Your brand needs to elicit a response from the consumer. Speak directly to your target market, create confidence in what you do, reflect your business personality, drive your business forward and be the best investment you make.
Whether you are starting up or starting over, you need to translate your personality, ambitions and ideas into a compelling brand identity.
There tends to be a lot of confusion on what a brand is; often, I see a logo described as a brand or even how a company looks. These are both parts of a brand, but a brand is much more than this.
Marty Neumeier, the author of the book The Brand Gap, explains it like this – “A brand is a gut feeling about a product, service or company”. It’s a person’s gut feeling because, in the end, a brand is defined by individuals, not by the companies that create them. A brand is the feeling a product or business evokes more than merely a logo or look and feel.
Simply put, brands are perceptions.
Designing brand identities is all about creating differentiation between you and your competitors, so it can emotionally connect with your customers. Speaking to them in a way that says ‘I’m fun’, ‘I’m exclusive’ or, ‘I’m the one for you, please take me home’.
At Rebus, I focus on designing and developing your brand identity. All the visual elements that combine to create a unique look so a business can project itself to its potential customers and be remembered in mind. The logo, stationery, brochures, packaging, website, social media and much more are all essential elements of the brand identity, and I help maintain the consistency and look across all applications. Hence, everything is on brand and portraying the right message.
As consumers, we are exposed to over 5,000 brands every day. So, to stand any chance of getting noticed, you need a brand identity and a clear message that sets you apart.
To do this, not only do you need to differentiate yourself from your competitors, but you also need to accurately portray who you are and let consumers know what they can expect from working with or buying from you.
Everything you do should reflect the quality of what you are offering; this done consistently over time plays a vital role in helping to turn potential buyers into loyal customers.
Know your audience.
Knowing who you are trying to attract is the first step to building a successful visual brand identity. With this information, you can develop a personality for the brand identity to speak directly to your intended audience.
Consistency is key.
The benefits of brand consistency are that your target audience is exposed to consistent messages, colours, fonts, styles, logo and so on, over and over again. This helps your brand become easily recognisable across all touchpoints, whether it’s advertising, packaging, your website or social media.
Be bold. Be brave.
Just as with designing a logo, the last thing we want to do is blend in with everybody else because it’s safe and cosy in there! This is the best way to go unnoticed. Your brand identity needs to be uniquely yours if you want to get noticed.
Find out more about my brand identity services and the process to get started.
Read the Brand identity FAQs.