what makes up a strong brand identity?

Having a brand is ubiquitous to running a business and the crux of marketing strategy. Knowing yourself and what your business is all about are crucial to creating a recognizable brand that best represents you. Meanwhile, a brand that falls short is common among many business, which then leads to other mistakes like overdoing an ad campaign and so on.

There are tons of brands nowadays vying for attention on social media, so standing out is tougher than ever before. Succeeding in the current landscape relies upon the foundation of a strong brand identity, so it’s crucial to understand the factors that go into just that.

What is Brand Identity?

First off, you must know exactly what brand identity is. It refers to the combination of elements created by a business or individual to convey the right image and/or reputation to its clients. Brand identity has visual and textual elements like the brand name, logo, font, colors, and others that are deliberately chosen to be recognized as your brand by your audience.

That brand identity must then be bolstered by your marketing through your channels, putting forth media and content to tell the story of your brand. This makes your brand more relatable, thus strengthening your brand identity.

Selling a Brand as a Whole

It may seem obvious at first to do most of your marketing for your products since they’re what you’re selling in the first place. However, this is a short-term solution that doesn’t maximize your efforts since products come and go. It’s the brand that will always be there in the long run, so it’s best to focus most of your efforts on marketing your brand.

It’s not to say you shouldn’t advertise your products, but make sure that your brand is up front and center whenever you do.

Representing Who You Are

A big part of business strategy is understanding what your customers want and coming up with the best possible experience for them. Upon figuring that out, you must then represent that with your brand so that they can recognize how serious you are right at first impression.

Whether your business sells something timeless or more about what’s current and trending, the visuals must match that. The former would benefit from a classy serif font and a more neutral colored logo, while the latter would be better with a sans serif font and a colorful logo.

Those are not clear cut rules, but they’re solid principles to go by. When it comes to the visual elements of your brand identity, little details matter as they add up to the greater whole.

Visuals and Copy

Speaking of visuals, you must remember that your brand identity relies a lot on how strong your visuals and copy are. Let’s take your landing page as a starting point. Having one that looks professional and has concise information about your business immediately available there makes for a strong impression that establishes your brand identity.

The visual elements must seamlessly mesh together with nothing clashing and distracting from the whole thing. The copy must be easy to understand and describes your business to potential customers without being too wordy or too vague.

Content

If the visuals and copy are the face of your brand, the content is the meat. Having good content that’s relevant, useful, and original can help strengthen your brand identity further as you’re seen pulling off extra effort and providing additional value to your audience.

Committing to content creation does mean you should be able to deliver. There should be variety in your content, so you can mix short form and long form content with media that you can post in regular intervals.

Social Media

It’s one of the most powerful tools for establishing brand identity these days. Social media lets you share information relevant to your niche and interact with your audience and influencers. Due to how multifaceted it is, social media presence is crucial for any brand looking for recognition.

Public Relations

You can improve brand image and awareness by positioning your brand as an authority or expert in your niche. This can be a big part of your content and social media strategy, providing value to your audience by answering their questions and educating them on various aspects of your industry.

Rebranding

Perhaps you’ve made mistakes and bad decisions along the way in your brand building journey. If things have really become untenable, then a rebranding campaign may be best. Major brands all around the world have undergone rebranding, from just a visual facelift to a complete brand change.

Need some help getting started online? Talk to one of our online branding specialists now!