I have a logo... therefore I have a brand?
Actually, no. A logo is not your brand. But, your logo does form an important part of your brand.
Your brand is based on many more items than just your logo. It will include your company image, personality, and how your want your business to be portrayed.
What are the benefits of branding?
There are many benefits of having a brand.
These can include:
Customer recognition - stand out from your competition.
Customer loyalty - they will actively choose you over the competition.
Credibility - to be trusted and believed in.
Customer confidence - they will rely on and have faith in you.
Consistency - making it easier to stand out and be recognised.
What is brand credibility?
A good example of brand credibility is Apple.
An Apple user will not consider switching to an alternative brand - the big debate over Apple versus Samsung again!
The Apple brand is so credible that Apple customers have faith in the brand itself, and will actively choose to spend more on an Apple-branded product rather than a cheaper alternative. The Apple brand is so strong that the customer knows exactly what they are getting, and will pay for the name itself.
The brand is one of the most valuable assets to a large company.
What is brand awareness?
Brand awareness is when a brand is so well known, it replaces the generic term for similar products.
For example, if you search for something on the internet, you will say "I'll Google it".
Not "I'll look it up online".
Most people will still refer to a vacuum cleaner as a "Hoover", - "I'll do the Hoovering", despite other brands being more popular today.
And most people will still ask for a "Coke" as a default soft drink, rather than Pepsi. (Unless you really do prefer a Pepsi!
By building brand awareness, the marketing campaigns will help to create feelings and emotions in the audience.
What is brand recognition?
Brand recognition is when your customers can tell your brand just from visual indicators alone.
For example, think of Coca-Cola. The first thing that comes to mind is the red and white colours, and the logo itself.
Think of Cadbury chocolate. The colour purple is a prominent feature of the branding itself.
I wrote my thesis for my degree about Cadbury as they were celebrating their centenary year. I looked into their history, packaging and advertising methods throughout the years. I presented this to my class just before a break.
I had utilised the Cadbury purple so strongly throughout my presentation, that this had a lasting effect on the class, with most of them returning from the break having consumed a Cadbury product.
The branding is a key element to any business.
What is brand experience?
Brand experience is how your customers will experience your brand.
This will be how it smells, tastes and feels. This will be from the very start of the process - the first interaction the client has with you.
Whether that is through social media, a business card, your website, or even face-to-face, the chance to create the best first impression is important. You want to start out on the right path for future business opportunities.
If you have a good brand, this will translate into all branded media and collateral. From business cards, vehicle signage, clothing and merchandise, it can all be braded to ensure the client is thinking of your business, and not your competitors.
What does a brand include?
Your brand will usually have been designed and supplied with a brand manual.
Your brand will include:
Logo
Typefaces
Colours
Brand story
When a designer has created this for you, all these will be set out in your brand manual, or brand guidelines. This can be supplied to anyone who works for you - as they can then match your fonts and colours to your brand, for any item of collateral that is created for you.
Why should I invest in branding?
That is a good question, as there are many options out there for you to do your brand yourself.
I know sometimes you want to do things yourself, to keep costs down and because you have an idea that you can put together yourself. And that is fine. You can do it yourself if that's the route you want to go.
But, if you do invest in branding, and have some clear guidelines to work with moving forward, it will pay off in the long term.
Sometimes, it can be something as simple as just collating all your items and setting out the guidelines - fonts, colours etc, the keep it constant moving forward. It doesn't have to be a full brand story you need if you don't have the budget available.
You can even get yourself set up on various platforms with all your fonts and colours set up for you, so you can continue to design the rest yourself, but ensuring you have the foundations in place at the start will help you to grow further.
This all makes sense... How do I build my brand?
I'm glad you asked! I love to help clients build their brands.
Whether you want a full brand identity or just a helping hand to sort out exactly what you want to use moving forward, get in touch with me today.
I offer a complimentary chat to get to know you and to understand what you need and what direction you want to go. I won't just try to sell you something you don't need, that's not my style.
And if it's just a brand manual you need, with help setting up Canva templates, then that's how I can help you!
I design with you in mind. Let's see how we can work together.
