A Crash Course in Brand Identity
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Whether you're distinguishing your personal brand from your business or intertwining the two, this episode is your map to navigating the complex world of brand identity. Inside, you’ll dissect the six pivotal steps to cultivating a brand that not only stands out but stands for something. Learn how Victoria’s experiences with BrandWell have shaped an approach to branding that's about more than just aesthetics—it's about crafting a narrative that holds power and integrity.
In a market flooded with noise and competition, Victoria shares strategies to elevate your brand's professionalism and attract the clientele you deserve. From leveraging tools to maintain a consistent visual presence, to articulating a brand message that fosters trust and loyalty, this episode is rich with practical advice for ambitious women ready to lead their industries. Tune in, and let's transform your brand identity into your business's most valuable asset.
What is Brand Identity? [00:53]
It is the visual and conceptual representation of a brand. Visually speaking, this is the brand’s logo, typography, color palette, imagery, and overall style. Conceptually speaking, this is the brand’s personality, the values, the messaging, the offers and how all of these things are perceived by the audience. A strong brand identity will give you confidence because it serves as the foundation for all of your brand communication, for all of the brand experiences that you’re creating, both online and offline. A strong brand identity not only helps you cut through the noise, but it also builds recognition, it builds trust, and it builds loyalty.
Personal Brand vs. Business Brand [03:31]
Your personal brand often comes first. It’s all about you, obviously, it’s about your authenticity and values. The personal brand almost always comes first and it influences the business brand. When many of you hear the words “personal brand” you’re thinking influencer, social celebrity, or TV celebrity, but that’s not what we’re talking about here. Victoria has never built a personal brand on social media, but she’s also never shied away from owning who she is as a person. Victoria is a Christian, she’s a wife, a mom to two girls, she’s an entrepreneur that loves to inspire other women, she has a love for design, and she’s a Starbucks girl through and through. These are her attributes that have influenced her business brand of BrandWell – which looks a lot different today than it did five years ago when she didn’t have any children. Victoria’s personal story of building a business and raising her family and hiring a team, has really helped inspire and attract other women in similar seasons of life to her business. While her personal brand is not necessarily a public brand, her personal brand does influence her business brand and yours can too, especially in the early days of entrepreneurship.
Your personal brand is your brand story. It becomes your business brand. Embrace your story, embrace your journey, because oftentimes that is actually why people are going to choose your business brand in the end.
6 Steps to Craft Your Brand Identity [06:45]
If you’ve already built an established company, these are six areas that you can revisit and ensure that they are aligned with your current mission, your vision, and your target audience.
Find your personality [06:45]
The first step in crafting a brand identity is knowing who you are. If you are a service provider, you are selling yourself. People are going to choose you because of you, because of your personality, because of your values and how you align with their own personalities.Create a memorable logo [07:58]
People feed with their eyes first. We live in an era where scrolling through endless content on social media is the norm, so standing out visually matters. Your logo is the visual centerpiece of your brand identity and you want to make sure that it reflects your brand’s personality and values.Choose a consistent visual style [09:41]
Your brand and your visual aesthetics are often how people calculate your credibility. One of the fastest ways to build trust online is through design. Developing a cohesive visual style that encompasses your fonts, your color palette, and the imagery that you’re using, helps you start to build a brand that people recognize and a brand that people trust.Create a compelling brand message [11:01]
Brand voice is how you communicate with your audience. You want to develop a verbal identity of sorts for your business, as well as some key messages that help communicate your brand’s story, your benefits, your differentiators, and your personality.Build a strong online presence [12:29]
Your website is often the first point of contact for your potential customers, and if your website design doesn’t reflect the brand identity that you’re trying to craft in step one through four, you’re not only leaving money on the table, but you’re actually hurting your brand. If you’ve listened to Episode 124, you’ll know that your website is a reflection of the quality of your offers in the minds of its viewers. Make sure that your online presence that you’re crafting from your website to your socials to your Google reviews, are all in alignment with your overall identity that you’re trying to create for your business.Consistency is key [14:32]
You need to make sure that your brand's touch points, whether it’s your website, your social media, your packaging, or your customer service, all have to reflect your brand’s values and your visual style. Consistency creates recognition. Recognition creates familiarity, and familiarity leads to loyalty, and that’s what we want. We want loyal customers who become brand advocates, who continually market our business for us.
Final thoughts [15:26]
At the end of the day, you have to remember that your brand is more than a logo. It’s your story, it’s your promise, it’s the legacy that you’re going to leave behind. If this is currently an area where you’re floundering a bit because you find it hard to talk about your business, to talk about yourself, or to figure out how you are different from other people in your industry, then get on the waitlist for The Branding Business School. This is a course that can be taken in one to two weeks and it will leave you feeling confident in building a brand that people actually want to buy from. Next enrollment will be opening in June!
Key Quotes
“A strong brand identity not only helps you cut through the noise, but it also builds recognition, it builds trust, and it builds loyalty.”
Victoria Marcouillier
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