Have you ever walked down a busy street, and something catches your eye? It may have been a familiar image or logo, and you knew which company it represents exactly. 

It can be incredible how a simple design can speak volumes. That’s the power of a logo — it’s much more than something pretty to look at. In fact, it’s the face of a brand, a visual cue that tells you about a company without saying a single word. 

A good logo defines a brand, making it instantly recognizable and memorable. So, if you’re ready to create a logo that aligns with your brand, follow these tips for success.

What Is a Brand Identity?

What lies at the heart of your brand is its identity. It’s what sets your brand apart in a sea of other businesses. Brand identity consists of various elements:

• Purpose: Why the brand exists.
• Values: What the brand stands for.
• Personality: How the brand is perceived.
• Voice: How the brand communicates.

These elements together define how a brand presents itself to the world. Additionally, each piece should align to create a consistent image that resonates with your target audience. Yet, where does the logo fit into all of this? 

A logo acts as a visual shorthand for your brand identity. It’s a tool that embodies your brand’s identity in a single design. Think of it as a mirror, reflecting who you are as a brand. When people see your logo, they should get a feel for what your brand is all about. 

Therefore, a logo’s purpose is more than about looking good. It should bring your brand to life by telling a story in a way that connects with people. 

The Basics of Logo Design

A good logo should make a positive first impression on customers. When creating a logo, you should ensure it incorporates several crucial elements:

• Simple
• Memorable
• Adaptable
• Timeless

When making a logo, it can be easy to think it needs to be complex. However, the best logos ensure they’re easily recognizable by including only a few elements. The more simple your logo is, the more memorable it becomes. Yet, a simple logo can have unique features so that it sticks into people’s minds. 

Think of Nike’s logo. The iconic swoosh represents the wing of the Greek goddess of victory. While the sportswear company maintains simplicity in its logo’s design, it still has a unique aspect that people have recognized and remembered over the years.

Additionally, your logo should be adaptable so it can be of use in different contexts. For instance, your logo should be able to fit on a business card or billboard without losing its impact. 

Lastly, a good logo design should be timeless. This means that it should remain effective and relevant even as trends change. Consider what’s trending today. Using a logo with funky typography could become outdated in the near future. 

Popular Types of Logos

There are several types of logos, each with its own strengths:

• Wordmarks or logotypes: Made entirely of text and are great for brand name recognition.
• Pictorial marks: These are symbolic, graphic icons that represent a real-world object. These logos work well once you have a well-established brand. 
• Abstract: Uses geometric forms to represent your business and evoke the right message and emotion. These are ideal for conveying what your brand does at a glance. 
• Combination marks: Blends text and image, making them suitable for various contexts. 
• Emblems: Encases the brand name within the design, perfect for creating a classic, sturdy image. 

The right type depends on your brand, goals and identity, so choose wisely. 

How To Create a Logo That Defines Your Brand

When creating a logo, you want to be sure it’s done well. Follow these steps to ensure you make a logo the right way.

1. Start With Research

Before diving into your logo’s design, it’s essential to get into a bit of research. Start by digging into information about your industry, target audience and competitors. Look for trends, but also see how you can differentiate yourself. Go deeper by understanding the “why” behind your logo.

Knowing what your audience connects with and what sets you apart from the competition is how you create a solid logo design.

2. Define Your Brand Identity

A good logo design conveys the brand’s personality. So, understanding your brand’s main character is the next step in logo creation. To start, ask yourself what makes your brand unique. 

Understand why you started your business and what values you hold as a company. For instance, maybe your company values sustainability. To uphold this value, you believe it should sell the highest quality products to overturn waste. 

Consider using three words to express your brand and what three words you would want your customers to describe you. 

3. Translate Value into Visuals

Once you understand who your brand is, the next step is to take its values and message and turn them into visuals. Colors, shapes and fonts all tie into your brand’s personality. Be sure to choose elements that align with it. 

Picking these elements can be overwhelming, as many come into play. Instead of endless searching, consider choosing an aesthetic that’s right for your brand. For example, a fun and youthful brand might opt for bright colors and quirky fonts. Meanwhile, a luxury brand would choose muted colors and sophisticated fonts. 

The choice is up to you in what you consider is right for your brand.

4. Weigh Your Options

When you have it down to a few choices, remember the golden rules of logo design. It should be simple, versatile and timeless so your logo fits seamlessly. 

Start weighing your options by asking whether they fit within these characteristics. Is it simple enough to be memorable? Does it work across various mediums, and will it still be effective even as trends pass? Keeping the bigger picture in mind will make it easy to understand what works best. 

Create a Logo That Seals Your Brand

You know by now that a logo is more than an attractive design. It’s a visual representation of your brand. It embodies its purpose, communicates its values, and aligns with its personality. 

Create a logo that defines your brand. Remember that it should have the power to connect with people and share an unforgettable story. When you keep these things in mind, you can design a logo ready for the world to see. 

The post Create a Logo That Defines Your Brand Identity appeared first on Designerly.

Why does branding matter?

When you think of branding, it’s so much more than a fancy logo. It’s how other people perceive your company. For example, many customers will visit your website and look at how it portrays your business.

Every element of your company ties into your branding and says something about who you are, what values you carry and what you offer. 

Branding matters because it sets you apart in your industry. It defines your mission and consistently drives it throughout your employees to the customers. If you don’t completely understand why branding matters, here are the ultimate reasons for you to explore.

Why Is Branding So Important?

Many businesses step into the market with an idea, but they don’t have a brand. Without branding, your statement makes it challenging to explain to others curious about your company.

You’ll be the one in control of your company presentation. While you can’t control every little aspect of your reputation, you do have power over marketing and customer experience.

You might think that everyone would understand it as much as you do. However, people often don’t–which is why branding is critical for communication and connection with your audience.

They weren’t there when your company started. They don’t know your heart or why you care about the industry. It’s your job to tell them, and the best way to do so is with a strong branding strategy.

Focusing so strongly on branding:

1. Strengthens Customer Relationships

Trust is an important thing these days. To gain the trust of a customer, you need a recognizable brand name to build those customer relationships. When people think about your business name, they should instantly remember a friend or family member who made positive comments directly to them or on social media.

