Have you got a strong Brand Identity? Do you know if you have…or not? In this article we will be talking about what Brand Identity is, why it’s important, how to go about producing a strong Brand Identity and how it leads to sales.
What Is Brand Identity?
There is a lot of confusion over the word’s ‘brand’ ‘branding’ and ‘brand identity’. They all have different meanings. Here’s some simple definitions:
Brand – Your brand is your reputation….it’s the way the world perceives your company and the relationship you have with customers/potential customers.
Branding – Your branding is your style…it’s the process of building brand awareness and shaping a brand through marketing and design. It’s mostly what people see.
Brand Identity – Your brand identity is your personality. It’s what your brand says about your business, what your values are and how you communicate your products and services. It’s also what you want people to feel when they interact with your company.
Your Brand Identity is made up of the four V’s:
- Values
- Vision
- Visual Communications
- Verbal & Written Messaging
Why Is Brand Identity Important?
- Helps to shape your business personality
- Sets you apart. As well as your USP’s your brand identity sets you apart from competitors
- Assists you in being consistent in all your communications
- Inspires potential customers
- Increases loyalty
- Potential customers will remember you, get to know, like and trust you and your business which is what ultimately leads to sales
A strong Brand Identity is the holy grail and is a priceless commodity for your business, but it does take time to build as, to some extent, it is in the hands of your customers. However, this can be influenced this with a well-prepared Brand Identity.
How Does Brand Identity Lead To Sales?
Having a strong brand identity impacts consumer behaviour. As we mentioned earlier in this article people like to get to know, like and trust a business before they make their sale. Sometimes that’s an instant thing…sometimes it takes time depending on the product or service and the branding. Can you recall a time where you found a company, instantly loved their products and because they had such a strong brand identity you purchased from them straight away? On the flip side I’m sure you can remember coming across a company and not needing their offering straight away but because of their brand identity you bought from them when the time was right? In a nutshell, that’s how Brand Identity leads to sales.
How Do You Go About Producing A Strong Brand Identity?
Well for a start you need to dig deep and really understand your business, your goals and objectives and your target audience, their personality, and their needs. Questions need to be asked and answers fully understood. Consideration needs to be given to the 4 V’s; Values, Vision, Visual Communications and Verbal and Written Messaging.
Here at Visible Thoughts, we have created a process that we use with all our clients and have used to produce Identities for our own businesses. We use it time and again because it is proven to work. How do we know it works? Well, between you and me, we have tried to brand something for ourselves without using our process and it was a total waste of time. So, the process takes us on a journey of discover through and around your business. We look at things in different ways than you are used to and ask why you do things the way you do, not because you are necessarily wrong, but because it helps us and you to better understand your customers, products and business. You never know what surprises are in store for both of us.
Once we understand everything, we can create the rules that are your Brand Identity. These are the rules that make everything from Graphic Design, Advertising, Web Design, Social Media and anything else consistent.
If you’d like to discuss your Brand Identity with us then book a ‘Make Your Business Visible’ call now.