A brand identity consists of the visible elements of a company, such as the logo, design, and color scheme, as well as the “invisible” elements, such as the brand’s personality. Both components are necessary and equally important when it comes to creating a brand identity, but creating the invisible isn’t always as easy as creating the visible.
As your logo is the face of your brand, your brand identity is how people perceive your brand and how they identify with it. Here are four steps you can take to create a strong, unique, and memorable brand identity.
Step 1: Research Your Target Audience and Competitors
When you have an idea of what product(s) you want to sell or what service(s) you want to provide, the first thing you must do is to research the market: your potential customers and your competitors. The easiest way to do this is to conduct a Google search on your industry to see who comes up. You can also look at their social media accounts to see how they apply their branding, and you can also see who their target market is and how they interact with those brands. After doing this, you can complete a SWOT analysis:
- Strengths: what gives you an advantage over your competitors
- Weaknesses: possible disadvantages to your business
- Opportunities: current trends in your industry that present opportunities
- Threats: current trends in your industry that may cause challenges
Step 2: Choose Your Focus and Develop a Personality
The next step is to choose a focus and personality for your business because you can’t be everything to everyone. This doesn’t make you unique or give you a strong identity. To find your focus, answer these questions:
- What is your positioning statement?
- What adjectives would you use to describe your company?
- What metaphors would you use to associate with your brand?
Answering these questions will also help you develop a tone of voice for your brand, which will come through on your website and your social media posts. This may take some time and research, but the more you can answer these questions, the stronger your brand identity will be.
Step 3: Create the Visible Elements
Next is the fun part— for most people— and that’s creating the visual elements of your brand. First, choose a business name if you haven’t already. It can be something that’s directly related to what you sell or do, or it can be something completely made up, such as a combination of your name and the other founders’ names. This will require some research too, to make sure that a domain/URL is available for a website, and that it’s not too similar to another name or has an unintended meaning.
After this, you can begin designing your logo by choosing a color scheme and typography (word fonts). This is going to be the face of your brand, so it has to be memorable. Draw on your company focus and personality to help you come up with a great company logo.
Step 4: Apply Your Branding Everywhere
Finally, it’s time to apply your branding everywhere. The most obvious place is going to be on your company website and/or storefront, depending on the type of business you’re operating. But don’t forget to apply this branding to your social media platforms as well— something you should have even if you’re a small, local business.
It’s also beneficial to use custom packaging for your products. This helps to instill the image of your brand in your customers’ minds. For businesses that provide services (and those that sell products as well), make sure to apply your branding to any emails or physical letters you may send to your consumers.
Create a Brand Identity that Resonates with Job-Seekers
Creating a brand identity doesn’t have to stop at customers— you can also create a unique brand identity to attract job-seekers to work for you. Recruitment agencies like NAS can help you create a brand identity that will help attract the best talent for employment. This method brings the most qualified candidates to you, making the recruitment process much easier.
Your unique brand identity will help create and boost awareness of your business for both consumers and job-seekers, as you need both to help your business grow. Even if you’re in the beginning stages of your business, keep recruitment marketing in mind when the time comes for you to hire help.
