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If you own or manage a business, you’re probably familiar with branding. But not as many leaders are aware of their brand identity and how it impacts their business.
While the difference between branding and brand identity might seem like a matter of wordplay, they’re actually two distinct concepts, both important to how your company is perceived by others. Learning how to manage and proactively build your brand identity can allow you to create deeper connections with your existing customers and help you reach new audiences.
The Difference Between Branding and Brand Identity
Branding includes all the visual ways that your organization is represented, from your logo and website to advertisements and vehicle wraps. When you choose a color scheme for your website or font for your newsletter, you’re making a branding choice.
Brand identity, on the other hand, is more about the intention behind your communications, not just how they look. It includes nearly anything that represents your company to consumers or affects how the business is perceived by the public. Branding is a part of your brand identity, but it also includes much more. The tone of your social media posts, the reusable packaging on your products and even the uniforms your staff wear are aspects of your brand identity.
Why Brand Identity Matters
For those who are outside of marketing, brand identity is sometimes mistaken for a tactic that only applies online, or one that’s aimed at people concerned with social activism, etc. But it is not specific to one set of values or audience. Brand identity is how all businesses share their values, whatever they may be, and it’s highly relevant to anyone with an interest in attracting or retaining customers.
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The true value of a brand’s image or identity is difficult to measure, but a strong brand identity certainly benefits a company’s bottom line. This can be seen in the resources that are required to launch a new product or service, for example. Companies with a strong brand identity can create excitement around a product launch with far less investment of resources than an unknown brand would need to make to reach the same audience.
Tips for Building Brand Identity
To begin actively building a brand identity, you’ll first need to clearly identify your company’s mission, values and objectives. In other words, define what you want your brand to be. What sets you apart from competitors, and why do customers choose you? The answer to these questions is the foundation of your brand identity. Sharing these statements publicly can be a great first step.
Once you’ve identified the values that are important to your company, look for ways to take action on them, and imagine how they can be represented or shared visually. For example, if your company wants to be known for having the most skilled and knowledgeable employees, consider ways to support education or training in your industry and feature employee success stories in your marketing or web design. If being an active member of the community is important to you, encourage your employees to volunteer or allow your office to be a collection site for donations, etc. Once employees are engaged in a cause or issue, even internally, it can create natural opportunities for authentic videos, social posts and blogs on these activities and how they align with your mission.
Strong Brand Identity Guides Marketing Strategy
Consistency is key to creating a strong brand identity. This is good news for marketers. Once you’ve identified what your brand wants to be known for — luxury or affordability, exclusivity or accessibility, etc. — you have a clear motivating force for your messaging and visual communications.
If you’re not sure yet how affordability can be represented in, say, website design or a newsletter, don’t worry, that’s what talented creatives like graphic designers and copywriters get paid to do. Defining who you want to be is a much more important step, but with a little professional soul-searching, nearly any company can use brand identity to build and retain a loyal customer base.
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Author: Hannah Trivette, Forbes Councils Member
