Having a strong brand identity is imperative in order to stand out against the competition. Without a recognizable identity, your employers and customers may become disenfranchised from your services.

In this article you’ll find out why maintaining an effective brand identity is important to a business’ success, and what you should consider when creating your own.

What is Brand Identity?

Your brand identity is what makes your company your company. For example, in the 1970s, Apple’s brand identity centered around its goal to make computers (then large and corporate) personal and accessible. It had to evolve its logo to maintain its brand identity of cutting edge innovation for personal consumer use.

According to Moz CEO and founder, Rand Fishkin, the three important elements to company identity and culture are:

  1. Core values: What your company stands for and it’s business beliefs
  2. A mission: What are the “bigger picture” targets and goals of the company
  3. Talent strategy: What kind of team does the company want to assemble and how should they be performing

Why is Brand Identity Important?

If your company has successfully formed a brand identity that is recognizable and helps it to stand out in a competitive niche, then it’s highly likely that you’ll attract customers. And there’s nothing more encouraging than glowing testimonials of satisfied customers who then share your brand with others.

According to Brandwatch, the significance of a sound brand identity is made clear by the following social media facts:

  • The internet has approximately 3.17 billion users
  • 2.3 billion internet users are active on social media
  • 91 percent of retail brands are aware of the above figure and use an average of 5 social media channels to grab the attention of all these internet users

With such a huge amount of internet content available, it’s believed that the average person is exposed to hundreds (if not thousands) of ads per day. And the sure fire way to stand out? A clear brand identity.

Make a List of What You Consider Valuable

Compile a list of what you value the most for success. Is it teamwork? Desire? New ideas? Whatever it may be, you’ll find that your selected values will lead your company’s actions to best serve your business goals.

For example, the Twitter platform is based on transparent communication and allows users to voice their opinion, and interestingly, the walls inside Twitter’s office display those very themes of “open communication” and “transparency”. Evidently, what’s important for Twitter on the “outside” is reflected and implemented by employees on the “inside”. Consider doing similar things around your office walls.

Create a Universal Atmosphere

Back to the Apple example, the company’s brand identity is palpably reflected in the “Apple family”; head over to an Apple store and it’s obvious that the staff and “Apple Geniuses” all adhere to the same company culture.

Additionally, when asked during a ZURB soapbox interview to define his company’s culture, Jeff Lawson, CEO, and co-founder of Twilio, answered:

“Culture is the collection of people. You’ve got 130 people out there making decisions every day. Thousands of decisions are made every day. Culture is how you, as a leader of the company, are confident that every one of those decisions is the right one.”

But there’s no exact science to shaping a brand identity. You have to know what’s important to you and what you feel will create a work atmosphere and community that will benefit your company. As long as every individual is striving to reach a collective goal, the brand identity will always be maintained.

Hire Top Talent to Match Your Identity

Similar to how sports coaches sign athletes and players that best fit their system, you should look to hire talent that best fits your brand identity.

Tangible components of your business, such as your products, can be imitated by a capable company, but your culture and identity will always be unique to you. According to Glassdoor Career Trends analyst, Scott Dobroski:

“Company culture is among the top five factors people consider when weighing a job offer. It’s something a lot of great companies are using to lure in great talent, and it’s working.”

Besides being a tempting incentive, a clearly defined culture is much more sustainable than the tangible contents of your company. For instance, customers may be fickle with their loyalty; going from company to company depending on the products they wish to buy. However, if someone buys into your identity, the chances are they’ll want to stick around for the long term.

Essentially, you should not only create customers, but you should also create fans. Employees included!

To get expert advice on how you can launch your business and begin shaping your brand identity, contact Mint Formations today.

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Raj co-founded Mint Formations with business partner Andy Tree in 2017. Mint formations is established to nurture small UK businesses and enable exciting new opportunities for quick growth. As a successful entrepreneur, Raj knows how to start and run a business. He currently resides as a board member of seven successful companies across the world. He is best known for founding Integra Global Solutions, specialists in robotics, automation, and business process optimisation.

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