Your brand identity is so much more than just your logo. A strong brand identity gets to the core of why your company exists, from its unique value proposition in the marketplace to its mission, vision, and core values. Logo, design assets, and brand voice should all demonstrate what makes your company a great place to work and do business.
If you’re thinking about updating your brand identity, the Balius team recommends looking at these five elements first.
1. A Well-Defined Organizational Mission
If you don’t know who you are and what you do, how can you expect customers and prospects to know who are and what you do? The foundational element of any strong brand identity is a well-defined organizational mission. Your mission tells your team and your customers why you exist and what you’re trying to accomplish as an organization.
As an example, here’s Apple’s mission statement: Apple’s 100,000 employees are dedicated to making the best products on earth, and to leaving the world better than we found it.
And for more inspiration, here’s Google’s: Committed to significantly improving the lives of as many people as possible.
It’s notable that both of these tech giants don’t mention specific products, services, or even types of customers in their mission statements. Instead, they make broad declarations of how they hope their companies affect and influence the world.
As you define your organizational mission, it helps to think beyond your products and services. Why do you do what you do? What impact do you want to make on your customers and your community? These are the questions a well-defined organizational mission answers.
2. A Unique Value Proposition
Once you have your mission statement nailed down, it’s time to think more specifically about your unique value proposition, or UVP. Your UVP explains how your company is different from all of your competitors and how you bring value to your customers and wider community.
Often, UVP statements make it into marketing copy. Here’s an example from Slack: Slack makes it downright pleasant to work together.
Grammarly’s UVP is even more succinct: Great writing, simplified.
3. A Meaningful and Engaging Logo
You’ve got your mission and you’ve crafted a strong UVP. Now, it’s time to build a house on that strong foundation. When you have a well-defined mission and UVP, creating a logo that reflects your values and demonstrates your UVP becomes much easier.
Your logo is the primary way your customers and prospects will find you in the marketplace, so it should be immediately identifiable and understandable. We suggest sticking to a simple design with a few bold colors and graphics. When you work with Balius, we’ll make sure your logo is flexible enough to be used on the web, in print, and in large formats.
4. An Outstanding Support Cast of Design Assets
When it comes to strong visual brand identity, your logo is just the beginning! Colors, textures, font styles, marks, and icons all play important roles in creating a memorable and engaging brand. Your brand kit should include all of these and possibly more, depending on your company’s specific needs.
5. An Authentic Voice
Logo and graphic design captures your customers’ attention, but great copy tells your story. Developing an engaging brand voice that is authentic to your mission and values is just as important as creating your logo and design assets. If your brand was a person, what would it have to say, and how would it say it?
Need help putting together a strong brand identity for your company? The Balius creative team is here to help. Get in touch with us to start the process.