Have you ever wondered what makes a brand stand out from the rest? It is the brand identity. What is brand identity? How can one create, retain or improve brand identity? You may have serious concerns about it. This blog covers all the details you would want to know in this context.
What is Brand Identity?
When you set up a brand, you do that to make it identified by people. A brand identity is thus what makes a brand identified by people. In simpler words, brand identity is the very personality of a brand made up of what it puts forth and what values it contains.
What Is the Importance of Brand Identity?
To make people identify your brand and realize how it differs from competitors, creating a strong brand identity is essential. Having a brand identity also benefits your marketing campaigns. Find a few reasons that make brand identity so important for businesses.
Helps create a loyal customer base
Look at well-established brands. One thing that is common for all is they all have a loyal customer base. And that is because they have a strong brand identity.
Differentiates you from competitors
Your audience will know what your brand is all about and how it differs from brands that offer similar products or services only if you have managed to create a brand identity for yourself.
Supports your scaling
By creating your brand identity, scaling your business becomes much easier. There is no need to worry too much about the risks of losses. Established brands are less susceptible to risks resulting from scaling.
Boosts the perceived value of your offerings
Perceived value refers to the value people attribute to your product or service for the money they pay for it. People feel justified in spending money on products from brands that have an identity.
Gives your offerings more exposure
People love to recommend products or services from brands they like to their friends and family. It gives those brands better exposure without them actually investing anything for that.
Brings consistency to your messaging
When you have created an identity for your brand, you can stick to your unique messaging without changing from time to time. Gradually people will start respecting your messaging due to its consistency and boldness.
What are the Key Elements of Brand Identity?
Creating a brand identity demands planning and a perfect blending of a series of brand identity elements. Depending on the brand and the industry it serves, these elements may vary. However, there are a few common elements which apply to brands in all industry segments.
The visual elements, for instance, are the most important among the key elements of brand identity creation. Using the right blend of visual elements would contribute immensely to the visual language of a brand. So are other elements like verbal elements, structural elements, cultural elements etc. Let’s take a look at each type of them.
Types of Brand Identity Elements
There are various components or elements contributing to brand identity creation. Discover the types of brand identity elements below.
Visual elements of brand identity consist of those that contribute to the brand’s visual language. They comprise logo, imagery, colour palette and typography
- Logo: Logo is the most basic branding element. There are various ways to create a logo using properties like symbols or designs.
- Colour Palette: The colour palette is the combination of colours that brands use across its website, brochures, social media, website and other marketing materials.
- Typography: Typography refers to the guide brands follow about its use of fonts, font size, spacing, etc. Carefully choosing a typography and using that with consistency helps in building a brand identity.
- Imagery: Brands can use various types of imagery to represent their brand. People quickly get attracted to images. Thus, incorporating consistency in imagery helps boost the impact of your visual communication.
From how your brand name is spelt and pronounced to what tone you use across your channels for communicating with your audience, multiple verbal elements constitute your brand identity.
- Brand Name: Coming up with a catchy and meaningful brand name is important to establish your brand identity.
- Tagline: By adding a tagline to your brand, you add more context to the brand name. Coco-Cola, for instance, uses the tagline ‘Taste the Feeling’ which aptly conveys the product they sell.
- Tone: A consistent tone or voice across your marketing materials helps build a unique identity for the brand and win customer trust.
Experimental elements are those aspects of branding which can influence or impact the opinion or customer’s interaction with your brand. These common experimental elements include:
- Customer Experience: Customer experience refers to the overall experience you want to leave a customer with. A person can be said to have a positive customer experience when he is satisfied with the product or service, worth the money spent and the interaction with your company.
- Brand Story: Every brand should have a story behind its origin, a story that inspires and motivates customers and makes them feel positive collaborating with it.
- Brand Associations: Brand association refers to the mentioned connection a customer feels about your brand. It is directly linked to their past customer experience.
Structural elements are those physical factors that directly or indirectly affect the brand identity. The basic structural elements include:
- Packaging: Packing is so important in brand identity building that it has become an independent branch in the discipline of marketing. The design, size, materials used in the packaging, etc. constitute the overall feel of the packaging.
- Store Design: The overall appearance of the physical store also contributes to people’s identification of your brand. The store’s ambience, utilities offered, etc. are part of the store design that affects.
- Digital Presence: Today people come to learn about brands via online venues like social media and websites. Hence, how your brand is represented online and what virtual experience it offers to the viewers are part of its basic structural components.
How to Build a Strong Brand Identity?