Branding matters because it expresses the importance of your mission and the products or services you offer. So, when a customer interacts with your company, the first impression they get is from your image. Everything you do should somehow tie back to your personality as a brand. You can be fun or serious, but it’s most important you’re consistent.

A big part of the brand experience involves how well the website performs for users. Around 61% of Americans say they won’t return to a site that doesn’t provide excellent UX. A beautiful design is one of your trust factors. If your site is aesthetically pleasing and efficient, you’ll gain their preference.

The most critical time to gain their trust is through the first interaction with a brand. With that in mind, it’s all about being transparent and authentic with the customer. If you want customers to believe you’ll follow through on any promises, you must state them and show through reviews and brand messaging that you plan to stick to your word. Customer testimonials are another trust factor you can add to your website to help people see you mean what you say.

Without a good branding strategy, your business won’t have the ability to express values, benefits and insights. Those qualities are the parts that form trust and strengthen your relationships. Trust isn’t always easy to define, so pay attention to the small details that signal who you are as a brand.

2. Impacts Employee Morale

A strong brand empowers your employees to be independent and strong problem solvers. Branding not only takes place within your image, but you should carry it throughout the workplace, too. Branding matters because it creates a sense of importance for employees. 

When you have a powerful and positive message to spread within the workplace, your workers will take hold of those values. They’ll love working at your company, making things much easier for goal-driven businesses.  

Supporting employees with a clear brand will inspire them to spread the word about your business and become brand advocates. They’ll feel proud to be part of your company. In turn, this will drive company culture and instill values around your employees.

The labor shortage impacts many different industries. Making sure you have a top-notch company culture ensures you’ll retain your top workers and attract new, innovative ones.

3. Keeps Marketing and Advertising Efforts Consistent

Advertising and marketing are one of the most important reasons why branding matters. If you want to drive new leads for your business, you need a clear and consistent message. 

Put yourself in the shoes of he average consumer. If they hear one message on social media and something different on your website, they might wonder what the truth is. While both messages might cover different facets of your company, the key is to make sure the message remains the same for the user.

For example, if you place a nameplate sticker on a product or even create one for your employees’ badges, you should think about how the look and feel of the nameplate impacts the view of your brand. Does the look of every detail about your business match? How does the overall feel match your brand message? Is your personality shining through?

Branding provides direction for your marketing and advertising needs. It is the foundation of your efforts, which drives recognition and awareness. Make sure a campaign has a single goal with similar wording and offers. You can always cover something different with another marketing drive.

Having a good branding strategy makes it easier for employees to drive sales and support customer needs. They’ll know how to answer questions and what your brand policies are. People will instantly recognize your products when you have a similar look and feel on each item you sell.

4. Enables Establishment of Higher Price Points

Another reason why branding matters is because it makes your business more desirable to customers. When you have established branding throughout your services and products, customers will relate to the tone you set for your business. As a result, they will find an emotional connection through every interaction with your brand.

Once they establish that connection, it won’t matter what reasonable prices you set for your business. They will want to buy from you and keep returning as a loyal customer. You’ve probably seen new businesses in your area use the same strategy, where they offer a grand opening discount and later raise prices to match market trends.

Take a look at Apple or Starbucks, for example. Both companies sell their products at higher prices because they drive value in their branding. If you can focus on the purpose your brand carries, you can establish a customer base that’s more likely to pay top-dollar.

When you raise your prices, you’ll want to maintain your desirability, though. If you increase your prices and lower value, you’ll lose customers. Kaukauna cheese makes cheese balls for parties and gatherings. They not only raised their prices and lost a lot of sales, but they then tried to lower the price and reduce the size by about two-thirds. Since their brand personality is one of a product great for parties, people aren’t going to buy a tiny little cheeseball that won’t serve a single person. They’ll either make their own or buy another brand.

They may have had loyal customers for decades, but they’ll likely lose them over their poor decisions about product sizing and pricing. It’s always best to make sure any changes reflect your overall branding goals. You may even want to run some control groups and see how your target audience responds to changes.

Excellent brand image allows you to raise our price point slightly. If you increase costs by more than the market or your typical customer can bear, then you’ll damage your reputation and lose customers.

5. Builds a Customer Fan Base

Customer loyalty is the thing that drives conversions for your business. According to the 2022 Customer Loyalty Data Study, 22% of consumers cited a strong sense of community as a big reason for their loyalty to brands. It was the second most cited reason. Brands can enhance their image on social by creating groups, encouraging interaction and offer specials for only those part of the group.

Customer loyalty pays off in repeat sells and word-of-mouth referrals. When you have a customer fan base that can identify with your business, you can certainly drive your sales. Some businesses have such loyal fans that they can just ask for a shout-out and gain tons of social traction. Others offer rewards for those who refer others. No model is better than the other but utilize one of your best promotional tools–your raving fans.

Repeat customers are more valuable to your company than new ones. It costs more in sales and advertising to gain new clients. That’s why branding matters because you want to establish a loyal customer base to maintain and drive reorders. Why wouldn’t you do everything in your power to keep people who order often, a lot and tell others about how much they love you?

Customer advocates are your marketing tools. They’re more likely to spread the message about your company. Those who can persuade others will assemble value—and help you gain the trust of new customers. 

6. Improves Communication Between Departments

One of the biggest advantages to strong branding is that you’ll know who you are as a company and what your goals are. Sales and marketing are notorious for misunderstanding one another. When you have a clear objective, disagreements go away and the focus shifts to accomplishing the branding most desired by company leaders.

Imagine a brand where you get different answers depending on who you talk to. It’s hard to trust a company is going to stand behind a guarantee or do what they promise when you can’t get a straight response.

Some folks on social media will complain about a brand and others will respond to just call back again because the response you get depends on who you talk to. Your customers should never say that about your brand. You should have consistent customer experience across all channels and all reps.

Now, picture a company where every single department and employee is well-versed in policies and goes above and beyond for the customer. Which one do you want to be?

7. Tells a Story

What is the one thing that sets you apart from your competitors? Your individual story of how your brand came to be, the struggles you’ve overcome and the passions you have all work to make your company different than any other out there.

Your employees are also part of your story. They have unique interests and skills you can tap into. Take the time to share stories as part of your branding process and watch how many loyal customers you attract. People want to feel part of what you’re doing. They’ll jump on board if you give them a reason through great storytelling.

