The market place is crowded, regardless of your industry. Having a strong brand identity is vital, not only in terms of competing in the market place but also in creating a strong foundation for all elements of your business.
Time after time, the terms "brand" and logo" are often used interchangeably, and whilst a logo can be the memorable symbol of a business, it does not define the brand nor does it show the entirety of the brand. The logo is one element of the whole brand identity. ,
If this is your first foray into developing a brand identity, it’s vital that you understand that there is much more to it than a logo and some colours.
The term "brand" was used for referring to the mark that cattle ranchers "branded" on their cattle, the idea of a brand has evolved to encompass much more than just a name or a symbol.
"Branding is what people say about you when you're not in the room." Jeff Bezos
Think of it like this, your product leaves an impression on your customers long after you've made the sale. Brand identity is the process of shaping that impression.
Just like any other aspect of your business, a vital step in creating a brand identity is to complete market research. You should clarify and understand these five things before you do anything further.
Audience
First and foremost, you must know who you are speaking to. Let’s face it, you can't target a product to a pre-teen girl the same way you would target a product to 40+ man.
Knowing who your audience is, and why they are interested in your brand, will allow you to create content that resonates with them.
Make a clear outline of your audience, who are they, what do they do, where to they spend their time and money? Knowing all this will help you craft a tone of voice for your brand.
Mission
What do you offer? Why do you offer it? How do you offer it?
It’s not enough to know that though, you must be crystal clear about your mission statement that describes your vision and goals.
Know your business's purpose; without knowing that how can you create a personality, a tone of voice or indeed any content. To create a personality for a business, you must know how to articulate the what, the why, the how etc.
Brand USP
Only you can know what makes your brand unique, whilst you may offer a service or product that others do, there is something about the way you do it that is entirely ‘you’.
It’s vital that you’re clear on what makes your business unique in your industry. What you can offer your consumers that others can't?
Knowing the difference between you and your competition is imperative to developing a successful brand. It is also crucial that this brand identify has room for flexibility, to be agile where needed depending on changes in your industry and the world as a whole.
Personality
Whist personality is usually reserved for individuals, however, all brands are run by individuals so although it might not seem obvious, your brand needs to have a feel about it, the thing that people connect with above and beyond your products and services.
This is where you create the elements that represent your brand, the wording, the colours you use, the fonts, the imagery and even if you embrace gifs.
You then add to this with your tone of voice, are you sophisticated and understated like a designer fashion house? Or fun and vibrant like a high street teen store? Two very different personalities, that require entirely different personalities and therefore different visuals and tone of voice.
SWOT Analysis
Finally, completing a SWOT Analysis can be beneficial to better understand your brand, especially if you’ve struggled through the previous points.
Considering the characteristics of your brand will help you find characteristics you want to portray in the brand. SWOT stands for:
Strengths: Positive characteristics of your business that provide an advantage over your competition.
Weaknesses: Characteristics that prove to be a disadvantage to your business.
Opportunities: Changes and trends in your industry that offer opportunities for your business.
Threats: Elements in the environment or industry that may cause problems for your business.
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