Discover how to make your brand identity unique to you and your business to drive more leads and enhance customer loyalty.
In a heavily saturated digital world, the relationship between people, consumers, and businesses is mediated by images. Brand identity and visual identity must go hand in hand.
For your brand to be remembered, it must showcase its unique identity and be authentic to you, especially when 86% of consumers believe authenticity is the key when choosing between brands.
But the question is, how? Read on to discover five essential ways to build an authentic and powerful brand identity.
Brand identity meaning
The identity of a brand goes further than its visual associations. Visibly, a brand identity is comprised of its logo, colour, design, and any other visual elements someone would associate with the business.
However, the overall identity of a brand goes deeper. As with any brand identity, it’s all about what something is, not just what it looks like.
So, ask yourself what the brand is? How does it operate? And even why it does what it does? Soon you’ll see these questions can’t be answered by colour, design, or logo.
Branding and identity development consists of multiple factors. Yes, the visual elements make up a huge part of how we see the brand in our minds. But the tone, values, consumers, culture, and narrative all make up a brand’s overall character.
These deeper elements are what make a brand unique. A renowned brand will always represent these values in its appearance. It also boils down to five key considerations.
How to develop a clear brand visual identity
Minimalist brand names
Minimalism is essential with any brand name.
The modern consumer is under a constant digital bombardment of content, with a scientific study revealing we’re presented with data relative to 174 newspapers every day.
One way to communicate more effectively is to keep it minimal by being clear, concise, and simple. As they say, “Less is more”.
This should start with your brand name. The shorter tends to be the stronger. Slate states that start-up firms with short names are 50% more likely to succeed than ones with longer names.
However, a brand name depends on the style, industry, and values. Don’t pick a minimalist brand name for the sake of it. It still must suit your brand’s identity through purpose, vision, and personality.
Bespoke brand logo
As with the name, the importance of a strong brand identity is highly dependent on the logo. A huge proportion of brand identity is visual identity, and the logo may as well be your brand’s face. So, you want your logo to be shining and smiling with bright white teeth, metaphorically speaking.
Now, most businesses select visual branded logos due to the simple fact that the human brain processes an image 60,000 times faster than words. So, a unique and original logo is necessary.
The logo also needs to try and communicate your brand’s identity in a single image. If you can combine your design with text, then this will stand out and show imagination while aligning your brand name with the logo design.
Just like your brand name, a minimalist approach works better.
Unique brand tone
‘Personification’ is the process of applying human characteristics to something non-human. Although a brand is non-human, it’s run by humans. You should apply this process of personification when establishing the identity, especially with the brand tone of voice (TOV).
Think, if your brand was a person, how would it sound? In what way would it speak to your customer? How would your customer describe your brand?
Funny? Smart? Natural? Urban?
All these elements come down to TOV, with the same tone being applied across all aspects of your content. Find your brand’s voice and stick with it.
Iconic brand colour
Colour psychology is a fascinating study showing how colours affect human perceptions and behaviours. For this reason, it has a very close relationship with marketing and brand identity.
Different colours mean different things. Blue is peaceful, red is passionate, orange is successful. When creating your brand identity, deciding on the brand colours is crucial, as colour improves brand recognition by 80%.
Colour is another key component in the importance of a strong brand identity. Do some research into colour psychology before picking colours that match your brand’s personality.
Consistent brand narrative
Once you’ve established your brand identity, you must maintain consistency. After all, it’s begun its all-important narrative.
For consumers to trust your brand, it must remain consistent. Brands that present themselves consistently are 3.5 times more likely to enjoy excellent brand visibility.
Remember, your brand is now telling a story. Like any narrative, for consumers to believe in that story, it must be consistent to be true. You can apply this to every piece of comms, including colours, tone and content. Trust us; the devil is in the details.
The brand narrative plays another interesting psychological role in marketing and branding. A narrative gives meaning to brands the same as it does to people. The brand narrative has the power to shape past reputations, present opinions, and future impressions. So, stick to your story to convince the audience.
Speak to Worcestershire’s branding experts
If you need any advice or support building your unique brand identity, get in touch with Design in the Shires. As leading branding experts in Worcestershire, we simply love the process of helping clients present their brand with the right personality, purpose, and vision.
We have the tools, experience, and enthusiasm to make your brand identity unforgettable.
