The brand identity is its essence, the unique and non-transferable features that make it up. It is important to fully understand what it is and what are the advantages of creating a consistent brand identity, as well as learning how to build one. For all this we wrote this article, let’s start!
“Giant” brands such as Google, Visa, Coca-Cola, Nike or Disney, to name a few, have elements and characteristics that make up their personality. Of course, in these cases there are extensive Brand teams that are in charge of carrying out this task.
Even so, any business, no matter how big or small, has a lot of scope to generate an unforgettable brand identity that makes it stand out from its competitors and allows it to grow. Let’s dive right into the subject!
What is brand identity
Brand identity is the essence, the DNA that makes it unique. It goes (way) beyond your or your logo colors. It is a set of features, values, benefits and positioning that differentiate it both from its competitors and from any other in the market.
It may sound redundant, but brand identity is precisely what it is. The characteristics that sustain it, from the visual to what the experience of the clients in contact with it involves, going through the principles that it embodies to define itself.
I know an example first hand:
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So what is brand identity? The concept is broad and encompasses the emotions and values it seeks to evoke and the promise it makes to its consumers.
Let us think, for example, what “Disney” transmits to us. Surely you have thought of the well-known Mickey Mouse, in its colors, in movies that marked generations, but also in its theme parks. His identity is based on entertainment and fun: this is symbolized in everything the company does.
This “personality” is represented in the Brand Identity Manual or Brand book that compiles all the information that corresponds to the business profile.
The brand identity is consistent when it is reflected in all the elements that compose it. Let’s get to know them in the next section.
elements of brand identity
Now that we have a clearer idea of what brand identity is, we can go deeper.
The pieces that make it up are both the engine and the vehicle of said personality. In other words, they have the ability to express the DNA of your business and, at the same time, they are the means through which this representation is spread and consolidated in the minds of consumers.
The elements that make up the brand identity are:
- The mission: it is the purpose of the existence of the business and what differentiates it from the rest. This is fundamental to building any brand! For this reason, we invite you to expand the point by reading about the concept of .
- Vision: This is the destination you want to reach. As it sets a course, it strongly influences and defines strategies.
- Values: are the principles and beliefs that guide the brand to achieve a specific objective. At this point, we can recommend you to fully delve into the subject by reading this article on .
- The customer experience: it is related to the idea of promise that we already mentioned. It refers to the emotions or sensations that your brand seeks to generate. Some examples are: warmth, closeness, luxury, exclusivity, movement, risk, self-improvement, etc.
- The logo: in relation to the brand’s visual identity, this is one of the elements that stands out the most, since it is the image that symbolizes it. If you need to design it, you can’t miss our , it’s free and you can try it as many times as you want!
- The slogan: this short phrase seeks to impact the target audience and capture their attention. It usually expresses part of the values. If you need inspiration for your own brand, we invite you to use our free one.
- The color palette: it is the range of tones that will visually represent your brand identity. Once again, we have a tool to help you create your own! Enter our and discover your ideal color combination.
- Photos and designs: the content you upload to social networks is a privileged instance to express and reinforce your visual brand identity. The colors in your banners make a difference, for example, or the .
Where is the brand identity reflected?
The correct answer would be… in the entire universe of your brand!
We already mentioned some of the elements that not only make up your identity, but also express it. The most common are the logo, the graphic pieces of your digital content or the slogan. However, we can go much further.
Your brand identity is projected in the colors and design of your online store, in the one you use for your deliveries, in the signs of your store on the street, in the corporate gifts of the company or the business cards that you use when networking at a meeting of entrepreneurs.
If we focus on communication, for example, the tone and voice of all your messages are essential to build and strengthen the personality of your brand. On this point, we can give several examples of brand identity in:
- the (persuasive phrases) in your designs,
- the content and style of your newsletter,
- the way you talk when you toast,
- messages to recover abandoned carts
- and much more!
What is the brand image
If brand identity is its essence, what it symbolizes, its image is the way consumers perceive it. The brand image, then, is the projection of the personality that is made up of the elements that we named in the previous section.
We can also understand it as an “extended painting” because it involves both what the public sees and relates to the brand and the type of product you sell in the market.
It is directly related to brand building, that is, the brand and, consequently, with its reputation and positioning.
Advantages of creating a consistent brand identity
You can imagine that brand identity, understood as its DNA and the pillars that support it, is essential to consolidate a scalable business. A big part of this is that just by making it stand out, people will come back to it and recommend it.
For example, entrepreneurs who sell only through marketplaces are very limited in creating brand identity. In the shopping experience, the customer is left with the memory of Mercado Libre or Facebook Marketplace and hardly registers which business he bought from.
This is why, for your brand, it opens up a world of customization possibilities to implement robust branding strategies, make the public identify with your values and build a loyal community.
After this introduction, let’s go on to list the advantages of creating a strong brand identity:
- Promote memory and business awareness, so that people think of your brand when they want to buy or give something that belongs to your category.
- Communicate the personality, including the mission, vision and values that we already discussed. Putting this in the foreground makes it easier and more feasible for an emotional connection to be generated.
- Create community through the identification of the branding traits.
- Strengthen the bond with the audiencewhich allows to implement strategies of .
- Gain a competitive advantage. Creating a genuine brand identity gives you authenticity and sets your business apart from others. Thus, even if others offer the same products or services, your business will have more chances of being chosen.
- Build a positive reputationthat distinguishes it from the crowd and strengthens it in case of possible crises or isolated inconveniences in the purchase process, for example.
- Promote long-term growth through the loyalty of your brand to its identity and, with it, to its target.
- Segment the market to devise actions specifically focused on your most strategic audience.
How to create your brand identity
At this point you may be wondering if you need to be a marketing expert to create a brand identity. The reality is that no, like so many other tasks carried out by the “all in one”, this is something that you can do little by little.
So, if you are going to do it yourself, it is important that you dedicate time to reach a final product that serves the branding purposes that we mentioned. Otherwise, you can hire a specialized marketing agency to develop the work.
If you have a budget that can be allocated to this task, it is surely a good investment, since a professional with experience in the subject knows the tools to do it and can give you guidelines to help you maintain the identity in future designs.
Regardless of who does the work, we’re going to take you through the step-by-step process of creating a brand identity.
1. Research the market
This process begins with a thorough market research. It is possible that you have done it when you created your brand, in that case, you already have part of the work in advance.
This report will allow you to get to know your niche in depth and leave it embodied in a document that you can go back to when thinking about another type of business.
At this point we recommend preparing a briefing or “summary”. It must contain your story, the objectives to be achieved, the region and the target audience, the resources available to invest in marketing and your deadlines.
We advise you to dedicate time and attention to the ideas of mission, vision and values, these are the pillars on which you will build a solid brand identity. For this it is very useful to hold a session and put on the table all your ideas about what aspects cannot be missing from your brand identity.
Finally, it can also be very enlightening for you to carry out one of your business to get to know in depth the area where you are entering and plan actions with clear strategies.
2. Design the visual elements
Once you know your business and the niche to which it belongs, it is time to materialize all the ideas. Each graphic piece is an opportunity to express and enhance your brand by branding.
If you can solve some or all of these points by working with a designer, it is ideal because they will know how to graphically capture the messages that you left in your market research. Otherwise, you can start by creating the visual brand identity yourself.
- Logo: This is not the complete brand identity, but it is the cover letter and the symbol that everyone will have in mind when they think of it. We invite you to read to design it in the best way.
- Colors and typography: If you used the Generator that we shared with you above, you must already have an amazing color palette. These tones along with the main typeface you choose should compose your designs so that the public recognizes your brand.
We bring you a guide on what…
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