The battleground for a company's growth is found in the space between the signals it has control of and the market's perception of those signals. Many executives misinterpret a static logo project as being an applicable branding system that exists in the market.
This guide will define the specific elements, strategic frameworks and methods for measuring the impact of a brand on consumer behaviour.
What Companies Control With Brand Identity
Brand identity is the process of how a company presents itself to the market. A company can build a brand identity in many different ways.
An example of brand identity may be a company using a custom logo, tagline, typeface, colour palette, imagery, tone of voice and product. Each of these elements combined will create a cohesive representation of the company's position in the marketplace.
The Purpose of a Cohesive Brand Identity
The purpose of creating this cohesive brand identity is to provide buyers an easy way to identify, understand and differentiate your company from its competition. A strong identity will provide buyers with a quick visual cue as to the brand's value proposition.
Most companies fail because they have developed their identity entirely on the preferences of the founder(s). When developing a true brand identity, the development of the identity will be based upon both the relevance to the audience and the distinctiveness of the category.
The identity should address a problem that is relevant to the business as opposed to simply addressing a design issue. If employees cannot use a company's brand identity in their day-to-day operation, the identity will become ineffective over time.
The speed and consistency of executing the brand identity will have the same importance as the original design quality.
Understanding the Terms of Market Positioning
To avoid wasting time executing a brand identity that has been created based upon incorrect terminology and definitions, it is essential for all members of the team to fully understand the differences between the various terms used.
They must understand the terms used when describing the brand and the efforts that can be taken to achieve the brand's position in the marketplace.
The Difference Between Brand Strategy and Brand Identity
A company's brand strategy is created using a series of decisions made regarding the target market, what is the primary value proposition communicated to the target, and what the company's value driver is to differentiate itself from competitors.
The brand strategy exists as a documented reference and does not physically exist, but the brand strategy determines who the target market is, as well as why customers should buy products or services from that company.
The brand identity is the way the brand strategy is implemented and expressed to potential customers with a shared public view of the brand. The brand strategy sets the goal for a brand's growth and success in the market.
Meanwhile, a brand's identity or brand assets are the actual tools used to get the brand to its goal. A brand has the ability to control both the brand strategy and the brand identity; however, the brand strategy can never be changed after it has been established.
Visual Identity Versus Brand Experience
Visual identity is just one component of the larger structure of a brand. The definition of visual identity consists of the following components: the logo, color palette, typography, layout and style of the image.
Therefore, the visual identity is based solely on visual design elements of a brand and is fully under the control of the brand.
Brand experience is the experience of a consumer when they interact with or engage with the brand on a variety of platforms.
The brand experience includes the software or digital product interface, the way in which a product is packaged, the call to action to purchase, as well as customer service email communications with customers when they have issues or questions about the product or service.
Although a brand has some level of control over the brand experience through how the employees of the brand will conduct themselves, to a greater extent, the actual brand experience is largely dependent on the actions of other users and customers.
Brand Image Versus Brand Equity
The perception of your brand image is the result of how the brand's identity is perceived by customers through their interactions with the brand's identities.
Your brand image is how potential customers view and think of your brand identity overall. Therefore, you have no way of controlling how potential customers view your brand; you can only shape the brand image by improving your brand identity signals.
Brand equity is the actual monetary value you can assign to your brand's equity based on how the brand is perceived in the market. Brand equity allows a brand the ability to charge higher prices, to retain more long-term customers and to attract better talent to work for the brand.
Brand equity is ultimately an indirect result of how well a brand's identity has been created and how well that brand has developed a high-quality product or service.
The Three Main Pillars of Brand Identity
An organization's identity is defined through three main elements or pillars. These pillars are:
The visual identity layer
The verbal identity layer
The behavioral identity layer
The first layer, the visual identity layer, includes all aspects of a brand's visuals, including the logo, color palette, and typography. While the logo is the most recognizable aspect of a company's visual identity, it is seldom the most important component of a brand's visuals.
