Contents
How to Strengthen Your Brand Identity
Today we live in a digital world where technology can sometimes be quite square. It is a constant noise with many different messages on our channels.
For the sender, it is a challenge to reach out with their message and content due to the great competition and noise for getting heard. With a clear digital identity that strengthens the company’s brand, you can reach out through the noise and have a better effect on the various channels.
In a time when many businesses offer the same things, your brand is what makes you stand out. In this article, we are going to look closer at ways and strategies you can use to strengthen your brand.
What is a digital brand identity and why is it important?
A digital brand identity is more than just a logo, it is the way a company presents itself visually by uniformly applying the guidelines developed for the brand. The brand identity is a cornerstone of how you want the brand to be perceived in the market and most importantly, remembered.
The purpose is not only to be able to communicate externally in a uniform manner but also how to manage the brand internally. By creating a clear approach to the organization, a structure is also created for how the company’s identity is used visually.
Graphic profile
Using a graphic profile as a basis, we create the platform for digital identity. It is about setting rules for how the graphic elements should be used in a consistent and appealing way, to be able to give a stronger impression and create recognition for the brand. In this way, you create the conditions for creating messages that reach through the noise in an efficient and uniform manner.
Get to know your target audience properly
Regardless of whether you have just started a company or if it has existed for many years, it is super important that you get to know your target group – and regularly follow it up as behavior and people change over time. Your target group a few years ago does not have to be those who follow your business today. By defining your customers and understanding their needs, you can act more effectively. Examples of questions that are good to find out:
- What is your primary target group and why? (here it is important not to wish which target group you want, but finding out the actual target group)
- What are they interested in? What dreams do they have? What worries them?
- Where do they live – geographically and virtually?
Once you have mapped your target group, you can more easily use the channels are most cost-effective for communicating with them and understand the group’s needs – this provides input for new business development. Now it is also easier to find ways forward based on facts instead of assumptions or desires.
Position yourself and stand out from the crowd
Once you have found out which target group your business has, the next step is towards a stronger brand positioning; to set a course and decide what the company should do and not. Positioning is the difference between being perceived as unique and being one in the crowd. Putting a lot of work here can result in higher prices, loyalty and more regular purchases.
Examples of questions that are good to find out:
- What makes your brand different?
- Why is your brand appealing to the target audience?
- What position do you want the brand to have?
- Who are your strategic and tactical enemies and how do you defeat them?
To test your position, you need to find out if the position is relevant. It must also be free and possible. A position taken by someone else fails in 99 cases out of 100. The position must also be sustainable and probable – that is, it must be in line with what your customers already think and feel about you.
Set a brand profile
Can you explain the most important message of your brand in one sentence? If not, it’s time to find a better one. The next step in how to create a strong brand is about setting a brand profile – something that should be done when the target group and position is defined. The brand profile formulates the core values of the business, both emotional and rational:
The functional parameters are relevant to the customers and designed according to their needs, such as offers, support, delivery and price.
With the emotional core values, the brand’s feeling and experience are built – and thus also the strength of the brand. It is with the emotional values that it is possible to distinguish your business from competitors who in practice offer similar products / services as you.
Dare to show your brand personality
Your customers want to know and experience and have high expectations of your brand. What do you want the customer to think when they come in contact with your brand? Next step in how to build a strong brand is about daring to show the brand personality. How brands present themselves to the world means a lot if someone is to remember them. When they become strong, they also affect consumers on an emotional level, which provides an opportunity for increased financial results.
Why is a good brand important?
On a normal day, you are constantly surrounded by brands. From the morning coffee and breakfast sandwich to the evening’s TV program. The more brands that appear, the more important it is that you have a strong brand that stands out. Today, there are also many customers who seek information on their own via the web and social media, then it is extra important that you are seen and seen in the right way. The competition is fierce and what decides is not always the product, but much of the choice is also in the brand itself.
Reasons to strengthen your brand
- Team spirit and motivated employees – through an understanding of the brand internally, this creates increased pride and commitment
- Recruitment – through a strong brand, you attract good staff and retain them
- Stands stool – in crisis situations, strong brands are not hit as hard
- Attractiveness – a strong brand attracts customers, stakeholders, suppliers and resellers more easily
- Company development – through branding, management is developed and can steer the company in the right direction
Tips to a strong brand
- Understand the purpose. Think about what your purpose is with your business. Try to understand what image your brand has towards staff, customers and other stakeholders. What do you offer that no one else does and what values do you have?
- Be concrete. Document and try to formulate what you arrive at the current purpose, values, etc.
- Be consistent. Let your documentation form the basis for product development, business model, recruitment, interior design, assignments and more. Be consistent and persistent in your communication both internally and externally. Building or changing an image takes time.
- Communicate clearly. Find a simple and clear message that describes why your company exists. Less is more.
- Pricing right over time. As your brand gradually becomes stronger, you can also raise the price over time. A customer pays more for a product or service if they feel confident in the brand and that it lives up to the message and values it communicates.
- Evaluate. Follow up annually and adjust for best results.