You can also use your story to explain your brand philosophy. Perhaps your branding message changed over time. Talk about your struggles and mistakes and what you adjusted to ensure customer satisfaction. People can forgive a lot when you’re upfront and authentic. If you show them you made mistakes but this is how you fixed the problem going forward, they may even give you a second chance.

Taking Charge of Your Branding

Look at branding as an investment for your business. Many businesses will change over time, so ask yourself if your brand is still relevant to your business. Does it represent your company’s values and still appeal to your customers? If not, maybe it’s time to establish a new brand identity today.

The post Why Branding Matters appeared first on Designerly.

Many business owners – especially those just getting started – want to know the different types of branding strategies. 

If you talk to a branding expert, they’ll tell you that branding doesn’t only apply to a logo or the colors on your website. Branding is a connection to your company as a whole — it’s part of your identity and designed to create a feeling or reputation.

By understanding the different types of branding strategies, you can better identify the things you need to grow your business.

Here is a further look into branding strategies and how they work.

1. Personal Branding

Personal branding works for those who are building an identity for themselves. Often, many use personal branding when people are establishing themselves as a thought-leader in their industry.

Personal branding is also common among celebrities, influencers, politicians and even athletes.

For example, Marie Forleo is an entrepreneur and lifestyle expert. Her personal brand often compares to Oprah Winfrey – inspiring, kind-hearted, fun and transformative. 

If building a personal brand is your goal, start by determining what you want to be known for, then construct your identity around it.

Every post you publish and appearance you make in person or online needs to contribute to your image. 

Remember, though, that it takes time to build a personal brand, so you must live it daily.

2. Product Branding

As soon as you build an identity for your business, your products need to have the same look and fit. Product branding is what separates your products from similar products. However, it starts with an understanding of the user. That way, you can connect your product to the right audience to increase sales. 

If you sell a product, you must consider all that goes into product branding, such as packaging.

The product’s package has much to do with the product’s appearance, like logo, colors, design and quality. In addition, it’s all about the experience you can provide customers and the messaging used to create a unique identity. 

The goal is to foster a powerful connection with consumers to provoke emotion and make it recognizable and distinguishable from competitors.

3. Service Branding

Not everyone sells products. You might offer a service such as consulting or digital marketing. When you think about branding your service, there must be an image for your entire team and what you can provide for your customers.

Instead of focusing on what you do, service branding features the type of experience you create. For example, it could be a seamless website experience for users or how you support your clients.

The most important factor here is that you need to provide a consistent branding experience — from your tone of voice to your customer experience strategy.

4. Corporate Branding

Corporate branding has a lot to do with the company, such as how it operates and what it says and sells.

For example, lots of companies are branding themselves as eco-conscious. The ability to build a reputation as a “green” company takes much dedication. However, it goes a long way toward the company’s mission of championing the planet and committing to a community’s efforts. 

Corporate branding often involves the type of audience you want to attract. Therefore, business leaders can start by creating a buyer persona and appeal to them using a specific tone of voice, an image and other assets like logo, font choices, colors and platform use. 

5. Retail Branding

Retail branding is distinct because it places corporate and products into the mix. One example that focuses on retail branding is Apple. 

Apple’s branding is often associated with simplicity, modern and minimalistic products. However, its branding is also consistent on its website and in stores. Apple’s experience is not just through the products but also in its service.

Therefore, retail branding has much to do with the layout of a physical store, online presence and how you interact with customers. From the displays to the music playing in the background — various aspects of your store’s image are associated with the experience you bring to shoppers.

Build Your Image With These Types of Branding Strategies

Investing in a good branding strategy is like investing in the future growth of your business. It pays off in the long run and can yield great returns for your company. Some of the ways it benefits is distinguishing your company from similar businesses. 

In addition, it helps you connect with your audience and attract potential customers. As a result, you may even build recognition and retain advocates for your brand.

Once people know your brand, the word can spread, producing longevity and development. Though your branding starts with you, it always ends with how everyone perceives your business. 

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The market is oversaturated with practically anything you can think of in today’s world. Consumers now have the power of choice, so they aren’t exactly going to choose the first brand they see.

You must set yourself apart by fully understanding your audience and giving them an experience they won’t forget. That’s where brand immersion comes into play.

Brand immersion is a strategy used to present your brand in a way that will amaze your audience.

What Is Brand Immersion?

Brand immersion is a process used to fully immerse an audience into the brand’s world with a whimsical experience. Brand immersion aims to make the user feel part of the product’s or service’s environment.

To completely immerse a customer into the branding, the company has to dive deep into market research to understand them thoroughly. The in-depth analysis involves knowing who the audience is to captivate them in new ways.

How Does Brand Immersion Work?

Brand immersion is all about creating an unforgettable experience for the customer. Essentially, it takes the user somewhere where they haven’t been before.

The idea of brand immersion is to give them something they haven’t experienced yet. Often, brands achieve this through technology, giving the user a different perspective of the brand.

For instance, brands may use virtual reality to give the user a tour of a product and help them feel like they’re up close and personal. Or, they might integrate augmented reality where the user can see the product’s appearance firsthand.

However, many brands can achieve this in other ways without technology.

You can think of what you’re selling to your audience as more than a product or service. It helps to ask yourself, how can we provide an experience like no other?

The good news is that there are plenty of ways to create an immersive experience through branding. 

How To Implement Immersion in Your Branding

1. Create Personalized Events

Today’s events are about providing a positive experience and memories through storytelling. It also helps when you use FOMO – fear of missing out – to demonstrate what the user is missing out on when creating a product launch experience.

Often, product launches used to involve a speech to talk about an unveiling of a new product. Nowadays, participants expect a customized experience where they can choose what they want to see and hear and when. 

The best way to create a personalized event is by grabbing suggestions from your audience. Ask them to vote on the venue, layout and content selection. Often, this method provides total engagement and helps your audience feel empowered with choice.

2. Allow Them to Try Before Buying

Allow participants to use their senses so you can influence their desire to buy.

For example, letting them sit in a brand new car gives them a chance to visualize themselves driving it on the road. Or, if it’s a new tech gadget, you can let them see how the product works in their hands.

If you’re offering something more intangible like a service, think of how you can help them perceive it through sound, lighting and design.