Modern visual identities have moved away from relying on just one visual component; instead, they rely on utilizing a complete, consistent set of visuals that work together.
Imagery is a large part of any organization's visual identity. A company's imagery rules dictate whether photography, illustration, or geometric shapes are used. Companies that follow strict guidelines regarding their images help ensure that all of their visual materials are perceived as coming from the same company.
Accessibility is an important consideration for organizations as well; therefore, an organization's imaging policies must include provisions for high-contrast text for those with disabilities.
The second layer, the verbal identity layer, defines how an organization communicates with its various audiences — both in writing and verbally. An organization's verbal identity starts with its name and primary tagline and builds on that by establishing a consistent voice and a flexible tone.
The voice is the personality that is shared across all written and spoken communications of the organization. While the tone varies depending on what is being communicated, the voice does not.
For example, an organization's error message will call for a different tone than its new product launch announcement, but the underlying voice in both instances will remain constant.
The third layer, the behavioral identity layer, contains the actual actions taken by the organization or its employees. An organization that states that it is simple and user-friendly must ensure that its online checkout is also simple.
For example, if a company has a premium visual identity but provides poor-quality customer service (which includes slow response times), the company's identity is inconsistent.
The marketing, sales, and product teams align with the rules of engagement on this layer. They define how quickly to respond to complaints, the product return and refund policy, and how sales reps approach their pitch presentations.
How to Build a Market-Ready Brand Identity
Developing a market-ready brand identity is an involved, process-driven project. Creating the design first creates a pretty design that is not likely to be commercially viable.
Strategic Foundation
Identify the business goals and their target audience. Conduct an exhaustive direct competitor audit to develop a visual map of the category. If a competitor is using a blue color set, you will merge into that set by using blue.
Once you have established the category visual map, identify a positioning statement that prescribes the positioning of the product in the marketplace. Define your core personality and behavioral principles for the business. Defining these aspects will establish the parameters for any future design work.
Messaging Pillars
Messaging pillars lead to the development of a visual asset. Messaging pillars convert a strategy into a natural language the target audience can use to communicate.
Testing early messaging pillars is a cost-effective way to determine the clarity of the message. Ask current customers and your prospect audience to review and provide feedback. If they cannot immediately identify the value proposition, the asset design will provide no benefit to the project.
Visual System and Governance
Once the messaging pillars are tested, the visual design team will create the visual elements. The visual elements are scored based on how distinctive, audience relevant, and easy to implement they are.
Once the visual elements have been approved, a centralized document is created for referencing the visual system. The guide should have clear examples of how to use things correctly and incorrectly within the framework.
It should also include what the company uses as its guide for the process and the filing system, so everybody knows what to do when they have approval to put something into the system for internal and external purposes.
Create a Rollout Plan in Priority Order
For a large corporation, it would be unreasonable to launch an entirely new identity at one time. Therefore, it is important to determine where your high-traffic and high-sales touch points are, and implement the rollout of your new identity in priority order.
Begin by implementing the new brand identity on your home page and important conversion pages.
Once you have completed that, implement your new identity on the product interface and your primary sales presentation materials. Lastly, implement the new identity on any automated emails and social media profiles and any lower-traffic support documents.
How to Conduct a Touchpoint Audit
Brand identity changes over time as different departments and employees take ownership of corporate assets. Employees within different departments may begin to use the wrong colors, outdated logos, or unapproved fonts, among other issues.
Conducting a touchpoint audit allows for a clear understanding of the areas where the system is falling apart.
Providing a Scoring System for Consistency
Take an external look at every asset the corporation uses to communicate with customers. It would be beneficial to have the organization's website, digital display advertisements, printed sales presentations, organic social media posts, and product packaging all displayed side by side on a monitor to determine whether they appear to come from one cohesive organization.
To ensure that each asset has a consistent appearance, create a scoring system for consistency of logo usage, correct color codes, and font selection based upon a scale of 1 to 5.
