Steps to Building a Brand Identity

We live in interesting times. This is because on one side we startups around the world growing faster than ever, which is certainly good for society, but then there is also a massive competition in the industry which makes it difficult for the budding entrepreneurs to rise and shine.

You are a passionate entrepreneur who just wants to change the world with your innovative products and services. But you don’t know how you can survive the competition.

The truth is that you can do more than survive- you can establish a game-changing company. However, that’s only possible with a powerful brand identity.
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What is a brand identity? How do you create one?

Brand identity is how your brand is perceived by the public. It’s comprised of a variety of things viz. logo, graphics, color palette, brand voice, etc. Even the interactions that your brand has with the customers define the brand identity. Thus, it’s important that you learn how to create a positive brand identity that support’s the organization’s growth and revenue.

building a brand identity

The following are the 8 steps to creating a strong brand identity:

1. Conducting a Brand Audit

Brands are no less than living entities with flaws, strengths, and life cycles. So, before you can build a brand identity, you want to do the homework and see how your brand is doing today. In fact, it’s not a bad idea to conduct a thorough SWOT analysis which would cover your brand’s:

  • Strengths
  • Weaknesses
  • Opportunities
  • Threats

When you have a good understanding of where you stand today, it’s easier to decide where you want to go next. Thus, this step lays the foundation of your brand identity.

 

2. Making Your Brand Sharp and Clear

You can’t build a brand identity when there is ambiguity. So, you must explain what your brand really is to attract the interested individuals and show what you have to offer.

One of the most important things you must to create a unique brand identity is creating a mission statement i.e. the main emotion that drives your brand. You can also use storytelling techniques to define your brand’s mission and values. In fact, you are free to choose any path that makes your brand image clear and distinct.  

 

3. Identifying Your Target Audience  

building a brand identity

Whatever measures you take to improve your brand, you must remember that it’s always for a particular audience. So, you can’t make the right decisions for brand identity when you don’t exactly know the people that want to be a part of your brand.

The following are some of the questions that you should ask yourself to identify your target audience:

  • Where are my customers located? What’s their age group?
  • What kind of lifestyle do my customers enjoy?
  • What’s the average income of my target audience?

 

4. Creating an Attractive Logo

Logo is everything for every company– make no mistake about it. Your logo is the visual representation of everything you stand for. It encompasses your mission statement, your values, and the lifestyle that your brand promotes.

There are many tangible benefits of creating a logo too. For instance, it distinguishes you from your competition and helps with brand loyalty. People also take notice when a company has a logo as it shows that it takes itself seriously. Moreover, you can use your logo everywhere for marketing such as business cards, billboards, social media, business presentation slides (for potential business partners), etc.

 

5. Defining Brand Voice

Just like the visual elements including color palette and logo are important to a brand, the tone of the brand i.e. the way it communicates with the people is also important. For instance, if you cater to businessmen and upper management professionals, then you want to a pick a serious and formal tone. However, if want to create a brand that becomes a household name, a brand that everyone can trust, then you can choose a more laid-back and casual tone.

Note that brand voice isn’t always vocal i.e. in videos and jingles, etc. When you communicate with your audience via social media, blogs, etc. then also you do so in your brand’s general tone.

 

6. Defining Your Values

building a brand identity

Many entrepreneurs use values and mission statement interchangeably. However, both are vastly different. While your mission statement is the reason for your company’s existence, your values show how your company promises to act in society. These values shape your brand’s personality and create a company culture that becomes particular to the brand.

Some values that you can choose for your brand include innovation, kindness, reliance, and transparency. You are free to choose any values, just make sure that they are no more than 4-5. It’s not about how many values your brand’s associated with, it’s how religiously it instills them in the company culture.

 

7. Maintaining Consistency

When you are promoting your brand across various channels viz. social media, emails, website, blogs, and digital ads, you want to ensure that the brand theme is consistent everywhere. So, wherever you are present, you should be sticking with a particular color palette, logo variants, brand voice, and message.

 

8. Safeguarding Brand’s Reputation

This is the age of the Internet in which it’s not just you who controls your brand. There will be all kinds of bloggers and influencers who will create and share content about your brand. However, if they are portraying your brand in an undesired way, then it can’t hurt your brand’s identity. So, you want to keep an eye on this type of information online. Make sure that wherever your brand is mentioned, there are right colors, brand voice, value proposition, etc.

 

Author

Tailor Brands is an online branding service that allows you to create logos, social media banners, business cards, etc. on the go. It’s backed by an advanced Artificial Intelligence algorithm that’s capable of understanding your requirements perfectly to produce high-quality and premium designs in a matter of minutes.

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