Branding

What is a brand
A brand is a product, service or concept that is
publicly distinguished from other products,
services or concepts so that it can be easily
communicated and usually marketed. Branding is
the process of creating and disseminating the
brand name, its qualities and personality.
What Is Branding?
 KEY
COMPONENTS
You can measure the strength of your brand through an examination
of its various components. If you don’t haven’t already identified your
brand’s components, read on and make note of which ones you’ve got
well defined, and which ones you need to work on. These components
should be understood by your entire staff and aligned with one
another. When a brand’s elements are out of alignment, it’s like a
person who has difficulty communicating effectively, or whose words
don’t quite jive with certain actions. The confusion or the distrust that
ensues can quickly turn people off.
 Brand Definition
This is a description of what your business is —
who you are, what you offer, and to whom. As
the foundation of your brand, your brand
definition should be stable and solid, and never
confusing. Though this seems pretty
straightforward, it can often be communicated
in an over-complicated way, making what you
do the first hurdle in the introduction of your
brand. Keep your brand definition as clean and
simple as you can.
Brand Values
Values are a shared set of beliefs and principles.
They come from the inside; key stakeholders of
the business discover and determine them.
Values shape internal culture, which drives how a
company behaves. Values get translated into
into the brand-driven strategies and tactics that
determine how the company shows up to key
audiences. It is the perceptions of those
audiences that defines the brand.
A brand lives in customers’ and employees’
hearts and minds, in the form of reputation and
identity. It is developed over time through visual
style, verbal style, and behaviors, to deliver an
experience and an expectation.
 Brand Identity

This is the visual face of your business — its

“look and feel”. Your brand identity comprises
the elements that are used to visually
communicate your brand definition, such as
your logo, brand graphics, colors, fonts, and
images. Having a well-designed and well-
defined brand identity will make your
company memorable, help define its
personality, and greatly improve its public
perception. Is your brand identity a strong
one? If not, hire a professional graphic
designer or design agency to develop, or
refresh, these visual aspects of your brand.
 Brand
Messaging
This is the voice of your business — what you need to say and how you say it. Brand
messaging includes things like your tagline, positioning statement, brand promise
statement, key messages, and marketing copy. Messaging strategy is an important
part of brand building, since the talking points you use and the writing style you adopt
help define your brand. Your brand’s personality should come though in your
messaging, which helps to lure in consumers on an emotional level. It should always be
relevant, consistent, and true to your brand.
10,000 years of branding explained
How Brands Use Design & Marketing
 Building a brand
A strong brand image helps differentiate your business from the competition. If you can
establish a positive impression among your audience, attracting leads and retaining
existing customers will become easier over time. This could lead to organic marketing as
loyal customers feel inclined to advocate for your brand.
What does brand building involve?
Brand strategy
Brand identity
Brand marketing
Brand strategy 1. Identify your audience
Before you can work out how to develop a brand, you
Brand strategy determines what you
first need to think about who that brand is for. Clearly
want the brand to look like at a high
identifying your target audience is an easy step to skip
level, prioritizes goals, and plans
accordingly. Consistency is in brand building, but the reality is that different people
fundamental to a strong brand so it’s respond to different tones, aesthetics, and brand
especially important to create a clear personalities. If you start by considering what that
plan before addressing the audience is looking for, you’ll have much less trouble
fundamentals. designing a brand that engages and connects with
them.
Consider if you want the brand to have
a professional and authoritative tone,
or a casual and conversational one.
Determine what demographics you
want to target. Clarifying these types
of factors will help you in the initial
steps toward building your brand.
 Creating buyer personas is crucial for
better targeting in marketing campaigns,
Racing Rob and it doesn't require a large budget. By
conducting extensive research and
Age: 25 to 35 years
analysis, companies can develop useful
Gender: Male
user personas, even on a small scale.

