What is Branding?
A brand is not just a logo or product. It’s something that is invisible and you can not touch or see. A brand is a person’s gut feeling about a product, service, or company. Resulting from the interaction of thousands of people over a long period of time. An effective brand will carry an emotional connection, a core value, a vision, a personality, a promise, and an expectation that people will fall in love with, to create loyalty and trust.
Why is Brand Identity?
Brand Identity is the visual and verbal expression of a brand, which supports, expresses, communicates, synthesizes, and visualizes the brand. It is tangible and appeals to your senses where you can touch it, hold it, hear it, and watch it move. It begins with a brand name and a brand mark. It represents the company’s vision and value. An effective brand identity is bold, memorable, appropriate, and has enduring value that works well across all media. It has to be immediately recognizable and provide a clear and consistent image. It must be able to connect with your target market
The “Three C’s” Rule of Branding:
Strong brands have to be nurtured and will take time to grow with these three C’s Rules (Clarity, Credibility, and Consistency)
1. Clarity
A clear brand must have clearly defined values and a proposition that makes you stand out. Values that are defined clearly will help your brand say what you and your company want to say. Clear brands have to be immediately recognizable and translate what you do and say.
2. Credibility
A brand represents everything you say and everything you do. A credible brand will always align with how a business behaves. This value of the brand will say you are trustworthy, and that you have the ability and knowledge people seek. A credible brand will represent your truth, as well as your core values. It will be able to back up your words, your guarantee, and your ability.
3. Consistency
The value of a brand comes through recognition, and recognition comes from consistent applications of every ‘touch point’ of the brand that your customers experience. A consistent brand will allow audiences to remember and to know who you are and what you represent instantly every time they look at it.