Identify which department is generating inconsistent materials and supply that department with design templates that provide the necessary guidelines to eliminate inconsistencies in the future.
Testing the Visual System Without a Logo
The best way to test a visual system is to produce an asset that does not have the logo included. For instance, cover the logo and the name of the company on a recent advertisement or website page and display it in front of a person (either a customer or an employee).
If they can identify the organizations that are associated with a set of colors, layouts and writing styles as uniquely theirs, then the company's visual identity is unique.
However, if once the logo is removed all other competitors look the same, then the company's visual identity lacks the supporting system to differentiate itself from other competitors.
Usability and Accessibility Tests
Having an awesome visual identity will have no value if the non-designers cannot use the brand identity in their everyday work.
Therefore, if the sales team uses the approved sales presentation templates, there is a need to determine what is preventing the sales team from utilizing the approved templates.
Check all digital colors for accessibility based on basic reading accessibility requirements. Ensure that contrasting colors of text and background colors conform to the basic web contrast requirements. Be certain that the graphic identity system works on mobile devices as well as larger monitors.
Real World Examples and Limitations
Different phases of a business will require a completely different strategy in developing a business's identity. For example, a phase of company start-up will typically be focused on speed of development; whereas a larger enterprise will be focused on strict controls and systems architecture within.
B2B Software Startup
Newly formed software companies often have a working program but do not have a clearly defined market identity. The biggest issue is typically not the logo itself, but the type of language used by the company when talking about the products and services through marketing, sales and how those products and services work on and within the application interface.
The team should interview their first users of the software to see what similar language has emerged that can be classified. Then, they should create a simple but effective brand identity reference guide for the website, the main sales presentation and the application interface.
The objective is to establish a confidence level immediately that makes your potential customers feel trusted and respected.
Repositioning to Target High-End Buyers
A business that is ultimately looking to sell its services or products to an enterprise customer will not be successful at repositioning itself if it has a visual identity that still looks like a low-cost provider's visual identity.
The only way to get larger contracts is not just to change the logo; the company's identity will also change with better quality products and service.
The marketing team must identify large account trust levels and price expectations before launching a new identity. The new identity should incorporate high-quality images, formal case studies, and a well-crafted sales process that meet enterprise standards.
Multi-Product Business Management
When companies acquire multiple products, they often have multiple, unorganized websites and logos. This creates ambiguity in purchasing decisions and restricts cross-sell opportunities. A controlled master structure is needed to solve this problem.
The company must determine whether all products will operate under a single master name or remain independent. Each product dashboard must adhere to the same spacing, navigation, and typography rules. Centralizing these rules will prevent problems from occurring when future acquisitions take place.
Improving Ecommerce Recognition
There are online stores that may have good sales the first time they sell, but they do not generate repeat sales. Customers often remember the product they purchased but forget the store name.
This can occur when companies do not have physical retail elements in their branding or they have generic website designs. A business should create recognition points for themselves beyond their ecommerce website.
This includes putting significant weight on product packaging, creating an unboxing experience for the customer, and using visually appealing emails after the purchase. The brand identity needs to be evident long after the purchase has been made.
Evolving From a Founder-Led Brand
Many early-stage businesses depend on the personal attributes and social media presence of their founder. For a business to grow and succeed, the business's identity should eventually be separate from the founder's identity.
A company voice guide gives employees a consistent tone and values to refer to when writing and posting electronically as opposed to having the founder approve everything in writing before it gets sent out.
Reviewing Brand Identity Examples
There is no shortage of historical examples of logos; however, history lessons usually don't help operators understand their situation. Operators are better off analyzing the actual ways companies have addressed real challenges to building a brand identity.
Heaven Mayhem and Recognition Without Logos
Heaven Mayhem has gained a tremendous amount of market recognition without utilizing the typical logo selection and placement process. Instead, they used a very consistent way of producing content and a very consistent look for their products.
