How Do I Perfect My Brand’s Identity?

Creating the perfect brand identity is the holy grail for all business owners and entrepreneurs. But how do you go about creating a brand identity that perfectly reflects your business? And what does brand identity mean?

At Creative Ideaz, we’ve been helping businesses grow since 2007. We’ve worked with them on all sorts of areas within brand identity development including website design, web and mobile apps, and content strategy and creation. If you want a brand identity agency that can help you build your brand, you’re in the right place. In this article we’ll share how to create a personal brand identity that works for you.

What is Branding and Identity?

Branding is how your business is presented to its customers. It includes multiple factors such as the visible elements you choose - the colours on your website, the font of the text you use, your logo, and the design and style it’s all wrapped up in. All of these things work together to help showcase your brand so that it sticks in your customers’ minds.

Your brand identity is almost like your business’s personality. What are your brand’s values? What does your brand say? What do you want your customers to feel when they engage with you? How do you communicate? All of these elements come together to form your brand identity and how your customers see you.

How to Create a Brand Identity

Brand identity services usually work through a process in order to build brand identity design. These are generally along the lines of:

• Define your brand’s persona - you can do this by making sure you understand what your company values are and what makes you stand out from your competitors
• Know your target customer base - you can do this by compiling data you already have on your current customers. Who are they? Where are they from? What age are they? The more you know, the more you know who your brand is for
• Work out your visual identity - work out what colours and fonts work for your brand and then stick to them. Keep things simple - don’t overload your customers or they’ll get confused. Use high quality visuals and work out a logo that identifies your brand and that your customers will remember and relate to
• Tell your story - customers like to know who they’re dealing with so work out your brand story and make it relevant. Why does your brand exist? Who is your product for? Can you add some human stories so your audience can engage and relate further? Lastly, don’t waffle! Tell your story but keep it short and sweet
• What’s your voice - the way you communicate your message, the words you choose to use, the style of your language all work towards your brand identity. This is called your tone of voice (TOV). It needs to match with your brand visuals and your brand identity
• Honesty is key - customers are savvy. Don’t think you can pull the wool over their eyes - they’ll quickly suss you out. So it’s vital that you’re open, authentic, and honest when you’re establishing a brand identity
• Stick with it - be consistent, keep going, and stay true to your branding and identity. By being consistent you will become stronger and your customer base will connect, engage, and understand you more

How Important is Brand Identity?

We’re not lying when we say brand identity is vital. After all, it’s no secret that there are millions of businesses out there - each one of them trying to create space in the market for themselves. If you want to stand out from the crowd then you need a brand identity that stands up to the task.

Brand Identity Examples

Let’s take a look at some well-known brands that have nailed brand identity vs brand image. These are the folks that have aligned both their brand personality with their brand visuals and everything just gels perfectly.

1. The Ordinary: beauty skincare brand, The Ordinary, keeps things nice and simple - like their ingredients. The look is clean and honest, the names of their products are basic and to the point, and customers totally trust in them to deliver
2. Flying Tiger: hand drawn visuals, quirky typography, big bold fun font - this lifestyle brand is perfectly represented by its visuals
3. Oatly: bold, brave, and a little out of the ordinary. Oatly had a rebrand in 2012 and since then it’s become a well-known household name. It speaks directly to the consumer, and almost dares you not to buy it

How Long Does it Take to Create a Brand Identity?

How long is a piece of string?! Creating a brand identity takes time. Ok, so if you’re lucky you might be able to develop your visuals over a matter of weeks, but you’ll need to spend more time making sure you’ve figured out the right brand positioning. You’ll also need to have carried out the research to ensure your branding is on the right track and speaking to the right people. And then you’ll need to think about the strategy. So if you’re wondering ‘what does a brand identity designer do?’ you now know that they do much more than create a fancy little logo.

Be Memorable

On the surface of things, brand identity might look just like visuals, but by now, we hope you know there’s so much more to it than that. And when it’s done right, your business becomes more than just a recognisable logo - you become a voice, a trusted source, the go-to place for a certain product. Brand identity is powerful - get it right and the world’s your oyster.

Let the experts at Creative Ideaz help you define and grow your brand to become the best it can be. We’ll make sure its identity aligns with your target audience, is positioned and defined to weather the stormy world of business, and is presented in line with your business’s core beliefs and personality. We’ve worked wonders for numerous brands and have helped them scale up to achieve huge success. If you need help getting your brand in the best shape possible, come and talk to us.