Let’s begin with the fundamentals. Basically, brand identity is your company’s identity. It is the soul of who you are as a business. These are the assets you use to differentiate yourself from everyone else. These assets include, but aren’t limited to, logo, colors, and typography.
Your brand identity is the portrait you want your customers to see you as. It starts from the name you choose for your brand up to the tone of voice you use to communicate with them. A valid brand identity is what gives you a good brand image. This results in positive associations for your brand.
Why Is Your Brand Identity Important?
To know if your brand identity is successful, it has to provide recognition. One look at it and people can tell that it’s you and no one else. Nike, Apple, and McDonald’s are perfect examples of successful brand identities.
Here are the most critical reasons brand identity is a must for your business:
Personality
Brand identity is your company’s visual representation of its values and mission. It sets the tone of your brand and clearly relays your message to your target audience. Personality is also what evokes emotions or the specific feelings that you want to elicit from your customers.
Brand personality comes in five traits. These are the following:
- Sincerity
- Competence
- Ruggedness
- Excitement
- Sophistication
While you can’t have all personalities, the most enduring brands emphasize on one main trait and an option of a second one. A good example of this is the iconic luxury brand, Hermes. This brand oozes sophistication AND competence.
Differentiation
According to Forbes, mobile eCommerce will make up about 54% of all online sales by 2021. This means that the eCommerce industry will see a boost in the number of buyers and sellers. How will you stand out from all that noise? Through compelling and distinct brand identity.
With the myriad of choices available to every consumer, standing out is no longer an option. You have to have a brand identity that helps you rise from all the noise. A logo that came from a template won’t do much in differentiating your brand. You need a professional designer to do it.
Perceived Quality
Rolex and Timex both give time, but why do you think people prefer to own one over the other? An excellent brand identity is key.
Consistency
A good brand identity allows you to send a consistent message across all your marketing strategies. It’s ensuring that all your materials have a consistent name, visual identity, and positioning across different locations or markets. Statistics from Forbes tell us that presenting a brand consistently can increase revenue by up to 23%.
Consistency also allows your brand to establish awareness, build trust, and encourage loyalty. A logo redesign or a change in your company colors can be tempting, and it’s not actually bad per se. But too many “upgrades” can ruin your chances of appearing professional and trustworthy.
Awareness
Increasing awareness means increasing your customers. How would people get your products or services if they aren’t aware of your existence? This is the main reason 77% of B2B marketers believe that branding is crucial for growth.
When you feature your branding visuals in more places, more people will get to see it. When people regularly see your brand, they become aware. This is vital in creating a good brand recall.
Loyalty
A Fundera study shows that 43% of customers spend more money on brands they are loyal to. Getting customers to buy from you is every business owner’s goal. But keeping customers loyal to your brand should also be on top of your list of priorities.
Brand image and brand loyalty go hand in hand. Well-planned branding identity visuals is equal to customers remembering your name or logo. And this leads to sustainable profitability.
A More Efficient Advertising
Once you and your customers know what brand you are and what you aren’t, marketing and advertising become more efficient. A strong branding identity lets you communicate your message to your target market easily.
You’ll be able to know what to tell your audience and how to say it. When you define your brand’s identity and story, you’ll be emotionally connected with your customers. This, in turn, will make the creation of ad campaigns straightforward and gain positive results.
Source: https://penji.co/brand-identity
