Branding

Brand Identity 101: The Ultimate Guide to a Fresh New Look for Your Business

Are you looking to update your company’s brand identity? If it’s time to update your logo and the overall look and feel of your marketing materials you’re in the right place.

We love helping businesses bring new life and fresh perspective to existing brands. We also work with start-ups and entrepreneurs to create new brand identities.

Creating a brand identity is a fun process but can also be a bit confusing. There are many important branding terms to understand to ensure a successful project. If you have any questions, don’t fret! We are here to walk you through every step of the way.

Branding and design are important elements of marketing and growing your business. Strong branding leads to brand clarity and consistency that ensure clear communications between your company and your current (and future) customers.

In this post we’ll discuss the unique way we add value to the branding process, how we work with clients, and share some examples of how we’ve helped bring new brands to life or give existing companies a fresh new look.

What is Branding?

Branding is a complex process with many different parts. Some may say it’s part science and part art. At a thirty-thousand foot view, the entire branding process comprises many things including strategy, messaging, story, product development, placement, promises, positions, and much more.

Ultimately, your brand is the public’s perception of your company, products, and services. As Amazon founder Jeff Bezos famously said, “Your brand is what people say about you when you are not in the room.”

Read More: Brand Basics – Five Fundamentals of a Strong Brand

What is Brand Identity?

Brand identity is the sum of all elements that make up a company’s public image. This includes the colors, logos, typefaces, and symbol designs that represent a company or organization. It can also include slogans and taglines. Your brand identity should be unique and recognizable to customers in order to create an emotional connection with them.

When the hard work for branding is complete, you need a graphic artist with experience in brand design to create a look and feel that uniquely expresses your brand’s essence in a memorable way. Most businesses will hire a creative design agency to bring the meaning and the messages of the brand to life.

Additionally, you will need a thorough branding guide for your employees (or volunteers if applicable) to follow to ensure that the brand identity is consistently and professionally applied across the board.

Where Does Logo Design Fit Into Branding?

It is important to understand that logo design is a part of the brand identity creation process. A logo on its own is not a brand, but the logo is usually the most important element in the visual identity portfolio because it becomes synonymous with your brand name.

A logo can be any shape or design, but what is essential for it to be successful is the way it conveys your company’s message. The most popular logos are usually simple designs that are easy to remember and recognize. Logos can also have symbols, icons, or images which represent certain aspects of your business.

For more, check out this post: Is it a Logo, or a Brand, or Both?

What About Visuals?

Of course the first things that come to mind when people think about branding include logos, fonts, and color palettes, are only the beginning. Everything you put in front of your audience should align with the brand standards set within the context of your brand identity.

Your visual brand identity must also be applied to photography, social media graphics, videos, email campaigns, newsletters, live events, and more.

This is why we emphasize working with a creative design agency and not trying to DIY your visual identity (or rely solely on freelancers). A professional team can advise you on every detail that needs to be applied to all audience-facing marketing materials.

Additionally, with the branding basics in place, a great next step is adding brand video to your marketing mix. In fact, video has become the number one way consumers want to interact with companies. So video isn’t just something nice to have or an afterthought if budget allows. It’s a key element to successfully connecting with customers on a personal level.

For more on brand videos (and brand video examples), check out this post: How to Create an Effective Brand Video.

Brand Identity Examples

When you choose Cross & Crown to create your brand identity, we work with you to understand what makes your business or nonprofit special and help your brand stand out in a crowded marketplace. Here are some case studies on work we’ve done for clients. We would love for you to check out our work!

Appalachian Running Company: A Rebrand and a New Website that is Making a Difference

Roland Builder: Rebranding a Successful Home Builder with a Legacy of Quality and Craftsmanship

 

Grand Illusion Hard Cider Company: This Brand Video Looks So Good You Can Practically Taste It!

And if you still want more brand identity examples, check out this round-up of branding work we’ve done for start-ups: The Importance of Branding for Start-Ups

Branding Basics: Wrapping it Up

The word “branding” has evolved to mean more than just a logo on a product. It is what consumers associate with the company, its logo, and how they are treated when they interact with the business.

Branding is also about consistency in interactions between the customer and company – if you are treated well when you buy something but poorly when you complain, your experience is not consistent.

Branding is not just about logos or slogans – it’s also about consistently providing the best possible customer service experience by making sure that consumers are treated well during every interaction with the company.

As you can tell, this is a complex process that you don’t want to navigate on your own.

Graphic Design and Branding Services You Can Depend On

When you’re evaluating your options for the best graphic design companies, we hope you’ll consider Cross & Crown. We built our business creating brand identities, logos, and websites for our earliest customers and it continues to be the bread and butter of what we do today.

We offer branding and web design services for small businesses, nonprofits, churches and schools. If you’re searching for creative design services, please contact us today to schedule a meeting. We’d be honored to help breathe new life into the important work that you do!