How to develop a unique Brand Identity?

What is a Brand?
The terms “brand” and logo” are often used interchangeably. But though a logo can be the symbol of a business, it is not the entirety of a brand. In fact, creating a logo is just one small step toward developing a strong brand identity.

With millions, if not billions, of businesses trying to make a name for themselves, having a strong brand has become crucial for businesses to differentiate themselves from their competitors.

If you’re working to develop your first brand identity for a client, or you’re doing this for your own business, it’s important to first understand what a brand is and what it takes to create one. Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as giving the business a name and plastering it on everything.

Originally, 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.

Your brand, a vital part of your brand identity, is defined as a name or a type of product manufactured by a particular business.

What is brand identity?
A brand identity is made up of what your brand says, what your values are, how you communicate your product, and what you want people to feel when they interact with it. Essentially, your brand identity is the personality of your business and a promise to your customers.

As Jeff Bezos says, “Branding is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.”

Your product leaves an impression on your customers long after you’ve made the sale. Brand identity is the process of shaping that impression.

Why is brand identity so important?
As the embodiment of almost everything your business is and does, a brand “lives and evolves in the minds and hearts” of consumers. Its identity, therefore, is crucial to the business’s future.

So, if your brand is more than just its logo, how can you replicate what brands like Coca-Cola have done and tap these other elements of your business’s identity?

Here are JAM Digital’s five components of a well-developed brand identity, and why it’s so important to develop them

The “Face” of Your Business
For all intents and purposes, your brand’s logo is the “face” of your business. But that face should do more than just look cool or interesting — a logo’s contribution to brand identity is associative, too. It tells the public that [this image] means [the name of your company].

Credibility and Trust
Having a brand identity doesn’t just make your product more memorable; it makes your brand more authoritative in the marketplace. A brand that establishes a face, and maintains that face consistently over time, develops credibility among its competitors and trust among its customers.

Advertising Impressions
A brand identity is a template for everything you would include in an advertisement for your business — whether that ad is in print, online, or a pre roll commercial on YouTube. A brand with a face and industry credibility is well prepared to promote itself and make impressions on potential buyers.

Your Company’s Mission
When you create an identity for your brand, you’re giving it something to stand for. That, in turn, gives your company a purpose. We all know companies have mission statements, right? Well, you can’t have one without first giving your brand an identity.

Generating New Customers and Delighting Existing Ones
A brand identity — one with a face, trust, and a mission — attracts people who agree with what your brand has to offer. But once these people become customers, that same brand identity gives them a sense of belonging. A good product generates customers, but a good brand generates advocates.

If you want your business to become a well-known and beloved brand name, it’s going to take some work. The following steps will help you build a brand identity. They are simple steps; implementing them, however, is another story.

How to Create a Brand Identity?

Research your audience, value proposition, and competition.

Audience
It’s no secret that different people want different things. You can’t (usually) target a product to a pre-teen the same way you would target a product to a college student. Learning what your audience wants from a business in your industry is vital to creating a brand people will love.

Value Proposition & Competition
What makes your business unique in your industry? What can you offer your consumers that others can’t? Knowing the difference between you and your competition is imperative to developing a successful brand. Keeping an eye on your competitors will also educate you on what branding techniques work well and those that don’t.

Mission
You know what your business offers, but be sure to have a clear and direct mission statement that describes your vision and goals. In other words, know your business’s purpose — you can’t very well create a personality for a business unless you know what that business is about.

Personality
Even though you’re not necessarily branding an individual, that doesn’t mean that you can’t be personable when developing a brand image. Use your type, colours, and imagery to represent who the brand is. Then enhance that visual representation with your tone of voice: Are you a confident business with a lot of sass, like Nike? Or are you ritzy and professional, like Givenchy? Either way, be sure to develop your brand as a way to represent your business. Research may be boring, but the more you know about your business, the stronger your brand identity will be.

SWOT Analysis

• 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.

If you need help help developing your brand identity – we’re here to help! Drop us a line, we’d love to chat.