Ask people the above question and you’ll see a lot of confident faces, however when they come to speak you often see people fail to provide a coherent answer. Many will say it’s the logo, or the adverts. The truth of the fact is that branding consists of numerous elements. So what are they?
Brand Strategy
One that many startups often miss as they head straight onto the Visual Identity, the Brand Strategy is the most important piece of the Branding jigsaw.
The strategy identifies what the brand is about, the aims, goals and problems you aim to serve with your product or service. By neglecting this stage many brands will see themselves going through constant rebrands.
Brand Message
How will your brand speak to your customers, where will you engage with them, is it offline, online. What will the personality and tone of voice of the brand be like? How will your staff answer phones, greet customers in store etc. For a great example of this look at Innocent Drinks, their tone of voice makes them stand out in a very competitive marketplace.
Brand Culture / Behaviour
Define how a brand acts and engages with its community and wider stakeholders. What values do we want to portray and be known for. This is as important for internal stakeholders, especially new recruits as they get to understand your business and purpose as a company. Toms, the footwear company, has very strong values and has utilised that to build their brand.
Visual Identity
Now the bit that everyone thinks of first when discussing “Branding”.What does the logo look like, what colours, fonts and imagery will be used by the business across marketing collateral and channels. This can include everything from the logo to staff uniforms, business cards, email signatures, website design, office signage packaging and many many more elements. My two favourite examples of companies with extremely strong Visual Identities are Coca Cole and Guinness.
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