Brand identity is the collection of unique features that sets your brand, product, or company apart from your competitors. Your brand is a unique selling point of your company. It can include a product, symbol, or the person behind the brand, or the combination of all these. The meaning of the word is made up of two terms: “brand” and “identity.”
The brand includes the name, the logo, and the orientation of the company. Identity is any characteristic that gives your product or company uniqueness and differentiates it from your competition. Therefore, brand identity is the collection of unique features that distinguishes your brand from other similar and competing brands.
You know first impressions count
A strong brand identity – usually developed by an advertising agency – is an important component of a company’s success. Customers value a strong brand, and sometimes, more than the product itself. The image of a company and the impact of its brand affect how the company performs in the market. Brand identity meets the needs of the preferred customer group. The brand’s identity also serves as the basis for brand positioning and is the first step in branding and development. A strong brand identity has a decisive influence on the company’s strength and popularity.
For instance, the Audi brand identity stands for sheer driving pleasure. It is aimed at a sporty, dynamic, and demanding customer base that values quality, performance, and design. After the automobile manufacturer built up its brand identity, with the delivery of each new development, it always generates the same emotions in the target group. Building this solid brand identity is of enormous importance not only in product development and marketing but also in the service sector, as a strong brand differentiates your service from others. The company’s brand identity expresses the wishes a brand fulfils and which needs it satisfies.
How to Build a Brand Identity?
Corporation identity is one of the three primary pillars of a brand. The other two include brand positioning and brand image. Without an expressive corporation identity, however, the requirements for strong brand positioning and brand image cannot be met. Therefore, the business’s primary goal should be to build up the brand identity, strengthen it, and disseminate it both internally and externally.
The brand identity of a corporation consists of the culture, structure, and strategy of the company. The content of the brand identity is varied and depends on the cultural orientation of the target group, the design of the markets, and the strategic implementations decided on by the company. Building a brand identity from these different building blocks happens step by step and in various stages. The core properties, the brand’s benefits, tonality and imaging, and areas of competence form the individual building blocks of the brand identity.
The design of a brand invokes its roots and is interpreted in the future. A strategic concept is developed based on the brand endemic properties, the benefit for the target group, the brand tonality, the image, and the competence of a brand. As a developer, you are faced with the obligation to answer questions arising from the development honestly and the target group’s perspective.
As a brand, who are you, and whom do you want to be? This question precedes all subsequent questions when building a brand identity.
In general, the development of brand identity is critical to success and requires a structured process. Only a holistic viewpoint leads to the goal and addresses important questions that provide essential building blocks of a brand’s identity.
For instance, as a brand, who are you, and whom do you want to be? This question precedes all subsequent questions when building a brand identity. By recording your goals based on the demands of your target group, you will be closer to identifying the uniqueness of your brand.
Every product and service is presented under a brand. If this is target group-oriented and meets the expectations of potential buyers and users, we speak of a positive brand identity. Under the brand name, all properties and meanings of a brand are summarized and viewed as a whole. To build a positive brand, identifying your areas of uniqueness and amplifying them is crucial.
Your company’s brand identity is a figurehead, while it is also a decision criterion for your target group. In an agreement between the two perspectives, you develop a strategy as the basis for all building processes.
Having a positive brand identity for your products and services will help promote sales and lead your brand’s acceptance by your target group and the market.
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