Brand identity is important to consider whether you’re seeking to create a new business, or simply refreshing an existing one.
Building a strong brand identity can often be a determining factor in the success or failure of a business, therefore it is highly advisable to take a concerted approach to establish such an identity heading into 2022 and beyond.
What is Brand Identity?
Brand identity is crucial to the sustainable economic growth and success of a business due to achieving a strong connection to the general consumer consciousness. However, what exactly is brand identity?
Brand identity is the visual communication your brand conveys to the consumer through the use of your logo, imagery, company name, typography, as well as voice and tone.
To think of it in simple terms, think “How does it look? How does it feel? How does it sound?”
Placing on your consumer hat, how successfully does a business convey its message through its branding?
That is brand identity.
The vast majority of businesses and brands wish to communicate a positive message to the audience; how does your branding speak to your audience?
If you are unsure, a renewed focus on your brand’s identity may be important to consider.
What Value Comes From Brand Identity and Why is it Important?
A pertinent question you may ask is, “why should I care about brand identity?”
Another could be, “my branding is fine, so why should I change it?”
They are perfectly reasonable questions to ask. Much like a business pledges to provide a tangible value to the consumer through its products, wares, services or experiences, business owners should consider how much value their own brand identity brings to them.
A strong brand identity can provide a cyclical chain of sustainable commercial success through marketplace relevancy and consumer trust which, when managed consistently, could lead to customer retention and market leadership.
Value is obtained through key markers that are established through the behaviour and performance of your business, which the markers are then affirmed within the public consciousness through your brand identity, thanks to carefully selected motifs. Think of the colour pallet of IKEA, or the A-to-Z of Amazon, they trigger key thoughts, feelings and expectations through the sheer power of strong branding alone.
This is why seeking to create a strong brand identity is of crucial importance when you lead your business into 2022 and beyond.
Though businesses can often be preoccupied with the bottom-line and yearly profitability, being adaptable in terms of your brand identity and company image can yield great value to the business and yourself as a stakeholder.
How to Build Strong Brand Identity
To build a strong brand identity, carefully consider following a stringent plan and procedure. Taking careful steps is key in order to
mitigate potential shortfalls or unforeseen timesinks.
Keep reading to understand why all projects require a strong foundation, reliable building blocks and a cautious step-by-step approach.
Foundations
A strong brand identity can only begin at the very start: brand values, brand personality, brand voice and a brand name. Without a strong foundation, any project can hit failure, particularly through bad management or a lack of preparation. If you fail to establish a strong foundation when exploring your brand identity, your business could face unforeseen difficulties when you are keen on growth.
Read on to learn more about the fundamental elements and core concepts of brand identity.
- Brand values: Why do you seek to create the company and brand? Often incorporated into the marketplace change you wish to provide, the values you wish to promote and the company mission statement you pledge to remain faithful to. Establishing why you seek to create a successful business – outside of mere profitability – can be a boon to creating future economic growth.
This is why you do what you do.
- Brand personality: What character temperament do you intend the brand to wear in the communication of its core values to the audience? Be it through the smart-casual imagery associated with Apple, playful demeanour of Innocent, or the corporate sophistication associated with a pre-9AM Starbucks Coffee, the personality of your brand is highly important.
The products, services and costs involved in the purchase of such may effortlessly segway into finding your brand personality, but it is still important to take an analytical approach and ensure that those under your employ can demonstrate that same brand personality.
- Brand voice: Though on the surface this may seem similar to brand personality, we do not believe it to be so. Instead of the brand personality, you have the intention to communicate, brand voice is the how of your brand values and brand personality are to be overtly communicated to the consumer and the industry in general. Think of Coca-Cola – a corporate juggernaut – however, to many consumers, they are seen as a fun lifestyle brand that can be consumed by people from any walk of life. Coca-Cola’s brand voice, through advertising and careful partnerships, has been successful in communicating that they are a fun brand that always delivers comforting, nostalgic refreshment in any setting. Sold in over 200 countries, Coca-Cola’s determination in establishing a clear brand voice has seen them overcome cultural and language barriers through the sheer power of strong brand identity and reliable products.
