Why Create a Brand Identity?

"Brand will become the most powerful strategic tool since the spreadsheet,” proclaimed Marty Neumeier in his book called, The Brand Gap, outlining his theories on branding.

Through branding, companies connect emotionally with customers, become irreplaceable, and create lifelong relationships. Strong brands don’t just happen, they are thoughtfully created. You can’t have a solid branding strategy without making sure the brand identity is well defined. The brand identity includes the visible elements of a brand–essentially, the logo, primary and secondary colors, design elements, and fonts. The brand identity is the visual execution of the brand strategy and serves as the roadmap for how a brand will visually communicate with the world.

Creating a brand identity is an important part of the branding process because it empowers a brand to:

Become More Relatable to Customers
The goal of a successful brand is to create a lifelong relationship between the business or organization and it’s customer. It’s important to explore and understand the customer as deeply as your own business. The most successful brand experiences start with knowing the customer. What are their problems or worries? What are they interested in? Answering these questions and more, determine design elements that the customer would most identify with. Too many times a brand is created with the business in mind, rather than thinking about the importance of the customer.

Define a Personality & Create Consistency
If your brand was a person, what traits would it have and how would it communicate? The brand personality and brand voice defines the brand using human characteristics. The brand personality and brand voice is created so customers can relate to the brand on a personal level. Once a brand has personality traits, creative directors and designers create a brand identity that matches. Is the brand sophisticated, rugged, sincere or exciting? Based on the answers, certain design choices are made. The brand identity visually defines who you are as an organization or business and helps organize all the marketing components. The brand identity becomes the guide or roadmap for all future materials; creating consistency across all platforms.

Stand Out From the Crowd
A strong brand stands out in a densely crowded marketplace–it has personality and a voice. People fall in love with brands, trust them, and believe in their superiority. How a brand is perceived affects its success, regardless of whether it’s a start-up, a non-profit, or a product or service. A consistent and powerful brand identity is essential for any organization or business.

Once there is a detailed brand identity, it is imperative that it is cultivated and maintained. Do you ever feel like you are losing your identity? The same can happen for a brand. The brand identity should always dictate your marketing direction whether it’s related to the design of a public relations fact sheet or a creative brochure, a PowerPoint presentation, a social media post on Instagram, or a digital video. It’s also important to note if the identity seems to be shifting take the time to redefine your brand identity and communicate that with your customers.