3. Create a Strong Emotional Connection

Enhance your new offering by creating a strong emotional connection with users. Emotion has a way of helping the audience connect to your product, especially if it’s something they’ve seen before. 

If you can fully immerse your participants using on-brand emotion, you can create an authentic relationship through messaging, creativity and focus. For example, you can utilize social media to humanize your brand and engage with followers on the right platform.

4. Utilize Interactive Content

Interactive content is highly effective in engaging audiences and creating immersive experiences. Elements such as quizzes, polls and live streams offer your audience opportunities to connect with your brand actively.

Furthermore, you can gather valuable insights into your audience when creating interactive content. Your team can use this data to optimize marketing strategies, tailor messaging and design personalized experiences. Ultimately, this tactic leads to increased user engagement, stronger brand loyalty and higher conversion rates.

5. Build a Brand Community

If you want to create an exciting place where customers can interact with your brand on a deep level, consider building a brand community. A strong brand community provides them with a platform to share their experiences and offer feedback. This active engagement is vital for helping your customers feel valued while turning them into brand advocates.

Brands that build a community achieve this through various channels, including social media, online forums and in-person events. Plenty of opportunities are available for your customers to engage with each other and your brand. Yet, keep in mind that a community becomes wholesome and connected when you provide a supportive and inclusive environment.

6. Establish Influencer Partnerships

Another strategic approach to incorporating brand immersion is through influencers. Brands that establish partnerships with influencers can enhance brand immersion through targeted content that deeply resonates with their audience. By reaching a wider audience, your brand taps into the influencer’s loyal audience and can promote an immersive experience through trusted endorsements.

Influencer partnerships contribute to brand immersion by allowing customers to see your products or services in real life. These collaborations generate relatable experiences that showcase your brand’s unique attributes.

However, one thing to keep in mind when establishing partnerships is to be strategic about it. Your brand should collaborate with the right influencers whose audience will be similar to yours.

7. Promote Social Media Takeovers

Another way to build immersive brand experiences is by temporarily inviting employees, customers and influencers to take over your brand’s social media accounts. Social media takeovers are a great way to provide unique content that will capture your followers’ attention. They offer excitement and a sense of exclusivity, encouraging users to tune in and actively participate in the experience.

You can incorporate brand immersion with this strategy by offering behind-the-scenes glimpses, firsthand experiences and authentic storytelling. Your audience will relate more to your brand personally this way.

8. Build an Interactive Website

Brand immersion is also highly achievable through an interactive website. From animations to personalized product recommendations, you can encourage users to engage and explore your website. 

Interactive websites are beneficial for maintaining user interest and increasing conversions. Because the more they interact with your brand through your site, the more invested they become in your offerings.

Create an interactive website by focusing on user-friendly navigation, appealing designs and responsive layouts. Then, it’ll help to prioritize interactivity when building your website. That way, you create an engaging online space encouraging users to return for more.

Crafting an Immersive Brand Strategy

Now that you have a few ideas on crafting an immersive experience through your brand — remember that these tactics only work well when you have a strategy. Therefore, the first crucial step starts with knowing your target audience and understanding who they are and their needs.

You can start researching your target audience to create customer personas so you know whose attention you are trying to capture. Another step to take is developing a consistent and authentic brand identity. This stage involves defining your brand values, mission and unique selling proposition to set the foundation for your brand’s personality.

Lastly, storytelling is critical in an immersive brand strategy. Think of the stories you can develop to showcase your brand’s impact and values. Engaging storytelling can take various forms. However, it’s an excellent way to connect with your audience emotionally and humanize your brand.

Why You Need Brand Immersion

Regardless of your brand’s industry or niche, brand immersion is needed to create a competitive advantage. It’s not enough to offer a great product or service these days to capture customers’ hearts.

They need to feel a personal connection to your brand. That way, when you create an immersive experience for your audience, you ensure they remember you over other competitors.

Connect With Your Audience On a Deeper Level

From the very first interaction of your brand, use the audience’s senses to give them a closer look at what you offer. From there, you can fully immerse them in an unexpected feeling by providing a memorable experience. 

Once they enter the world of your brand, it helps to create highly interactive, personalized content they’ll want to engage with and share.

The post What Is Brand Immersion and How Do You Use It? appeared first on Designerly.

Consistency in your branding efforts can make a difference in how the outside world perceives your company. However, as your business grows and more people work on various aspects of marketing, design and customer service, you may find keeping things steady isn’t as easy as it was in the beginning. Knowing how to create a style guide helps ensure everything is uniform across platforms.

How to create a style guide shouldn’t be something you stress over. Most brands can add elements to the guide as they go, refine things along the way and include best practices. A style guide is a fluid document that grows as your business does. 

What Should a Style Guide Include?

The latest Edelman Trust Barometer report surveyed 36,000 respondents in 28 countries. They found out of the various institutions, including education, government and media, around 61% stated they trusted businesses the most. 

One of the reasons consumers might be more trusting of brands is the more recent focus on customer experience (CX). Believe it or not, your style guide can improve your CX. Consistency lets your audience know what to expect from you. They’ll get the same treatment and messaging every time they interact with your brand. 

How to create a style guide requires attention to detail, a common language everyone working on projects can understand and ongoing commitment to keep the guide updated. 

What are some of the things you should include when figuring out how to create a style guide for your brand?

1. Brand Philosophy

Why did you start your company and what are the core principles that drive you? When figuring out how to create a style guide for your brand, you must first consider how you want the outside world to perceive your business.

What causes do you care about? What is the core of your background story? You might wonder why you need to include your philosophy in your style guide. Doing so gets everyone on the same page and gives designers and writers a feel for your brand story. 

2. Logo Usage Details

Learning excellent design strategies can help you when you figure out how to create a style guide and include details on logo usage. You will want to ensure your logo has a uniform look whether it appears in print or online.

You should define placement, sizing and colors. Within the style guide, be sure to attach the images you want designers to use so they don’t grab something subpar off the internet. 

One consumer survey showed 78% of consumers believe logos can be works of art–they define your brand both in personality and appearance.  

3. Grammar

Do you use a play on words or spell anything differently? If so, you should include details in your style guide. For example, if you own a hair salon and you want the term “salon” used within the brand name, write it out for those creating content for you.

