But what is brand identity?
Brand identity is the distinguishing factor that makes your business stand out from other businesses. It is how a business presents itself to the world and how people remember the business. It includes visual aspects such as colors, logos, and font.
Brand identity is one of the most important areas that a business should work on in order to build brand awareness.
So whether you’re in the process of starting your new business online, or looking at the branding of your existing business, you’ll want to focus on some of the actionable points that will help you to build your complete brand for your business or organization.
Companies that are successful pay keen attention to their brand identity. Some larger companies will specifically hire specialists that focus on the area of communications and advertising in order to develop their image. They may also focus on evolving and adapting the brand image to keep in with the times in accordance with the experts.
Though smaller businesses may not put their resources in corporate communication teams, brand identity is as, if not more important than for larger businesses.
Since the main aim of building a brand identity is to effectively and efficiently tell the story of your business in a way that will create brand awareness, excitement, and more importantly, brand loyalty.
Brand awareness is how you want your customers and potential customers to perceive your brand, products, and services.
But how do businesses most commonly achieve their goal of creating brand awareness and eventual loyalty?
This post will explore some of the most common things you should be doing as a business owner in order to establish the loyalty that will make them successful.
They trade under a business name that is memorable
A business name should not leave people guessing about what it is your business does. For example, if your business is a web development business, you’ll want to make sure your business name reflects what you do. Instead of coming up with a name like ‘Smith Group’ based on the name of the CEOs, the name Smith Web Design gives the potential customer a much better idea about what your company does.
A name such as ‘Smith Bespoke Web Design Specialist Group’, while an overview of what the company does, is much too lengthy. Your business name should be short, snappy, and memorable.
If you have been operating your business for quite some time but don’t feel as though your name is very memorable there may or may not be a good reason to change the name of your business. Businesses that have had several years to establish themselves in the market may have the advantage of their years to their benefit as they have likely already built a loyal customer base and therefore, their reputation.
However, smaller, newer start-up companies that are struggling to attract new business may benefit from changing the name of their business to something more memorable.
In short, the first thing that people will know about your business is the name it trades under. It should be memorable, not vague, and give the potential customer a good idea what it is that you do.
Their telephone numbers help to create a memorable brand
Telephone numbers that use your business name or closely related business term will help to promote your brand and make it much easier for customers and potential new customers to get hold of you.
Known as Smart Numbers, they typically use an 1800 number followed by letters spelling out a business term. Many consumers have become very used to using these as proper contact for businesses. They also give the impression of a much larger organization, as somebody calling an 1800 number may not be aware that your business is a solo operation making them feel more secure in dealing with your business.
Smart numbers will give your business the edge that it needs to build brand awareness.
They have a recognizable logo
A business logo should represent your business in a simple and effective way. You’re driving and you see a giant golden M every few miles knowing exactly which business you’re driving by.
That should be the aim of your business logo- something that customers and potential customers can begin to recognize over time. They should think of your business in the same way they think of McDonald’s every time they see those giant golden arches.
You should consider displaying your business name and logo in as many places as possible. Brand everything such as pens, invoices, signs, uniforms, etc so that as many people see your business logo and begin to build recognition over time.
Soon, people will begin to associate your logo with your business– and a need that they have will be associated with that logo and therefore your business.
A good logo will open up a world of opportunities for any business looking to establish themselves with a brand.
They have a catchy tagline
A slogan or catchy tagline will capture the identity of your business in just a few words. The slogan should be memorable and should appeal to potential customers, outlining how the business will benefit them, or should express a unique selling point of your business.
For example, the energy drink company’s slogan is ‘gives you wings’ and is designed to remind customers that drinking that particular energy drink will allow customers to get over their mid-afternoon slump, giving them the lift they need, and therefore ‘get wings’ to get through.
However, in most cases, company slogans will rarely actually mention the company product or name. Instead, looking back at the McDonald’s example, they focus on what their products do. ‘I’m lovin’ it’ is a reaction to eating an item from a McDonald’s menu- giving a completely different feeling than they would have should they have decided to eat at a competing restaurant.
In any case, customers will remember your company when they are shopping for a product or service that a business offers.
They take every opportunity to advertise as widely as possible
Brands that we typically recognize are those that we see everywhere we go.
So in order to build brand recognition, you should find as many reasonably priced ways to advertise your business as possible.
Ways you could do this include: placing adverts in local newspapers and magazines, distributing flyers and brochures advertising what your business does, buying advertising space on social media, placing a listing on google my business to drive your customer reach.
Typically, customers will need to see an advertisement or hear about your business on average seven times before making a purchase.
Known as the ‘rule of seven’ you should, therefore, consider this when deciding where to place the ads so that they reach people within your target demographic.
Ensure that your advertisements include your company name, your slogan, your logo, and contact details.
They offer something for nothing (at first)
Nothing says that you believe in your brand as much as literally giving away what you have to offer for a buy-in.
This can look like approaching influencers on social media and paying them with products and a small cash incentive to post about your product or service. Or, more traditionally, standing in busy public places where you can offer free gifts for those who pass by.
If your budget allows, put together ‘goodie bags’ with some product samples with flyers and branding on so that people who enjoy the samples can make a purchase later on.
This method of advertising sparks curiosity about your business. If people see a crowd and wonder what is being offered, or if people they respect are talking about it, they want to get in on the action, too.
Plus, most people like to receive something for free, so will feel positive about your business and will enjoy doing business with you later down the line.
They offer useful advice
People like being helped. So if you offer useful hints and advice to potential customers, they will remember how helpful you and your business are- even if they didn’t buy something straight away.
Advice can be given in person, via blogs sharing useful information, or via social media accounts that are well managed. This ‘useful advice’ can look like responding to queries quickly and courteously via your social media platforms that are visited by people within your target demographic.
If you’re looking for opportunities for your business to grow and thrive, you need to make sure that it is easily remembered by customers for good reasons in addition to being recognizable through personal business branding. At the end of the day, your brand is built on loyalty which can only be established through creating a good, honest reputation.