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Branding in 2022: How to Create a Brand Identity [Ultimate Guide]
Have you ever wondered what image and emotions come to people’s minds and hearts when they hear, touch, or see your company’s name or logo? The stimuli associated with your brand are the one thing that leads to the buying decision a potential customer makes.
Your brand identity is a two-in-one representation of your company’s overall being. Brand building is the process of publicizing your business as a consumer’s choice brand by creating and solidifying a positive image or identity for your company. It’s a collective responsibility for all your company’s departments and mainly the marketing team. Branding has evolved dramatically from the days of cattle labeling to representing the personality and identity of businesses. Every business’s dream is to have an iconic brand identity that helps them stand out from over 500 000 brands worldwide.
So, how do we start?
Read on to discover the 6 key steps to developing your brand identity.
The 6 Steps Guide To Building Your Brand Identity
Building an unforgettable brand is not an overnight hack. It’s a long progressive process that demands strategy, consistency, patience, and learning. Any successful brand is a product of hard and smart work. Most businesses fail to pass the threshold due to a lack of knowledge. The following are some steps for creating a brand identity.
1. Cover the Basics
Ensure that you have all the physical representations of your brand in place. They include:
- Name
- Tagline
- Logo
- Website design
- Templates
- Colors
- Documented brand guidelines
Under physical representations, maintain consistency to ensure your brand identity is harmonious and is recognizable on all company’s physical properties.
Perform a SWOT analysis to understand your brand better. Identify your strengths and weaknesses, find the best opportunities, and avoid threats.
2. Do Market Research
You need to perform competitor and target audience research and get acquainted with the rules and regulations of the market.
Competitor research gives you ideas of what might positively distinguish your brand from the pack and give you an edge over your rivals. It also helps you develop a unique brand voice and marketing approach.
Understanding your target audience helps you deliver what your customers require. Conducting a data analysis is one of the best approaches to knowing your target audience and comprehending their pain points. This helps you meet their specific interests.
Identify the best ways to create brand awareness: there are many viable methods like social media marketing, mobile marketing, pay-per-click, affiliate marketing, or email marketing, so choose one that yields maximum ROI. Getting these aspects at your fingertips will help you to position yourself better in the market.
3. Establish a Brand Personality
As 88% of consumers prefer an authentic brand, highlight what your brand stands for, be authentic, showcase your unique and perspective approach to solving your customers’ needs, and establish your unique brand voice. Focus on creating a positive experience with your target audience.
Establishing a good relationship with your target audience gives you a good brand personality, encouraging customers to do business with you!
4. Build a Reputation
Building a name for your brand involves different parts working together towards one outcome. Building a reputation should be a top concern for every business because it pays off. As Brian Robben from Robben Media highlights, “Brand reputation is the X-factor that allows your business to charge profitable prices, build customer loyalty, and create a winning team culture where employees are inspired to serve customers and grow the business.”
6 ways to build your brand reputation:
- Excellent customer service
- Promise and deliver
- Fighting for a cause, i.e., being an environment ambassador
- High-quality content
- Top-quality products and services
- Engage with the local community
5. Establish a Brand Story and Message Strategy
Nothing beats a good story except a good story delivered in a better way. Choose a medium that establishes a human connection with your audience. Use your messaging strategy and brand voice to convey your narrative in a way that taps into your customers’ emotions. Establish consistency and authenticity in your messaging strategy, explain who you are, and what are your business goals and values.
With 72% of consumers worldwide prefer video content to text, it’s obvious that the most convenient medium to tell your brand story is through high-quality videos. With hundreds of video editors gracing the world of visual content, you no longer have to worry about having a ridiculously expensive camera or acquiring professional videography skills. You can use some of the top-shelf video editors like a video editor by Movavi, Shotcut, OpenShot, and DaVinci Resolve to make cool transitions, add special effects, insert titles and more.
6. Monitor, Adjust, Advance, and Repeat
It’s not over until it’s over. It’s easy to abandon your brand-building efforts when you get overwhelmed by new client projects and other responsibilities. But remember how far you’ve come and how much the journey has cost you. It’s hard to climb up, more challenging to maintain your position but very easy to slide down the ladder. So keep monitoring your brand-building strategy, make adjustments where needed, improve your tactics and never let your guard down. Always stay true to the creation of a well-established brand-building strategy!
Branding At Its Best: 3 Examples of Brands That Stand Out
To be the best, we need to learn from the best. These are the best 3 brands that stood out for building a head-turning brand identity for your benchmarking assignment.
1. Apple –They stand out due to their consumer-centric approach and position themselves as the go-to modern tech brand that improves their customers’ lives substantially.
2. Netflix – They rule the world of entertainment because they successfully prioritize their subscribers’ interests. They are also seen as a symbol of creative freedom, encouraging interactions from every corner of the world.
3. Coca-Cola –Boasts unique tastes in all their drinks that people look forward to for refreshment and pleasure. The unbeatable quality and wide availability of their products are also an added advantage that sets their brand apart.
What are The Benefits of A Remarkable Brand Identity?
A memorable brand identity always comes bearing gifts:
- Generates new customers while still pleasing and retaining existing ones
- Reinforces your company’s mission
- Builds trust and credibility
- Creates a magnetic face of the company
- Gives you the luxury of automated and organic marketing
- Encourages brand loyalty
- Grows your company
Wrap Up
Having a solid brand identity means that you’re more than a title and a symbol. It gives your customers something to believe in. Using the 6 steps to building your brand can help you meet your customer’s specific needs and grow your business.
You may also like: 5 Branding Best Practices All Businesses Should Be Aware Of
