Hey creators! We thought we’d get back to basics and review the foundation of branding! A refresher is always a good idea and for those of you new to the game, this overview will get you started.
A brand is more than just a logo or a product. It's the sum total of the emotions, perceptions, and experiences that people have with the brand. Basically, all the elements forming it come together like puzzle pieces to create a vibe and a personality. The result is a brand that has a voice, an outside appearance and a way of presenting itself to customers. We know that appearance can be misleading, but with branding, every choice should be deliberate and communicate exactly what the brand is, what it stands for and what it is trying to achieve through it’s appearance. Establishing a brand this way will set it apart from the competition and resonate with a target audience.
"Branding is the art of becoming knowable, likable, and trustable." – John Jantsch
Brand Core
The brand core should be the first elements established when creating a brand. Everything else will ripple from there and reflect this core. The elements that are part of it are:
- The Mission: The mission statement defines the purpose and reason for your company's existence. It should articulate what it does, why it does it, and who it does it for. Keep it concise in a sentence or two and focused on the impact the company aims to make.
- The Vision: The vision statement outlines the long-term goals and aspirations for the future. It paints a picture of what success looks like for your company and provides direction. It differs from the missions statement as the mission statement outline the current purpose while the vision is about future goals. Although it should be aspirational, it should also be realistic!
- The Values: The core values represent the guiding principles and beliefs that shape how the company culture and decision-making are happening. They define what the brand stands for and serve as a compass for how to conduct the business. Choose values that are authentic and align with the mission and vision.
- Target Audience: Understanding the target audience is essential for effectively reaching and engaging potential customers. Identify who the ideal customers are, what their needs and preferences are, and how the brand can meet them. Create detailed customer personas to visualize and understand your target audience better.
Your brand is your culture." – Tony Hsieh
Brand Personality
The brand personality humanized the brand. It gives it traits that we have as unique individuals to create a sense of unique personality in the brand as well. When doing so, the brand stays coherent no matter who is answering messages on social media, for example. Customers will always perceive the brand through this personality and the personality has to be aligned with the core.
- Name: The brand name is the first impression customers have of it. It should be memorable, easy to pronounce, and reflective of the brand's identity.
- Tagline: A tagline is a short, memorable phrase that captures the essence of the brand and communicates its unique value proposition. It should be catchy, concise, and convey the benefits of your product or service. Mcdonalds Im lovin it is an example of tagline!
- Voice/Tone & Messaging: The brand's voice and tone set the overall personality and style of communication with customers. It should be consistent across all channels and reflective of your brand's values and identity. A tone can be casual, formal, friendly, humourous, sassy, serious and so on.
- How to Interact with the Audience: Determine how the brand will engage and interact with its audience across various touchpoints, like social media, customer service, and marketing campaigns.
"A brand is a voice, and a product is a souvenir." – Lisa Gansk
Visual Identity
The visual brand is the collection of visual elements, such as logos, colors, typography, and imagery, that comes together as a specific aesthetic to create a distinct and recognizable identity for a company or product. The key is to strike a perfect balance between timeless and trendy elements to make sure that the brand age well while staying relevant to its time.
- Logo: The logo is the face of the brand. It should be unique, memorable, and instantly recognizable. If you want more tips on choosing a logo and the impact it can have on your brand, you can go deeper in our article Decoding the power of logo.
- Typography: The fonts should complement your logo and convey the personality and style of the brand. Use a combination of fonts for headings, body text, and other elements to create visual hierarchy and consistency. Our blog post Unravelling the subliminal world of typography will tell you more.
- Color Palette: You can get tips on how to create your color palette on how color innovate branding with psychology. Otherwise, In short The color palette has to reflects the brand's personality and evokes the desired emotions in your audience. Use colors strategically to create visual impact and reinforce brand recognition.
- Imagery: The imagery reinforce the visual universe of the brand. It is all the types of images, illustration, graphic and icons that will be used on website, social media and across promotional material. For example, if a brand wants to give the feeling of dream, the cloud might be a repeating element. Checkout our latest blog post about The photoshoot: Capturing your brands defining moment if you want to create your own imagery!
"Your brand is a story unfolding across all customer touchpoints." – Jonah Sachs
Brand Story
Lastly, the brand story is what makes everything come together and share the mission, history, values and mission of the brand. We all love stories and being able to communicate the elements of the brand through a good story will have the customers emotionally engaged. Stories share the trigger that prompted to create the brand, why it has the value that it has, why it does what it does. Maybe a plus-size person with a passion for fashion realized the lack of beautiful clothes in her size and decided to be an advocate for body positivity while creating a fashion brand. Maybe a person growing up with a mentally ill sibling put in place a community center to fight loneliness. Whatever it is, this story should be shared through everything the brand does, whether it’s content, ads, a donation, or sponsorship. Luxury brands like Chanel and Gucci are amazing storytellers.
Starting by establish a strong and coherent brand identity will make sure you are ready for a smooth sailing! As the advertisement landscape changes, the costumers get more wary of brands. Setting up a brand that communicates what it stands for will avoid confusion, make sure that the customers knows what the brand is about and be able to reach them more easily! It might tempting to cut the corner round and skip establish all these elements, bu trust us, it will save time down the line and facilitate every single decision and steps as a clear guideline has been written. We hope that was useful!
Talk to us if you need more info.
References:
- https://quotefancy.com/quote/1635014/John-Jantsch-Branding-is-the-art-of-becoming-knowable-likable-and-trustable
- https://rhymeandreasondesign.com/blog/rhyme-and-reason-culture/culture-brand/
- https://www.kleinerperkins.com/perspectives/pattern-brands/
- https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/customer-touchpoints-the-point-of-interaction-between-brands-businesses-products-and-customers