Unlocking the Difference: Brand Identity vs Brand Image and Why It Matters Towards the Success of Your Company

TL;DR

The next time you hold a marketing huddle, ask the following question to your team: “how do we stand out?” Considering it’s your brand, it should be a game of rapid fire responses. If not, call your loved ones because it’s going to be a long night. Consumers know what they want by a myriad of familiar indicators that include:

• 1. Logo
  2. Color
  3. Typography
  4. Sound, tone, or jingle
  5. Alliance or partnership
  6. Smell

Critical Questions to Ask Yourself:

1. 1. Does everyone have a similar understanding of what your brand should be?
   2. What are your brand colors, typeface, or tone of voice?
   3. Have you thought about re-branding?

End State:

Your brand is the sum of its parts, but it should still have some fundemental cues that your customers and clients recognize. A Tesla without a logo is still recognizable. A swoosh on an article of clothing or shoes is easily recognizable as Nike despite most Nike clothing products do not have the brand name prominently displayed. You get the point. Ready to learn more? Let’s do this!

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The Deep Dive

Introduction

The concept of brand identity vs brand image can be a source of confusion for many businesses, but the difference between them is significant. Moreover, understanding and refining the difference between these two concepts can be essential for your business’s success. In this blog post, we’ll discuss why unlocking the difference between brand identity and image is crucial and how you can use this knowledge to your advantage. At the core, an organization’s brand identity is its unique characteristics, qualities, and values that separate it from others in the industry. It is essentially the ‘personality’ of the business and encompasses the brand’s mission, purpose, culture, voice, and other crucial elements.

On the other hand, your brand image is the public perception or opinion of the business. Your brand image is the collective impression customers, and potential customers have of your business. It is what people think and feel about your company, which they base on their experiences directly and indirectly. Therefore, the brand identity is what you want your business to be known for, while the brand image is how your customers and potential customers perceive the company. Sometimes, the difference between the brand identity and image might be minor; however, ensuring that your business is accurately depicted and performs to its utmost potential is crucial.

Understanding the Difference Between Brand Identity and Image

At BRKLYN Creative, we understand the importance of solid brand identity. Our brand identity package combines a logo, colors, fonts, and other elements that make up an organization’s visual representation. Your identity sets you apart from your competitors, builds customer trust and loyalty, and ultimately increases brand awareness. On the other hand, your brand image is how your customers perceive you. It includes your company’s tangible and intangible elements, such as product quality, customer service, and reputation. Brand awareness and brand recognition are often used interchangeably with your image; however, they refer to the consumer’s knowledge of and familiarity with a particular brand. BRKLYN Creative publish your branding standards, including your logo, colors, fonts, taglines, and more. Our kits will help you establish a strong identity to create your desired image and increase brand recognition. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you create a consistent branding experience for your customers.

Here are a few brand identity elements you need to know:

• • Brand awareness: the percentage of potential customers or consumers who recognize or name a brand (Universal Marketing Dictionary, 2018).
  • Brand equity: the value of a brand. A brand encompasses the name, logo, image, and perceptions that identify a product, service, or provider in customers’ minds. It takes shape in advertising, packaging, and other marketing communications and becomes a focus of the consumer relationship (Universal Marketing Dictionary, 2020).
  • Brand strength: a non-monetary, point-in-time measure which seeks to capture the perceived overall attractiveness in the hearts and minds of consumers that the brand imbues to its offerings relative to that of other branded offerings both within and across categories (Universal Marketing Dictionary, 2020).
  • Typography: the style, arrangement, or appearance of typeset matter (Merriam-Webster, 2022).

Why It Is Important for Your Business

Businesses need to establish a strong brand presence in the market. Brand awareness, brand equity, and brand recognition are the cornerstones of a successful business. Without them, customers may be unable to recognize and identify your business. Brand identity sets your business apart from competitors, builds customer trust and loyalty, and increases brand awareness. Brand image is how your customers perceive you. It includes your brand’s tangible and intangible elements, such as product quality, customer service, and reputation.

A strong brand identity can help your business achieve several goals. For example, it can help you attract new customers by establishing a unique position in the market. It can also help you build a stronger relationship with current customers by reinforcing the values and principles that make your business unique. Additionally, a strong brand identity can lead to increased sales and profits.

When establishing or refining your brand identity, it is essential to consider all the aspects that make up a strong brand presence.

