Brand. At the mention of this simple word, a picture of any famous brand immediately appears in your head. But what is this picture? After all, a “brand” in itself is not a physical concept, but rather a symbolic one, something general, not specific.
Let’s clarify the situation. The fact is that this picture in your head is not the brand itself, but its constituent elements. Logo, custom font, special brand colors. These are all components of the identity.
In this article, we will understand in detail what a brand identity is, how corporate identity development will be useful, and also find out what elements a corporate identity consists of.
IDENTITY AND CORPORATE IDENTITY
A brand identity is a set of elements that make it easy to recognize a particular brand from others. This complex includes not only visual components, but also certain brand values, its general idea and goals that it pursues.
Another very similar concept is the corporate identity of the company. Many people confuse it with the identity, believing that they are one and the same, but this is not entirely correct.
Corporate identity is only a part of the identity, but a very important part and necessary for any self-respecting business. It is necessary in order to build the correct positioning of the company and, thereby, compare favorably with its competitors.
The difference between corporate identity and identity is that the second concept is much broader.
Corporate identity includes the following elements:
- Brand colors;
- Logo or trademark;
- Fonts;
- Location of details on advertising media;
- The corporate “face” of the brand is a mascot.
HOW BRANDING WILL AFFECT YOUR COMPANY
As mentioned above, corporate identity is an integral part of any self-respecting business. Any successful company invests a huge amount of time and money in developing its own, different from competitors, corporate identity, because corporate identity is an excellent marketing tool that will make your company easily recognizable in the market.
In addition, corporate identity provides several other excellent benefits to those firms that are not stingy with investing in its development.
Formation of the company’s image
Any company in the modern market needs communication with its audience, and corporate identity is the “foundation” of this communication, on which everything else is superimposed. With the help of a well-built corporate identity of the company, you can easily manage the emotions of consumers that arise in the process of contacts with this company, as well as attract potential investors or potential employees.
Counterfeit protection
In the modern market, the culture of so-called “replicas” is very developed, when fakes on famous things are riveted one after another in the cellars of the near abroad. Of course, even the real giants of the market are not always able to deal with this phenomenon, however, the presence of a corporate identity will greatly help you deal with such a situation if it suddenly arises.
Do not forget that the corporate identity and all its elements are real intellectual property, which no one has the right to copy.
Difference from competitors
The main elements of the corporate identity of the company – the logo, fonts and colors of the brand – this is what, if properly built, will help to distinguish you from competitors very favorably.
Increasing brand awareness
“How to increase brand awareness” is a fairly common request at the moment. Having your own unique corporate identity will make your company well recognizable among others, which will later help raise the prices of your products or services, as well as reduce advertising costs, because people are used to buying what is recognizable and known.
Accelerating the pace of sales
As mentioned above, people are used to buying what is more recognizable. Imagine the situation: you need to buy milk in a store. In front of you are two bottles for the same price: one with a modest label from some small local brand, and the other from a well-known dairy factory.
It can be said with almost absolute certainty that the choice will fall on what is more known, although it may be no better than what is not yet known.
This is the magic of a long-established corporate identity, which helps the products of this factory fly off the store shelves almost instantly.
In addition to the external reasons for developing a corporate identity, described above, there are a number of internal reasons, such as:
Increasing corporate spirit
Employees working for the benefit of a company with a developed corporate identity are much more proud of their work than those who work in so-called “no-name” companies. It is much more pleasant to work in an office decorated in the colors of the brand and write with a branded pen, dressed in a uniform company uniform, than vice versa. It is easier for employees of such firms to adapt and feel “unity” with the company.
Identification of employees with the company
Item very similar to the previous one. Purely psychologically, it will be much more pleasant for a person to feel like a part of something in common, an important gear in a huge company machine, an element that performs a very significant job. In all this, the company’s own corporate identity helps a lot.
ELEMENTS OF CORPORATE IDENTITY AND ITS CARRIERS
Above, we have already briefly mentioned what components make up the corporate identity of the company. Let’s talk about this in more detail.
Trademark
A key element of the corporate identity of the company, which is registered and allows you to protect the product from counterfeiting.
Logo
Almost the same trademark, but registered in a graphic design. A logo is the very unique element of any company that occurs in our head when we hear the name of a particular brand. For example, this is the famous “tick” of Nike, which is called “swoosh”.
Brand block
A combination of several elements of corporate identity, often mentioned together and therefore easily recognizable.
Tagline
A certain “motto” of the company, which fully reflects its values. The slogan should be short, understandable and well-remembered for further easy recognition of the brand among its own kind. As you know, the most recognizable Nike slogan is the phrase “Just do it!” (“Just Do It!”)
Corporate color set
As a rule, it is customary to use no more than 2-3 colors in the corporate identity of the brand. This is necessary in order to evoke certain associations when seeing these colors, as well as increase brand awareness.
Corporate font
Any company that develops its own style creates a specific font for its needs, which will be used on all elements of the brand identity.
BEARERS OF CORPORATE IDENTITY
Branded and printed products
The simplest and most famous carrier of the company’s corporate identity is the product that is produced by this company. This also includes product packaging, labels and all kinds of related documentation.
Advertising
This includes advertising on all its media: billboards, advertising on transport, signs, advertising on the Internet and periodicals, and so on.
Souvenir products
Flags, patches, booklets, notepads, bags… The list is endless.
Website
A very popular carrier of the company’s corporate identity in the modern world is a website with products. If you go to the website of any well-known brand, you will find everything you read about in this article there: both corporate colors and their own fonts, logos and slogans.
CONCLUSION
In this article, we looked at some of the main reasons why any company needs its own corporate identity. This is a really important marketing tool that can help you take your business to a whole new level.
