the orange arrow on IMAGE 1? It’s pointing to the little + sign next to my logo (on your board it’ll be your profile image), click on that first.

It’ll bring up “Add collaborators” (see IMAGE 2) and give you options from people you already have in your contacts on Pinterest. If the person you’re sharing with is not listed there, choose the magnify glass next to the “Add Collaborators” (Green Arrow)

(IMAGE 3) Where the pink arrow is type the email of the person you are sharing the board with and click the paper airplane (see the blue arrow) and the person will receive an invite to your board immediately.

When I first started my business, every new client relationship started with a face to face meeting. But back in the 90’s that meant my clients were all within a two hour drive. Today BGD works with clients all over the country. Pinterest is a great resource for gathering the unique information I used to observe while chatting over coffee.

Try Pinterest Now –

If you’re still processing your business ideas, I encourage you to use Pinterest as a free resource for brainstorming. When you’re ready to move forward, share your board with us and complete the new client discovery form and let’s get started!

Still Confused About You Need to do Next?

We have some resources to help you –

• FREE CONSULTATION: Set up an appointment and brainstorm directly with Becky
• EMAIL: Explain your project needs on our project form.
• SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER: Monthly email of graphic design tips and tricks for business owners

What other questions do you have about working with designers? Feel free to share your questions in the comment section.

Thank you! Becky