10 Essential elements of Brand Identity

Most people usually misunderstood that branding is just about designing a logo. Undoubtedly, logos do play an important role in brand building, but it’s merely one component of brand identity. There are other elements such as color, typography, packaging design etc. that too play an important role in building brand identity.

A brand identity is actually an impression that your customers perceive your brand. It is a set of all the elements that differentiate a brand from its competitors. It is basically the face of a brand. Brand identity attracts the new customers while making the existing ones feel at home. Having a consistent brand identity is essential. Otherwise, you will lose credibility and trust of the audience.

Today there is a fierce competition among the businesses. To make a mark in the industry, a company needs to be unique and easily recognizable by customers. Most companies use the term “Brand”, but only a few of them can define it accurately. That is why we have listed 10 essential elements that not only help the company in conveying the message accurately but also help in building a unique and memorable brand identity.

1) Logo: It’s the first and most significant aspect of brand identity. A logo is a graphical mark that quickly identifies the company. It is a visual representation of a company’s products or services and briefly tells the story. It can be a symbol/image or text or the combination of both. An expertly designed logo has the power of attracting potential customers. A logo can be of any type like:

• Standalone logo: For example — Foodpanda, Apple, McDonald’s
• Wordmarks or Logotypes: For example — Google, FedEx, Coca-Cola
• Combination of text and image: For example —  MasterCard, Starbucks, GoodYear

If you are a startup, designing a logo with the help of a professional designer or agency can be an expensive affair. There are many online logo maker tools such as Designhill that allow you to create a logo within minutes at a reasonable price.

2) Colors: It is a significant communication tool which is used by companies to change people’s mood and create an emotional connection. According toa research, the human brain unconsciously makes a judgment about a product or an environment by color alone. You being a newbie, choosing the right color can be a little-complicated job. So the best solution is to create the “primary” and “secondary” palettes. The primary palette is used to create a brand identity while the secondary palette is used to support a primary palette. With the color palette, make sure you include values for Pantone, CMYK, and RGB. Remember, the selected range of colors should get fit in the logo as it is used on a website, advertising, signage, packaging, and so on.

3) Typography: A well-designed logo is a combination of business and art. The balance between the two can easily be achieved with the help of typography. The most famous and used fonts such as Helvetica, Futura, Century Font has taught us that less is more. Just like an icon or an image, typography to have the ability to convey a brand message. So it is essential to choose the correct typography as a wrong one can ruin your brand image.

4) Packaging:  Nowadays, the packaging is not just a wrapping sheet or paper. It has become one of the essential elements for the success of a brand. It has become a medium of communication between a brand and the customers giving both of them an opportunity to develop a robust interpersonal relationship. As per the studies, consumers make an immediate perception and buying decision by seeing just the packaging design. Unique packaging design makes your product stand out on the shelves. Thus, it is imperative that your packaging and custom boxes should contain all the essential information such as guidelines, features, benefits etc.

5) Brand Strategy: It is a formal plan that is used by companies to create a particular image in the mind of the audience. When a company creates and executes a successful brand strategy, the audience knows without being told who the company is and what they do. All types of companies—big or small, benefit from the carefully designed brand strategy.

A good brand strategy differentiates product or services from competitors and provides customers with a strong reason to choose the product.

6) Community: Building a brand community that resonates with the loyal customers is not at all an easy task. Most companies generally tend to overlook this aspect of their businesses. The first company that realized this as an essential element of brand identity was Apple. The brand created a dedicated community around its products which proved to be beneficial to the company in the long run. The best way to form a community is through word-of-mouth marketing.

7) Culture:  When we talk about culture, one should not confuse it with the community. It is the values, knowledge, and tastes that are supported and shared by the community. Forming a community around products doesn’t always mean to have a healthy culture. In fact, a bad culture can ruin the reputation in the prospects.

8) Advertising: No matter how much effort you put in conveying the greatness of your product or service that alone, won’t guarantee success. You need to build a true, unique and memorable image by capturing the attention of the audience and developing a long-term relationship with them. This can be achieved with the help of brand advertising. With the help of brand advertising, you can continually reinforce the brand message into the mind of the audience. The more your customers become aware of your brand, the more they trust and remain with you throughout their entire buying journey.

9) Marketing Collaterals: When businesses think of branding today, it is usually regarding making an online presence and generating traffic.  But there are certain elements such as letterhead, business cards, brochures etc. that are equally important to position yourself and draw more customers to your business.  The marketing collateral of any brand is the first impression of their products and services. Poorly and outdated designed collateral can damage your brand reputation.

10) Email Signatures:  It is probably one of the essential features of email.  Every email that is sent, on behalf of the company, raises brand awareness through email signatures.  By using proper email signatures, recipients are more likely to recognize or remember the brand that also creates a sense of trust.  

Conclusion:

A brand identity is what makes your brand recognizable and attractive. It is the face of a brand. Since it reinforces the emotion of customers, it is essential to maintain consistency. You are probably not alone in the marketplace. There are other players as well who are trying to connect with the customers and trying to convey who they are and what they offer. By using the elements mentioned above, with a well-planned approach, you will be able to build a strong brand identity.