Building an identifiable and strong brand identity is the most relevant necessity of today in the competitive landscape for businesses when launching startups or small to medium-sized enterprises. Your brand is more than just a logo; it is a representation of the value, personality, and promise you’re offering to your customers in your business. A well-crafted brand identity will make your business stand out, build a long-term relationship, and help foster trust with your audience.
In this in-depth guide, we will lead you through some of the most essential elements of building a strong brand identity from scratch: from the very design of your logo to establishing your brand voice. This guide is planned for launching a foundation that would lay down for a successful brand to endure when branded as either a startup or SME.
As a precursor to the specific example, it is really important to identify what exactly a brand identity is. It is the visual and emotional expression that your company takes on. This could be your logo, colors, fonts, imagery, tone of voice, or even the emotions elicited from people through interactions with your business.
In short, your brand identity is “how your business looks, sounds, and feels” to your target audience. It’s the culmination of every touchpoint a customer has with your brand from your website to social media posts, advertisements, and customer service.
: A well-crafted brand sets you apart from competitors.
Consistent branding makes your business more recognizable.
A professional brand earns the trust and belief of customers.
Superb branding evokes emotions and gets people to care about your business.
Every brand has a purpose. It’s the “why” behind your business—why you exist and what you want to achieve. This is the first step in developing your identity: defining your brand’s purpose.
Ask the right questions:
After considering these questions, write a mission statement. This will be a brief summary of what your brand is about and what you want to impact in your customers and the market.
Example: Our mission is to create sustainable, eco-friendly clothing that empowers individuals to live consciously and express their personal style.
You need to know your audience before you can write a relevant brand identity. There cannot be a strong brand if you do not understand who your target is.
Determine profiles of ideal customers and complete comprehensive, detailed information about them. Include data on demographics: age, gender, place of residence; and psychographics: interests, values, and buying behaviors.
Understand your competition better:
Know whom they are targeting and where there might be gaps and opportunities for your brand.
Market research:
Surveys or interviews or internet research to understand what your audience prefers and what are the pain areas. With a defined target audience, you’d be able to craft your messaging, tone, and visual identity around who needs to hear it.
Your brand’s personality defines how your business acts and communicates with your audience. Just as people do, brands have personalities, and that is what your audience will look at when it decides how to deal with you.
Find 3-5 words that describe what your brand personality is. Are you professional, fun, bold, caring, innovative, or luxurious? These adjectives will help drive the tone and style of your branding.
Knowing your audience:
Your brand personality should strike a chord with the preferences of your target audience. Thus, a tech start-up targeting millennials will be more trendy or casual than a financial consulting firm appearing professional and authoritative.
Example:
Children’s toy brand has a playful, fun, and creative personality
Luxury skincare brand has a sophisticated, elegant, and soothing personality.
The most identifiable aspects of a brand identity probably relate to its visual features as these are the first things your business presents to customers. The most important components of a visual identity include a logo, color palette, typography, and imagery.
Your logo may be the most visible sign of your brand. What do I mean by this? A logo should be simple, memorable, and versatile in application across different media.
Your logo needs to be seen in dozens of different sizes and on different mediums (website, business cards, social media, etc).
A great logo often comes replete with hidden symbolism that can be tied back to the values or industry of your brand.
If your logo uses text, the font needs to go along with the personality of your brand and needs to be legible.
Most startups and SMEs use online logo design tools, such as Canva, Looka, or even hire a professional designer to create a logo for the brand.
Colour is a great element for developing feelings and personalities in your brand. Different colours create different emotions. The colour you have chosen will have a saying in people’s opinion about your brand.
When choosing brand colors, consider the primary color: the primary or dominant color an observer perceives when seeing your brand; a secondary color: a color that supports the primary color; and some neutral colors: black, white, and grey to balance the image
Typography can really make a difference in the mood and readability of your brand materials. Your fonts express your personality; however, they should be readable everywhere.
– Serif fonts: Classic, old-school; for example, Times New Roman
– Sans-serif fonts: Modern, clean; examples: Arial, Helvetica
– Script fonts: Elegant, personal; examples: Brush Script
Select a primary font for headings and a secondary font for body text. Utilize consistent typography on your website, in marketing materials, and on social media.
Your images, illustrations, and photography should also illustrate the personality of your brand and messaging. If you’re using stock images, custom illustrations, or professional photography, ensure the visual style is consistent.
Apply all the filters, color tones, and photographic style used in everything you post.
Talk to your audience:
All this can be images that talk to your target market.
Your brand voice is how you write to your audience. It’s the tone, style, and language you use in everything from social media posts to email newsletters and website content.
Formal or informal tone:
A legal services brand might be formal, whereas lifestyle brands can have a personality that is informal and conversational.
Friendly or authoritative:
Are you peer-to-peer, and dispense friendly advice, or expert authority.
Humor or seriousness:
Some brands have a humorously playful personality, while others exude seriousness.
Define how your brand should talk, including language preferences, tone, and messaging.
You respond to a tweet, answer an email, or write a video script: all channels should sound the same.
Playful brand voice example:
Here to brighten up your day! Browse our newest collection of feel-good essentials that put a smile on your face!
Authoritative brand voice example:
Our team of experts works towards giving you the best solutions possible in finance for your success.
Based on what you find for the elements of your brand identity, ensure that your brand is consistent by creating brand guidelines. Brand guidelines essentially contain every visual and messaging element of your brand and how they are to be used.
This refers to how or where the logo should feature the minimum size, the spacing, and the variations of color.
Color codes for each brand color in RGB, HEX, CMYK
Fonts and appropriate usage
Examples of preferred photography styles, illustration, or graphics
Tone, language preferences, and communication style.
Clear examples of what is and isn’t okay when branding elements are used.
Brand guidelines ensure that all the people associated with your brand, from designers to marketing personnel and all such external third-party vendors have uniformity across every touchpoint.
You now have a brand identity ready; let’s now get it out there by launching and marketing it. Your launch phase might be your entry point to creating a splash around the world for your brand.
Update all your platforms:
Your website, social media profiles, and all your marketing collateral must speak about the new brand identity.
Announce your brand:
Create a campaign to introduce your brand to the world. It could be through a press release, social media posts, email newsletters, or an even launching event.
Engage the direct and indirect ways through use of social media, blogging, and email. Share stories of the workplace, show how your company embodies the core of your brand, and embrace UGC which develops a community.
Ensure that from the business card, the packaging, all the way to everything in between answers with the same consistency that your new brand does for the customer.
Branding your product will be one of the key priorities for startups and SMEs when entering the competitive market. By strategically building each component-from your logo to brand voice-you establish a remembered, trusted brand that speaks for your target audience.
Remember that branding is a process and not an event. When your business grows, so does that of yours, and therefore, your brand should grow with that of yours. It is about keeping consistent while remaining adaptable, with your target audience’s needs and preferences at the fore of mind. You will be building a brand, eye-catching and enduring.
Hemlata Mishra is a seasoned Brand Consultant, Brand Strategist, and Brand Planner with a passion for bringing out-of-the-box ideas to life. As the Founder of MADnext, a Branding and Communication Agency, she is dedicated to empowering small and medium-sized enterprises in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities with the right marketing strategies to reach their target audiences effectively.
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