Building an effective brand identity plays a critical role in the success of any business, regardless of industry or size. The right branding elements enable companies to connect emotionally with customers, build awareness, create ongoing loyalty, and generate greater revenue.
Successful branding is like putting a puzzle together. Every piece, every element of a brand strategy, must fit together to create a cohesive and comprehensive whole.
What branding elements and strategies should you consider when building your brand? Here’s everything you need to know about the top 10 elements of a successful brand.
1. An Eye-Catching, Consistent Brand Logo
Your logo is the face of your brand. It’s often the first impression you’ll have on potential customers, and it sets the tone for everything that follows. Therefore, creating a great logo is arguably one of the most critical elements of a brand strategy.
Your logo should be memorable, distinct, and capture what your brand does and represents. Start by considering these eye-catching logo tips:
Keep it Simple:
The simpler, the better. Your brand logo should be easily recognized and understood at first glance.
Be Consistent:
Inconsistency makes it difficult for customers to recognize and understand the message you are trying to convey. Conversely, you can boost consumer trust and increase revenue by up to 23% when you present a brand logo consistently across all platforms.
Incorporate Your Personality:
A logo doesn’t have to be a literal interpretation of what your company does. It should, however, capture the personality and voice of your brand.
Make it Versatile:
Your logo will need to look great on all your company’s marketing collateral, from business cards to website graphics and everything in between.
These tips, along with the right mix of colors, will help you develop an effective logo that is memorable and inviting.
2. Brand-Oriented Color Palette
Speaking of colors, once you’ve selected a logo, the next step is to choose your brand color palette. A robust and well-designed color scheme can boost your brand recognition by 80% and help solidify your brand identity. and help solidify your brand identity.
Color is such an essential element of a brand strategy that some companies have gone as far as trademarking their signature colors. For instance, Tiffany & Co. owns the rights to its robin egg blue, while UPS owns a trademark for brown.
How to pick a brand color palette:
While there are no strict rules for creating your color scheme, your colors should express your brand’s core values. For example, if you run an eco-focused company, it might make sense to use green as one of your primary brand colors.
Additionally, make sure your brand color palette is consistent and coordinated. Pick colors that work well together and flow with your other branding elements.
3. Aesthetically Pleasing Shapes
Shapes are another key element of brand identity. This includes the shapes incorporated in your logo, layout design, packaging, and other visual assets.
Once you’ve settled on your brand logo, think about how you can utilize various shapes to enhance and unify your brand’s persona. For instance, if you’re a bicycle company, you may want to use circular shapes that speak to the curvature of bikes.
Keep in mind that you don’t have to use just one shape. You can choose to use a combination of shapes so long as you keep them consistent across your brand.
4. A Catchy Tagline
A tagline (also known as a slogan) is a short, memorable phrase that encapsulates what your brand is all about. Taglines help differentiate you from your competitors; they act as a promise to consumers of what your product or service will offer.
For example, Nike’s slogan, “Just Do It” captures the company’s no-nonsense spirit of perseverance and willpower.
Taglines take many forms: straightforward statements, strong data points, rhyming puns, witty portmanteau. Whatever it is, it should be clever and concise, but it should also accurately describe what your brand has to offer. Your tagline should also suit your brand’s overall tone of voice.
5. Neat, Easy-to-Read Typography
Typography is one of the most overlooked elements of a successful brand. This includes the fonts in your brand logo and other marketing assets such as your website or business cards.
The typography you choose can significantly influence how consumers perceive your brand. For example, modern text styles with clean lines tend to convey a sense of sophistication, reliability, and innovation. Meanwhile, fonts that are more playful or informal give a casual, approachable feel.
If you’re having trouble finding a suitable typeface, consider your brand’s personality and goals. Then, try looking for inspiration from the fonts other brands in your industry are using.
6. Purposeful Imagery
Images used in marketing and advertising efforts help define your brand’s personality and overall aesthetic. They also create a positive emotional connection between your product and consumers.
It’s essential to use images that embody or relate to your products. For instance, if you’re a health food company, your brand might benefit from using imagery of out-of-doors, sunshine, and plants.
The imagery you create and utilize should also be consistent with your other branding elements. This includes your brand color palette, logo design, and typography.
7. Strong Value Proposition
A value proposition is what your brand has to offer consumers. It’s what makes you unique compared to your competitors. This includes the benefits your brand provides.
For example, Apple’s value proposition is, “The experience IS the product.” This means that the entire experience of owning their products, from the aesthetics to the technology within, is what makes it an appealing purchase – not just the devices themselves.
Your value proposition should be short, relevant to your target audience, and transparent. It’s important to communicate what makes you different than the rest. It should also match the tone of your brand identity.
8. High-Quality Copywriting
Content marketing plays a crucial role in a brand’s success. In fact, more than 50% of all businesses use carefully curated content to grab their intended audience’s attention and promote their brand.
However, just filling your website with content and blog posts isn’t enough. To separate your brand from the competition, you need high-quality copywriting that provides value to every customer.
Great copywriting makes your brand come alive by providing new and existing customers with a peek into your company’s culture. Your content marketing strategy should also focus on being informative, engaging, and instilling trust in potential leads.
9. Distinct Tone of Voice
Your brand’s tone of voice is one of the most important elements of a successful brand messaging strategy. It helps define your brand identity by establishing the overall mindset for marketing materials, content, and customer interactions.
Keep in mind that the way you communicate needs to match your target audience’s preferences and expectations. For instance, a luxury brand may be more inclined to use formal language, while a lifestyle brand may opt for a casual tone.
10. Well-Researched Customer Profiles
Customer profiles are vital in branding elements and strategies. A customer profile is a collection of their most important demographic data. It helps you define your target customers, understand what motivates them to buy, and learn how they express themselves.
To create a compelling customer profile, you must first understand your current customers’ demographics. Once you have a list of target demographics, define their shared interests, beliefs, and values. Then, look for methods to communicate your brand in ways that are relevant to your target audience.
In Conclusion
Developing a strong brand is crucial to achieving greater revenue. It allows you to differentiate yourself from competitors, generate trust and loyalty among consumers, and create a recognizable image to boost your brand awareness.
Need help taking your brand to the next level?
Reach out to the Ayokay team. We’ll help you grow your brand’s visibility, customer base, and sales through a comprehensive branding strategy. Call 1-833-4-AYOKAY or send us a message online.
Jack Shepler is a Marketing and Search Engine Optimization expert. He founded Ayokay, award-winning marketing, and web design firm in Indianapolis, Indiana that has built brands, increased sales for businesses, and helped nonprofit organizations fulfill their missions since 2011. He uses his decades of experience to educate through the Ayokay blog and through public speaking. You can follow him on LinkedIn.
