All About Brand Identity

When we talk about a brand identity, we’re not talking about a logo and some colours. We’re talking about the core identity of your brand, as it is perceived by others. Now, read that least bit again. 

Yup, the rather disturbing fact is that you don’t decide what your brand identity is; everybody else does. All you can do is guide them to see you the way you want to be seen. That is branding.

Why brand identity is important 

Brand identity is so important because it’s what distinguishes you from your competition. It’s what makes consumers choose you over someone else. That’s why branding activities are mostly about managing the perception of how you differ from everyone else.

There’s so much more to it than just creating a logo, coming up with a name, or designing a website. In fact, the idea that developing a brand identity is a purely visual task is a very outdated notion. 

You need to create a personality. A tone of voice. A quirk. An ongoing, ever-present representation of what makes you… You. 

Creating a fun, colourful logo and an exciting website are all irrelevant if the copy, imagery and general customer service you put out don’t convey a consistent message. 

How to create a strong brand identity

So you understand what a brand identity is, and why it’s important. But how do you create a strong one? 

Step One: Research

The first step, as with most things in business, is research. Try to answer the following questions to get started:

• What makes you unique?
• Who are your competitors? 
• Who is your target audience? 
• What kind of brands and personality types do they respond well to?
• What’s your business’ purpose?

Step Two: Design and Document

Once you have these details figured out, and you have a deep and comprehensive understanding of what your business’ personality and niche should look like, then you can start the actual design process. 

But that doesn’t just mean designing a logo. Sure, that’s important, but you also need consistency across the brand. That means brand colours, icons, templates. Think about taglines that reflect what you’re trying to get across. And don’t forget the aforementioned tone of voice (if you need help with that, you can download our tone of voice guide to get started). 

Write this all down in a brand guidelines document so that it can be shared with everyone working for or with your business. Remember, you need to be consistent.

Step Three: Connect

Once you’ve finished designing your brand identity, you need to start showing it off.

To be truly successful, you need to continuously, consistently engage your audience. That means making use of emails, social media, videos, websites, landing pages… You get the picture. You want to be the first company they think of when they have a need for your particular product or service.

Across all these mediums, you want to use a tone of voice that affirms who you are, what your mission is and what kind of company you are.

If you’re dealing with a serious product, that may mean delivering straightforward, educational content. If you’re in hospitality, you might want to aim for more friendly and relaxed interactions with your audience.

Step Four: Maintain

There’s more? Surely not…

In fact, when it comes to branding, you could argue you are never finished.

Once you’ve researched and designed and documented and connected, then you need to make sure that everything you’ve done actually works. And keep it up! Every interaction with your audience is an opportunity to make (or break) your brand identity.

• Does the brand identity attract the attention of the people you expected it to? 
• Do you need to make alterations?
• Is everyone you work with remaining consistent and on-brand?  

If you need to, gently adjust your approach accordingly, and continue to monitor your successes and failures. If you do everything right, you’ll eventually achieve a brand identity that attracts the right audience for your business. 

It’s a lot of work, but work that will yield fruitful results. 

If you need help with your branding and marketing, the team at Hatter’s are experts in forging brand identity. Our Head Hatter, Sarah, also runs ‘All Things Branding’ workshops, to help businesses get control of their brand identity. 

If you would like to find out more, get in touch.