It takes more than a beautiful craft to turn heads. Whether you’re in a crowded market or selling online, if you want shoppers to remember you, come back, and trust you, your brand is the key to success.
Like crocheting a pattern you know by heart, branding your craft business creates an emotional connection with customers, turning one-time buyers into loyal fans.
To help you understand branding and where to start, we’re diving into everything you need to know about how to brand a handmade business in eight steps, including ideas to get inspired and how to protect your brand as you grow.
Quick Checklist for Branding a Craft Business
✅ Know your audience
✅ Write your brand story and voice
✅ Decide on a color palette
✅ Choose your font
✅ Design a logo
✅ Complete your style guide
✅ Protect your brand with crafters insurance
What Makes a Craft Brand Stand Out?
To set your brand apart, you need to connect with your audience by crafting a strong brand identity — one of the first steps to starting a handmade business.
Brand identity for crafters refers to your visuals, tone, and ability to make your customers feel a certain way when they interact with your business.
Your brand is a reflection of what you and your customers value most. It should look and feel authentic, setting you apart from competitors and building trust so shoppers are twice as likely to buy from you.
Even if you’re just starting out, you have everything you need to build something special. Your brand is already in your hands — you just need to shape it with these maker-friendly tips:
1. Understand Your Customer
Once you know who you want to sell your products to, the easier it is to build your brand around those customers. Use the market research in your craft business plan to answer the following questions:
- Who is your target customer?
- What do they value most in a brand?
- How does your product meet their needs or wants?
- What do you want people to think or feel about your business?
Understanding what motivates, inspires, or comforts your customers helps you craft a brand that truly feels like it was made for them.
2. Craft Your Brand Story and Voice
Storytelling is an effective way to engage with customers, and plays a crucial role in branding a business. While you don’t need to be a great writer to talk about why your brand exists, you do need the right voice.
Think of your brand as though it were a real person. How would they speak, and with what words? Are they sincere and uplifting, or whimsical and funny?
Just like your personality attracts the friends you want, your brand voice attracts the customers you want. Keep it clear and consistent, from your social media posts to your product descriptions.
3. Create a Vibe With Your Color Palette
Research shows that 55% of first impressions are visual, and many people remember brands solely based on their color palette.
Colors evoke emotions, so when choosing the best colors for your handmade business, design a mood board using websites like Canva. Add images that reflect your brand’s vibe and how you want customers to feel.
Identify the three most common colors in your mood board, then use tools like Coolors to extract these hues and build a complementary palette or theme. Incorporate these colors across your website, packaging, and craft show booth display for a cohesive, memorable look.
4. Select Your Typography
Your typography, or how your words appear visually, is an extension of your brand voice. While it should match your vibe, it should also be clear and legible since you’ll use it on your packaging, website, and logo.
With millions of typefaces to choose from, here’s how to pick the best font for your brand:
- Choose fonts that reflect your brand’s personality, whether it’s classic, chic, or playful.
- Decide between font types like serif for a traditional feel or sans-serif for a clean, contemporary look.
- Research the fonts used by popular brands in your market to understand current trends.
- Use a font pairing tool like Monotype to find combinations of fonts that create a balanced look.
- Elevate your brand with a custom font using tools like Adobe Illustrator, or by purchasing one online.
How many fonts does a brand need? To stay consistent and avoid visual clutter, your brand needs two to three fonts. Use your primary font for your logo and/or website headers, and other fonts for body text, packaging materials, and social media graphics.
5. Design a Memorable Logo
Like a signature on a work of art, your logo helps people recognize your brand. It incorporates your color palette and typography without being over-the-top. The best logos are:
- Simple: A well-designed logo is simple enough to be memorable and timeless, while also unique to your brand
- Readable: Your logo needs to be clear and legible at every size, from your market booth sign to your product tags
- Versatile: Have multiple versions of your logo for different purposes, including a brandmark, condensed style, and a black and white option
- Attractive: Use visual elements or icons, like hand-drawn foliage for nature crafts or paw prints for pet-themed products
Choosing a logo you love takes time and effort. It’s worth the extra step to protect it with a trademark. This keeps your logo safe from unauthorized use and demonstrates your commitment to your brand.
