Why develop a brand identity at all?
As a consumer, you know from your own experience: You see the logo of a well-known company and immediately have a multitude of associations. You not only know which products or services you can expect from the company behind the logo. You also know whether the offers are rather inexpensive or luxurious, whether they are aimed at older or young customers, whether a traditional company or a start-up is waiting for you.
A brand logo alone cannot convey all this information in detail, even if many values can be hinted at in the design. What is crucial is that the brand company has successfully invested in its brand building. With targeted online marketing, it has succeeded in arousing thoughts and feelings that go beyond mere image brands or the product range. And this is exactly the goal you should set for the success of your business as well.
Which aspects play into the identity?
If you develop a professional brand together with an online agency like ONELINE, you will quickly realize the complexity of the issue. Modern customers cannot be attracted by clumsy advertising statements or special offers. The development of your brand takes place on different levels, which are partly influenced by yourself, partly by your customers, and the society:
1. Emotional Connection
Your brand should arouse positive feelings. Just looking at your brand logo should trigger something in the viewer that stands for a close connection to you and your products. This feeling goes beyond the mere use of your products or services but accompanies your brand fans through everyday life.
2. Objectivity
Besides all emotionality, your brand should convince on a factual level. Provide your customers with clear facts and information that support the feeling and are rationally tangible for the head. Factual arguments of this kind can be the quality of your products, a strong service, or unbeatable prices.
3. Reliability
The digital world floods us all with countless pieces of information every day. Most people, therefore, want consistency, reliability, and closeness. Not only friends and family but also brands can fulfill these wishes. Here, aspects of emotionality and rationality combine to form a great whole.
Brand development with digital marketing
Developing your own brand identity is possible for companies of all industries and sizes. Even small retailers or regional craft businesses benefit from brand development when it is combined with online marketing. As a real brand, it is easier to differentiate from local competitors and build a closer bond with the target group.
Brand identity development takes place mainly in the digital world. Of course, elements such as the figurative mark can be used for offline advertising on brochures or posters. However, online marketing should be in the foreground, as future customers can be found more easily through this.
Working with an online agency helps you to strategically develop your brand. This external support makes sense because you do not have your brand image in your own hands. The direct feedback of the target group, during brand development and over the years, is an important part of a functioning brand identity.
Steps of a successful brand development
Even though every brand development, like other measures in digital marketing, is very individual, there is a rough guideline. Agencies also use these guidelines to bring all the following steps to life.
1. Know your Values and Vision
Many companies find it difficult to name their values and the characteristics of their corporate culture. They are too self-evident to be clear about what differentiates their own company from direct competitors. Working with a digital marketing agency helps to think outside the box and analyze what visions and values make your brand special.
2. Know your Target Group
The development of your brand identity should not bypass your target group. Your customers come from the business world and are in a higher age group. Then there is no point in making your branding as young and pop as possible. If this effect is important to you as management, it is necessary to work out exactly how these values can be combined with the expectations of the target group.
3. Capture the Experience of Customers
Have you already analyzed your target group? Then you probably know how well which products are received or how great the satisfaction with your customer service is. But do you know which values and attributes customers assign to you? And whether they match the values you want to convey as a brand. For this, direct interaction with existing customers and the collection of experiences are crucial.
4. Develop a realistic self-image
What brand doesn’t want to be on trend and score points by focusing on sustainability and customer service? This can quickly pay off if callers in reality hang on hold for 15 minutes until your support is available. Therefore, be aware of which values and visions you can fulfill. Nothing will be punished more severely than inauthentic branding that misses the customer experience.
5. Visual Implementation
Finally, you give your analysis with the collected insights a visual implementation. Your branding is an important part of corporate design and plays into the logo design, colors, fonts, and other elements of visualization. An online agency ensures that all these aspects flow into the web design and that you achieve a coherent appearance in the digital world.
With an Online Agency to a reliable Brand Identity
Hopefully, you have realized that targeted branding is important for the success of your company in the digital world. As an expert in online marketing, ONELINE will be happy to talk to you about developing your brand.
