What do you think of when you hear brand identity? Did your logo come first to mind? a lot of times that is what we think. But a logo is just one piece of the puzzle that comes together to create your brand identity.
I like to think of your brand identity as the first impression of your brand. When someone hears your name or sees your logo, what will it tell them? When they see you on social, go to your website, and look at your packaging. Simply put, it’s the look and feel of your brand.
The first part of your brand identity shouldn’t be designing a logo.
When it comes to building your brand identity, you shouldn’t start building your brand with your logo, or designing your website. It should be one of the last parts of building your brand foundation. The first thing you should think about when building your brand identity is your community, and what matters to you, the business owner, in building this business.
Think of your Community…Your perfect customer. And ask yourself these questions…
- Who are you trying to reach?
- What kind of people do you want to work with?
- What are their needs and wants?
You need to understand these things before you can start building anything. Once you have a good understanding of who your target audience is, then you can start thinking about what kind of message you want to send them as it relates to your brand identity.
Now that you have a better understanding of who your perfect customer is, now we need to think internally.
Think about you, the CEO, and what you’re all about. Think about who you want your company to be, and how customers and employees alike will view your brand.
- What are your core values?
- What do you stand for?
- What is your mission statement?
- What is your brand promise?
Your message and the way your voice carry’s with your customers should be in line with your findings. If they don’t, or if you haven’t communicated the answers to these questions to your team, then your brand isn’t where it could be. Brand identity is very important. Your logo, brand colors, font, icons, and even brand name are very important for a brand. However, understanding who your brand is, and where you want to go, become more and more important as your brand grows.
When you have your audience and message figured out, then you can start thinking about what kind of image you want to present. This is the best time to create a logo or develop your brand identity.
Don’t Stress if you did this backward. But ask yourself…is what you have cohesive?
If you haven’t honed in on your brand promise, or the questions previously mentioned in this post, but you already have a logo or website, or your product packaging is done, then don’t stress about it. But you might find that those elements aren’t cohesive. You might realize that with some tweaking from a professional designer and brand strategist, you can put together a brand that will resonate better with your message.
Woodward movement gives free consultations. We’d be happy to have a brief call to see if your brand is sending the right message to your audience. Connect with us today.
