How to Establish a Strong Brand Identity
Brand identity is crucial to any business’s long-term success, so it’s important to establish one as early as possible, whether you’re launching a startup or revitalizing an established brand. Here are the top seven ways to establish your brand identity in the marketplace and build your company’s credibility, trustworthiness, and reputation.
Define your brand
Before you can start developing your brand identity, you have to define it. Not sure what your brand is? Don’t worry—most businesses aren’t. The good news is that defining it isn’t as difficult as you might think. All businesses have a few things in common: they tend to offer products or services, they have employees and clients/customers, and they each operate according to their own unique mission statement.
Research your target audience
Before you establish your brand identity, you’ll need to do research into who your target audience is and what they want. Take some time to sit down and think about who your customers are and how you can market yourself accordingly. If you’re in retail, for example, you might want to consider researching what kinds of messages resonate with different age groups or income levels. When it comes time to develop your message or create a logo or slogan for your business, these insights will help inform that process.
Create your visual system
The visual system is composed of all your visuals—logos, fonts, colors, etc. In order to establish a strong brand identity, you need to consider how each component will work together and what their combined effect will be. Think about which visuals are must-haves for your business and then build your visual system around them. If you’re planning on designing your own logo, for example, start by identifying its basic purpose: What do you want it to convey?
Complete your brand guidelines
If you are just beginning, start small. Your brand guidelines will consist of your logo, colors, and fonts. These elements have one goal in mind—making your company recognizable and easily understood by customers. As your company grows and changes over time, it’s important to continue developing your brand identity. By staying consistent with how you use your logo, colors, and fonts; new prospects will always recognize your brand as unique and professional—ultimately building trust with potential clients.
Implement your new brand identity
Once you’ve set your sights on establishing a strong brand identity, it’s time to start bringing your brand vision into reality. We know that there are tons of elements that go into creating an effective corporate identity, and can be complex and tedious—but it doesn’t have to be! Here are just five simple steps that will help you implement your new brand identity.