You can also define what style of writing you prefer, such as Associated Press or Chicago Manual of Style. Each format has different specifications, so sticking to one ensures the same spelling and punctuation throughout your content. 

4. Tone & Voice

Another important aspect of how to create a style guide is the tone you want writers to take when completing content for you. Do you want to come across as open and friendly or serious? There isn’t a right or wrong tone. However, it is crucial to choose one and stick with it.

To give your material a consistent voice, come up with a business persona. Create an actual mock person who embodies everything you want to be. Anyone creating content for you should put themselves in the persona’s shoes. 

5. Color Palette

Color theory makes a big difference in how well your color palette works. You have to really know your audience and how different hues impact them. For example, one culture might see black as elegant and another as bad luck. Dig deep into the beliefs of your audience segments and choose brand color palettes accordingly. 

Some colors gain better results than others. Statista recently took a look at the top colors used in apps. They found white was the most used color at 42.73% for e-commerce–likely in the background as a base color. 

When figuring out how to create a style guide, be sure to include how best to use your brand colors. You should also consider neutrals, though, as you want all designs to appear similar. 

6. Typography

What fonts best represent your brand? Did you know each font has its own mood? You can choose a script font for a headline and create a completely different feel than if you go with a sans-serif bold font. 

Different designers that work on your projects may have their own font preferences. Be sure to explain in detail what they can and can’t use. You don’t want 50 different fonts used on various pages throughout your website. 

7. Image Sizing and Details

Other things you might want to define are how big images should be within posts on the blog or social media. You can even have specific sources or specifications such as angles and compositions you’d like photographers/designers to use.

Small details, such as at least 50% white space in an image, help give your designs a uniform look no matter where the photograph comes from. 

How to Create a Style Guide Today

The best way to create a style guide is over time. Write out the details you know and tweak them and add to them as you go along. A style guide keeps everyone on the same page and ensures you have brand image consistency.

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Strategizing for your small business takes much time and consideration. Between all the responsibilities you have as a business owner, you have to prioritize which deem the most profitable. Yet when a vision statement comes across your to-do list, it’s a task that many entrepreneurs save as the last step toward success.

However, a vision statement is one of the most vital assets you can create for your brand. Here’s why you need one.

Why Your Brand Needs a Strong Vision Statement

You must create a strong vision statement for long-term success. This part of your brand brings value to your business as it is the foundation of your business growth.

A vision statement has your end goal in mind and helps you set out what you’d like to achieve with your company. Additionally, it plays a significant role in shaping your company’s culture. When you establish a company culture, you yield higher results.

According to Gallup, they saw an 85% net profit increase for clients who had a strong organizational culture.

Start with the end in mind if you want to have a great brand. Here’s how to write a vision statement.

How To Write a Vision Statement

While writing your vision statement, you must ensure it aligns with the businesses and people connected to your company. It would help if you also had it share your long-term goals and produce a narrative for your marketing.

While a vision statement should only be a few sentences, it should also capture meaning. 

1. Define the Future of Your Business

What do you envision for your business five to ten years from now? What are the outcomes you want to accomplish? These are the things that should come into question when writing your vision statement. 

When considering your company’s goals, you want to dream big. It should be big enough to set a challenge, while it should also be achievable and realistic.

So when someone asks you how you envision your company’s success, consider your greatest achievement — and what impact you’d like to leave on your community and the industry.

2. Determine the Purpose of Your Organization

Before you turn to write your vision statement, consider the overall purpose of your business. Follow the OAS (objective, advantage and scope) formula and answer the following questions:

• Objective: Why does your business exist?

• Advantage: How do you do things differently and more efficiently?

• Scope: What should you or shouldn’t do to achieve your objective?

By answering these questions, you understand the WHY behind your organization and how you serve others to whom.

3. Put It All Together

When writing out your vision statement, ensure you keep it concise and brief. Like your mission statement, it should be straightforward. And it should also communicate your highest goals.

Everyone’s vision statement will look slightly different, but here’s an example highlighting the OAS formula.

Dunkin Donut’s vision statement is “to be always the desired place for great coffee beverages and delicious complementary doughnuts & bakery products to enjoy with family and friends.”

Incorporating this into the OAS formula, you get:

• Objective: To be a desired place.

• Advantage: Provide great coffee, doughnuts and bakery products.

• Scope: Limited to “to enjoy with family and friends.”

4. Take Ownership of Your Vision Statement

After you complete your vision statement, it’s time to own it. When implementing strategies and goals into your business, ensure you keep your vision statement in mind to make it become a reality. 

Additionally, you can employ it in strategy meetings or use it to kick off a new quarter.

It will also help if you encourage your employees to follow it by offering incentives or a reward system. When your employees believe in your vision statement, you’re embodying a culture throughout the company. In turn, that passion will pass on to your clients or customers.

Reflecting Your Big Vision

Keep in mind that your vision will change over time. Your company will grow before you know it, so your vision statement should evolve with it. Keep the above tips in mind for how to write a vision statement and be sure it reflects the future of your team and company.

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A successful brand is composed of various unique elements, each distinct. However, they all work together to establish an effective brand strategy that works to differentiate brands from companies alike. 

With a brand strategy, you get a unified plan — from your business’s core to the positioning of its brand. It even formulates a persona that resonates with your target audience.

To carry out a brand strategy effectively, you must first define the key aspects of the business’s brand. That way, you gain clarity about how to build a strong brand. 

Here are the key elements of a brand strategy.

9 Elements of Brand Strategy

1. Purpose

Understanding what your business promises are essential to defining your brand strategy. The two ways you can define your business’s purpose include:

• Functional: Focuses on the factors of success in a commercialized way. Think of what you could do to achieve success immediately. For instance, your business’s purpose might be to make more sales or grow faster.

• Intentional: Focuses on the success of your business and ethical purposes — i.e., make money while contributing to the planet.

Dig deep to find your brand’s purpose so you know why the business exists in the first place.

2. Vision

A clear vision serves as a guide to where your brand is heading. Essentially, it tells you if you’re navigating in the right direction.

When you have a clear vision, you can approach things more easily when determining your goals. Additionally, it will have a direct impact on your business’s decisions. When defining your vision, let it be something that challenges you and sets realistic expectations.

A brand’s vision, after all, allows you to dream big, make better business decisions and stay on track. 

