What is ‘Brand Identity’

A company’s brand identity is how that business wants to be perceived by consumers. The components of the brand (name, Logo,  tone, tagline, typeface) are created by the business to reflect the value the company is trying to bring to the market and to appeal to its customers. Brand identity is separate from Brand Image– the term for how consumers actually perceive the brand.

BREAKING DOWN ‘Brand Identity’

Most miscommunication in daily life can be chalked up to an mismatch between intent and perception: You think you said one thing, the person you talked to thought you said something else. Companies often have the same problem. 

In the context of business and branding, a company’s brand identity is what it says about who it is – the product or service it delivers, the quality it gives customers, its advantages over competing brands. The brand image, on the other hand, is how the brand is perceived by the public. The challenge any company faces when trying to build a brand is to make sure that its identity matches its image as closely as possible. A negative gap between brand identity and brand image means a company is out of touch with market segment, which can make offering services or products more difficult and can even result in a loss of value on the company’s books.

Building Brand Identity

The steps a company needs to take to build a strong, cohesive and consistent brand identity will vary, but a few points apply broadly to most:

– Analyze itself and its market. A full SWOTanalysis – a look at the company’s strength’s, weaknesses, opportunities and threats – that includes the entire company is a proven way to help a company’s managers understand where they’re at so they can better determine where they’d like to end up and how to get there.

– Determine its key business goals. The brand identity should help fulfill them.

– Identify its customers. Who is the company trying to reach with its products/services?

– Determine the personality and message it wants to communicate. What does the company want its market to perceive?

Building a brand identity is a multi-disciplinary, strategic effort; every element needs to support the overall message and business goals. It can includes a company’s name, logo, design; its style and the tone of its copy; the look and composition of its products; and, of course, its social media presence. It’s common for companies to hire a creative team to handle its branding.