The old adage “people do business with people” still rings true today, and is especially relevant to your marketing-to-sales strategy. To create that connection with customers, you need to give personality to your business by creating a “brand persona”. You’ve probably already heard the term “brand”, but it is a lot more than your logo and color palette. According to entrepreneur.com simply put, your brand is your promise to your customer. It tells them what they can expect from your products and services, and it differentiates your offering from that of your competitors. Your brand is derived from who you are, who you want to be and who people perceive you to be. Just like the tip of an iceberg, the visual identity is the first thing you see from a brand, but if you go deeper, you will see that a solid brand identity is made up of many more elements.
Why is branding so important?
Brand positioning is the foundation of every business and is what will guide your decisions and strategies. It is your company’s bible. It also gives personality to your company, motivates employees to work toward a shared mission or goal and differentiates your business from competitors. It is what makes customers relate to your company and when customers feel connected to brands, more than half of them (57%) will increase their spend with that brand and 76% will buy from them over a competitor.1
What are Brand Elements?
Brand elements are all aspects that define the essence of your business and must be cohesive in everything you create. For example, your social media presence or your website.
The elements on the top of the branding iceberg are:
- Logo: We recommend having at least four versions: primary (horizontal), stacked (vertical or square), an icon to use for social media profile pictures and a watermark. We also suggest having a dark and light version of each logo, in addition to black and white.
TIP: Did you know that a great logo is always done first in black and white and once it looks good in those colors, then designers move to adding custom colors.
- Color palette: Each brand should have ~4-6 colors, give or take, including one accent color.
- Fonts or “Typography”: Each brand should have 3-4 fonts: one for headers (or titles), a second for subheadings and a third for body text. You can add an additional font – an accent font – to be used to highlight something special within your graphics. See 615innovations’ example below.
Now it’s time to see what’s under the surface of the branding iceberg.
- Tagline: a short phrase that describes the unique value of a business.
- Messaging Tone: the tone of voice a company uses to communicate with their audience.
- Elevator Pitch: explains your business in the length of time of an elevator ride.
- Story: What is the story behind your company? How did you get where you are today?
- Purpose: Goes hand-in-hand with your story. Your purpose is the reason why your business exists. Why did you start the business?
- Value Proposition: What is the unique benefit that makes your business stand out from competitors?
- Pro Tip: Research to make sure whatever you’re claiming is true!
- Pro Tip #2 (and pet peeve!): Do not say “our people differentiate us.” Everyone and their mother says “our people”. Look hard and really research the market to identify your true uniquencess, or “DNA” as some would say.
- Vision: Your company’s ultimate goal in 5, 10, 20+ years from now. All your company’s actions should be guided with this goal in mind at all times.
- Mission: What do you wish to accomplish on a daily basis? What do you want your product or service to do every day?
- Buyer Persona: A buyer persona or “customer avatar” is a description of your ideal customer as if it was a real person.
- Values: Beliefs that you, as a business, stand for. Your core values guide everything you do, what you say, and how you operate your business.
We know, it’s a lot. But these are the key elements that it takes to make your business remarkable, get prospective customers to trust you, and keep your current customers loyal.
615innovations’ Back-2-Basics Workshop is here to help you develop your brand persona! Together we go over all aspects of your business and create a solid brand strategy that will take your business to new heights. Thanks to today’s digital world, 615i is able to provide branding solutions in Nashville and beyond. You can book a call using our contact page or email us at [email protected] for more information! See a brand persona guide example by filling out the info below then hit “Get the Guide.”
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