How To Create A Powerful Brand Identity
Your brand identity is the outward expression of everything that you are as a brand. It’s the overarching strategy that dictates your design, marketing, retail packaging, and much more.
When developing a strategy behind the many aspects that make up your brand identity, you should put in the time to think about the design that helps authentically tell your brand story and the best ways to reach the right people.
What is a brand identity?
Ultimately, your brand identity encapsulates the way your brand looks, feels, and speaks to people inside and outside of the office. It’s one of the most powerful forms of communicating. A brand’s identity is brought to life through the art of brand storytelling, which involves everything from your visual appearance and logo to your communications online and offline.
A powerful brand identity can attract new leads, drive customer engagement, show the world what makes your brand different, and can give you a running start in creating a positive brand experience that drives loyalty and connection.
Here are a few tips and steps to creating a powerful brand identity.
How to create a powerful brand identity
Develop your brand story
People trust people; iconic brands develop brand loyalty not solely through their products and services, but by showing that their brand is personable and relatable.
Your brand story should answer the question of: why do you exist? Tell people why you started, how you got to where you are, and the backbone of who you are that makes you different from everyone else.
A story has a beginning, middle, and end, right? So tell your brand story from the very beginning and rather than writing an end, write your promise of the future.
Use this story to drive the design of your brand identity. A good example of an iconic company that has mastered the art of telling their brand story through its brand identity is TOMS.
Customers and fans of the TOMS brand can connect to their brand identity and know the story of how the company started, what their ethos is, and what the brand values. They tell their story in everything they do whether it be the retail packaging of their shoes or sunglasses or the customer story pages of their website.
Write out who you are
Start mapping out your brand identity by writing out the answers to these questions:
- What is your mission?
- What are your values?
- What are some characteristics of your brand personality?
- If your brand were a person, what voice and tone would they have?
- What makes your brand unique?
Do your research
Once you’ve taken a deeper look into who you are, it’s time to look outward and do your research on your audience, your competition, and your industry.
Look at what your competitors are using to tell their story. Check out their website, their logo, their retail packaging — anything that gives you a sense of who they are and what brand identity they are trying to portray.
Make sure to write out what you like and dislike as that can give you insights into how you can fill in the gaps and differentiate yourself as a brand.
Do research on your target market — who are they, how old are they, what social channels they spend time on, what kind of designs and colors speak to this audience best?
While your brand identity should be authentically you, it also needs to be strategic and clever to effectively resonate with your audience.
Finally, look into your industry to find out what kind of design makes sense. Your brand identity is going to be much different if you’re in the tech industry versus if you’re in the craft brewery industry.
Choose colors and design strategies that speak to what personality traits your brand is known for or would like to be known for in the industry — are you innovative? Are you artistic? Are you fun? Whatever it is, your brand identity is the perfect way to tell people about it.
Time to design your brand identity
Use all of the research and thought you put into your brand to start developing your identity.
Choose your typography, color scheme, logo, and supporting designs that fit in with your brand. Consistently communicate your brand’s story using these assets throughout everything you are putting out into the world.
Reach out to our brand strategy experts to help build the perfect identity that can take your brand to the next level.
Related: How to Show Your Brand Identity Through Social Media