How to Establish a Strong Brand Identity
Before discussing how successful businesses create their brand identity, it may be useful to explain the difference between brand, branding and brand identity. While these terms work close together, they are not the same and knowing how to distinguish the three from one another is crucial for a business to function properly.
So What’s the Difference?
A Brand is what people perceive your business to be. But more importantly, a brand is what sets your business apart from other businesses.
Branding encompasses the strategy you develop for a distinguished brand. This is achieved through various forms of marketing and advertising.
Finally, Brand Identity is how a business desires to represent itself to customers. Both customers and businesses utilize brand identity, but for different reasons. It is a tool used by businesses within the branding process while customers use it as a means for how to perceive a brand.
What to Do First
If you have not already, the first step is to specify your target audience. Research the needs they have and how you plan to satisfy them. It is often beneficial to be diligent in conducting quality research to build personas as the data you discover will impact a large number of future decisions. Understanding your target audience/persona helps you know how to effectively approach potential and current customers.
Presenting Your Business as the Solution
Developing personas and knowing the target audience allows you to establish a clear connection with potential customers in your market. You discovered an issue, now you must present your business as the solution to a problem they may or may not be aware of. The goal of brand identity is to convey that the core values and products of your company are the best fit for their needs. It communicates to customers, in the best possible way, what your brand is and how your business can help.
What Does Quality Communication Look Like?
Your brand identity interacts with customers through various methods. Some of the most common ways customers interact with your business are through visible components such as:
- Web Design
- Packaging
- Photography
- Advertising/Print
- Logos
Paying attention to multiple features of your brand identity ensures effective communication with customers. Even decisions in the tiniest details can change the psychological effect brand identity manifests in the minds of customers. For example:
- Color: Any choice of colors, whether it be for a small project or deciding the fundamental colors of your business, stimulate different emotions in the human brain. Red stimulates excitement, blue calmness, and yellow energy. Make sure that your message and color choices are communicating the same thing.
- Typography: Fonts may seem of little importance, but an intentional choice in the use of typography shows exceptional diligence when done correctly. Much like color, it can affect how customers feel when reading any of your text. Some fonts can present information as professional or even old-fashioned, others make information appear creative or trustworthy. Choosing one or a select few fonts that fit well with your brand identity can have a greater influence than you might expect.
The most important aspect of quality communication is consistency. Your brand identity may include more or less visible components than what is listed above. But if each component you use cannot communicate a concise and consistent message, then your brand identity has been utilized to its full potential. A lack of consistency can lead to confusion among both employees and customers, making it difficult to lay the foundation for a strong connection between them and your business to take hold.
The Purpose of a Brand Identity
Quality communication of your brand identity establishes a relationship with the customer, ensuring they perceive your brand the way you want them to. Keep in mind that brand identity is essentially a part of the branding process. When executed well within your market, your brand identity becomes memorable and achieves longevity. But focusing on the brand identity separately from your branding strategy is important because once your brand identity becomes solidified, it only has to be consistently maintained, while your branding strategy often alters based on external situations within your target audience.
