Sometimes, the logo of a brand begins to signify all that the brand stands for. From its values, its purpose, all the way to its personality, a logo can evoke many emotions, impressions, and summarize the brand into a single, yet powerful image. However, that’s what logo is: a representation of the brand, not the brand as a whole. To build a truly complete brand identity, any business needs to go beyond the creation of the logo, deeper into the refining of the visual identity, its voice, and its complete persona.
A strong brand identity is the one that has a unified look and feels across all customer touchpoints, evokes the same, consistent emotions and impressions, and inspires action. At the mention of Coca Cola, you already see their perfect Christmas ads, always spot-on slogans, and youthful commercials for summertime, and somehow, it’s all summarized into a single feeling.
Although it takes decades to build such a presence, it doesn’t take decades to build a strong identity. Here are a few key steps to add to your brand-building process so that you can have the foundation that will allow you to build your business presence.
Define your UVP and other essentials
Before you can begin to define your brand’s voice or visuals, you need to break it down to the basics. For starters, note down, in your own words, how you would define your unique value proposition and anything that differentiates your business from your competitors. If you’ve found a gap in the market, all the better for your brand.
Additionally, use this time to outline your mission and vision statements, and above all, your brand’s purpose and promise. Although the industry may benefit from your presence, you should also know how you need to build your brand to appeal to your customers and help them solve a problem, and how your business will impact the industry and your customers’ lives in the long run.
Image source: Pexels.com
Design and disperse your visuals
Sure, creating a stunning logo is a huge step forward in your brand-building efforts, but it’s certainly not the last one on the list. Your visual identity only starts with your logo. Now you need to use that logo, the font of your choice, the key color palette, and accent hues, and your desired look and feel to implement it into your website as well as your printable materials.
More often than not, new businesses have a hard time staying consistent and using their brand’s visual features to send the right message through their marketing materials. This is where professionals such as Infostarters can help brands evolve their visual identity by using it to craft unique, branded, and visually-appealing marketing materials. Everything from your product catalogs, all the way to your infographics and brochures, you should use all of your striking visual features to brand your marketing bundle.
Build a brand voice guide
Your visual identity is vital, but your voice matters at least as much. Why? Because your brand’s voice is one of your key assets in telling your story, and you need to make sure that your voice matches your brand’s visual appearance, your audience’s preferences, and that you’re not copying what your competitors are doing. Every single piece of content will resonate with your brand voice and help your customers recognize your brand at every touchpoint, which brings us to working on brand consistency as a key segment in your brand-building strategy.
Ensure cross-channel consistency
Without consistency, you’re no longer building a brand, but you’re dismantling one, with the help of one misguided, brand-less post at a time. Your employees, especially the ones that communicate with your customers, need to be able to portray your brand in the correct light and with the right voice whenever they interact with your audience. On social media, on your website, via email, within all of your marketing and sales campaigns, your team should be able to use your brand’s voice and visuals to ensure consistency across the board.
It’s often difficult for business owners to step out of their own shoes and look at their business from a new vantage point. Sometimes, that’s precisely what’s necessary for you to notice that while you personally know the values of your company, your audience may not be getting the same impressions from your logo or your website layout. Brand-building is simultaneously learning and a development process for your business. Use it wisely, and you’ll hopefully create a memorable brand presence in your industry that your customers will love.
Author Bio: Jolene Rutherford is a marketing specialist – turned blogger, currently writing for technivorz.com. Interested in digital marketing and new technology trends. Love sharing content that can help and mean to people.
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