What is Brand Identity in 2022

Start with the story.

The company is made to make money – it’s not the most poetic statement, but it’s what you need to start. And to do a profitable business, you need to be able to sell yourself as much as the product. Today’s marketers tend to agree that the buyer is stronger linked to the story than the basic facts of your product. What does this mean for you?Before you think about how this logo looks, ask yourself the story behind the company.When you look at Coca-Cola, you can’t see a brown carbohydrate drink.You can see a whisky and a thick and white letter.Go out to tell you what your company is doing and why you are doing it. The "this reason" is the root of the story and must be reflected in the color, shape, and bookmark of the logo. If your logo was the title of the movie, how would it look?

Brand identity is a visible element of a brand that identifies and distinguishes it in the consumer’s mind, such as color, design, and logo. Brand identity is different from brand image & brand guidelines. The former corresponds to the intent behind branding and how businesses do the following: All of these are meant to nurture a particular image in the minds of consumers.

Select its name
Design a logo
Use colors, shapes, and other visual elements in products and promotions
Brand kit (business cards design, letterheads design, labels design, banner design, invoice)
Build a language with ads
Train employees to interact with customers
The brand image is the actual result of these efforts, whether successful or unsuccessful.

Let’s dig a little deeper.

Brand identity is a complete image & collection of all the elements that a company creates & develops to represent the right image to its consumers. Brand identity is different from “brand image” or “branding,” but these terms are sometimes treated as compatible.

The term branding refers to marketing practices that actively form a distinctive brand. The brand is the perception of the company from the perspective of the world.

What is brand?

Brand is the recognition of the company.

Your brand is what people think when they think of your company. This is your reputation. It is influenced by your values, your products, your marketing, your customer service. It is formed by magazine articles about you, about the smell inside your stores, and what your neighbor’s mom said about you at the grocery store. And yes, it includes your logo, website, and business cards. Everything that people experience when interacting with your company affects their perception of you. This is your brand.

“Branding” is an attempt to influence this perception. You can’t control what your neighbor’s mom might say. But you can do your best to make the right impression.

What is an identity?

Identity is the set of visual elements of a brand.

A subset of brands are brand identities (also known as corporate identities or identity systems). The keyword is identity. Just like a person, checking your ID proves that you are you and not someone else. The concrete elements that a company can see when communicating with you make up its identity design.

Logos, colors, fonts, icons, letterheads, business cards, envelopes, websites, packages, uniforms, office aesthetics, promotional items, social media, email blasts, billboards, messaging.

The Brand Style Guide is a document that records this identity. Get everyone on the right track with the right fonts, colors, and more.

What is a logo?

A logo is a sign & a hallmark that represents a company image.

Of all the visual parts that make up your brand identity, your logo is the most powerful point of identification. It doesn’t need to tell the world everything you do. It is a label or identifier. The red bullseye doesn’t show all the clothing, household items and food you can buy at Target. But over time, it can serve as a quick mental trigger for everything you know about Target. If you don’t know anything about Target, you can still make some guesses about the company’s style and personality by looking at the logo.

How to develop a strong professional & corporate brand identity

Before we know the specific elements that make up our brand identity, we need to know who we are as a brand.

Beautiful playful brand identity design for taco shops
Colorful, playful and fun brand identity design by pecas
As a brand, you are made up of several important elements.

• Your mission (what is your “why”?)
• Your values ​​(what is the belief that drives your company?)
• Personality of your brand (If your brand was a person, what kind of personality would they have?)
• Your unique positioning (how do you differentiate yourself from your competitors?)
• Your brand’s voice (If your brand was a person, how would it communicate?)

These factors define your brand, and it’s important to have a clear understanding of each before you start building your brand identity.

If you’re having trouble figuring out who you are, don’t sweat. In some cases, all you need is a simple brainstorm to identify yourself as a brand.

Ask yourself:

• Why did you start this business?
• What are the important beliefs and values ​​for us as a company?
• What are we better than anyone else?
• What makes us special?
• If we could describe our brand in three words, what would it be?
• What are the three words you would like our customers to use to describe us?

You can also check out this amazing branding workbook from consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. This workbook is aimed at personal branding, but the strategy works for all types of business models.

Once you’ve fixed yourself as a brand, it’s time to build an identity that brings your brand to life and show your most important people, your customers, who you are.