3. Values

Core values are the essence of how people will perceive your brand. Therefore, you’re creating a culture and establishing what you stand for in the world.

To establish your brand values, get inspiration from various sources. According to Forbes, you must identify practices you enjoy from other companies and use that to create a unique twist from your own stance. 

4. Target Market

Know your target audience well so you can address and learn how to speak to them. Start defining your target audience by conducting research. You have plenty of ways to get to know your audience online — whether that’s through social media, your Google Analytics and third-party data. 

Once you learn about your customers’ preferences, you can build customer personas that identify their behaviors, demographics, existing challenges, etc. Knowing this information can help position your brand, so they know who to turn to when they need it.

5. Competitive Analysis

Analyzing the marketplace allows you to differentiate your brand into something your competitors do not have. It is an important element of a brand strategy because the market for almost every industry is always crowded. 

Learn about your competitor’s strengths and weaknesses and look for areas where you can set yourself apart. 

6. Customer Awareness Goals

Set customer awareness goals for marketing purposes. This element is important because it helps you understand how to market your brand more effectively. Therefore, you prioritize how customers learn about you and discover your brand.

7. Personality

How would you define your brand’s personality? Think of it as a person and what traits it possesses. When you define your brand personality, you can resonate with your audience. Ultimately, the more you humanize your brand, the more your audience will be able to establish that true connection.

8. Voice

Your brand’s tone of voice is a guideline for how you should speak to your audience. This part can vary depending on what type of audience you have and your industry. For example, banks, law firms and real estate companies like to speak to their customers professionally and formally to establish credibility. Meanwhile, insurance companies want to talk in a friendly or funny tone to build trust. 

Whichever tone of voice you choose, be sure it’s consistent across all channels.

9. Tagline

A brand’s tagline will carry a message within a few memorable, concise words and should tell a story. When choosing a tagline, it should act as a positioning statement and reflect your brand.

For example, MasterCard’s tagline says, “There are some things money can’t buy. For everything else, there’s MasterCard.” MasterCard’s brand may be well-known to most people, but the tagline stands out because it tells you how the company may uniquely serve you.

Implementing the Key Elements of Brand Strategy

No matter the size of your company, it needs an authentic brand strategy. Utilize these key elements as a guide to building your brand strategy. While branding can have various frameworks for every niche and industry — these elements will serve their purpose in bringing your brand to life.

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If someone asked you to define who you are as a brand, would you be able to summarize your mission and philosophy in a few sentences? Without focus, your company may flounder and never find its personality, making it less than memorable. The solution is figuring out how to build a brand strategy you can use as a roadmap. 

Stackla surveyed 2,000 U.S., UK and Australia adults for their Consumer Content Report. They found around 57% of consumers feel under 50% of brands create authentic content. The problem may be that most brands don’t truly know who they are or have a plan to communicate their principles.

Figuring out how to build a brand strategy forces companies to think through some key factors impacting how authentic they look to customers. 

What Does a Brand Strategy Look Like?

If you want to know how to build a brand strategy, you first have to know what one looks like. You should include your mission statement, customer service philosophy, communication preferences and the brand personality. 

Your brand strategy likely resembles the company’s leadership style. If the founders are fun and easy going, the brand personality trends that way. If the business covers serious topics and the founders focus on getting things done, then the persona will be similar. 

Steps for How to Build a Brand Strategy

Knowing you need one and figuring out how to build a brand strategy are two different things. Fortunately, there are some tried and true things that help you create a positive image for your brand. Stand out in the minds of your customers so they return to shop with you again and tell those they know about you. 

1. Make It Personal

Studies show around 80% of customers prefer to buy from brands offering a personalized experience. Customers equate personalization with how much the brand cares about them as individuals. 

Male part of your branding strategy a personal one. How can you segment your audience and speak to them about the solution you offer to their pain points? Use first names when possible and toggle onto data to figure out what customers browsed or bought previously. 

2. Refine Your Mission Statement

Another idea for how to build a brand strategy is to hone in on your mission statement. Does your current one fully define who you are as a brand and how you want other people to see you? It’s okay if it is a bit different than when you started. Most companies morph and grow over the years.

Think about who you are and how you define that. If your unique value proposition (UVP) is that you offer the fastest service in the county, then include that in your statement and communicate it in all your branding efforts. 

3. Research Your Target Client

How much do you know about your average customer? It’s difficult to come up with how to build a brand strategy if you don’t fully understand the audience you’re speaking to. Make a list of everything you know based on internal data.

Next, gather details from outside sources, such as consumer research firms, surveys of your customers and studying competitors. What seems to work best with your customers? Where do they hang out? Where did they see your ad and what made them want to click on it?

The more details you have, the better you can tailor your brand message to suit their preferences. 

4. Review Your Logo and Tagline

Now that you know who you are as a brand and the message you want to send your audience, revisit your logo design and tagline. Do they match your mission statement and your UVP? Why should customers care about your logo or tagline? Do they communicate what you want them to?

At the same time, make sure your logo has the colors you most want associated with your brand. Choose colors your audience will respond to. Think about the emotions different hues evoke and try variations until you hit on the perfect combo. 

5. Cater Your Content

According to HubSpot’s recent State of Marketing Report, 82% of marketing professionals use content marketing to drive traffic to their brand sites. One of the best ways to build your brand strategy is to focus on creating articles, infographics and videos centered around your core mission as a brand. 

Think about the questions your customers have most frequently and how you might answer them while also showing the value you bring to the table. 

6. Seek What’s Easier

Many businesses start off with processes and never change them. Or, they get in a rut with customer service, the products they carry and in other areas. If you want to build a viable brand that thrives, you need to keep seeking what is easier. 

You’re probably heard the saying, “Don’t work harder, work smarter.” The advice applies to almost any type of business. Look for ways to automate things, such as by adding a chat bot to your website to answer frequently asked questions. Automate shipping, inventory and even some customer communications. 

Seek what is easier so you can focus your time and attention on building a brand people talk about. 

Track Results and Adjust Efforts

One final piece of advice on how to build a brand strategy for your business is to pay attention to what works. Put in tracking capabilities such as a unique landing page when you run a marketing campaign. Analyze results and make adjustments. Get rid of what doesn’t work and keep what does. Over time, your brand image will solidify and your fan base will grow. 

