How To Develop A Strong And Unique Brand Identity

Small businesses are hard to run. If you’re the owner of one, your sole focus probably lies on marketing effectively and generating sales. But the thing is, your business is not just a business. It’s a brand. And forgetting to build one can cost you big time in the long-run. However, it’s not your fault since you may have not even been properly introduced to the definition of brand identity. In fact, people loosely throw around terms like ‘brand’, ‘branding’, and ‘brand identity’ without truly understanding their different roles in the curation of a business’s perceived image.

A “brand” is a company’s set of invaluable and intangible assets that define its emotional relationship with its customers. So contrary to popular belief, not just a logo. A brand is a relationship that is defined not by you but by the consumers. It is a representation of how they perceive you.

“Brand identity” then, is tangible. Anything that your audience can see, touch, hold, hear, or watch moving. It is a visual language through which you can communicate about your product and influence their perception. It is a confluence of commerce, psychology, and design. It is your business’s personality.

“Branding”, on the other hand, is a term used to describe the entire process of creating a company’s brand and image, mostly achieved through advertising campaigns by hiring online marketing agencies. Since branding is all about the name and packaging as well as the company’s reputation and advertising strategy, it qualifies as both tangible and intangible.

It can be hard to describe the true value of creating a brand identity for a company. But benefits of a strong brand identity can be seen on any company’s bottom line. Think of a company with a very powerful brand identity, like Coca-Cola. Now imagine the excitement with which the public would embrace a new product launch by Coca-Cola as opposed to a similar launch by a far less popular soft drink manufacturer. Coca-Cola would have to invest less resources to reach the same audience. It makes all the difference. A brand identity can also help you differentiate your product and elevate its experience.

To create a solid brand identity, it’s first important to understand visual identity. Your ability to persuade people to consume your product depends a lot on the way it looks. Making thoughtful design decisions is crucial to accurately communicate with your audience what your product is all about. A lot of companies also resort to style guides to keep their brand’s look consistent. At the end of the day, your brand identity should be distinct, memorable, scalable, flexible, cohesive, and easy to apply. In order to help you create an identity that resonates with your target audience and truly reflects your brand, we’ve included a simple step-by-step.

1. Research and foundation

Different audiences want different things. You need to first establish what you can offer your consumers that others cannot. Once you get to know your primary, secondary, and tertiary audiences well, you can move on to researching how your competition defines its personality, visually and thematically. You don’t have to adopt similar visual elements. In fact, now can be a great opportunity to differentiate. Then when defining your own mission and vision, ensure that your brand identity’s tone of voice complements its visual representation. Your entire team needs to be in on this. And if you’re rebranding, everyone needs to understand the challenges with your current identity and the ways in which it needs to change. This step will serve as your foundation.

2. Design and visual direction

It’s time to start building your company’s brand identity. This includes assets like:

Logo - Since your logo will be everywhere from your website to your business cards, it’s going to be the most recognizable part of your brand. You want it to be a professional logo design that clearly communicates who you are, is visually appealing, and makes a lasting impression on your audience. It’s always a good idea to get your logo delivered by a website and graphic design company in multiple formats so you can use it anywhere. Even changing one element of your logo, like the font, color, or imagery, can completely change the perception of your brand. Adding an interesting form can also help create consistency and familiarity with consumers. Take McDonald’s golden, arched “M” for example, which is recognizable almost everywhere in the world.
Typography - The font (or type) of your branding materials, including the logo are also really important. Every font type will communicate something about the brand. Just like Serif fonts can be used to give your brand a classic look, script typography that emulates cursive handwriting can help add a luxurious or feminine layer to your brand.
Color palette - Color palettes can be a great way to enhance your brand identity. Since people have psychological ties with different colors, using colors strategically can help you stay on brand. For example, red conveys youthfulness, blue can be used to appeal to a wide demographic, purple means luxury, pink is culturally tied to femininity, and black gives out sophistication. But both with font and colors, consistency is key. It’s important to keep the same face and style throughout all aspects of the business.
Website - Your website will be the most representative of your brand identity, especially in today’s digital age. Read through any of our numerous blogs on hiring web development firms in Kuwait and creating the best website for your brand.
Packaging - If you’re selling a physical product, you can never underestimate the role of a good design in improving consumer experience. Moreover, design can actually drive loyalty and repeat purchases.
Images - Do not miss out on showcasing your brand through photos, graphics and icons. Some companies actually create images just for the brand, but you can get similar results by simply choosing a matching color or style. Try to steer away from stock images because they can feel very staged and generic.
Business cards - You want to keep this simple. Your company logo and personal details should suffice.

If you’re not sure how you’re going to develop any of these elements, it’s nothing to fret about. Kuwait graphic design companies and copywriters exist for a reason.

3. Language

Now that you’ve developed your brand, it’s time to integrate it within your community. You can accomplish this by producing quality content and using language that matches your brand’s personality. You can also take advantage of social media to establish a strong and lasting emotional connection with consumers.

4. Style guide

If you wish to ensure that you’re using your design assets in the right way, you can create a brand style guide, a document that highlights the hows and wells as well as the dos and don’ts of your design. The idea is that designers should be able to replicate the brand identity successfully. This will help you streamline any future designs and keep them in line with your existing brand identity.

Nailing your brand identity is key to setting yourself apart from a list of competitors that just keeps increasing. At Design Master, one of the top graphic design companies in Kuwait, we believe in understanding you - our customer to provide distinctive print designs for your company. After we review and understand your key marketing strategies, we will explore a broad range of ideas and conceptualize and offer original print designs and logo graphic design services for your campaigns. Our professional logo designs, brochure designs, branding and identity development, artwork and proofing, and other sales collateral will set you apart from your competition. We will also explore choices in paper texture, type treatments, die cuts and inks to find the most compelling ways of captivating your audience and converting them to buyers. Check out our page to get a full list of our works and contact us today.