How to Build a Strong Brand Identity: Tips and Strategies

Building a strong brand identity is super important in creating a global brand.

Think of Coca-Cola, which has been around for centuries, surviving every tempest and whirlwind of every economy.

Yet, its audience is still spellbound because of its strong brand identity.

To emphasize this further, what brand will you think about if I mention a “bitten” apple without showing you the picture?

No other brand than the legendary makers of the iPhone and Macbook, Apple.

Why? Because of its brand identity. You could easily identify the brand because of one of the elements of its brand identity: the logo.

Examine all the successful brands you know today. One common thing among them is that they all have a brand identity.

While brand identity is not the only thing that contributes to the success of a brand, it’s a major part of it.

It’s like the face of your brand and influences how your audience perceives it.

This article will explore tips and strategies to build a strong brand identity. Ready to dive in? Read on to find out more.

WHAT IS BRAND IDENTITY?

Before looking at the tips and strategies, it’s important to define brand identity.

As a Latin statement says, “Initio disputandi est definition terminis.” It means the beginning of every discussion begins with the definition of terms.

So, what is brand identity?

Brand identity is the visible part of a brand, including the logo, colors, fonts, design style, and typography.

All these elements portray what your brand represents, its values and products, how you want your customers to perceive your company, and how you want them to feel after interacting with your brand.

Your brand identity is simply the personality of your business and the promise to your customers.

WHY IS BRAND IDENTITY IMPORTANT?

1. Inspire customers and increase loyalty:

Sports, especially football, have a way of bringing people together. In football, fans have clubs they support and would do everything they can to support that club.

Some people spend their hard-earned money to pay for stadium tickets to support their favorite football club. Those who can’t attend the pitch pay for online tickets to support them.

Some people show their trust and support by placing bets on them, while others show support by wearing their favorite player’s jersey, buying boots, etc.

Like any other business brand, football clubs are brands. If you pay attention to the brand identity of football clubs, you’ll notice that many inspire their fans (customers) and increase their sense of loyalty.

Some people have only had one football club since childhood and will remain loyal until they grow old. Some people will even defend their clubs whenever the need arises.

2. The face of your business:

Your brand identity is the face of your business. This is what people first see and interact with.

Your brand identity clearly sets you apart or distinguishes you among your competitors. To build a global and memorable business, you need a strong brand identity.

3. Trust and credibility:

Regardless of any soft drink that comes into the market today, Coca-Cola still has an edge. While its campaigns promote positive emotions like happiness, joy, connection, and laughter, you know that it has a distinctive taste.

Once people have this taste, it reminds them of every positive position. Just by connecting its taste to positive emotions, this brand has built lands and estates in the hearts of people.

4. Generate new customers and keep existing ones:

Your brand identity, when created well, attracts new customers to your business by grabbing attention, spurring conversations, arousing curiosity, etc.

It also keeps existing customers when the brand keeps to its promise and excites its customers. The iPhone brand is good at the latter.

With every new edition of the iPhone, the excitement of the users is usually palpable.

They always look forward to the new features that will be added to the next edition. That’s a captivating way to keep customers.

ELEMENTS OF A STRONG BRAND IDENTITY

1. Brand name:

Your brand’s name is as important as everything else in your business. Consider names of global brands like Coca-Cola, Apple, Nike, Adidas, Meta, etc.

The names of their brands are memorable. You can remember them in a split second.

2. Unique value proposition:

In a world where things take the same shape and form, differentiation is needed. You must have something that differentiates you from other brands in your industry.

Coke has a secret recipe that brings out that unique taste. Nike believes its products spur and motivate people to take action. What does your business have?

What unique value does your company bring to the marketplace? Why should people consider your brand instead of your competitors?

3. Brand values:

What is a brand without culture and values? Every brand has its values. The values of a brand are what the brand believes in. It could be diversity and inclusion like Microsoft or a culture of belonging like Starbucks.

4. Visual identity:

Your visual identity includes your brand colors, logo, slogan, etc. This will be explained better in the tips and strategies for building a strong brand identity.

TIPS AND STRATEGIES FOR BUILDING A STRONG BRAND IDENTITY

1. Conduct market research:

Market research is a part of building a strong brand identity. You need to understand your audience and their problems, what product will solve them, and who your competitors are.

There are three elements of market research:

a. Audience research:

This is one of the most important aspects of your business. To make audience research easy for you, you can group them into categories like demographics (age, occupation, city, interests, etc.), psychographics (what keeps them up at night, challenges, problems, etc.).

You should find out everything about your audience. Where they hang out, their previous purchases, and others. 

b. Competitor research:

Many business owners do business like they don’t have competitors, but we both know that is not true. Many businesses have capsized just because they underestimated their competitors.

Business is war and competition. You are all fighting for the attention and money of your audience. Unpleasant as it may sound, it’s the truth.

Have you seen people in the boxing game? They spend ample time studying their opponent before facing off with them. No boxer will enter the ring without doing this.