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At some point in every business’ life, one or more people will have something unflattering to say and they’ll want to share it with as many people as possible. When you see negative comments on social media, your natural response may be to defend yourself from an unfair attack. However, there’s a better way to handle the situation that improves your brand image and helps you do better in the future. 

Reviews.org surveyed around 1,000 Americans over 18 years old. Researchers found about 50% of people wake up and check their social media within ten minutes. People take to the platforms to share news, find entertainment and complain about companies. While there is an old saying that no press is bad press, the truth is a bit more complicated. 

Should You Respond to Negative Comments on Social Media?

Some experts say to never respond to negative comments on social media. You just give them attention and power. Others say to always respond and show other potential customers you’re serious about making things right. 

What works best for you likely ties into your overall brand image. If you pride yourself on being transparent and customer-oriented, you’ll likely respond to any comment. If your focus is more on price or value, then it may not seem as urgent. 

If you do decide to respond to negative comments on social media, make sure you follow the tips below to handle different scenarios. Sometimes engaging makes things worse, but hopefully it is an opportunity to improve the relationship with your dissatisfied customer. 

A Script to Handle Different Types of Negative Comments on Social Media

You sit staring at a couple of negative comments on social media and try to figure out how to respond. Here are some of the most common examples and how you can reply. 

1. The Quality of the Product Is Poor

Perhaps you pride yourself on a high quality product and seeing negative comments on social media saying something different hurts. However, just because most of your products are excellent doesn’t mean one didn’t slip through the cracks or quality checks. 

Approximately 90% of consumers say customer service is the reason they feel brand loyalty toward a particular company. If you can show you’re concerned and want to give better service, you’ll impress not only the complaining customer but others who see your response. 

Write something like, “We pride ourselves on quality, and we’re so sorry you received something you aren’t happy with. Please contact us at 1-800-toll free so we can resolve this for you immediately.”

Remain professional and do your best to take the conversation off social media to avoid an escalation. 

2. Worst Customer Service Ever

You open up your Facebook page to reviews and get some negative comments on social media like the one above. How do you respond to such an accusation when you don’t even know what happened? Maybe the person did receive inferior service, but without specifics, it’s hard to know how to fix the problem.

Start by apologizing and then ask them to contact you with details so you can figure out what went wrong. You may never hear from the person, but at least other potential leads will see you are willing to own up to mistakes and try to fix them. 

If the customer does contact you, listen to what they say. They may have a valid point and give you some ideas of how to further improve the customer experience. 

3. The Mail Carrier Stuffed the Box in My Mailbox and I Can’t Get it Out

While you have little control over what happens to a package once it leaves your possession, some customers will blame you for something their mail carrier does or if they didn’t try the item for sixty days and then realized they ordered the wrong model. 

In the Statista Global Consumer Survey of the United States, 26% of consumers indicated they were most likely to return clothing, with shoes, electronics and bags right behind. 

How do you handle a situation that goes outside your policies and wasn’t your fault? You should have a plan in place beforehand, because you’ll want to be consistent in how you respond. Do you bend over backwards or do you simply reiterate your policy? Are there ever exceptions?

For example, if someone asks for a refund outside a 45-day refund window because they were caring for a dying parent, do you make an exception? There isn’t a right or wrong answer, but a little empathy toward other people and kind words go a long way.

“Please contact our customer service department at this toll-free number so we can work with you on a solution.”

“We are sorry to hear about your loss. Unfortunately, our return policy is firm, but we will work with you on an exchange if you phone us.”

Whatever your policy might be, it’s okay to sometimes say no. Some requests are unreasonable and other customers will recognize that in the exchange. 

4. This Brand Is a Joke

Social media is notorious for bringing out people filled with hate and no shortage of snarky comments. You can either ignore this type of comment or respond good naturedly. 

For example, you might say, “We strive to entertain. Thanks for noticing!”

Or, you can take a different approach and ask for more details, but you might get more than you bargained for. 

Some brands choose to delete comments like the one above because they aren’t helpful and there isn’t anything you can do to fix the problem. 

Remain Professional

If you do choose to respond to negative comments on social media, make sure you remain professional. Read your response and even get feedback from a friend or colleague to ensure you’re not letting your emotions get in the way. Remember more than just the irate customer is watching. All your potential customers also want to see how you handle the situation. 

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Each generation seems to have different priorities and various brands they use most frequently. They recognize the jingle from commercials or the logo on the product. The brand names of the most iconic brands may become new words that represent items, such as Q-tips or Coke. 

The current Gen Z shoppers are more internet savvy than any other generation in history. They’ve never lived without cell phones, internet or other modern conveniences. They are also one of the best educated segments, with 57% enrolled in college compared to 52% of millennials and 43% of Gen Xers. 

Gen Zers are smart, savvy shoppers who put a lot of thought into the brands they’re most loyal to. They need a good reason to love companies and stick with them. Iconic brands of today are mostly shaped by millennials and Gen Zers. 

What Brands Are Most Popular With Gen Z?

The most popular names among the younger generation tend to have a heavy presence on the social media platforms Gen Z frequents, such as Snapchat or TikTok. Snapchat has about 280 million daily users and is quite popular with those under 25. 

Some of the iconic brands most recognized today amongst all generations include:

1. Apple

It probably isn’t surprising that Apple made the number one spot for iconic brands of all time. The majority of cell phone users now have a smartphone, and Apple is one of the best known names in the industry.

Those who use an iPhone scream about how much better it is than an Android, much as Mac users and Windows users disagree about which platform is best. Their simple, apple logo is instantly recognizable around the globe.

2. Chick-Fil-A

Love them or hate them, Chick-Fil-A is known for speed and excellent customer service. You’ll often hear people comment that other industries can learn a lot from the restaurant chain. 

Younger people may not realize the company started in 1946 and chose to be closed on Sundays. As the chain grew, they maintained that decision and still do to this day.

The biggest reason the chain is so recognizable is due to their consistent and stellar customer experience model. If you tell an employee, “Thank you,” you can be certain they’ll say, “My pleasure.” For most workers, their attitude reflects that saying. They might come to your table and ask if you’d like a refill, for example. It is a standout in the fast food industry. 

