8 Ways to Define Your Brand

Your brand identity is everything, from how you conduct yourself to your online reputation and values.
The first step to creating a brand identity for your business is your vision statement.
This is a basic statement, typically one or two sentences, about where you want your company to be. It should express a desire and intention to build and improve your business to that point.

Your mission statement is longer and should cover the purpose of your company, whether that’s providing affordable skincare products or high-end sports cars.

The colours you decide to use for your brand play an important part in directing the audience’s subconscious, which then influences their conscious thoughts.
Picking a colour scheme ‘just because’ is never a good idea – you may have a certain bias towards your favourite colours, but you need to evaluate whether these colours represent the energies and emotions your product encapsulates.

The most popular colour schemes and their associations are:
Red – Emotional, Powerful, Intense and Enthusiastic
Yellow – Joyful, Intellectual, Warming and Illuminating
Blue – Stability, Security, Reliability, Honesty, Confidence and Calming.
Black – Serious, Elegance, Luxurious, Formality and Mysteriousness.

Once you’ve decided on the concept of your brand identity, and chosen an appropriate colour scheme, it’s important to have a logo that will reflect these ideals and create a memorable point of connection – when your audience see the logo; they should know immediately that it belongs to your brand.

“The logo is your calling card, identity, manifestation,’ Kathy Savitt, Chief Marketing Officer, Yahoo

If you could describe your company in one word, what would it be?

That word is your company’s ‘essence’, and it’s part of creating your business’ brand identity.
Your essence should be based on what you want your customers to feel when they encounter your brand.

For example, if you have a company that’s based in natural skincare products, your brand essence could be ‘organic’ or ‘real’.

Your company’s essence doesn’t have to be anything tangible, but you should have a clear idea of what you want it to be.

Yes, your company itself isn’t an actual person, but the personification of it is a highly necessary part of developing your brand identity.

Your company’s personality says a lot! It paves the way for how your company will interact with the world. That could mean being casual and personable, or it could mean straightforward and serious.

If you want a good example of a fun, light-hearted company personality, check out Taco Bell’s Twitter account. Their sense of humour has defined how they interact with their audience.

Consistency doesn’t just apply to the standard of your product (although this is important); it also should be maintained in how your business handles its content, colour schemes, customer services, social media channels and more.

If your audience has a hard time connecting with your brand because it’s constantly changing, they will feel less like engaging.

It takes on average 5-7 impressions before someone will remember your brand – if you’re not consistent, then people won’t remember you.

This is where your company truly shines.
A value proposition is a brief statement of your product’s unique values and benefits. In other words, its what sets you apart from your competitors.
Your value proposition should have a target audience and position you in a business category that further defines your company.

If you’re not sure who your target audience is, ask yourself these questions:

Who will benefit most from my product?
Where are my customers? (social media, networking sites, etc.)
What are their unique needs?

Your brand promise is the connector for your brand identity – it brings together your purpose, positioning, and strategy with your people and customer experience.

It is what enables you to deliver your brand in a way that connects viscerally and emotionally with your customers – this is what your customers experience and, if done correctly, differentiates your from your competition.

Considering these points will allow you to compose a value proposition that’s tailor-made to your customers and develop a long-lasting brand identity.

Creating this is vital, but it doesn’t just stop once you’ve created it – maintaining these points and providing consistency is key to your success.

Remember - the way your brand is maintained and handled will decide how your audience will see your company and engage with you.