The elements that make up a brand
Knowing what a brand is can be confusing – here we’ve simplified the elements for you.
- The logo (it’s badge or identity)
- Look and feel (fonts, colours, design and tone of voice)
- Description – or strapline (what it provides, its services/products etc)
- Core brand statements (what it does, who it’s for and key USPs – what makes it different from the competition)
- Positioning (where the business sits in the market)
THE LOGO
This can be the company name, its initials, a graphic symbol, image or a combination of several of these. The logo usually dictates the brand’s main colours, which are used on all brand collateral. In general a logo should give an indication of the type of business and visually appeal to the target audience.
LOOK AND FEEL
FONTS: The fonts a brand uses give a distinct feel for the type of business. For instance a blocky font will give a different ‘vibe’ to a flowy italic font. Choosing the right font is important for this reason, but other considerations should be factored in such as readability, availability across different platforms (not all platforms access all fonts and will default to a different font).
COLOURS: The colours of a brand are often reflective of the business – it gives the brand a personality, even if it’s simply monochrome. Choosing colours for a brand should not be subjective, often it’s a huge mistake if a colour is chosen on personal preference.
DESIGN: The design of the brand is seen in its collateral (it’s website, literature, social posts, videos etc) is key to providing a visual representation of what the brand is all about.
Think of a room full of people, all dressed in different styles, with different hair and makeup, and unique personalities. As you enter the room you would naturally gravitate towards the person (or people) who attract you, or intrigue. This is what a brand has to do – attract the right people.
Now think of walking up to those people and as you do realise that only one of them is talking about something that interests you, in a language that you understand and want to listen to. The way they’re speaking is appropriate and you feel comfortable joining in the conversation. This is ‘tone of voice’. Your brand must have a unique tone that speaks to the people you need to reach in a way that resonates with them and evokes ‘trust’.
DESCRIPTION
Your business description needs to be very easy to digest and instantly understandable. Your brand’s ‘descriptor message’ tells people what you do. It should also indicate who your services/products etc are ideally for.
So just who are these people you’re wanting to talk to?
It helps to define your target audiences into these categories:
- Location
- Age
- Demographics
- Lifestyle
- Needs
When crafting a business descriptor it’s often likened to how you may answer the question “what do you do then?” and for this reason I always advocate speaking it out loud. If it doesn’t sound organic and natural it’s not right – keep tweaking it until it sounds like a human response not a sales pitch.
CORE BRAND STATEMENTS
These follow on from the description, and consist of a longer description (about us), a value statement (what your business’s core values are), and brand USPs.
Once you’ve established what it is you do and who needs ‘what you do’ (your target audience(s), then the next logical step is to establish what makes you different – why your ideal customer should choose you. This last bit is often the trickiest, so here’s some starting points:
- What ‘pains’ do your customers haves?
- What are the main benefits to the customer of what you’re providing?
- How will it help them solve their ‘pains’?
- Is cost a factor?
POSITIONING
No business is an island, its a fish in a large pool of similar fish. So when it comes to finding out what makes your fish more appealing you need to look around you at all the other fish, and more importantly to those catching all the attention.
brand positioning is a huge topic, but to keep it simple you’ll need to do quite a bit of market research. Here’s my top tips:
- Type into Google your core service offering, so for instance ‘carpet cleaning’
- Note what Google shows you – both organically and in the paid ads – these are your key competitors.
- Look them up!
- What are they offering that you don’t – and what can you offer that they can’t.
- The latter form your core USPs
