6 Tips for Defining Your Brand Identity
Your brand identity is your business’s personality that customers see and experience. Having a strong brand identity allows you to shape the impression your company leaves on customers. This includes visuals like your logo, typography, and color palette, but also things like your positioning and communication style and tone.
Your brand identity can both attract and influence potential customers and clients. A cohesive brand identity makes it easier for others to connect with your company. If you are unsure about your brand’s identity, your customers may be as well. Picking the right visuals and content to represent your company, while maintaining a consistent style and tone, is important in supporting your brand.
If you’re in the early stages of creating your brand or looking to rebrand, follow these tips to get started.
Understand Your Audience
A successful brand knows who they are and who they are targeting. Every branding decision should have your target audience in mind. A brand strategy that tries to reach everyone will not be successful. It is important to understand your audience in order to develop a brand identity that will resonate and attract them to your business.
Know Your Positioning
In addition to knowing your audience, you need to know yourself and your competition. More specifically, what sets you apart from your competition. Define your brand positioning in the market in order to know what you are offering in comparison to competitors. Positioning should include your company goals and values. You will then be able to better understand how to incorporate your brand’s purpose into your brand identity.
Design a Unique Logo
Your logo is the central visual element of your brand identity. It will more likely than not be the most recognizable part of your brand. Your logo can be a brandmark, wordmark, or a combination of the two. Your logo should be meaningful and identifiable. That is, not a copy of a successful competitor. If a lot of competitors in your industry are using similar imagery or colors, take a chance on being different. It will define your brand outside of your competition and limit confusion among customers. Your logo should tell the story of your brand.
Define a Color Palette
Choosing a definitive color palette for your brand is a great way to enhance your identity. This will allow you to create a variety of unique designs and implement your branding on all company collateral. You could also choose a unique typography for your brand. This further helps establish your brand and allows customers to recognize you without needing to see your company name.
Know Your Tone of Voice
If the whole point of creating your brand identity is to create a connection to your customers, you need to know how you will be making those connections. Establishing a tone of voice and using consistent language will unify the business and its communications. When writing a blog or social media post, decide if your tone will be strictly professional and informative or more conversational. This tone should apply across your website as well.
Consistency Is Key
If you want your company to be easily identified by its branding, you need to be consistent. Sticking with your chosen typography and color palette will be important here. You should keep a consistent tone of voice for the company in marketing and customer service. It can be helpful to create templates or guidelines for your company to follow in order to stay consistent.
It’s never too late to reevaluate your business strategy and update your brand identity. The experienced team of designers, copywriters, and digital marketing specialists at Kraus Marketing will collaborate with you to create a brand identity you are proud to show off. Contact us today for information about our multitude of services.