- Brand name: Seeking to conclude the foundations of a strong brand identity is that of a brand name. An effective brand name can often be the difference between success and failure. Your brand name should be short, creative and concise, but also memorable and relatively easy to say. Not only can this be of benefit to your brand within an increasingly connected global market, fundamentally, it becomes more difficult to create a powerful logo without a good company name.
Design Time: Composing Your Visual Brand Identity
Art is highly subjective, therefore it will always be a contentious topic of discussion. Once the foundations for your brand identity have been established, it is important for you and your team to reach an agreement in terms of the visual and artistic direction.
Collaboration is Key
The design stage of your brand identity will often be a costly process: both in terms of time and expenses. Patience and adaptability are key behaviours to adhere to during such a collaboratively arduous process. Rome was not built in a day, and the process of creating a strong visual representation of your brand, values and personality is likely to go through various stages of development revisions to succinctly communicate the intended brand identity to the audience.
As a collaborative effort, all relevant stakeholders in the business should have fair input into what imagery should be incorporated within the brand logo: a collective agreement as to what company traits and values are to be expressed within the visual identity of your brand and whether or not such tangibilities are effectively communicated to the audience.
The Fine Details: Visual Elements
Seemingly simple aspects of a brand’s visual identity – such as the colour palette and typography – should be thoroughly explored, evaluated and re-evaluated to determine whether the brand’s intentions are being delivered effectively.
Particular colours may trigger certain responses and connotations within the audience and can, often unintentionally, create false perceptions or confusion.
As with many global brands, two primary brand colours are enough to convey your visual message: overloading the audience or complicating the brand message should be avoided when designing the logo.
Anecdotally, there aren’t many global luxury brands – if any at all – who will utilise a bombastic colour palette of red, yellow and orange within the core of their brand identity; instead, they will often lean into monochrome or metallics. Such trends are deliberate, in that the company can easily and assuredly convey to the audience that they are a no-nonsense, fashionable, sophisticated lifestyle brand for no-nonsense, fashionable, sophisticated people.
Back to Basics
A well-designed brand logo will often communicate your brand identity well enough if designed with that express purpose. In time, a strong brand logo can express your entire brand identity solely through imagery, even without your primary colours or the brand name being present – the most basic of visual representation.
A strong visual identity for your brand is crucial in the sense that it is the exclamation point to who you are, what you do and why you do it. If an explanation of those three elements isn’t followed by a bold exclamation point, your audience may begin to wonder if something is missing.
How is Brand Identity Effective in Real Life
Brands such as IKEA and Coca-Cola are real-world examples demonstrating the sheer gravity of a strong brand identity. Such brands are often so powerful and well-respected that the brand colour palette alone is enough to trigger a response within the audience. Companies are aware of such a phenomenon and have sought to retain the exclusive rights to such essential aspects of their visual brand identity.
Cadbury Chocolate
Cadbury took the concept of brand identity to the courts when it attempted to trademark the particular shade of purple used on all of its packaging, within its branding and advertising. Ultimately, Cadbury’s lost the legal battle, partly due to their terms of enforcement being too wide-reaching and legally unreasonable; however, it does demonstrate that companies are absolutely willing to invest the time and money necessary to secure exclusive rights to aspects of their brand identity that they determine are immutable to their success.
When constructing your brand’s identity, many hypotheticals will be considered and desired; however, in practice, many factors will be associated with your brand more than others, such is the nature of public perception.
Starbucks Coffee
Starbucks, with its World Class Customer Service policy, is an example of a brand identity that exemplifies a commitment to its 
customers: ensuring they have a familiar experience of positivity – absolutely no request is too large and any mistake will be rectified by friendly, knowledgeable staff. Starbucks’ approach to customer service is a key motif in its mission statement.
Such a transparent commitment to customer service has attained a high level of trust within the consumer, fostering the association
of a positive customer experience within Starbucks’ brand identity, for many years.
Starbucks’ consistent commitment to excellent customer service has fundamentally differentiated them from competitors. Ultimately, many beverage chains have adopted Starbucks’ approach; however, within the coffee industry, Starbucks still retains the most customer service-related equity associated with its brand identity.
