We asked marketing experts, CEOs, and founders for their best tips to help you build a strong brand identity for your company. These experts have shared their top 10 tips for developing a strong identity.
- Personify your Brand
- Select a searchable name
- Develop an internal brand culture
- You Can Find the Right Name
- Invest in Consumer Research
- Create a Brand Style guide
- Prioritize Your Audience
- Avoid Sending Mixed Messages
- Define brand values and personality
- Determine Your Unique Value Proposition
Personify your Brand
One of my favorite tips for creating a brand identity is to personalize your brand. Asking questions such as “How does my company like its coffee?” may seem silly, but it can reveal important insights into how your brand will engage your target audience.
Giving your brand personality makes it more relatable. It helps you identify your target audience and connect with them. Infuse your brand’s personality with something unique that will leave a lasting impression.
Select a searchable name
Make sure that your company’s name can be searched. Handwritten is a trademark and can be searched thanks to its unique spelling. It would be more challenging to find news articles, blogs, and other media referencing us if we were known as “Handwritten.”
Develop an internal brand culture
A unified brand culture is a fundamental step to creating a powerful identity for your brand. It is important to create an environment in which all employees embrace and promote your brand’s vision and values with passion.
A strong internal brand culture turns every member of the team into a brand ambassador. This ensures that your brand is consistently represented in all interactions, both internally as well as externally. This ensures a consistent message for your brand and increases employee engagement and performance.
You Can Find the Right Name
Make sure your name sets the tone of your business. Be careful not to choose a name that is too prosaic, or just to be snazzy. This is not the name of a garage-band. You are naming your company.
We call ourselves Patriot Coolers not only because we sell the best-selling coolers and drinkware for outdoor enthusiasts, but because we also donate profits from our sales to Homes for Our Troops.
We donate to an organization that provides housing for injured military veterans. Patriot Coolers fits us like a glove. You should aim for that. Find a brand name that is perfect for your business.
Invest in Consumer Research
Each brand strives to create a stronger identity. Few brands invest in brand research to determine their current position. Fewer still will make changes to their branding in order to see the impact on their brand identity.
Consumer research is a great way to improve your brand’s identity.
Create a Brand Style guide
It is a document that takes out the guesswork of how you should portray your business in your marketing. The brand style guide should include core values, variants of your logo, logo usage guidelines, and fonts. It also includes photography treatment, iconography patterns textures, and mockups showing the branding in action.
The business will be able to attract the ideal client with ease if the elements of the style guide that make up the brand identity are designed with a strategic perspective.
This guide ensures that visuals and messages are consistent throughout the company’s promotions. This guide can be used by team members to collaborate on internal marketing projects or outside the company for external projects.
Prioritize Your Audience
If you want to develop a brand identity that is appealing, you need to know your audience in detail. Understanding their goals, needs and discomforts is key. Use market research to create a memorable identity for your brand.
Segmentation allows for different client groups to receive tailored experiences. When you choose fonts, colors and artwork carefully, visuals can become powerful languages. Your brand’s voice and tone must be authentic and consistent. Create a voice to match the language and principles used by your audience.
You can create a lasting connection by putting your audience at the forefront. This will foster loyalty and long-lasting relationships. Make an impression on those who are most important to your business.
Avoid Sending Mixed Messages
Avoid sending confusing messages to your clients when developing a strong identity for your brand. Use language and images that are appealing to your audience. It doesn’t matter if you understand something if your audience won’t.
Refuse to copy your competitors. Copying their branding will not make your brand more memorable, even if it is successful. Analyze their approach, and then add your unique twist to make yourself stand out in your industry.
Consistency is key between your online and off-line presence. Even if there are slight differences between your printed materials and your online platforms, make sure that your colors and typography, theme and message are consistent.
It helps create a brand that is cohesive and recognizable. Avoid following trends blindly that are not in line with the essence of your brand. Iterate on your original brand vision.
Define brand values and personality
Define your brand’s personality and values to help you create a strong brand identity.
Consider what your brand represents, what makes it different from its competitors, and the emotional response that you would like to elicit in customers. You can do this by creating a mission, defining a voice and tone for your brand, and identifying the key brand attributes that you want to communicate in your marketing.
By clearly defining the values and personality of your brand, you can create an identity that is consistent and memorable for your customers. This will help differentiate your business from other businesses in a competitive market.
Determine Your Unique Value Proposition
Planning and careful consideration are required to create a strong identity for your company. Determining your brand’s unique selling proposition is a crucial step or tip.
Understanding and articulating a brand’s distinct benefits is key to defining its unique value proposition. Follow these steps to do so:
- The first step is to identify the audience and their needs.
- Find gaps in the competition by conducting research.
- Determining the specific benefits of a brand.
- Identify the differentiators.
- Craft a clear value proposition statement.
- Maintain consistency in communication at all touchpoints.
- Continue to refine your website based on the feedback you receive and your goals. Align with brand values and positioning.