Staying at the forefront of the mind of consumers is crucial for businesses looking to develop a competitive advantage. There are many ways to do this, such as adjusting your price, promotion, and product strategies. However, you can also build this competitive advantage into your company from the start. For instance, focusing on creating the design of your brand identity will ensure you’re setting your business up for recognition and differentiation from competitors.
According to investopedia.com, brand identity is defined as the ways a company presents itself to stakeholders through different elements. When done effectively, this identity helps build brand knowledge amongst target consumers, ultimately increasing brand value and coolness. Most people associate a brand identity with color and logos, but this is only one of two strategies to develop a brand identity.
Visual Identity
Many components go into creating a brand’s visual identity, such as using the correct typography. Brands can use typography to express their personality; thus, it needs to match the tone and voice of the brand. If you want to present your company as friendly and fun to the market, ebaqdesign.com says fonts like Brotherton are considered the friendliest in 2023. Likewise, companies want to decide whether to present their brand with a logo lockup or just a brand mark.
A brand mark is an icon or symbol, and it should be based on a company’s positioning or aspirational and functional criteria. An example of a brand mark is the Nike swoosh. But companies can also create a logo lockup. A logo lockup combines the company’s name and the brand mark. For instance, if Nike launches an advertising campaign including its name and the swoosh icon, this is a logo lockup. If Nike adds its ‘Just do it’ tagline, it is called a logo lockup with a tagline. Other considerations when building visual identity are creating brand characters, which can embody brand attributes and values, and choosing logo color.
Using tools like ControlNet, brands can transcend conventional boundaries of expression and explore new dimensions of creativity.
Here’s a cool experiment I did featuring the iconic Nike logo. #ControlNet #Nike pic.twitter.com/3F9vFRBH1O— Pietro Schirano (@skirano) February 28, 2023
Verbal Identity
While visuals are essential in creating brand identity, businesses also want to focus on verbal identity. One of the most important parts of verbal identity is the brand name. According to businessnamegenerator.com, strong brand names help with brand recognition amongst consumers and improve search engine optimization (SEO). Brandable names make it easier for customers to find your brand, but there is a process when creating a brand name. For example, you must consider your target audience, conduct keyword research, and analyze your competition. Once you’ve done that, you can choose from different types of brand names. If you’re not naming the brand after the founder (i.e. Louis Vuitton), you could also use a descriptive name that communicates the nature of the business. A brand name could also be an acronym or a fabricated name that’s unique and copyrightable.
Consumers today focus more on a brand’s reputation and the experiences and associations they provide than just the tangible elements of its products or services. That’s why businesses today that focus on these things gain a competitive advantage. However, it all starts with creating a solid brand identity that focuses on visual and verbal elements that will stay at the top of a consumer’s mind.
