It’s important to understand the fundamental differences between the logo and brand identity.
Generally, people are familiar with the term logo. They understand it as an icon or visual representation of the business name as their identity. An identifying mark or graphic.
But on occasion, the term brand, or branding, is either misunderstood or misrepresented.
As designers a core service we provide is branding, this encompasses the design of a logo, but it’s not limited to the logo alone.
A strong logo identity is only ever created based on strong foundational development, clear-sighted definition, uniqueness, and articulation of the larger brand voice.
All of which must be considered and defined and articulated before the designer gets to work. This is done during a briefing session or workshop.
This is how we make the distinction between a simple graphic logo and an engaging brand.
A successful brand is more than the simple graphic or logo. It’s about the strategic psychological influence the graphic has on your target audience. Instilling trust and enticing them.
So, it makes sense to consider the fundamental reason your business brand exists beyond just making money when developing the brand assets.
A brand incorporates a logo, as well as everything from the colours, fonts, language, personality. Your email signatures, to how you write your emails, your social media graphics, to how you write your captions.
It includes all your design collateral, brochures through to stationery. It also includes audio, how you answer the phone through to your on-hold music and messaging. Encompassing every aspect of your communications.
Our number one tip to creating, or re-building a brand is consistency.
If your appearance, your message or your product isn’t represented consistently, your audience will get confused, in turn creating a barrier for engagement and ultimately purchase.
Ideally you will invest in a brand manual which is a guide for how your brand should be visually represented across all mediums, printed and otherwise.
If you have inconsistent branding this causes confusion in the market.
Business owners and managers know that confused potential customers often don’t become customers at all. Confusion is the enemy of a sure sale, and in fact the main challenge of ensuring a sale is to dispel all confusion.
If you need some guidance or a professional opinion on your current branding, contact us for a review session where we can perform a brand audit and make recommendations to help you grow.
Remember, your logo is just the tip of the iceberg!
