Brand Identity Basics

by DowntoEarthDesign | Mar 18, 2023 | Corporate Identity and Branding Standards, Graphic Design

Brand Identity Basics

Your company brand is the foundational component which incorporates all the characteristics of your company including your vision, mission, goals, the tone in which you engage with your customers, the relationships that you wish to build with them strengthened by the promises you make. It also guides your brand in terms of product branding, sales and how you wish to be perceived across platforms. Getting the brand identity basics right from the beginning will guide your branding strategy and corporate identity as a whole later on and make the entire process easier.

Often business owners skip this which leads to gaps in their over-arching ethos and can lead to brand confusion. If you wish to build a strong brand, whether it’s personal or corporate, it’s not enough to know your product – you need to have the set principles in place that will ensure coherent and consistent messaging, group alignment and buy-in of all stakeholders.

This is also a good opportunity to see where there may be gaps or where your brand components could be improved and strengthened.

The exercise of Brand development is simple enough and consists of nine key elements that all either touch or overlap depending on the company itself.

When developing your Brand Identity ensure that you don’t overcomplicate the exercise by following these guidelines

Length

There is no need for these to be long statements or paragraphs, they are basically a snapshot of your core brand identity

Complexity

Keep it simple and easy for anyone to understand.

Distinction

While answering, try to highlight the traits and characteristics that stand out from the competition. Keep it real and Down to Earth.

Legacy

Do not think just about your business as it stands now – think about the legacy that yo are building that if you can fast forward 50 years from now, you want to see these same core values and traits meaning something to not just the customers, but to the people representing the brand as well.

Integrity

Be honest about what you want your brand to be and also about any weaknesses that you may uncover while doing this exercise. If there’s a question that you can’t answer, then it should be used as an opportunity to strengthen your messaging, not detract from it.

Brand Identity

The nine core features of your Brand Identity

1. BRAND CORE

What are the values that we hold that govern all our interactions?

What is our promise to our customers?

What does our brand stand for?

2. PROPOSED VALUE

What is the value that we offer to our clients or customers?

How do our products and services appeal to them and other stakeholders?

3. RELATIONSHIPS

What are the values that we hold that govern all our interactions?

What is our promise to our customers?

What does our brand stand for?

4. POSITION

How are we wanting to position ourselves in the perception, hearts and minds of our customers and how will we strive to maintain that position?

5. EXPRESSION

What makes us unique in how we express ourselves and our brand?

How can we ensure we are distinctive and easily recogniseable?

6. PERSONALITY

What qualities, characteristics and values form our personality as perceived by our target market and customer base?

7. VISION AND MISSION

What are we aspiring to and how do we maintain our vision for the future of our brand?

What engages us and motivates us?

8. CULTURE

What kind of culture do we foster with our clients and with others that we interact with?

What are the behaviours that we seek to maintain and build on?

9. COMPETENCE

What do we offer that shows excellence and sets us apart from others in the same field?

What are our main strengths?

This process shouldn’t be rushed and may require some thought and contemplation or refinement depending on how you structure it. Just remember to keep it authentic and YOU!

I hope this has helped you get a snapshot of how to define your brand identity. As you go along your journey, remember that as your business grows and evolves, your brand should too. In the next post I’ll be discussing ways that you can define and refine your branding colours for your corporate identity and set up your brand strategy.

If you have questions or comments, please feel free to send them down below.

Always remember your W’s & H’s:

Why?

Where?

Who?

What?

When?

How?

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Where to start?

by DowntoEarthDesign | Mar 10, 2023 | Web Design, Graphic Design, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media

Where to start?

With the fast speed that the digital world is travelling at, we know it can be difficult to keep up. That’s why we’re going to be sharing some of our best strategies on how to stay current while building your online presence.

“Know your product better than anyone – know your customer and have a burning desire to succeed”

~ Dave Thomas

Breaking down the requirements to succeed online can be daunting and overwhelming if you don’t know where to start. That’s why we are showcasing the best questions to ask yourself when you begin.

What are your business goals?

Have you got a mission statement that you constantly work towards?

Have you used this mission statement to drive your online activities? This statement is the backbone of your online presence.

Online media continues to evolve but your activities should always direct back to the vision, mission and values of your business.

Social media has come a long way in the last few years and will continue to evolve, especially with the rise of AI and content generation tools. In order to stay relevant, you will need to regularly analyse your social media strategy and your website in order to determine what is working well and what is not.

If you are not sure where to begin, here are some questions to ask yourself:

What is the main goal of my online presence?

Is it online sales through e-commerce? Conversions from blog posts or YouTube videos? Collaborations or service partnerships? Donations or sponsorships (in the case of NPOs or funding pages)?

Posting on social media is not going to be optimal without having a secure, well defined strategy in place. This strategy can be used to create a content calendar, plan your marketing campaigns, evaluate your target audience and then analyse what works well for your brand.

With all online actions, consistency is key and will pay off in the long term.

Brand identity

Branding need not be complex. Most business owners have a general idea of their intended “look and feel” but having this laid out in a structured way makes it easier to ensure that your content always aligns with your CI.

social media options

While there are various options to choose from, it’s always a good idea to choose the best platforms for your business social media.

Facebook and Instagram have a wide reach and are in use daily, but LinkedIn is also gaining traction as a great way to network in similar business spaces.

Whichever you feel works best for your business, choose a maximum of four that you feel comfortable with and confident that you can stay consistent on.

Leverage your existing connections

Use your existing network of friends and followers to share your business campaigns. If you aren’t sure if this will help your business, consider using social media advertising once you have analysed your target market and the best ways to reach them.

Always remember that the best advertising is word of mouth from your existing client and consumer base.

Stay the course

When you start out, it can be difficult to break into the audience that you are wanting straight away. This takes time but it’s time well spent to get it right from the beginning and stay the course.

Post consistently and include long format copy where you can that is correctly optimized on your website.

Make sure that all your accounts are linked to each other so that the right customers and clients can find all your platforms.

every business is unique

Your business is unique and this process is not a one size fits all

It may seem old-fashioned these days, but it’s still relevant: What sets you apart from your competitors?

We all have different strengths and weaknesses as people and the same is true for our businesses. A good business analysis will show where your strengths lie and where you may need to put in more effort.

Website design and maintenance is not for everyone and often companies that don’t have this skill set in-house will choose to outsource this.

It is of course possible for you to learn how to do this yourself once you are set up, but it depends largely on your choice and weighing up the pros and cons of both.

I hope that you found something in this article useful and that you can take away from this. Remember that your dreams are within reach if you continue to pursue them, chase them and you will achieve them.

If you’d like to contact me directly with questions, please feel free to reach out.

Check out my post on Brand Identity here where I’ll be diving into some more of the questions to ask in order for you to continue learning on this journey.

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