In time, positive behaviours and processes will begin to be associated with your brand identity, particularly if you have created a strong brand name and notable visual identity.
The Difference Between Brand and Brand Identity
A common misconception within industry is that if there is already a brand, the brand identity needn’t be a focus. There is an important question to consider:
What is the difference between a brand and brand identity?
Simply put, the difference between the two is perception: particularly that of the public.
The brand identity is that which the company and its stakeholders have control and input over: logo, colour palette, core values and voice. The brand, on the other hand, is how the audience interprets that brand identity, in combination with the experience received in relation to said company. Effectively, the “brand” becomes the overarching narrative that is commonly associated with the company through customer experience and word of mouth.
Ideally, one will influence the other: brand identity > brand. However, when establishing your brand identity, it is important to consider the importance of adhering to your principles, values and voice, as opposed to conceptualising them so as to appear as a ‘good guy’ within the market, despite having no real intention of realising those values.
Important Considerations
Although the objective of creating a strong brand identity is of importance, the journey of its creation and the upholding of the principles over the years are also important to consider.
Here are some tips you may wish to be aware of when approaching your business, brand and brand identity moving forward.
Be Patient, Kind and Understanding
Whether seeking to establish a new business or simply to refresh an existing one, always be considerate to the fact that such things take time and therefore require patience.
Unless you are a jack-of-all-trades and can run your own business, design the logo and everything else required to establish your brand identity, consider that you will often be working collaboratively with other people who will often express concern at certain ideas and practices. Mutual respect and patience are virtues that will demonstrate your core values, even before the company’s new brand identity is within the public eye.
Remember, your colleagues are consumers, too.
Product Diversity and Adaptability
Though certain brands are known for certain wares or services, over time they will often diversify their output to appeal to new audiences or generally refresh the brand image.
Having marketplace adaptability is a positive trait to have associated with your brand so long as it is incorporated within our brand identity. This allows your business to be viewed as a market leader through innovation and diversity of product, meaning more consumers will feel welcome and more comfortable spending their money with you, as opposed to your competitors.
If product diversity is introduced at a reasonable rate, your brand will still be perceived as excelling in its core competencies, but also offering a diversified list of products and services. Consider McDonald’s, which built its brand on the sale of hamburgers; however, over time, they have built a wide array of core products. Despite this, McDonald’s will always be known for its delicious, reliable and affordable burgers first and foremost.
Recruitment
Consider that your recruitment policy must be in line with your brand identity.
Every customer-facing member of staff under your brand’s umbrella must, at the very least, demonstrate the competency and commitment to demonstrating your brand’s identity and, ideally, fully share your vision. Should this not be the case, your customers may interpret your brand identity as nothing more than empty corporate jargon used to build a false brand image.
Expected Clientele
When formulating your brand identity, consider the clientele you will most expect to deal with.
For example, if you were to establish a raw material business within the building and maintenance trade, ultimately you would expect to have different clients to that of mother-and-baby business. Consider that even if the client were the same individual, often they will be wearing completely different hats because of the situation, establishment, objectives they seek to achieve and any time limitations involved. Your business and its brand identity must be established with consideration to mirroring such clientele and the factors that brought them into seeking the services of your business.
Consistent Point of Sale
Consistency in all customer-facing staff, property and merchandise is of utmost importance to establishing a well-known brand identity.
Consumers will not feel comfortable within a business that appears to be a halfway house of an older identity and new. A commitment to branding/rebranding demonstrates to the customer that they are dealing with a functional, competent, autonomous business that can be trusted.
A majority of customers have an idea of what they want: merely seeking the establishment that best fits their outlook. Though cost does play a role as a key determining factor, the competency of which a product or service is delivered also plays a role. A business seen as having a consistent brand identity, bold visual style and workers who demonstrate the values of the brand is a business that can thrive more often than not.
Contact the superheroes at ADP Distribution for expert advice on installing your point of sale displays to ensure your brand is delivered perfectly to your target audience.
