The other day I saw a post on Facebook that threw me. A company was searching for a designer to “quickly whip up a few logos.” No.
Time and thoughtfulness go into creating a brand identity – the logo and everything else that tells a company’s story. A brand identity is the first thing potential customers see and is often how they decide to spend their money with you. Don’t you want to put the effort into making a great first impression?
What Research Goes into Developing a Brand Identity?
Long before sitting down to create designs, top-notch branding experts follow a process of discovery to help them define a company’s brand.
- Filling out a “branding brief” – The answers you give help the creative team learn about your business in all its tangibles and intangibles. It’s the start for thinking through who you are and who you need to be for your customers.
- Researching your competitors – This shows what others in your industry are doing and what’s trending. Sometimes there are similarities across an industry, such as certain colors or symbols, which help customers quickly identify a type of business. In a case like that, such elements may get incorporated into your logo design to increase your customer reach.
- Doing market research on your customer demographic – This determines what people of a certain age, gender, geographical region, etc., are currently responding to in the marketplace. Do they like specific visuals, colors, and shapes? Is humor or seriousness on trend? Understanding the environment is essential to reaching the right customers.
All of these considerations, and more, go into the research that builds a strong brand.
Consider Who You’re Marketing to When Developing a Brand Identity
One thing we want to emphasize – always – is make sure your brand speaks to your customer and is not just about you.
One of our clients was a medical practice who, in their branding brief, identified their business attributes as the qualities that the physicians personally identified with: quick, accurate, and surgical (precise). On further probing, we found out that a slight majority of their patients were female and that a number of married couples, both husband and wife, came to them.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, women make about 80% of the healthcare decisions for their families. Additionally, women often have different responses to marketing messages than men do.
Armed with this knowledge, we were able to gently persuade the physicians to consider a brand identity with additional attributes – good bedside manner, caring staff – that were more likely to speak to their customers’ concerns.
Creating a Brand Identity for Your Company
Marstudio’s thorough process allows us to create designs that make a brand sing. The up-front time that we put into branding also helps to erase any misgivings that clients may have about the viability of our recommendations. When we present designs for their consideration, our clients can respond to the visuals without questioning whether the logos are appropriate for their business and target audience.
How Do You Know the Brand Development Process Will Be Worth It?
Branding can be an extensive process, but the end result will be so worth it. If you don’t believe us, talk with a business owner who wasn’t a believer in investing the time. Guaranteed, he or she will tell you to work with a company that knows what they are doing. Don’t trust your business’s credibility and future success to quick solutions.
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