Generating Your Brand’s Identity

            Defining your brand’s identity goes far beyond a few colors and a simple logo. Your brand identity communicates what your values are, how effectively you pass on ideas about your product, and what emotions you cultivate when people interact with your product. This will leave an impression on the people using your product long after the sale is made. Creating your brand identity shapes that impression. At GoPromotional, a distributor of printed promotional items such as branded mugs, pens, and notebooks, they know all too well the importance of a brand’s identity. The experts and strategists at GoPromo shared with us these insights to help you make sure you hit all these marks when creating a brand that is perfect for your company.

Identify Your Values

A strong brand dives deeper than just making money. Your brand’s values represent the business and the truths that it stands by. This will affect and define your communication, marketing strategies, and most importantly your relationship with your customers. To build a great brand identity, the values it represents need to be carefully selected and woven into each aspect of the company. Using the brand's essential core values will define a standard of behavior and attitude that will dramatically separate you from your competitors. Make sure to take the time to really sit down and think about what is most important to you, and how you can implement that into your brand. When you really understand the values your brand represents, it will begin to act as a guide towards where you want your company to continually move towards.

Stand Out

In a world where consumerism rules most of modern society, it can be incredibly challenging to stand out among everyone else. The first question you should ask yourself when building your brand is “why should customers buy from me rather than my competitors?” By asking yourself this you begin the process of reviewing the positive qualities your brand offers amongst the competition. The end goal here is to be able to position the company brand in the minds of consumers in a way that makes them think differently about you than your competition. It is important to also understand what you are up against when trying to stand out amongst everyone else. Getting to know your competitors will easily help you distinguish yourself from them. Being aware of the marketing moves will give you an edge that will help you enhance your brand. 

Know Your Customers

Your knowledge of the customer needs to go much deeper than simple demographic data. Think about the identities of each person that will interact with your brand. What are they going to want from you? What will your brand do for them? How can you enhance their lives? Developing the brand from a place that pulls on the consumer’s emotions has proven to be extremely effective time and time again. Cultivating an emotional experience with your brand is one of the most effective ways to maintain a strong relationship with consumers today, and will continually foster customer loyalty as time goes on. It is important to also be aware of how your customers may change over time. Staying on top of the larger and smaller changes you notice in the marketing world will always help you cater to your targeted group of people.

Brand Personality

Your brand can become alive in the mind of consumers by taking on a personality that is unmistakable. Think of this as if you were creating a person who is made up of everything your brand represents. Brand personality exceeds more than simple promises and lip service. The personality you create around your brand will fulfill the promises and guarantees shared with consumers. To truly create the personality of your brand, it has to be done in the colors, designs, and images you choose. This creates an authentic message behind your brand, which will shape how customers and employees engage with each other.

Stay Consistent

 Strong brands are widely recognized because they are consistent across the board. Everything they do, their fonts, styles, colors, images, and actions are all aligned with their core brand. Everything that relates to the brand should follow the same guideline and remain familiar to customers so that it is easily recognizable. This will continually support the heart and soul of your brand.  While being consistent is incredibly important for your brand, it is also important to be flexible so that you remain relevant to your market. This doesn’t mean completely changing the foundation of your brand, but you do want to be open to creative ideas like changing strategies that no longer work and adding new innovative ideas to help you remain distinguished amongst your competitors.

Cultivating a strong brand identity is more than just a name and a logo. It takes hours of hard work and dedication to establish a brand that will outshine its competitors. Although the process is not easy, it is worth it in the long run.