Interests: Racing, fantasy,

socializing, simple MOTIVATION
gameplay Wants a fun, casual game that provides
enjoyment not just in gameplay but in the
Attractions: Multiplayer
theming too
elements, lighthearted
gameplay, challenges

Other games they play: Behavior

Crash Team Racing, Mario Enjoys spending time playing games with
Kart, Clash of Clans friends but can’t invest too much time into it.
Platforms they use: Mobile, Wants to play games that he can jump into
console (Xbox or PS) quickly without having to invest time in lore,
complex mechanics, or high load times.
 2. Research your competitors
Conduct competitor research to get a better idea of how to cultivate a unique niche.
Find a way to match competitors’ strengths while capitalizing on weaknesses like
market inefficiencies or underserved sectors.
Examine other areas of competing brands as well, like websites, pricing, and voice.
Strong SEO practices can generate steady web traffic through organic search, and
competing websites should give you a good idea of which topics to target. You can
also use keyword research tools to identify subjects that aren’t being targeted yet by
competitors.
 How to do it
Identify main competitors: Search your product or service category online and ask potential customers
about the services they use. Cast a wide net to identify both direct and indirect competitors.
Analyze competitor's online presence: Examine competitors' websites, content, and social media presence.
Look for blogs, white papers, and social media content about their products and usage.
Gather information: Act as a customer of your competitors by signing up for their email list, following their
blog and social media accounts, and experiencing their products firsthand. Observe how they communicate
and interact with customers.
Track your findings: Maintain a spreadsheet to monitor your competitors' activities over time. Track
changes in pricing, marketing, and promotional strategies. Categorize competitors into direct and indirect
columns.
Identify areas for improvement: Identify the key differences between your business and competitors. Use
this information to find areas where your business can improve. Focus on better customer engagement and
catering to online followers.
Ongoing monitoring: Competitive research is an ongoing process. Continuously observe how competitors
evolve to ensure your business stays competitive in the marketplace.
3. Define your brand’s purpose and position
Think about where your brand fits in your industry. Start with a single
purpose or mission statement that clearly communicates what you
want the brand to accomplish. This statement will inform other
branding activities, so it needs to align with your business plan as well
as your core values.

Why does your company Why should customers buy

What gap are you filling in
exist? from you instead of a
the market?
competitor?

Remember that a mission statement is intended primarily

for internal alignment rather than for audience-facing
marketing campaigns. You’ll have time to craft marketing
messaging later on, so don’t spend too much time trying to
make your mission statement catchy.
4. Develop a personality and brand voice

Your brand's personality is crucial to make it stand out and

attract the desired customers. Consistency in the brand voice is
essential across all operations, including web copy, social media,
emails, and product pages. The brand voice should reflect the
personality and be tailored to the audience, mission statement,
and industry, such as integrating slang for Gen Z.

Create your brand story

Stories connect people on a personal level, so using them in your
marketing is a great way to appeal to customers. It starts with a
character — your customer — and a problem. The character meets
a guide who gives them a plan and a call to action to help avoid
future failure. This simple formula can be used by casting your
brand as the guide and your unique value proposition as the plan.
Brand Archetypes
 6 Pick a brand name

Naming your brand is

Made-up words like Adidas
one of the most
important decisions
Inspirational figures like Nike — the winged goddess of
you’ll make. Most top
brand names are either victory in Greek mythology
abbreviations or one to
two words — memorable Word combinations like Facebook
and easy to remember.
 Design your brand look and logo
One of the first impressions people will have of your brand is the

7
logo. It’s the face of your brand, so you need to design a good one.

A logo often incorporates a variety of visuals, so there are several

points to consider. Your color palette, choice of typography, and
imagery are three effective design elements that are involved with
logo creation.

Imagery Mascots are usually a face of a person or Monograms, also known as

lettermarks, create a symbol from
personified animal. This type of logo is used to
one or more letters of a brand name
humanize a business through familiarity. Think Wordmarks only include the name of
There are a few general of the red pigtailed, freckled girl that a brand —with no additional symbols
types of images generally represents Wendy’s. or mascot. These types of logos, like
used for logos. Choose Emblems are often circular and combine text Coca Cola, focus on typography and
something that aligns with with imagery, like the Starbucks Siren. color.
Abstract logos focus on shape and color rather Icons are a visual metaphor of a
your business and brand. The Twitter bird represents
than meaning — the latter comes to fruition
marketing goals. the tweet aspect of the social media
after consumers associate the other elements platform. Another example is the
with a brand. Burger King icon where the words
replace the meat in a burger
between two buns.
 COLOR
Colors used in branding can also convey a specific
message. Be mindful of the psychological effects
of color when designing your logo and brand.
Research color theory to help solidify what you
want your brand to represent and how you want
it to make people feel.

Font
Selecting a font is crucial as it communicates the
brand's personality and tone, along with color and
images. For instance, a bold and wide font
represents strength, while a serif font implies
authority. On the other hand, a script font adds
playfulness. If text is part of the logo, ensure it's
legible even when small or in black and white.
How to Create an Iconic Logo