They must have studied the past matches of their opponent and look for ways to block their hits, knock them down and what have you.

In the same way, study your competitors. Pay attention to their brand message, products, market share, marketing mediums, brand identity, and so on.

c. Product research:

Do your research about your product. Know all there is to be known about your product. Don’t leave out any details.

Write out every benefit of your product. What makes it good and how can it be better? What makes your product different from your competitors?

2. SWOT analysis:

Aside from football and other sports, wrestling is among the most popular sports in the US. I’m not here to debate whether the events are staged; instead, to draw an important lesson.

If you are familiar with it, you’ll know that the wrestlers have strengths and weaknesses. And many of them even have opportunities to reach the peak of their career in the WWE.

No matter how skilled a fighter is, that fighter has a weakness. And that weakness is what the opponent will explore to ensure a win.

Well, unlike businesses, they still get paid if they lose, but there is this joy that comes with winning. So, they minimize their weaknesses and capitalize on their strengths as much as possible.

What is the SWOT analysis?

It simply stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Strengths: Find out the strengths of your brand. For example, all phones have their strengths. Samsung is a good phone with mind-blowing features unavailable to many Android brands.

In fact, Samsung phones cameras are arguably the only android cameras that can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with an iPhone. Find out the strengths of your business.

What makes your brand stand out? Why is your company different?

Weaknesses: Regardless of how we look at it, every brand has a weakness. Find out the weaknesses of your brand. Going back to our example of Samsung.

Even though its products have mind-blowing features, they have weaknesses. Once any Samsung phone develops a fault, the repair might cost almost the amount you bought the phone.

Opportunities: There are opportunities for your business to expand in your industry. Every business’ dream is to grow and develop.

There might be opportunities to enter a new horizon, expand your reach, increase sales, etc. Find them out and document them.

Threats: There might be threats to your business. In 2019, Facebook paid the US government a $5 billion penalty because of users’ privacy.

The threats might be out of your control, but they are still threats. The threats might be government policies, inflation, competitors, etc.

3. Consistent brand voice and personality:

Your brand voice and personality should be consistent. At every interaction people have with your brand, let it reinforce this brand’s personality and voice.

For example, the Duolingo brand started as a playful brand, and its audience received it well.

But based on its audience’s feedback and interaction, it started the evil owl personality, and its customers even more received it well.

This brand’s personality and voice are consistent on all its social media platforms.

You have to decide the kind of personality you want your brand to have. Some brands have a playful personality, some have mature personalities, others have friendly personalities, etc.

Look at what your competitors are doing, study your audience, and pick a personality. But most importantly, ensure it aligns with your market.

4. Establish visual identity:

Visual identity includes your brand colors, fonts and shapes, logo, and so on. Let’s examine some elements of visual identity:

Brand colors: When you see Pepsi’s blue, red, and white colors, what do you feel? Thirst, energy, confidence, and sporty. Your brand colors affect people’s interaction and exp

erience with your brand. It even affects how they see and perceive your brand. Many factors go into deciding your brand colors, but some of them are your values, industries, competitors, etc.

And most importantly, consider the experience your customer will have with your brand. Some brands create color palettes—three colors that represent your brand.

Captivating logo: While a brand is not all about logos, you can’t help but love an organization from its logos alone.

Your logo speaks volumes about the brand. It’s the graphical representation of your brand. Working with a brand designer will go a long way toward helping you create a working logo.

Fonts and shapes: Your business should have a consistent font and shapes it uses on every occasion. The font type, size, and shapes should be considered. Consulting a brand consultant will help you make a wise decision.

Brand guide: Do you know why a company can have a new CEO today and you’ll never notice anything different in its brand identity? While many things contribute to this, one important thing is having a brand book or guide.

This helps the brand not to go off course. That is, its brand identity is not just oral; it is well documented. So, even if there is a change in administration, they can always refer back to it for instructions on the next step.

5. Slogan:

Many brands are known for their slogans. While brands like Coke create slogans for the moment, brands like Nike have one major slogan.

Once you see Nike’s “swoosh” logo, a phrase comes to mind: “Just do it.” To create slogans. Ensure it is memorable.

You can use mnemonic devices, rhymes, alliterations, repetition, etc. Just ensure it aligns with your values and connects with your customers.

6. Monitor your brand to maintain its identity:

Brands can go off course because of the ever-changing world, economy, and trends. However, a visionary brand knows it must stick to its brand identity, except where necessary.

That is called rebranding. But if it’s unnecessary, your business should stick to its brand identity.

You should monitor your brand to ensure it sticks to its values and protects its identity. More than ever, your audience loves authenticity and originality.

CONCLUSION

This article explored how to build a strong brand identity. The tips and strategies explored in this article are proven strategies top brands use to create their brand identity.

This is not exhaustive material, as a lot of factors go into making a brand identity, but it will give you the insights and headstart you need to get started.

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