Developing Your Brand Identity

Branding is a crucial part of any business, and having a well-developed brand identity can be the difference between success and failure. Establishing your brand identity begins with building brand awareness, brand equity, and brand recognition. To help you get started, BRKLYN Creative provides branding kits to help solidify your company’s branding standards. These kits provide everything you need to develop a unique and memorable brand identity, including logo design, taglines, color palettes, font choices, and more. By creating a strong brand identity, you can ensure that your company stands out from the competition and is easily recognizable to potential customers. Working with BRKLYN Creative’s branding kits allows you to create a comprehensive and professional approach to your branding efforts. With their help, you can ensure your company’s logo and visuals stand out, and your message is clear and consistent. Using BRKLYN Creative’s branding kits, you can easily create a cohesive brand identity to help your business succeed.

Creating a Positive Brand Image

Creating a positive brand image is essential for any business. BRKLYN Creative understands this, so they provide branding kits to help solidify your branding standards and increase brand awareness, recognition, and equity. These kits give you the resources you need to create a positive brand image that will last. They include easy-to-follow guidelines to ensure your brand’s colors, fonts, logo, and other elements are consistent throughout all materials. BRKLYN Creative also offers templates for business cards, presentations, and more to help you create a unified look and feel for your brand. With the help of these branding kits, you can create a positive brand image that resonates with your customers and sets your business apart from the competition.

1. Create Quality Products and Services: Creating quality products and services is essential for any business striving for success. Quality products and services are critical to building and maintaining a solid brand. Not only do they provide customers with a reliable, durable, and enjoyable experience, but they also help to create brand awareness, recognition, and equity. With brand awareness, customers will recognize your brand and be more likely to purchase your products or services. On the other hand, brand recognition is developing a positive reputation for your brand. Improve your target audience’s experience through exemplary customer service, helpful resources, or creating content that resonates. Finally, brand equity is the financial value of your company’s reputation. Quality products and services are essential to maximize this value and create a strong brand in the market. Investing in quality products and services is vital to generating sales, increasing customer loyalty, and driving long-term success.
2. Develop a Unique Brand Identity: Developing a unique brand identity is essential for any business seeking brand awareness, recognition, and equity. A successful brand identity should be distinct, recognizable, and timeless. It should also be consistent across all platforms, from your website to social media accounts. The first step in creating a unique identity is defining your brand’s mission statement and core values. This move will provide a foundation for your company’s messaging and ensure that all communications are cohesive and consistent. Once you have established your mission and values, you can create a logo that reflects them. Your logo should be simple, memorable, and timeless. It should also align with the overall message you are conveying to your target audience. After creating a logo, you can expand to creating a color palette and typography for your brand that will help further to differentiate it from other companies in the industry. Lastly, regularly reviewing your brand identity is vital to ensure you still convey the same message and values as when you first established it. Developing a unique brand identity can establish customer trust, increase recognition, and improve overall brand equity.
3. Leverage Social Media to Connect with Your Audience: Are you looking to increase brand awareness and recognition? Leveraging social media is a great way to do just that. Social media is a powerful tool for engaging customers and creating lasting connections. When done correctly, it can lead to increased brand equity and recognition. There are a variety of tactics you can use on social media to connect with your audience. Start by creating high-quality content that resonates with your target audience. Post regularly on your social channels to keep your followers engaged. Utilize visuals whenever possible, as they often drive more engagement. Consider running promotions or contests encouraging your followers to share your message with their networks. Finally, respond quickly to any comments or questions you receive from your followers. By leveraging the power of social media, you can create meaningful connections with your target audience and drive brand awareness and recognition.
4. Invest in Advertising and Promotion: Investing in advertising and promotion is essential for any brand to increase visibility and reach. A business can boost its brand awareness, brand equity, and brand recognition through proper branding and marketing strategies. Advertising and promotion can help reach potential customers, build loyalty among existing customers, and remind customers of your brand. Effectively investing in advertising and promotion ensures your target audience sees your products and services. With the right strategies, you can create an advertising campaign that speaks to your target market, engages them in the process, and drives them to purchase. Additionally, advertising helps to build trust among potential customers by showing that you are credible and reliable. Investing in advertising and promotion is a great way to increase your brand’s visibility and reach more potential customers.
5. Focus on Customer Service Excellence: Focusing on customer service excellence is essential for businesses to gain brand awareness, brand equity, and brand recognition. Numerous methods exist to increase customer service excellence, such as providing a high-quality product or service, ensuring customer satisfaction, and providing timely customer support. By delivering excellent customer service, businesses can build a reputation for excellence and exceed customer expectations. Companies must also strive to maintain exceptional customer service, even in times of high demand or during difficult times. Businesses should focus on staying current with the latest industry trends, understanding customer needs and expectations, and providing proper training for employees to ensure excellent customer service. Businesses should also review customer feedback and make necessary changes to increase customer satisfaction. With the right strategies, companies can create a positive customer experience, leading to brand awareness, brand equity, and brand recognition.
6. Sponsorship and Community Involvement: Sponsoring events and getting involved in your local community can be great ways to build brand awareness and help your business grow. Sponsoring events is a great way to increase brand recognition and leverage the event’s audience to reach potential customers. Also, sponsoring events can help build brand equity with your target demographic. Customers seeing your company supporting an event they care about can make them feel more aligned with your company, increasing their loyalty. Additionally, by getting involved in your local community, you can show that you invest in the well-being of the people around you. Engagement can also help boost your brand recognition and increase customer trust. Investing in sponsorship and community involvement can be invaluable when building a successful business.
7. Measure Results and Refine Your Plan: Measuring the results of your brand awareness efforts is critical to creating a successful brand identity. It allows you to track progress and adjust as you go. To measure these results, you can look at metrics like website visits, social followers, reviews, and customer feedback. Analyzing these metrics will help you determine how effective your brand awareness efforts are and what you can adjust. You should also track customer satisfaction, loyalty, and engagement levels to stay on top of your brand’s overall performance. Finally, don’t forget to measure competitor performance to stay ahead of the competition. Regularly measuring results and adjusting ensures your brand awareness strategy is on track and delivers the desired results.