Thus, a brand's recognition can come from the staging, photography and conversations that occur about the product; the visual system takes care of the rest.
Therefore, customers will still identify the brand, regardless of if the logo is not on the product or if the product has been branded with a minimalistic logo.
Dieux and Breaking Category Rules
Dieux set out to establish their own unique identity in a market that is heavily swayed by sterile and serious business branding. They decided to take their brand name and create an unorthodox mixture between medical authority and playfulness.
The way in which Dieux has created their brand through a deliberate use of tension highlights the potential for generating interest in potential consumers.
They have created a visual and verbal style that helps individuals remember the differentiating characteristics of their products against the rest of the market.
IKEA and Unique Color Systems
While IKEA has primarily used a highly visible color system (the yellow and blue logo) within their stores and digital online platforms, the company's unique identity transcends their color scheme.
Through a brand's retail experience, naming convention, and visual documentation, there exists a clear unification of brand identity. These consistency factors demonstrate that the way you behave and use your product are vital components of your brand's identity.
The brand can be easily identified by the individual operating methods in addition to the marketing materials produced by the brand.
Airbnb Rebranding and Strategic Repositioning
Airbnb's rebranding did not involve only a logo change. Their repositioning to a new focus on the concept of belonging required a complete transformation of their overall positioning strategy.
This included a new logo, typography, and softer colors that will reflect this new strategic direction for the company. This example illustrates that rebranding should be approached from a business strategy perspective first, followed by a design perspective.
The visual aspects of the new brand identity were successful because they directly correlated to a major shift in the way that the company wanted to be perceived on a global basis.
Measuring Brand Identity and Business Impact
Creating a new brand identity system is a financial investment, not an art project. Leadership must measure the business impact of the brand identity on the market with a standardized series of data points.
Tracking Mental Availability and Recall
The first tier of measuring brand identity is mental availability. Mental availability means to know the existence of a brand or the ability to recall the brand's name.
There needs to be a way to track mental availability through an unprompted list of answers. This is done by asking buyers to name brands from your specific category without prompting them with a list of options.
The next tier, which follows after tracking for mental availability, is aided recognition. Aided recognition is the measurement of whether potential buyers can identify a brand after being presented with its logo or brand name.
Always track mental availability before prompting aided recognition; confounding the unprompted tracking will distort your unprompted numbers.
Meaning and Associations
Layer two is meaning. Once buyers have relevance and a buyer recognizes your business, it doesn't mean anything unless they associate your company with low quality or outdated technology.
To find out what attributes your potential customer identifies with your business name, you need to follow the marketplace you are trying to establish yourself in. Define your perceived level of quality, category relevance and overall consideration.
For example, if you want people to perceive your new identity as a premium provider and high-speed service, but the responses coming back from the market research survey show no evidence of any of the above terms found in customer feedback, you need to go back to the drawing board.
Connecting Identity With Commercial Outputs
Layer three connects your identity with the commercial activity that produces it. You won't always be able to demonstrate through metrics that the change in color of the logo caused an increase in sales. However, you will be able to track commercial outputs through their proxy.
Monitor the number of branded searches performed in search engines. Monitor your direct web traffic and quality of inbound pipeline sales.
If your new identity is working, you will see a notable increase in buyers conducting branded searches for your company name rather than generalized industry terms.
Selecting Tools Based on Business Maturity
The tools you select will depend upon both the size and maturity level of the company.
Pre-Launch and Early Stages of Growth
Companies do not need to invest in expensive tracking and monitoring systems until after they have launched their product. Before launch, it is more important to conduct one-on-one interviews with prospective customers, conduct a manual review of competitors, and conduct basic survey research.
It is better to find a clear idea of your market message than to try to track large volumes of data. As the business enters the early stages of growth, businesses should be looking at analytics and digital analytics platforms to help identify usage patterns and customer engagement.
