Your brand identity is more than just a recognizable logo; it's the cornerstone of your business. It’s what sets you apart from your competitors and helps your customers identify and connect with your company. But how do you create a strong brand identity that resonates with customers?
- Establish your company’s values and mission statement. This should reflect what your business stands for and what you want to achieve. Take the time to write out these brand values and ensure that they are aligned with your business goals and objectives.
- Identify your target audience. It may help to create a visual “character” that you name and give personality traits to such as age, income, behaviors, attitudes. Establishing this character persona of your ideal client will allow you to tailor your marketing to them specifically. Additionally, conduct market research to understand your audience’s habits. You can do this through social media analytics, website analytics, or conducting your own surveys. Once you have your target audience, tailor every piece of content/marketing/branding to this client.
- Develop your visual identity. This includes your logo, color scheme, fonts, and any other design elements. It should be unique and reflective of your brand values. Make sure that you aren’t choosing a design based just on aesthetic – choose elements carefully. Pay attention to color theory and research the emotions that specific colors evoke in a consumer.?This video?does a great job of explaining the psychology behind colors. Check out this video that similarly discusses?font choices.
- Use consistent messaging and tone of voice. You want your website to sound exactly the same as your social media, as your advertisements, and as your customer interactions. If one of these tones is different, you have created a conflicting experience for your customers – leaving them questioning your company. It’s important to discuss this messaging and tone with all employees as well. Consider Chick-fil-a’s use of the response “my pleasure” when you thank them. Every employee understands the expectations when they are representing the company, and the consumers have learned to expect that level of messaging during interactions.
- Create a brand style guide. This is a document that outlines your brand identity and provides guidelines for its use. It should include information on your brand values, visual identity, messaging, and tone of voice. This will ensure consistent branding is communicated across all channels. If you are working with a designer for your visual identity, they will likely create one for you.
- Build brand recognition through advertising and marketing. Once you’ve developed your brand identity, it should be present in every piece of content that is published and shared. Your consumers will begin to identify your brand based on these elements subconsciously. Consider Nike’s “Just Do It” campaign. Nike used this slogan in a series of ads featuring famous athletes who embodied their message of perseverance. People began recognizing the Nike brand just by the words “Just Do It” with a positive association.
Creating a strong brand identity takes time and effort, but it is worth it. By doing this legwork, you’ll build brand recognition, loyalty, and trust among your target audience. Additionally, your future marketing and advertising campaigns will have a narrow path to flow through, allowing for ease of creation and understanding.
