While people often confuse the idea of a brand identity with just your brand’s logo, there’s a lot more to developing a unique brand identity than a distinctive logo. Having a unique brand identity is essential to your business’s success, especially in this day and age, with how saturated the market is. Your business is only as good as people’s perception of it, regardless of the quality of your services. You want your target audience to have a positive impression of you, and your brand identity plays a massive role in this.
As such, it’s essential that you have a unique brand identity that reflects your business, appeals to your target audience, and communicates your values. Here’s what you need to know about brand identities, the importance of having a unique brand identity, and the steps you can take to develop your unique brand identity.
What Is Brand Identity?
While logos are a part of your brand identity, there are other aspects to it, too. Your brand identity is essentially the way that your brand presents itself, how it looks, how it feels, how it communicates with the public. Essentially, your brand identity is your business’s personality.
Brand identity consists of:
Why A Unique Brand Identity Is Important
As mentioned above, your brand identity is your brand’s personality. If you don’t have a distinct brand identity, it’s a lot harder for customers to remember you. A key reason why so many companies with mediocre services succeed is because they have such a memorable brand that keeps people coming back again and again. Your brand identity goes a long way to determine how much you stand apart from your competition, how much credibility, authority, and trust you have, and works to maintain consistency over time.
How To Craft A Unique Brand Identity
A memorable brand identity is one that is unique, clear, consistent, and speaks to your target audience. There are several steps you can take in order to develop your unique brand identity. Some of the things that you can do to establish your brand identity are as follows:
#1. Understand Who Your Company Is
Since your brand identity is a reflection of you and your business, it’s essential that you understand who your company even is. You’ll want to ask yourself questions such as what the purpose of your company is, what your values are, and who, exactly, you even are as a brand. This involves knowing your products and/or services, the kind of customers you want to reach, the kind of voice and personality you want your brand to have, and what sets you apart from your competitors. 
#2. Define Your Audience
In addition to knowing who you are as a company, you need to know your target audience in order to develop a unique brand identity that speaks to them and is successful. How you market yourself will depend on how your target audience finds companies, what appeals to them, what inspires them, and how your products can serve them, specifically. Designer companies have very different brand identities than fast fashion brands because they have different audiences.
Understanding your target audience is a key component of crafting a unique brand identity that works.
#3. Analyze Your Competition
In order to have a unique brand identity, you need to know your competitors’ brand identities. You don’t want to imitate their brand identities, but you do want to understand what does and does not work about them. Analyzing your competition also helps you understand how your business can fill in a gap in the market which you can use to your advantage to help you find your niche. This allows you to position your brand successfully and present it in a distinctive way.
#4. Design Your Elements
Once you understand your company, your audience, and your competitors, you’ll be able to design the elements of your brand identity that both set you apart and speak to who you are. The elements of your brand identity, such as your logo, are essential to convey your brand identity properly. You want to be distinct, but not so out there that people question your legitimacy. You want a logo, colors, typography, templates, and tone in the elements of your brand identity that really reflect you. 
Once you’ve established your identity, consistency is key in order to ensure that you’re remembered. Customers want to know what to expect from you and maintaining a consistent, unique brand is one way you can do this.
Do You Need Help Developing A Unique Brand Identity?
As you can imagine, it can be hard to determine the best branding strategy for you! There’s a lot that goes into developing a brand identity. Performance Driven Marketing offers professional branding services. If you need help with your brand identity, we’re here for you. Contact us today to learn more about our branding services and how we can help you succeed!
