How to Establish a Strong Brand Identity

Photo by @patrikmichalicka

Have you ever thought about what makes a "brand"? According to Philip Kotler, "when something is not a brand, it will probably be viewed as a commodity." A company that focuses solely on selling its products or services can be considered a business based on a short-term money-making strategy. A brand is built on the principle of philosophy that it shares with its various publics. A brand is an entity that contributes to establishing meaningful relationships with its customers, representing a long-term strategy of the brand's operation.

In other words, a brand can be identified as a company that operates based on its interaction with the customer and how it is perceived by the public. Mostly, a brand is memorized by its philosophy and aesthetics rather than its product. Developing a strong brand identity is crucial in order to communicate with your audience and make a lasting impact.

Here are several tips to help you create a strong brand identity for your business.

Step 1: Know your competition.

As an aspiring small business owner, it can be difficult to find a novice niche in the market. In fact, many companies constantly face tremendous competition. However, understanding your competition is essential when it comes to differentiating your business from the rest. First of all, you need to analyze your competitors, study their strengths and weaknesses, and find the most available and potentially prosperous niches for your business. Such analysis may also help you learn more about the branding strategies of your competitors which you can also reference when developing your own.

Nevertheless, it is crucial to keep in mind that each brand has its unique individuality and it is important to build a company with a strong philosophy as well as mission, vision and values in mind. Here are some devices to help you with your research:

• MarketLine is a service that provides you with a thorough analysis of big companies from marketing. It also offers you a brief overview of the industry of your interest, which can be super-helpful when it comes to positioning yourself in an emerging market.

• Wayback Machine is an extensive database of books, movies, software, music, websites, etc. It can be helpful to find old commercials or other media and communications materials of your competitors and provide you with some insight and valuable real-life examples for the development of your strategy to communicate the history of your brand.

• Similarweb is a service that offers you analysis of the competitor's websites, including traffic data to the site of your primary market rival. Such insights can help inspire when brainstorming ideas for your strategy. It can also help you compare behind-the-scenes data on your website with the competitors to assess the market situation soberly and find your places for improvement. 

Step 2: Conduct thorough planning.

It is crucial to understand your primary public, its unique features and what kind of message, and channels will be most effective to interact with your audience. One of the main ways you can identify your target audience is to build a "Customer Persona", which would be helpful to understand both psychographic and demographic trends among the vast majority of your potential customers. This knowledge will help you keep your customer in mind when developing your brand philosophy.

Here are some more valuable resources:

• Article with an overview on five top online persona builders.

Vividata grants you access to millions of responses of different customer groups in certain areas that you customize yourself. You can build tables in this software with answers to questions of your interest and access the responses of loyal customers of big brands that share the market niche with yours.

Step 3: Establish your brand voice.

Think about verbal ways to add individuality to your brand. It covers both the name of your brand and the whole manner of your communication with various publics. At this point, it is vital to ensure your communication is appropriate to the desired image of your brand, and it also has to be helpful for your brand to grow. We advise you to make sure the copywriter does a thorough job crafting your communication materials, from building a company's vocabulary list to preparing text for landing pages on your website. If you do not have an in-house communications specialist, DRPR would be glad to assist you!

Step 4: Design your brand.

Design your brand appropriately. This is where your business identity comes to fruition. It is essential to create a brand logo that represents your brand entirely, reflecting your brand’s personality and philosophy. You want to create a brand that is memorable and makes lasting impact. We recommend you start by developing a mood board for your brand to create relevant concepts and colours. One service we're frequently using for inspiration is Pinterest, and to develop visual designs for your brand, try Canva.

Although there are many tools to help you design your online branding, the most crucial step is coming up with the individuality of your brand to differentiate it from the rest.

Branding can be both an exciting yet overwhelming process, which requires thorough research, a high level of creativity, and an analytical perspective. Looking for support in developing your brand identity? DRPR is here to help. From helping you craft your brand philosophy, to your brand logo, brand kit, online visuals and brand communication, you can trust in us to develop a memorable brand that makes a lasting impact.

By Mariia Minaieva