As a top marketer, I’m sure you’re used to solving a myriad of problems, from content issues to stumbling blocks with your SEO. There are some issues that can prove a little trickier to come to terms with though, such as brand identity. In fact, some marketers regularly neglect brand identity as they just don’t understand the importance of it.
But why does brand identity pose such a difficulty to marketers?
One of the biggies is that they don’t want to use any resources in this area. As well as that, some marketing managers believe that it’s super difficult to track progress correctly and joke that you need to be a mind reader in order to get it right.
If you’ve had all of these thoughts about your brand identity, then this blog post is dedicated to you. Read on to find out why your company’s branding is crucial.
What is Brand Identity?
We like this quote by 99 designs:
Brand identity is the collection of all elements that a company creates to portray the right image to its consumer.
Let’s take Airbnb as an example. They have a strong mission that people relate to: “Belong Anywhere”. And they really work on putting this message across. Take the A in the Airbnb logo, for example. It represents four major things that relate to the Airbnb brand identity: people, place, love, and Airbnb. Their colour palette continues this feeling of love with its light red colour, and the circular font they use is friendly.
Their identity is working. How do we know? We took a little peek into Airbnb’s brand awareness.
Why You Need to Create a Brand Identity to Grow
Without Good Brand Identity, You’ll Never Be Recognized
Your business’ logos and colors will help to make your brand highly recognizable. Everybody knows the blue and yellow of Ikea and Coca Cola’s iconic red. As soon as someone sees your color palette together with your logo, they’ll instantly realize that they’re looking at you and your company.
Don’t worry about the general public getting sick of seeing your brand everywhere. This is actually something to be embraced as continued recognition will lead to trust. So, the more people see you and recognize you, the sooner you can build the public’s trust in your brand. Before you know it, you’ll have become a household name!
If you don’t think that your brand currently offers you good recognition, here are some things you can change:
- Train your team. Everyone needs to be on the same page when it comes to brand identity. If your employees keep on getting it wrong, then your customers will never recognize the branding.
- Create a new logo. This needs to reflect your business’s message and values. Don’t just take your brand identity’s colors for granted either. Bright colors that suit your company will make a huge impact.
- Come up with a new company name. Are you sure your current name is pulling its weight? Find out more about choosing a new name here.
Latana Logo
Brand Identity Builds Loyalty and Trust
In order to differentiate yourself from the competition, your brand needs to have something unique. Why not make your brand this USP? A strong brand identity can really help you build up a good relationship with your customers. If they feel that they share the same values as you, they will be attracted to your business and will feel comfortable purchasing from you over your competitors. Once you keep this connection alive, a long-term relationship will develop and ultimately lead to customer loyalty.
A Poor Brand Identity Will Sink Your Revenues
A good brand leads to plenty of recognition and brand awareness, which should hopefully help with your company’s word-of-mouth recommendations. As your branding will clearly stick in your customers’ minds, they won’t have to think twice when an acquaintance asks them for some suggestions — your company’s name will drop right off their tongue!
But how would that situation play out if a customer couldn’t remember your brand at all?
When someone approaches them for a recommendation, they’re not very likely to offer your company as a suggestion as they’ll have forgotten all about you. If you lose any sales through word of mouth this way, it’s a portion of your revenue going straight down the drain.
Make sure you don’t lose out on revenue by actioning all of the points already mentioned in this blog post right away. Then you’ll have a company with a very credible public face and will be able to watch your profits and revenues climb upwards.
But Good Brand Identity Can Grow Revenue
Think of Apple. Essentially, Apple’s high price point is a result of the strong, reliable brand it has built. They are able to charge a premium price because, in the minds of their customers, their product is worth paying more for, more than the many other technology brands out there whose products are at the same level or even better. You too can attract high-paying customers by initially spending the money needed to create a strong brand identity.
How to Build Your Brand Identity
Knowing what you want your brand identity to be is just the first step. Then you need to build your brand identity.
There are many ways in which you can do so:
- Online and offline advertising
- Social media marketing
- Influencer marketing
- Email marketing
- Visual branding
- Events
The list goes on.
It won’t be possible to build your brand identity via all these channels at once. Asses which are best for you currently, and revisit them again in the future to see if these are still the best channels for your brand.
Brand Consistency
Once you’ve created your new brand identity, you will need to ensure that there is consistency across the board. Make sure your team are all briefed by creating some branding guidelines that they should always follow. If everyone goes rogue and does their own thing, your brand will be majorly flawed with inconsistencies, which will completely damage any trust that your customers had in you.
Psst. Come closer.
Here’s a secret that will help you stay consistent throughout your whole brand identity: define your target audience.
Once you know who your brand needs to appeal to, create an audience persona. If you share this persona with your marketing team, then everyone can always have in mind who they are trying to appeal to with any new campaigns, strategies, and publications.
Inform your employees of your brand identity
Never Neglect Your Branding Again
As you can see then, your company’s brand identity is extremely important for a number of reasons. When you invest wisely into it, it can, in fact, bring you very tangible results. And even though some entrepreneurs out there might still disagree, it certainly is something that you can effectively track. When tracked properly, you’ll be rewarded with very precise insights into previous campaigns that you can put to work in future marketing projects.
It’s time to prove the naysayers wrong and create a strong brand identity that can really help your company shine. Contact us today to find out how brand analytics can help you build your brand.
Originally published at https://www.latana.com.