With tight competition becoming a basic characteristic of brands for any product or service out there, creating a brand identity is crucial and at the same time a very challenging process. It is important to realize that a lukewarm approach to brand identity building doesn’t yield any results. So, what should you do? Here are 3C Brand Hub‘s proven strategies for Building a strong brand identity.
Study your industry
Every brand operates in a specific industry. Before you begin with any step related to brand identity design development, take some time to study your industry. It could save you time and unnecessary spending on areas where you don’t have to.
Establish brand values
Your brand values are those positive things people see in it. For instance, the social or environmental commitments it has. Having strong brand values encourages people to find meaning in their association with you.
Know your customer persona
Before your customers start to identify you, you need to identify who your customers are. It is important because personalizing your branding design as per your audience’s tastes and preferences is essential.
Conceive a brand story
Just like the story of how Microsoft or Apple got started, a unique and compelling brand story will help you trigger people’s interest in you. A unique story of success beating the odds work in favour of establishing your brand.
Decide on the visual identity
Your brand’s visual identity is its overall visual language – the logo, colour palette, imagery etc. Decide how you want to present your brand using various visual components.
Develop a brand voice
Make sure that you have a unique brand voice characterized by a pleasant tone and style that your target audience can feel emotionally connected to. Once you have a brand voice, use that consistently across all channels.
Deliver value
Be it your product or services or the content you present to your audience, make sure that you add value to them. By providing solutions that solve a problem that they are facing or clarifying questions they have, you make their lives better and thus win their trust.
Engage your audience
Having your brand ready is just one aspect of the brand identity building process. Keeping your target audience engaged from time to time helps foster their involvement in your branding, which ultimately contributes to their customer experience and identification of your name.
Track developments and adapt
Keep a close watch on the latest trends taking place in your industry from time to time and monitor how that influences your customer's interaction with your brand as well as that of your competitors. It will help you identify the changes that need to be made in improving the brand identity boosting efforts.
How to Maintain and Evolve the Brand Identity?
Once you have succeeded in creating your brand identity, it is equally important to maintain it and evolve it over time so that it is in alignment with the latest industry trends, evolving audience demographics and several other nuances. Here is how you can do that effectively.
- Know the power and uniqueness of your current brand identity and check how strongly it resonates with your target audience.
- Bring changes to your branding design as per the changes you bring into your mission, vision or goals.
- Explore possible opportunities for scaling your business and reflect that in creating a brand identity.
- Whenever you implement a change to your brand identity design or strategy, make sure to monitor its impact over time.
- Incorporate the latest advancements in technology and digital marketing into your branding efforts for your maximum benefits.
- Stick to the core messaging of your brand identity even if the world keeps changing. The world can change but the core identity should remain the same.
Conclusion
Brand identity is the most fundamental aspect of a brand. It is the very identity of your brand that determines why your brand should exist. We hope that this blog helped you get a precise picture of what brand identity is and how important it is for your business’s scaling and its very own existence in a highly competitive market condition. Need any professional assistance in
building a brand identity for your business? Let our experts walk you through the entire process. Feel free to contact us for more details.
FAQ
How can building a brand identity benefit my business?
If you have a strong brand identity among your target audience, it means they know what your brand is about and how it differs from other brands. You don’t have to convince them to buy your product or services.
Is brand identity the same as a brand image?
While both brand identity and brand image are terms that are used interchangeably, they are not entirely the same. Brand identity is something that an entrepreneur deliberately tries to create for a brand through the incorporation of various components like visual elements, cultural elements, structural elements etc. On the other hand, brand image is the perception people have about your brand.
Can you provide me with examples of successful brand identities you have created for other businesses?
Yes, we can. We are glad to share how we helped other businesses become successful through the professional brand identity building services we offered. It will enable you to make an informed decision regarding our services.
Can you help me with rebranding my existing identity?
If your current brand identity is not impactful, it means that you haven’t really built a strong brand identity. In that case, we can help you rebrand your business which will help you tap into the potential of finding new customers.
How long will it take to create a brand identity for my business?
The time required to create a brand identity for a business depends on various factors—for instance, industry, audience demography, competition, service location, etc. To get a precise timeframe, contact us and let us know more about your requirements and the context.
What types of businesses should invest in brand building?
All businesses irrespective of their size or industry benefit from brand building.
How much does it cost to build a brand identity?
The cost required for building a brand identity varies depending on the business model and industry. Additionally, the existing level of branding a business has, for instance, the uniqueness of the visual language and other elements it has, can affect the overall expense. We recommend that you get in touch with our experts for a precise quote.
