When we think of brands, some big shots come to mind…
These all have powerful brand identities that have been built up over years of marketing, brand awareness campaigns and delivering quality products and services that their customers can trust. Ultimately, a brand identity is a way to communicate with the world, differentiate yourself from your competition, and create a brand experience that encourages people to engage with you.
If you’re just starting out in business or think a re-brand might be on the cards here’s the first steps to think of when building your brand and it’s easy to remember just think B.R.A.N.D.
Build your Brand Identity
The keys to a strong brand identity are:
- Distinct: It stands out among competitors and catches people’s attention.
- Memorable: It makes a visual impact. (Consider Nike: The logo is so memorable they only include the logo—not their name—on their products.)
- Scalable and flexible: It can grow and evolve with the brand.
- Cohesive: Each piece complements the brand identity.
- Easy to apply: It’s intuitive and clear for designers to use.
Research your target audience.
Researching your target market is key to understanding how best to target your customers; where they shop, where they browse online, what trends they follow etc. We suggest investing in market research to get an insight into not only your audience but your competitors too. How will your brand stand out from other similar businesses in the market? What can you offer them that others can’t? Why should they buy from you? By researching your competitors you will learn what marketing they’ve used, what’s worked or what you can do better.
Analyse your SWOT Analysis
By analysing your Strengths the positive aspects of your business and how you will stand out from your competitors.
Weaknesses, I know no-one likes pointing out what our weaknesses are. But by identifying how they can potentially be a problem for your business, you can then focus on improving or getting rid of them altogether.
Opportunities, from doing your market research and analysing the trends you can capitalize on your opportunities on how to win the business and grow your brand.
Same applies for identifying any Threats in the industry that may cause problems for your business.
Navigate your brand into everything you do.
Part of building your brand awareness and allowing it to grow is making sure to navigate it into all aspects of your business from content marketing, website graphics, ad campaigns online and offline and throughout your social media. Make sure your brand stays consistent with your messaging, colours, language and story. Don’t lose consistency from your print and online media, the brand should stay the same throughout.
6 key approaches to keep in mind when navigating your brand through your business are:
1. Use your logo and design elements consistently allowing your employees access to high resolution assets that they can use throughout their marketing journey.
Bring any offline events, award shows, conferences through to your online marketing, social media, blogs, video remembering to add your logo and brand colours on all media.
Keep your brand’s tone and personality consistent across all channels.
Select key topics that align with your brand.
Participate in platforms and channels that align with your brand identity and help target your key market.
Align your brand with the right influencers.
The main part of your brand is your logo, which is the most recognisable and prominent part or your brand. The process of designing your logo is a delicate mix of instinct, skill, and creativity. Whether you’re collaborating with an agency or creating a logo in-house. We’ve helped many of our clients bring their logos to life. A brand audit is the first step in the logo design process. A brand audit helps you get an intimate understanding of your brand, diving into your Brand ‘Why’ (purpose, mission, values, vision) goals, personas, messaging, and visual identity. This helps you articulate who you are and how you need to evolve, particularly if you’re doing a rebrand. With these insights, you can effectively design a logo that communicates your brand.
It starts with team collaboration, brainstorming, sketching to get the creative juices flowing. Feedback is key here, when you’ve narrowed down your first top 5, ask the team what they think and always keep in mind your brand audit. Then when you’ve narrowed it down to your top 2 or 3 it’s time for more feedback by creating mock ups of a web page, landing pages, ads. You can test an ad with each logo on facebook to see how well they perform. When you have your winner, it’s time to incorporate that into all your brand guidelines going forward.
If it seems too overwhelming or you don’t know where to start when you’re building your brand from scratch, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us for a free consultation to discuss how we can help get your brand to life!
