A strong brand isn’t just about having a clever logo or innovative style.
Your branding process encompasses everything that makes you memorable, which yes, does include your unique visual aesthetic, but also how you come across through your words and your actions, forming a cohesive brand strategy.
Your brand is NOT just your logo and colors, it’s also how your brand speaks and behaves.
This article will cover everything you need to do to strongly define your brand identity, and attract your target customer.
A strong brand identity is the result of the impressions you have on your readers. Here’s an example of the impression that (hopefully) comes to mind when you think of Indie Brand Builder: At Indie Brand Builder we value clarity and intentionality. We have firsthand experience as solo creatives and indie business owners, and we care about our readers. We love sharing what we’ve learnt, and we aren’t afraid of hard things. 💪
You want your brand to have a vibe that you align with.
Ultimately, you are your brand, and conduct yourself through it, so you want it to feel comfortable and true to yourself, your business, and your brand values.
Your brand should clearly illustrate who you are and what you represent to your audience, and convince them that your business is the perfect fit for their needs.
So before we start working out how to represent you through your brand, we have to figure out who you are.
Who and what are you?
What identity do you want customers to associate with your brand? What adjectives would you use/want people to use to describe yourself and what you offer?
e.g. Energetic, determined, outgoing, hardworking, etc. 2. Why does your business exist?
What beliefs and needs spurred you to create your business, aside from profit? What are the driving forces that motivate what makes your business unique? 3. Who is your target audience?
You can’t sell everything to everyone. What demographic specifically do you want to make a difference in?
It is your brand’s job to leave an impression on a customer, often including their first impression, which is where effective brand positioning comes into play.
Defining your reader’s impression of your brand boils down to how you present:
Your brand’s aesthetic
Your brand’s character
Your brand’s voice
Most people just focus on the way their brand looks, which is still massively important, but I’d argue your brand****voice and character are far more important to establish, even before you figure out how you want your brand to look.
In the end, your aesthetic is only a pretty vessel to display your content, whereas your voice and character define what makes your content attractive to your audience.
We’ll start with the harder one: defining your brand personality.
You show your brand’s character through the actions your business takes.
Your brand’s character is the underlying values that motivate every business decision you make. What values do you have, and how do they guide your decisions?
At Indie Brand Builder, we have several traits that define our character, but we can boil it down to these four basic qualities:
Collaboration
Independence
Clarity
Creativity
Authenticity
Every decision we make, from the content we create to how we structure our business, aligns with these core values.
For example, leaving space for creativity means a lot to us, so we always ensure our content is clear, concise, and accessible to everyone so our customers can spend their time on what matters.
The way we act as a business gives an idea of what we stand for and what kind of people we’re looking to serve, even if they can’t piece together those exact traits at a glance.
What ideals guide your actions and form the brand essence?
What qualities will your audience come to appreciate about your brand?
If you can define your character, you can use it as a guide for every choice you make for your business.
How do you talk to your customers? How do you speak through your brand?
Communication is the most important part of any business.
How you communicate includes all your marketing materials (your website text, social media posts, customer emails, and YouTube scripts), and affects how your customers perceive their interactions with you, forming your brand messaging.
The most important part of your brand voice is your tone:
Using a tone of voice, just like how you would in real-life conversations, sets the mood for your interactions with clients.
Will you be serious, formal, and authoritative? Or are you friendly, funny, and approachable?
Maybe you keep it professional, but have a sense of underlying wit? Do you want your readers to see the human behind the information, or for your copy to be more clear, concise, and academic?
Do you prefer lengthy descriptions or short, concise messaging?
For Indie Brand Builder, we aim to be friendly, informative, relaxed, and human throughout all our communication. We avoid being overbearing, but we share our opinions and passions.
We try not to sound too authoritative or know-it-all, because truth be told, we’re still learning.
Consider the connotations of visual elements: e.g. if one of your brand’s defining character traits is making people feel safe and assured, use soft, gentle colors and avoid hard edges/harsh imagery. Once you’ve figured out your brand’s character and tone of voice, you can ensure your aesthetics align with those qualities by following your brand guidelines.
We use bold, saturated colors and a clear font to show that we are all about clarity and embracing what makes you different.
Aesthetics can aid your brand recognition, but will it help your target market remember it?
At the end of the day, you want your customers to remember what your brand represents, not what it looks like. Make sure you don’t just call it at designing a brand logo and picking out a color scheme.
Decide who you want to be as a business. Think about what kind of audience you want to cater to and how you can show your character in everything you do.
The more confident and consistent you are with a well-developed brand identity, the more of an impression you’ll make on your soon-to-be loyal customers. That’s what makes a good brand!
