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Building your visual identity is one of the most important things you need to do when starting a business. The moment someone opens your webpage, they will immediately notice how it looks and get a first impression of how your business operates.
Details like the colors you use or the pictures you post are just the tip of the iceberg. Designs like logos or pictures can tell a story for you that you can not say when using actual words. And think about the fonts you use for your text and how you organize it.
Having a quality team that will listen to your ideas and realize your vision will help you find your visual identity. For example, a web design agency Chicago specializes in creating engaging and trendy designs that attract customers and keep them loyal to the brand.
Some brands sometimes overlook the importance of the visual identity, but more often than not, it can demotivate potential clients from purchasing their products.
With the big competition these days, you want to know how important it is to establish your visual identity the right way.
It defines your brand
This includes all of the things your customers see when they open your webpage – your name, your logo, the pictures that you use, the typography you chose, etc. They all should make a cohesive image of your brand’s values.
Your brand’s name should be simple, but with a clear meaning. For example, Puma has a simple, four-letter word in its name, but what do you think about when you hear this word? It is probably something like being in shape, fast and agile. It is actually a very good name for a company that designs sportswear.
What Puma and all the other successful brands have is a good, eye-catching logo. It must reflect your business as well as seem appealing to the customers you want to reach. The simplest things, like choosing the right colors and shapes, can make your customers like or dislike your brand instantly.
At this point, you should think about your brand as a person, with their own personality and their own way of communicating with the rest of the world. Remember that big personalities make a big impact, so the more you define yourself as a company, the better.
The method businesses use to represent themselves is called determining the brand’s voice. It is the unique message or attitude that your brand promotes, and it should be as specific as it can, so when your products, ads, or webpage pop up, your customers should immediately know who you are.
To avoid inconsistency in your visual identity, you should educate your team of writers and designers on what to focus on. You should all be on the same page and understand the message you are trying to convey. Double-checking everything that goes out there is a must, too.
You are more recognizable from the rest of the brands
All of the things you choose – typography, the packaging of your product, the colors you choose for your brand will make it recognizable. Being recognized by a big group of people will make your brand not only stand out from other competing brands but will also stay in the customer’s memory more easily.
It will build trust in your company because your customers will acknowledge your values and identify them with their own. Building a strong connection with your customers is always a plus and it will keep them coming back to you.
Since you shouldn’t completely change your brand’s visual identity over time, you might fall into the trap of overusing resources, like having too many colors and fonts on your webpage. This will be counterproductive because your customers might get confused. The golden rule here – less is more.
We have already established that you should stick to the visuals once you decide on them. They should also reflect your persona as your customers read your content, but they don’t always have to be completely the same. There could be some exceptions when it comes to your brand’s tone of voice.
Be careful – it is not the same as the overall brand’s persona, but rather the variations of it. Your brand’s personality will be slightly different, depending on certain situations. Think about it – the way you speak to your friends is not the same as the way you speak to your parents, but you are still the same person.
Your brand’s tone of voice will depend on
- What source of media you are using to get your message across
- The purpose of the content you are spreading
Different media practice different text formatting styles, so you sometimes want to use more text, sometimes less. Also, when you promote a new product, your tone might slightly differ from that when you post a survey. But, again, these changes should be barely noticeable.
It increases your revenue
When your brand gets recognizable, there is a better chance many people will hear about it. When they want to buy something, the first place that comes to their mind should be your brand. This is why you need a good visual identity that makes your clients remember you.
There are so many companies that sell clothes, but you will mostly buy from the ones you can think of, like Forever 21, Zara, or H&M. Same goes for some other companies. They made fashionable clothes affordable and also made a strong visual identity with their designs, packaging, and marketing.
It attracts the right customers
Ask yourself questions like – why did you decide to start this business? What is the ultimate goal that you can reach with your brand? How can your customers benefit from your products and services? These are just some things you need to think about when defining yourself as a company.
Your design will also depend on what your target audience is. Your visual identity needs to attract the right group of people that will most likely make a purchase and bring you profit. After researching your target audience, you will need to determine what they want to see from a brand like yours.
You may wonder how you can research your target audience. Find out their age, interest, gender, education and where they come from. These may seem like small details, but they determine everything you will do as a brand, from promotion to customer service.
Here’s a simple example – you sell hair products for different uses and different types of hairstyles. As a result, you are more likely to have young women and teenagers as your target audience. You won’t count on middle-aged men buying hair conditioners or hair masks.
If you want to sell something related to children, like toys or books, you will obviously want to use brighter colors. If your brand relates to a particular ethnic group, their language and culture, you can use some motives that they find familiar and can identify themselves to.
If you are doing business as B2B, you will want to appear a bit more formal and straightforward because you want to be taken seriously. In this situation, you will want to use some simpler colors and clear, easy-to-read text.
It tells your clients how you can help them
This should go beyond just offering a service or a product. It should also make a good impression and make your customers have positive feelings.
You probably aren’t the only one that has a certain type of business, so you want to make your customers need you and you only.
Your Unique Value proposition (UVP) has to have a clear message and bring out all of the benefits your product has and it will help your customers remember you. It can be in the form of a paragraph or a tagline.
When thinking about your brand’s advantage, reflect on some other things like:
- What you have the others don’t
- What you can do to help my customers
- The simple way to communicate your benefits to your customers
- The possibility of your competitors copying you and how to avoid it
For example, the business that has been booming lately is Hello Fresh. Unlike other similar businesses, where you order a meal someone else has already made for you, they give you the option to choose what you want to eat and send the ingredients to you.
This is something relatively new to the market, so it makes it very innovative. It gives a simple solution to a group of people who like home-cooked meals without making a big mess in the kitchen. Their motto and UVP America’s most popular meal kit is simple yet effective.
Another example of a good UVP is Starbucks. Their message is to Expect more than coffee. Unlike most coffee chains, you don’t only get coffee, but also different drinks, a comfy ambiance, and interesting cup designs that can be personalized with your name.
You may also like: How Can Small Businesses Build Brand Identity
About the Author
Travis Dillard is a business consultant and an organizational psychologist based in Arlington, Texas. Passionate about marketing, social networks, and business in general. In his spare time, he writes a lot about new business strategies and digital marketing for Seoturnover.
