Your brand is the link between your company and your customers. It determines how you interact and who you interact with. It must be strategically built with specific goals and elements put into place. Your brand is not just your company name and logo. Its much more vast and intangible than that, and when implemented correctly, can make a major difference in your companies well-being.

What exactly is a brand?

Some believe that the name and logo of your company is completely irrelevant, and that if you just have a good product or service, it will simply sell itself. While that may be true to some degree, it will not always be the case. The name and logo of your company by themselves are not worth a top priority when starting a business, but your brand should be toward the top of the list. A brand is the intangible collection of a number of things.

1. Visual Appeal

Visual appeal is usually the first and only thing people think about when they think about what a brand is, and for a good reason. Nailing down your brand visuals is a tremendous first step in the development of your brand. Companies that have a strong visual appeal gain the advantage of recognizability in the extremely saturated world of brands. Having a consistent set of visual brand elements will help your target customers develop a brand image in their minds, making you more and more recognizable, and keeping you top of mind.

A logo set

Logos are used for a variety of reasons. And you need different variations of your logo for each of those reasons. Take Nike, for example. They have their iconic font + symbol logo that they can use for the majority of the time. But they also have their equally iconic swoosh logo that they can use in other ways that still communicates the brand to their customers. On top of both of these, they have different variations of the logo for each of their market segments. One for Nike Baseball, Nike Basketball, Nike Soccer, and Nike 6.0 which is their line of products for the skateboarding and extreme sports communities. Each of these communicate the same brand image in different ways to appeal specifically to their target segments without diluting the overall brand.

 

A font set

Facebook is a good example of a company that puts time and effort into choosing their font sets. They carefully choose a font that accomplishes a certain set of marketing goals. The Facebook font is a slight variation of the font, Klavica. At a glance, its just a font. But lots of time and energy was put into coming up with the perfect font. Facebook’s font puts off a “friendly” vibe and typically used in all lowercased characters to further emote the friendliness and laid back feeling of their brand. So, with the use of such an iconic font in their branding, they can now use this to their advantage in other marketing materials. Using the facebook font with the facebook blue is now immediately recognizable no matter what the word or phrase is.

 

 

Color scheme

There have been countless studies about what effect color has on the consumer, and the color scheme you decide to go with for your brand can go a long way in communicating your brand identity to your consumers. When you pick the right color to go along with your logo and font set, you create an overall stimulating visual experience for your customers. This enhances the mere exposure effect, so every time your customers see this combination, you become more and more top of mind.

 

2. Personality

A huge barrier to entry for customers dealing with is ambiguity. When people feel like they are interacting with a business their guards go up, and are probably less willing to buy into whatever it is that you’re selling. But when you create a brand personality, it humanizes your company and gives your target customers something to engage with and relate to. The values you incorporate into your brand personality should directly align with the values of your target consumers. This helps to define what consumers can expect from you as a company. It will enrich their understanding of your company and make you more accessible.

 

One stellar example of a company who has nailed their brand personality is Taco Bell. They understand who their target customer is, and they developed their personality accordingly. Taco Bell is cool. Taco Bell is hip. Taco Bell is great at communicating their brand.

3. Purpose

Simon Sinek is famous for his marketing lecture based around his idea of the “Golden Circle”. Which essentially states that people buy what you do, they buy why you do it. People who believe what your brand believes will be more likely to do business with you. Chipotle is famous for using wholesome and organic ingredients. This is a well-timed value to have as organic and natural food is becoming more and more popular and demanded by the masses. So, when someone is thinking about somewhere to eat, and they have a certain set of values and beliefs that are similar to Chipotle’s, they’re very likely to end up buying a massive burrito for lunch that day.

 

As a brand, it is vital that you have a purpose, and a set of values and beliefs, and that you tell EVERYONE about them. You can’t expect to be everything to everyone, that’s just not possible. But you can dominate a certain sector of the population. When you stand for something specific, you will deeply resonate with consumers that share that stance.

At the end of the day, when your brand has a strong visual appeal, combined with a prominent personality and value set, you can go a long way in communicating with brand image to your target consumers, promoting long-term loyalty.