When developing a new brand from the ground up, most people get so wrapped up in the logo design that they forget what is behind their brand. While your logo plays a vital role in how people perceive and remember your brand, it’s only a small component of a much larger brand strategy. Branding goes beyond logo design and includes creating a unique identity that personifies your core values and demonstrates your uniqueness.
Create an Identity for Your Brand That Embodies Your Values
Before reaching the logo design phase, it’s vital to first focus on creating an identity for the brand that embodies what you stand for, how you uniquely deliver solutions, and, importantly, how you stand out from your competition.
Begin first by looking inward. Audit leadership to define your positioning, mission, and vision statements and list the corporate values and offerings that are distinctively yours. More important than ever, these statements give your customers a better idea of what you believe in, support, and what you uniquely offer, which will help them determine if they want to do business with you.
The Quell Group supports an inward branding assessment in our proven Unknot. Align. Market.® process. The first phase, unknotting, includes internal research and assessment from the view of top leadership, which is then tested–either confirmed or denied–by external market research. How does the market perceive your brand, and how should your brand strategy address the market’s needs?
Strengthen the Voice Behind Your Brand
Every brand needs its unique voice, or you risk blending into a sea of competition. The voice you define will help differentiate your business from others, including those offering similar products or services. You want to carefully consider the personality you wish to display through your brand because this will help you connect with your customers and set yourself apart. Start thinking about the specific tone and style you want to use when communicating with others, including your followers who may already support the brand you’ve developed. Is your brand personality technical, whimsical, serious, playful, nurturing, mechanical, or fancy?
Not only does your brand’s voice set the tone for your business and make it unique, but it’s also a valuable tool in building an emotional connection with the audience. The emotional connection you make will enable you to build trust and relationships with consumers, turning them into supporters willing to buy from your brand. Consumers are more likely to remain loyal to a brand if they feel deeply connected to it in some way.
Create a Memorable Visual Identity
Following messaging and positioning development, you will create a visual identity, or look, for your brand that complements your position and resonates with your audience. Even then, it’s not just your logo that you will need to design. You must also decide on other vital components, such as color scheme, typography, photography style and treatment, and other custom design cues that will consistently reflect your brand.
Quell offers a series of color and personality exercises that can help define how your brand and logo should look. A whimsical brand may use a cursive font, atypical color combinations, and more playful curves. In contrast, a technical, environmentally friendly brand may rely on more greens and natural color schemes with more rigid, futuristic shapes. There are unique ways to communicate your brand within the logomark and consistently across marketing materials, which arises from branding and positioning research in the Unknot phase.
Although brand development may seem complicated, following a step-by-step process to create your brand’s identity can make a difference and help you build strong relationships with your ideal audience. With help from The Quell Group branding agency and our proven Unknot. Align. Market.® process, we can help you dig deeper and ultimately unknot your brand’s true value. Our branding company will walk you through the steps of unknotting, aligning, and marketing to help you focus on what can truly set your brand apart from the competition. When you emphasize true branding over logo design, you set your company up for success by creating a distinguishable, polished, professional brand.
Contact The Quell Group branding experts to unknot your brand’s true value.
