Have you ever wondered how subconsciously you see a logo, tagline, or maybe even a font type and you somewhat know what brand it belongs to?
Brand identity is how a business outwardly expresses itself to its audience, it includes all visual components that represent a business idea and how it allows the target audience to easily interact and recognize your business from others.
These include your business name, communication style, trademark, logo, tagline, font, brand colour palette, and your unique value proposition.
Businesses with strong brand identities are able to get more customers, build awareness, and increase customer loyalty seamlessly because they have notable and consistent components that portray the ideas and promises of their business.
In this blog post, we discuss:
- The components of brand identity.
- The difference between brand identity and brand image.
- The importance of building a brand identity.
This is to help you properly understand what brand identity is and how you can benefit from it as a business owner.
What Are The Components of Brand Identity?
There are certain specific components that form your brand identity online.
These components determine how a business effectively communicates its value and experience to its audience.
Some of the most common components when it comes to brand identity include the following:
1. Business Name: The core of your brand’s identity would be represented by your business name because that is the first impression your audience learns about your business.
It is important you choose a name that easily explains your values, and what you do and ensures it’s easy to recall.
2. Communication Style: How does your business communicate to its potential and existing customers? Creating a consistent pattern of expression would make your brand recognizable and attract the right audience.
Your communication pattern should also include the font type, font style, and brand tone.
3. Brand Messaging: Your brand message is a value proposition of your business that it is promising to deliver to its audience.
A tagline is a perfect example of brand messaging.
What Is The Difference Between Brand Identity and Brand Image?
Both terms are used interchangeably but they don’t mean the same thing.
Brand identity is an outward expression of how a business expresses its value, mission, and objectives while the brand image is how your audience perceives all of the components expressed.
Brand identity and brand image are like two sides of brand communication, how a brand is communicated and how it’s interpreted.
The Importance of Having a Brand Identity
When a business properly expresses how it wants to be seen, it has a lot of benefits that cannot be overestimated.
Here are a few reasons why you need to have a brand identity as a small business owner:
1. Brand Identity Promotes Recognition
Having a brand identity makes it easy for people to recognize your business.
Have you ever seen a commercial playing and you recognize the brand as soon as you hear the slogan or the business name?
When you create a strong brand, identity it becomes easier for your target audience to recognize what your business stands for and how you communicate this.
More recognition can lead to more brand awareness, which can convert your audience to clients.
2. Brand Identity Improves Differentiation
Building a business as a creative means that you find people who do similar things to what you do. The only way to stand out is through creativity and innovation, and that can be done by finding new ways to ensure you meet the needs of your audience.
Finding innovative ways to communicate how your business is unique can be a competitive edge for you.
3. Brand Identity Attracts The Right Connection
When you share the core of your existence as a business, people who share the same beliefs and those who understand how this can benefit them are likely to engage with your business.
A strong brand identity can also be an essential part of building relationships with your existing customers. This improves retention or referral rate.
Conclusion
Once you understand what branding is, building a strong brand identity for your business becomes easier for you as a business owner.
It is also important to note that brand identity doesn’t end at expressing your brand to your audience.
Ensure you have a consistent and clear message that should be understood by the audience it is intended for.
That way there would be communication and you can get to understand your brand image, as it is important to always get feedback about what your audiences think about your brand.
Key Takeaways
- Brand identity is how your business outwardly expresses itself to your audience.
- Brand image is a perspective of what your audience thinks of your brand’s identity.
- There are various components that form a brand identity as a whole such as brand messaging, brand promise, business name and communication style.