Strategies for Maintaining Consistency Between Your Brand Identity and Image

Maintaining consistency between your brand identity and image is essential for building strong brand awareness, equity, and recognition. BRKLYN Creative provides comprehensive branding kits tailored to help you stay consistent in your branding. We design branding kits to cover all elements of your brand identity, such as logos, colors, fonts, and design elements. We also help you establish guidelines for maintaining consistency in your messaging, communications, and marketing materials. Our branding kits will help ensure that your brand image is consistent across all channels and that your presence is unified and recognizable. With our branding kits, you will have everything you need to solidify your brand identity and image to build a successful and recognizable brand.

6 Tips for Maintaining a Consistent Brand Identity:

Maintaining a consistent identity is essential for developing brand awareness and building brand equity. It’s important to ensure that all your company’s marketing and communications efforts are recognizable, so your customers can easily recognize your brand. Here are a few tips to help you maintain a consistent brand identity:

1. 1. Create a simple and recognizable logo: Your logo should be easy to remember and have a unique look that stands out from the competition.
   2. Develop a tagline that reflects your brand: A tagline should accurately describe who you are and what you do and be memorable and catchy.
   3. Establish a consistent color palette: Choose colors that reflect your company’s message and stick to them in all your marketing materials, from websites to print ads.
   4. Use the same fonts across all platforms: Pick two or three fonts that work together and use them for all your written materials, from emails to brochures.
   5. Generate consistent social media posts: Make sure each post contains the same visual elements, such as colors and font types, so followers can easily recognize them.
   6. Be consistent in your messaging: Focus on delivering the same message across all platforms so customers can easily recognize who you are and what you do.

By following these tips, you can create a robust and recognizable brand identity that will help increase brand recognition and build customer loyalty. Consistent branding will help you tell your story more effectively and build lasting relationships with customers.

Conclusion

BRKLYN Creative provides branding kits designed to solidify your branding standards. With our branding kits, you can create a comprehensive identity for your business that is easily recognizable and enticing to potential consumers. Not only will we help customers remember your business, but we will also help build trust in your brand. A recognizable and consistent brand presence will help customers know what to expect from your products and services. This will, in turn, lead to increased sales and customer loyalty. Investing in a branding kit from BRKLYN Creative ensures your business has the visibility it needs to succeed.

 

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Works Cited

1. 1. Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Typography. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved June 1, 2022, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/typography
   2. Universal Marketing Dictionary. (2018, August 28). Brand awareness: Universal marketing dictionary. Common Language Marketing Dictionary. Retrieved June 1, 2022, from https://marketing-dictionary.org/b/brand-awareness/
   3. Universal Marketing Dictionary. (2018, September 26). Brand strength: Universal marketing dictionary. Common Language Marketing Dictionary. Retrieved June 1, 2022, from https://marketing-dictionary.org/b/brand-strength/
   4. Universal Marketing Dictionary. (2020, October 28). Brand equity: Universal Marketing Dictionary. Common Language Marketing Dictionary. Retrieved June 1, 2022, from https://marketing-dictionary.org/b/brand-equity/

 

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