Five?Brand Identity Mistakes To Avoid When Scaling Your Business

Let’s start with a simple question, what does a brand do for a business? There are many theoretical ways to answer this question. But one I prefer is;

brand is a tool to explain business to a customer interestingly.

And as the business explains, it connects, it converses, it engages, and finally forms a long lasting meaningful relationship. And it is this meaningful relationship, that turns an idea into a sustainable business.

So irrespective of the size, brand is the business. 

But despite this simple linear logic, startups don’t get there brand identity needs right as they scale up. 

The typical five large mistakes they make are quickly covered below. This list is not exhaustive but these are the ones no business can get wrong. 

1. Brand identity is not “I like this colour” : In our experience we have realised that there is a general lack of understanding, what the term brand identity encapsulates. Many think that identity is some aesthetically designed logo, smart baseline and a choice of pleasing colours. Brand identity is not an exercise in art. It is an exercise in meaning. Brand identity is strategy made visible.  Many startups give the task to a designer, even before defining their purpose or vision, or thinking through their strategy. Everything comes from somewhere. An identity designed from nothing, naturally will go nowhere. Design brand identity after you are clear on who you are, and why you are.
2. The silo effect: Fallout of the above is that it brand identity gets boxed in a silo, to be managed by marketers, designers and agencies. The thinking being that identity is something that goes on packaging or on communication. They don’t see brand identity as embodying the idea itself. As a result it doesn’t get deeply entrenched in the idea. Idea and the identity do not become body and soul. At the beginning of their journeys, startups believe that the idea is the most important thing, which is true, because without the idea there is nothing. And they spend all their hours getting the product right. But because brand is disassociated from the product or the idea, it doesn’t get enough attention and gets treated casually. The outcome of this disconnected approach is that many a times great products and ideas don’t make that quantum leap because their identities are vacuous and devoid of meaning.
3. Employees understanding: Not spending enough time explaining the brand to the employees. Not realising that the employees are an integral part of the brand identity. They are not just ambassadors of the brand, or the mediums and carriers of the brand but the brand themselves. These are not empty words, in today’s world, where every word can quickly echo wide and far, getting this part of the identity design right is the most critical piece in the brand design. As a piece of communication is checked and debated thoroughly to ensure that it communicates the intended essence of the brand, reflects the identity, the same due diligence needs to be done when it comes to the living mediums of the brand identity. 
4. Not giving attention to the small stuff: if you look at the brand identity books of the most of the brands, you will find most of the ink being spent on brand story, logo dos & don’ts, fonts, people, colours, environments. The big stuff takes not just all the pages of the brand book but also all the time of their brand custodians. And in the process, what misses out, brand elements that are considered mandatory but boring; the invoices, the letter heads, the bills, employees manuals, the product books, instruction manuals, the email signatures. It is not that these elements are not part of brand identity books. For sure these are mentioned (at the end somewhere), just that thinking is usually missing in the design of these elements. Other than defining the logo placement, these elements communicate nothing about the brand. Little things can become big stories if done smartly and intelligently. So when you are designing identity, get everything right. The big, the small, the visible the invisible and the everything in-between. Everything is brand so everything should be brand.
5. Forever fallacy: Brand identity is fluid. It is not something done once and then followed forever. Brand identity is about being relevant. So when you scale up, do go through your identity if it is still relevant for the new reality. Don’t treat it like a gospel truth. Identities are like people, they grow, they change and they become smarter with new learnings. 

About Think Simplr

We are a brand strategy and design lab that collaborates with clients to make brands engaging and interesting for customers.

If you like to have a dialogue with us, you can reach us at: [email protected]

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