Filed Under branding
Developing A Strong Brand Identity: Four Must-Have Elements For Every Brand Identity
In the world of a crowded marketplace, the need for a strong brand identity is more apparent than ever – especially when building a dynamic brand for an online market. To ensure the success and longevity of your business, it is essential to have an intentional process for developing a solid brand identity, something Ivio Agency stands by.
Let’s take a closer look into Ivio’s perspective on solid brand identity, what it can mean for your business and why the process of how to build that matters.
But, first…let’s crystallize the concept of brand identity.
Brand identity indicates unique characteristics that impact a brand’s perceived personality, behavior, and overall appearance. This identity encompasses tangible and intangible elements, like a feeling or emotion that is emulated through visuals, name, personality, and messaging.
Let’s break that down further – think about a person’s identity. Individuals are typically a consolidation of different elements such as their origins, values, beliefs, and story. Brand identity operates in a similar fashion.
Manufacturing a brand identity is your opportunity to define and share your story…aka your brand!
Here is where we bring that story to life and establish an impactful emotion or feeling that connects with your audience to manufacture a specific perception of the brand. By building a different and unique identity, a brand will be able to differentiate itself from its competitors.
Let’s look at the various components that define a brand identify
There are many elements that contribute to the construction of an authentic brand identity, although today we are going to touch on the top four elements that contribute to developing a strong identity.
Brand Story
The story you tell is the most important part of your brand. It must include a compelling narrative that defines the brand’s origin in an effort to create a deep emotional connection with the consumer in hopes to make a last impact or impression. The story or the narrative is the vehicle in which your brand is communicated to the public. Storytelling allows us to bring multiple levels and complexities to your brand’s identity as well since it ties in an emotional component.
Communication Style
Communication style and messaging are often overlooked when it comes to constructing the identity of a brand. The way you strategically position your messaging is the number one vessel in connecting with your audience. A communication style can refer to how a brand connects with its audience through speech.
The approach you have with tone and vocabulary will always inherently convey a certain message. This aspect should provide a feeling or emotion that should represent your brand’s origin and the overall message you’re trying to convey.
Brand Personality
At the end of the day, we are all human. A brand’s personality coincides with its visual and verbal identity and behaviors – just like humans. This takes the brand one step further and introduces a psychological function to the identity and story, by allowing consumers to identify with the personality.
Visual Identity
A brand’s visual identity is typically a combination of graphic components that represent the brand’s aesthetic and true nature. Elements such as logo, color palette, typography and fonts, imagery, product or package design, and consistency with each component to further improve your brand recognition.
Bringing It All Together
A clearly delineated brand identity can provide several benefits, such as:
- Personification and emotional connection: An opportunity to foster an emotional relationship and bond with you and your target audiences.
- Uniqueness: A profound awareness of a brand’s unique qualities and how it differentiates itself from competitors.
- Consistency: When your brand’s identity is known and solidified, it is easier to stay consistent with the image and message you’re projecting to the marketplace. This also allows leads to better brand recognition, because the more consistent your brand is, the better it is received and remembered.
It is a no-brainer that brands with strong identities are self-assured. They know who they are, and how to effectively communicate that message to their audience in an intuitive way.
Brand identity is crucial because it gives brand strategists the power to construct an authentic identity. By considering a brand’s origins and roots, deciphering a distinct communication style/voice, deciding on an appropriate name, establishing a specific personality, and creating a consistent visual component, you can manufacture a specific story that is in alignment with its target audience.