3. Google

How did Google take over the online browser industry and become the powerhouse it is today? It all started with the user experience (UX) and ensuring they offered the best browser possible. The company took all the negatives of other software and improved on the concept. 

Over time, they started adding other services, such as cloud-based storage, social platforms, shopping and more. As an iconic brand, Google is pretty much a verb in most people’s lives. “I’m going to Google that” is a common phrase amongst all generations. 

4. Netflix

Although Netflix is now known by other generations, it was the millennial generation who started talking about it to their parents and grandparents. The ability to stream favorite television shows and movies without commercial interruption changed the face of leisure viewing forever.

Like some of the other iconic brands in this list, verbs began to form based around the company and sayings such as “Netflix and Chill.” What many millennials may not realize is that Netflix started as a DVD rental subscription service and many of their parents already knew the name. 

They were one of the first companies to embrace video streaming, eventually doing away with the mail rental program. In 2021, Netflix had around 214 million subscribers, making it one of the most-used entertainment brands in history. 

5. Vans

Vans may have been made iconic by millennials but Gen Z continues to wear them and show how stylish the casual shoes can be. Out of the iconic brands out there, Vans is one that hasn’t really changed their product much.

Sure, the patterns change to reflect certain styles, but the shape of the shoe and number of selections remains steady year about year. 

6. FedEx

Everyone knows the name of the shipping giant, but they’ve become more popular over time as the USPS raised their rates and customer service stayed subpar. FedEx is about getting things there fast. 

As far as iconic brands go, their logo is instantly recognizable and even makes one think of motion with the white letters morphing into orange. 

7. Coca-Cola

Iconic brands often become part of the language, and Coca-Cola has done that, with people in some areas of the United States calling any type of soda a Coke. There are as many ways to order your fizzy cola today as there are people who drink it.

Coca-Cola has stayed with the times by adding options such as Freestyle where users can grab a fountain drink with the base soda of their choice and dozens of different flavor combinations such as lime, mango or cherry.

They’ve also grabbed the attention of the younger generation by adding fun social media campaigns and doing things such as putting names on bottles and challenging their customers to find unique combinations. 

People likely even know the story and history of the brand. Pharmacist John Stith invented the fizzy sugar drink in 1886, adding coca leaves and cocaine along with some caffeine. To say the cola stimulated folks is an understatement. Over the years, they took out the cocaine and slowly changed the formula to the syrup it is today. 

8. Tesla

What if you could create a brand so sought after that people would pay over $40,000 for the smallest base model and add on enough items to take the cost to over $100,000? The electric cars are starting to sell faster than anyone expected.

They offer a unique model where you can build a custom model online to perfectly suit your needs. Of course, you can also go the traditional route and head to a dealer, but you’ll likely still have to wait while they build a custom car for you.

The brand is now a household name and certain to continue into the future as people look for ways to reduce energy usage and lessen their impact on the environment. 

9. Amazon

Amazon’s brand is best known for being a one-stop online shop. You can purchase anything from clothes to furniture, gadgets and more. Amazon has dominated the e-commerce market for years and has become one of today’s most iconic brands.

When people think of Amazon’s logo, they see it as a smile. Yet, you’ll also see that the arrow starts at “A” and points to “Z,” meaning customers can find everything from A to Z. 

Amazon’s brand has become widely recognized because of its Prime services. The company guarantees fast deliveries. But when a customer doesn’t like the product they’ve ordered, Amazon provides seamless return processes. 

That’s why Amazon is tremendous, and Jeff Bezos — the founder — is to thank for that.

10. Samsung

Samsung’s brand isn’t what it was before as it is today. The company was founded in 1969 and struggled with a stigma surrounding its products. Many saw its electronics as cheap and mass-produced.

This became a branding problem for Samsung, especially when Sony was already excelling in the market. 

However, we can’t say the same for the brand now. Today, Samsung is most known for developing cutting-edge technology and sleek designs. 

In turn, the brand grew rapidly within the last decade. Now, many people buy Samsung TVs, smartphones, smartwatches and more. 

11. McDonald’s

Everyone knows McDonald’s for its iconic golden arches. Its brand is widely recognized by the number of customers it serves daily.

Currently, McDonald’s has 40,031 restaurants around the world, serving millions of people every day.

The American fast food chain began with its first restaurant in 1940. The founders, Richard and Maurice McDonald, were the original creators of fast food. However, Ray Kroc is the person who obtained credit for the expansion of McDonald’s — developing its brand into what you see today.

McDonald’s has a recognizable brand for the work Ray Kroc accomplished in the early years. He changed the American perception consumers had of diners. Rather than being a roadside stop for biker gangs and young people — Kroc turned these restaurants into places where families could enjoy a burger.

As a result, McDonald’s is now a global brand, making it so iconic today.

12. The Walt Disney Co.

Disney’s brand has grown in popularity since Walt Disney founded it in 1923. Today, it’s known for its magical theme parks and captivating movies. Disney is one of the largest media conglomerates in the world. 

Mickey Mouse is its original and most famous character that represents Disney. What started with a fictional mouse, the brand acquired more high-profile series and companies, including Marvel, Pixar and Lucas Films. 

Disney is also famously known for its theme parks in Paris, Florida and California. 

Because it largely dominated the film industry, Disney has captured the hearts and minds of millions of people worldwide. And its brand recognition will continue to increase each day.

13. Starbucks

Starbucks Corporation started as a coffeehouse in 1971 in Seattle, Washington. Today, it has over 15,000 chains in the U.S. alone. However, Starbucks is a global chain with around 15,000 other locations worldwide. 

Starbucks has become a popular brand for many reasons. First, they offer a friendly, welcoming experience as soon as you walk in the door. Secondly, they provide unique coffee beverages that every barista crafts to perfection. 

Essentially, Starbucks is known for offering a luxurious coffee-drinking experience where people can go to relax while they work or socialize. 

Because Starbucks is a premium coffeehouse, customers are willing to pay higher prices for its coffee. It always continues to invent new drinks, establishing itself as progressive, forward-thinking and inclusive — which is why it’s such a beloved brand today.

Favorite Iconic Brands

It’s impossible to cover all the different chains, big corporations and niche brands out there. These are some of the favorite iconic brands among young Americans, but you can likely think of many more. New brands arrive on the scene every year, and some takeoff while others wither away. It should be interesting to see which ways stand the test of time.

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