We all recognise a strong brand when we see one and - whatever business you're in - a strong brand will help differentiate yourself from your competitors. If you get your brand right, it can be a powerful driver for business growth. So how do you go about creating a brand that sets you apart from everyone else? Here are a few pointers we think you will find useful:
1. Understand your foundation
Foundation is key - a brand should be built on a stable base. To start with, you must establish your identity. How would you describe your personality? What matters to you? How do you describe your product or service? These are your brand's building blocks that will be reflected in your visual identity. Unless you can answer these fundamental questions, you will not create a visual identity that accurately communicates your brand.
Start with the name of your brand. A logo cannot be designed without a name. Identify what makes your company different from others in the same market? Understanding your USP (unique selling proposition) will help you stand out. If your business is rebranding (rather than a new business), you must ensure that everyone on your team knows why you're changing your present identity and the goals you have for your new one.
2. Create your logo
A brand identity consists of many different parts but it all begins with your logo. A powerful logo will help you make your mark on the world. Feel free to go old-school here and get out the pencils for some black-and-white free-sketching. You want to ensure that the main visual is strong enough to communicate your idea without adding colour.
If you are designing the logo yourself, you may want to start by experimenting with flexible or abstract forms as inspiration for your logo. You can use things like Die Cut Stickers to create prototypes to show people. Feel free to experiment. No one knows what your brand stands for better than you so you might be the best person to come up with ideas. You can always employ professional graphic designers to fine-tune and develop your ideas at a later stage.
3. Improve and evolve
Once you have an idea for your brand identity, try it out on people. Get feedback from your clients if you can. You might want to try out different ideas to see which performs best. Your original concept may well evolve into something else - this is perfectly natural - but when you make changes, make sure you don't get pushed too far away from your original concept.
4. Clearly define what makes your company unique.
The essence of brand positioning is to focus on what makes your company unique. Some organisations find it beneficial to compare "internal" and "external" brand perceptions. Internal perceptions come from people such as management, marketers, sales representatives, and service representatives. They can provide insights into what your company does differently and what it does the same as its competitors. This is then contrasted with how consumers perceive your company. Wherever there is unanimity, brand equity exists. Wherever there are inconsistencies, there is an opportunity to improve communication and emphasise what your company does best.
5. Maintain a consistent brand image
Consistency is critical when it comes to your brand image. A consistent brand establishes trust with consumers. Consistency builds customer confidence in your brand - consumers understand what they are getting and can rely on it. If consumers think your brand is continuously changing, they will get confused and may start to believe that your business is untrustworthy or unreliable. It's important that your brand and your value proposition are fully integrated into your marketing plan and that you can deliver this promise to your customers if they choose you.
Conclusion
So whether you are a start-up or you are an existing business that is rebranding, your brand identity is crucial to your business success. Get this right and customers will recognise and trust your brand from the outset. We hope that this blog has provided a few useful pointers that will help you create an identity that jumps out from the crowd.
by Stephanie Snyder