If you are starting a new business, that means you’ve done the research about your niche market. It also probably means you are aware of the importance of marketing at this early stage. People still don’t know anything about your product or service, so it’s crucial to set your company’s values and goals at the very beginning, making sure that they are transparent in your marketing efforts. That way you will be building your brand consistently, taking baby steps to reach that stage where your business, its core values, and service/product quality will be easily recognizable on the market.
The way to establish your business in the marketplace and make it recognizable is by building a brand identity. Strong brand identity can attract new customers and help you retain the existing ones. When it is well designed, it can have a huge role in earning customer loyalty. Of course, that is more easily said than done.
How to Start Building Your Brand Identity
Building brand identity takes time, strategic planning, and effort. It involves making in-depth analysis of potential customers and competitors, coming up with a memorable business name, designing a logo and all accompanying visual elements (depending on whether you are selling physical goods or intangible products/services), creating a website, organizing promotional activities, etc. The process never really ends, but you do get to a point where you’ve built an identifiable brand, and that is already a huge success.
So how do you get to this first milestone? As already mentioned, take baby steps. Start with something concrete that you can promote, and that is the visual identity of your company and product or service. Though audio branding is on the rise, it still holds that the consumers’ reactions to visual stimuli are the strongest. A lot of money and effort was put into research on how people react to different colors, shapes, fonts, and since this information is easily obtainable, it’s important to use it when creating your brand’s visual identity.
Three Things to Consider at the Very Start
1) Think about the industry you are running your business in and your target audience. If it is an automotive industry, you will probably steer away from gentle colors, soft shapes, light and fluffy logo. Your brand needs to come across as tough, durable, dependable, reputable. On the other hand, if you are selling children’s toys or original birthday gifts, fluffy, pink, baby blue and soft will be your first options to consider.
2) Think about the tone of voice for your brand. This is the tone that will be used across your marketing campaigns, from your company’s name, to text on your business card, to content on your website and social media profiles. It needs to be consistent, so make sure you’re on board with it from the very start. If you want consumers to view your brand as goofy, employ humor and silliness, or if you want seriousness all the way, that is legitimate. But make sure you are consistent in your brand building and promotional activities.
3) Make a list of all the activities you want to include in building your brand. If your budget is limited, make smart use of your money. Don’t invest in social media, if you are offering a service only for older people. Don’t print business cards if you will not have any opportunity to hand them out.
Helpful Tips On Basic Visual Elements: Color, Shape, Font
Since colors, shapes, and fonts say a lot about your company, you should choose them wisely.
For example, if you use rectangular or square shapes in your brand’s design, people will associate them with trustworthiness and professionalism. On the other hand, circular and oval shapes invoke warm and positive feelings.
Research how fonts affect users. If your business has to do with automotive industry, as we mentioned, you might want to consider classic, simple fonts. If you’re selling children’s products, go for playful fonts.
And finally, colors. It might seem like there are not too many choices. Black is too scary, white is too simple. How many colors does that leave us? Make sure not to take choosing a color that lightly. Wrong color or hue can turn away many potential customers. There are some basic rules for what green, red, blue, yellow and other colors stand for, how they make the viewers feel, which associations they get from each color, and you should follow them.
But go beyond these basic rules, read more research on the effects of colors on consumers, and make sure you choose the one that’s right for your brand. Color is maybe the most important element, because the viewer sees it before anything else: font, text, illustrations…
Here’s an interesting infographic on building brand identity that will give you a good idea how to start. It will help you prioritize your tasks and remind you if you’re forgetting something important in creating your brand’s image.