To maintain clear communication among employees on what digital assets will be used in creating the digital library, all employees must have access to the same digital asset library. In addition to this, each quarter large corporations should evaluate their image and branding to ensure that it is consistent and meets customer expectations.
Company Growth and Multiple Products
A company must have an enterprise-level asset management solution that allows for automated monitoring of your brand. As companies grow, they will be facing different geographical markets; therefore, you will want to establish a method for monitoring how your brand is being perceived in each of these different regions.
Multiple product companies must have very robust digital asset management solutions with multiple levels of access controls for their employees. Every local marketing department must have a clearly defined process for obtaining approval from the main office.
Without this, local teams may launch campaigns that have the potential to jeopardize the overall brand architecture.
Evaluating Market Data and Vendor Claims
The marketing industry is full of recycled statistics regarding brand identity. Executives should take the time to verify every data point before creating an investment strategy based on that data.
Where to Find Poor Vendor Data
Revenue claims that are based solely on design should always be viewed with skepticism. Often, there is a claim that a company that has established brand continuity will generate revenue growth.
These surveys are often based on marketers' responses, and they do not take into consideration any quantitative financial studies or other forms of verification.
When presenting vendor survey results as absolute causes, it is important to remember that just because a vendor has created a new color palette or some other redesign, it doesn't mean that they will create an increase in revenue. Therefore, revenue claims should be viewed as indicators of potential revenue generation rather than guarantees.
Using Primary Evidence for Strategic Decisions
When making strategic decisions, ensure that you rely upon primary evidence or what you can observe regarding your operational reality.
This means finding academic and peer-reviewed research studies regarding consumer behavior or exact case studies that show a clear correlation between an identity change and changes in qualified leads for the company.
To measure your success in building your branded search growth and pipeline quality, it's important that you understand the differences between what a consumer survey is, what an observational study is, and how they relate to actual results for your business.
Focus on measuring your company's branded search growth and pipeline quality rather than trying to correlate your measurement to industry benchmarks that have not been validated.
Final Thoughts on Strategic Implementation
Creating a brand identity is not a static visual design; it is an operational system that creates value by providing clarity in the market, reducing costs to acquire customers, and shortening sales cycles.
When the visual and verbal cues align with the operational behaviors of the company, buyers will have immediate access to the value that company can provide.
To create an effective brand identity system requires treating your brand identity as a corporate asset subject to strict governance. There needs to be strict rules for creating your designs, a central repository of design templates, and an ongoing audit process to ensure identical brand identities.
Companies that attempt to use visual design alone without having a defined strategy will always struggle to build market traction. The true test of a brand identity system is whether or not it generates qualified demand and protects premium pricing in an overcrowded field, not whether it won awards for design.
Executive Q&A: Resolving Market Positioning Bottlenecks
How do we align the product interface and the marketing identity?
Aligning the two requires a centralized design system shared by both marketing and product teams. This means conducting regular, cross-departmental design reviews, during which all marketing collateral and product screens will be viewed side-by-side to ensure consistency across all materials.
A common visual token system should be established, based on similar colors and typography, to ensure that all codes and builds are derived from the same centralized repository.
What is the precise sequence for the rollout of a complete rebranding project?
Never roll everything out simultaneously; always test. Start with the highest-traffic touchpoints for your business, the corporate website, and major sales presentations. Next, roll out new advertising campaigns to ensure new visitors to your website see your new identity.
Finally, phase out legacy content over a period of several months by rolling out the branding on all internal documents and minimal exposure automated emails.
How will we measure a brand shift if we move toward the enterprise market?
Your measurement of website traffic is not a good indicator because your company will likely lose some of its lower-tier buyers. Instead, focus on measuring the increase in the average deal size, the decrease in the sales cycle, and the win rate relative to your competitors in the enterprise space.
You may consider using a short survey targeting lost deals to find out whether the lack of perceived vertical market authority led your prospect to purchase from a vendor rather than your company.