In the current paradigm of consumerism, there are hundreds of competing brands for every type of product or service. That’s why businesses today have to stand out through the impressions they leave on their customers. It starts with a fantastic customer journey and can scale globally with a recognisable brand identity.
77% of consumers purchase items based on a brand name rather than the object’s name and brands with a strong identity can also attract more investors – 82% of investors cite name recognition as an essential factor in their decision-making.
How strong is your organization’s brand identity? You might consider how you could benefit from specialist brand identity services as a means to supporting you on your brand identity development journey.
Establishing a Value-Driven Culture
The starting point for brand identity is alignment with the officially stated organizational values. Values reflect what your brand cares about and how the organization’s people consistently act and behave. In addition, the values can describe what stance your organisation takes on important issues and what practices it prioritises.
A robust and identifiable set of values can help customers align with your mission. This builds loyalty and encourages solidarity through a sense of shared values and what matters to both the organization and the customers.
A values-driven culture in your workplace also encourages better employee engagement. Employees that work for companies with similar values to their own often remain in their roles longer. They are also more engaged in support of shared principles.
Once you have formulated values that feel true to your brand, brand identity services can help you implement your values in a practical, observable way. This is critical because if the real lived experience of customers or employees does not reflect the officially stated values then this can cause confusion and uncertainty at best and, at worst, a sense of scepticism or mistrust.
Optimising the Customer Experience
Your visual identity and brand values define the core structure of your brand identity. This will be put to the test in numerous small interactions. Brand identity expresses itself from how you present yourself on social media and email campaigns to how the sales process works to the style of service delivery to problem resolution. These are all elements of the customer journey and determines whether customers want to buy from you again.
Brand identity can be strengthened when your values shine through every customer interaction. A consistent, brand-aligned customer experience can enhance customer relationships, encourage repeat purchases and improve profits,.
Aligning your customer journey with your brand is often one of the most challenging tasks. It requires you to implement brand strategies in your organisation and reinforce sustainable, brand-driven behaviours in every employee, every day.
Building Your Brand’s Visual Language
Sometimes businesses are tempted to develop the visual identity as one of the first activities. However, it can save time, effort and money if you are crystal clear about the organization’s purpose and values first because this will inform the visual identity. In practical terms, this includes all the different visible aspects that customers will interact with and know your brand for eg logo, repeated colour palettes, graphic themes (including the treatment of photography and illustrations), iconography, fonts etc and how these are represented on a website or other virtual platforms and stationary or other physical items.
All of the visual elements have to work cohesively to form a strong brand identity. How you present yourself to the world visually is vital. After all, your logo and stylings will be the first thing customers recognise when they pick up a new product. Your visual identity acts as a shortcode for everything you stand for and brings to life the associations customers have with your brand. You might wish to collaborate with design agencies that focus on branding. However, a visual brand identity which is rooted in the organization’s purpose and values has more chance of resonating with stakeholders.
SERVICEBRAND GLOBAL has deep experience of and insight on the values economy. In these ambiguous times, we provide brand identity services to help organisations like yours thrive and prosper. Our proven methods provide clarity over your brand’s personality and character by strengthening values, providing frameworks, and training employees.
Get in touch today to learn more about our services.