Brand development is hugely important to your business. One of the most effective ways to get a sense of direction in your business is to have a clear brand identity. Branding can be a vacuous term, and the most common misconception is that your brand equals your logo. This was the case centuries ago when artisans would mark their goods so that you knew the level of quality, and could identify your preferred maker.
The term brand actually comes from the practice of branding cows with a distinctive mark so you to which farmer the cow belongs.
However, once you step out of the agricultural sense and into the world of business and marketing, a brand is a much larger umbrella term that describes each and every interaction you have with your customers.
Common parts of a brand include:
- Logo
- Brand colours & fonts
- Brand messaging
- Social media (platforms and posting strategy)
- Website and user experience
- Sound branding
- Customer service
- Policies and procedures (processes, dress code)
- Mission, vision and values
- Publicity (media appearances, press releases)
- Television and radio advertising
- And more!
Having a simple and unique brand can help you make decisions on all of these different areas of your brand in a clear and concise way. When your brand is convoluted or looks like your competitors, it can be difficult to find a strategy that works.
Simplicity & Branding
Iconic and simple logos from some of the world’s largest companies. These logos are instantly recognizable, even without the company name attached to them. Simple designs draw the eye and simple messages are easier for people to connect with. Plus, simplicity makes branding easier on you.
People are inundated with messages and decision-making all day long. This is true whether someone is purchasing a product or trying to decide which route will be the fastest way home during rush hour. The more decisions a person makes in a day, the harder it is to make a decision. It’s mental fatigue and it happens to all of us.
Your target audience doesn’t want to work to figure out your brand. Your employees don’t want to work to figure out your brand. And you are probably busy with other business decisions that you don’t want to figure out a complicated brand and the marketing strategy that goes with it.
What Do Big Brands Have in Common?
The biggest brands in the world have a few key similarities in their brand development strategy. These are companies like McDonald’s, Apple, Nike, Amazon, Walmart, FedEx and Coca-Cola,
- They use no more than two colours in their branding
- They feature a flat image (no shadows, no depth, nothing is jumping off of the page)
- They have a defined message/tagline/vision
Because of these features, everything is easily reproducible and versatile. McDonald’s can stick their logo on a brown take-out bag, a burger wrapper or on a massive street sign and it looks good and easily identifiable. When you can have that flexibility and recognition, you know you are creating a strong brand.
It is important when you are getting your brand developed that you have solid brand guidelines for you, your staff and any vendors you hire to follow. A simple brand will be versatile though and make those guidelines easier to follow and allow you to apply it to whatever marketing strategy you want!
We sometimes hear the objection that brand guidelines are limiting. There are some pieces of your brand that should never change (or at least keep them consistent as long as possible!) The way your logo looks, your brand colours and fonts, and your core values, mission and vision.
If you are feeling stifled, check out these big brands, especially Coca-Cola, which has adapted to the times and innovated within the company, while still staying true to themselves. Having been around for over one hundred years, Coca-Cola is a great example of how simplicity and staying consistent can give you global recognition.
Unique and Effective Brands
There may be a lot of businesses in your industry but none of them are exactly like you. People want to know what makes you different. Let’s show them!
This is one topic we are really passionate about. Did you know 50% of businesses are confused for their competitors?
Having a unique brand can separate you from those competitors and get those indecisive shoppers off the fence and directed to you. It also allows you to be more memorable in the long term. I promise you that “Steve’s Computers” would never have had the same impact as Apple.
What does a unique brand look like?
Let’s use the examples from above: McDonald’s, Apple, Nike, Amazon, Walmart, FedEx and Coca-Cola.
McDonald’s logo isn’t a burger. Apple isn’t a computer. Nike’s isn’t a shoe. Amazon isn’t a package, and neither is FedEx. Coca-Cola’s logo isn’t a bottle of pop.
By choosing the obvious cliched, or literal logo you are doing yourself a disservice. You lumping yourself in with all other businesses that have had not-so-creative ideas. You are telling the world that there is nothing special about you. You don’t have a distinctive point of view or provide anything special.
What’s worse is that there are instances where multiple industries are using the same logo. Here is an example of logos in the Edmonton area from Realtors, Mortgage Brokers, Roofers and Residential Renovators. Can you tell which belongs to which industry? Do you know any of these businesses to look at their logo?
When you are building a brand you also want to give yourself plenty of options for the future. If Nike had a shoe as their logo what would that have meant for all the other products they subsequently have developed? Apple started as a computer company, but they really gained market traction with the iPod, an MP3 player. Now they are a full-service tech company!
You got into your business for a reason, because you bring something different to your products or services than your competitor. Figure out your brand positioning and shout it from the rooftops!
Need to Simplify Your Brand?
Having a unique and simple brand will allow you to connect directly with your target market. Make a commitment and step fully into your brand with a comprehensive brand development process. Need a guide? We’d be happy to help!