Worried about your brand looking professional? When designing your brand, you don’t have to go it alone! Hire a freelance designer on platforms like Fiverr to create a professional logo or custom typography that fits your unique style and budget.
6. Stay Consistent with a Brand Style Guide
From sticking to your color palette to using the same voice across all platforms, being consistent makes it easier for shoppers to remember you. A brand style guide or brand kit is like a rulebook, compiling all your materials into one place to make decision-making and marketing feel effortless.
Your handmade brand style guide should include your:
- Mood board
- Color palette
- Typography
- Logo versions
- Supporting imagery
- Brand values
- Voice and tone
- Trademark, if applicable
Your style guide is a large canvas where your brand lives. While PDF versions are helpful when hiring a freelancer, consider designing your brand kit online with user-friendly tools like Figma.
Handmade Brand Kit Examples
7. Use Your Branding Everywhere Your Business Lives
Customers interact with brands across various channels. Staying true to your brand on all of them helps your craft business stand out online and in person, making your marketing efforts more effective.
Your online presence — including your website, Etsy shop, and social media platforms — should reflect the same look, feel, and personality as your booth at craft fairs.
Here are some examples of where to use your branding:
- Etsy shop banner
- “About me” page
- Vendor booth signage and decor
- Instagram posts and stories
- Packaging materials and tags
- Thank-you cards
- Email newsletters
- Product descriptions and photos
8. Don’t Be Afraid to Rebrand
In some cases, changing your brand may be a step forward. The longer you’re in business, the more you understand your target customer. These helpful insights tell you when to rebrand to better appeal to customers and a changing market, leading to long-term stability.
How to Know When It’s Time to Rebrand
- Your target audience isn’t well-defined: Dig deeper into your market research and be more specific about the demographics you’re trying to reach
- Your branding looks too similar to others: It’s okay to use other brands as inspiration, but the key to a recognizable brand is having a distinct look
- Your UVP isn’t recognizable: Clearly define what makes your brand unique, avoid vague language, and use a tone that makes sense for your target audience
- You add new products or services: New creations are an exciting opportunity to curate a fresh look that unifies everything you have to offer
- You’re struggling to raise prices: Elevating the look and feel of your brand can redefine the value of your products, making it easier to justify new prices
How Insurance Protects the Brand You’re Building
Insurance is more than a safety net for your finances — it’s a trust signal showing customers you care about their safety. If someone gets hurt using your product or trips at your booth, craft liability insurance can help cover recovery costs, offering peace of mind.
With ACT Insurance, you’ll receive an insurance badge to display on your website, booth, and other branding elements. This lets shoppers and venues know you take your business seriously.
Protect the brand you’ve worked so hard to build with handcrafted coverage that supports your business everywhere you sell your products. We’re trusted by artists and crafters to protect their business, so customers can trust you.
Get Inspired With These Craft Business Branding Ideas from Makers Like You!
From creative ways to package your products to branded QR codes, here are several real-world craft business branding ideas to inspire you.
FAQs About How to Brand Your Craft Business
How much does branding cost for a small business?
The cost of professional branding for a small craft business depends on the services you need. While some agencies offer basic brand identity packages starting at $1,000, you can spend far less using freelance designers who are willing to work within your budget.
Can good branding really increase my craft sales?
Good branding can help increase revenue by up to 20% when you’re consistent with your messaging. Not only does it make your business more recognizable, it also helps you connect with your audience and build customer loyalty.
What is a good slogan for a craft business?
Some artists and crafters like to include a slogan to further customize their brand. A good slogan should be brief (under five words) and relevant to your business and brand voice. For example:
- Pawsitively handmade
- Hand-poured to warm hearts
- Jewelry by nature
- Handmade for your home
- Shaped by helping hands
