Building your business identity, your brand identity, can honestly be one of the most strenuous marketing tasks that you'll ever undertake for one simple reason; this will be how the entire world views your product for a very, very long time. There's a lot of pressure to make sure that your brand identity is developed with flexibility, creativity, trends, audience, and a whole lot more in mind. Can you do it on your own and go DIY with your brand identity? Sure, however we would strongly suggest against it. As Quaintise, we take on the philosophy that you wouldn't ask a car technician to build you a home, why would you take on the strenuous task of developing your own brand identity?
There is no one who knows your brand better than you. You built the company from the ground up, turned a few customers into steady clients, and have held on as the economy has tanked. You've done some small marketing in print, maybe a bit of website development, and perhaps you've dabbled in Facebook. However, you've only touched upon these marketing techniques, and without knowing who your audience is, how they search for you online, how they interact with your product in life, and how you can reach them in unique ways, you are limiting yourself and your brand's capabilities.
It's More Then Just a Logo
Brand identity, as many Arizona graphic designers will tell you, is your logo. It's the image that your business projects to its clients and customers. While that's partially true, brand identity is so much more. At Quaintise, we understand brand identity as the overall, big picture of your company brand on all levels of interaction with your audience. It's not just the logo, though granted the logo is an integral part of the brand identity process. It's the message, the tag line, the videos, the website, the font used on all materials, the colors used in all marketing, the tone and voice, and much more.
Your brand must show who you are, what your promise is, and must create instant recognition with your customers (aka: brand recognition). Your business has a story and a promise that it makes to its customers. Whether that story and promise deal with car care, health care, or home care, the stories are unique, the audience is unique, and thus the brand identity must be unique in order to be effective.
When considering a marketing firm to collaborate with regarding your brand identity, consider one with experience, testimonials to back up that experience, and a vast portfolio. If you're considering going DIY with your brand identity, check back for our next article on the brand identity development process, step by step.