How to define and develop your brand in 2016

Your brand is one of your most valuable assets. Your brand is represented and communicated in many ways through your services, products, tone of voice and visual identity. A strong brand attracts ideal clients, talented employees and sales. 

The Design Council recently stated that businesses who invest in design get a return of ￡4 for every ￡1 invested, proving why your visual identity is so important. At the start of the year many organisations set out their annual goals which may include refreshing their brand style to better represent their business objectives or launching a new product which requires it's own identity. If that resonates with you then let me walk you through how Valiant's 3 steps can help you to understand, design and implement the right identity:

1. Discovery

The discovery process is essential in a successful brand strategy. It is an immersive experience to ensure we understand your business thoroughly. Key stakeholders need to be involved in the workshops and ideally we like to have access to clients and employees where possible. We tailor the discovery process to suit you. The following steps provide us with all we need to develop your brand identity.

Initial research

We research your competitors, your marketplace and as much as possible about your clients, to ensure we bring opinion, knowledge and ideas at the start. Feedback from your clients can also provide vital insight. We would discuss the most appropriate way to engage them to achieve this.

Workshops

As part of the discovery process we run a series of workshops.

Immersion

The first is a structured, comprehensive and immersive workshop involving all key stakeholders. The workshop will be used to learn as much as possible about your current business position, future objectives, your existing clients, your ideal prospective client, why people engage with you, why they don’t and what you think your differentiators are or could be.

Employees

Ideally we like to talk to as many people about your brand as possible. A great starting point is with employees. A brand should define a business, its objectives and values. If the people within the business believe and understand their own brand, the cultural changes required for complete success are much easier.

Values

A values workshop enables Valiant to deliver the brand values, positioning and messaging strategy. We help you get to the bottom of:

• Your brand personality
• What you really believe in
• Perception within the industry
• What an ideal customer looks like
• What you strive to deliver in terms of customer service
  
  

Brand Strategy

Following the workshops, we filter all of the insight to deliver your brand positioning statement which evokes the essence of your brand. It should be real, honest and aspirational but you must be able to deliver on it.  In addition to a positioning statement, we develop key relevant messages to each of your target audiences.  These form the basis of your marcomms plan and website strategy.

2. Design

The right visual identity  is essential to support your brand positioning. The styling and design of your logo is not your brand. Remember your brand is your culture, it's what you live and breathe as a business, your reputation, your services, your products - it's everything you stand for. Your visual identity is there to communicate and symbolise all of this to your customers.

Initial concepts

Valiant designs several visual directions with rationale for each. Each concept is demonstrated in context across typical collateral examples rather than just  a logo in isolation.  Each design direction will show you the “look and feel” of your brand identity.

Design development

We undertake all necessary adjustments to ensure you have a visual style and identity that you love. It is our duty to ask enough questions and learn all we can to ensure we deliver a corporate identity that you love.

3. Implementation

 The final implementation stage is the application of the identity across core marketing collateral. To ensure the success of a rebrand this must be done consistently.

Brand guidelines

The creation of brand guidelines ensures consistent application by any supplier or internally. Brand guidelines can range from succinct logo usage information through to corporate tomes encapsulating all marketing materials. We recommend a balance to ensure that the identity is used correctly and consistently but is added to organically as brand asset implementation is undertaken.

As a start point the guidelines should include:

• Brand values
• Positioning
• Tone of voice
• Colour palette
• Logo guidelines
• Typography
• Collateral style guide including digital

Application

To ensure a new identity is implemented successfully Valiant includes the application of the new design across some core marketing tools. These include:

• Business cards
• Letterhead
• Email signature
• Presentation template

As part of your marketing strategy and plan, we can help you undertake an audit of all your existing marketing material. Once all of this is in place your new brand launch can be planned. The perfect opportunity to bolster internal morale, get in front of new and existing customers and gain that all important return on your investment.

If you're launching a new company, product, service or refreshing an existing brand I'd love to discuss it with you over a proper coffee. Drop me a line [email protected] or give me a call on 01252 783106.