A Crash Course on Creating a Brand Identity and Storytelling

When people think of branding, they think logos, they think colors, they think graphics. It’s true, these are all incredibly important components of the visual representation of your brand. But when you really think about it, those elements all stem from the story and the meaning behind your brand. The most powerful and recognizable brands have perfected the visual and auditory manifestations of the intangible ideas and concepts that they stand for. Your brand is who you are. Your brand is what encompasses all of the thoughts and ideas your company represents within its respective industry. Your brand is your why, i.e. your reason for being passionate about your business.

Let’s think about this in a different way. Let’s think of us, people, individuals, as brands. We all have stories, we’ve all had things happen in our life that make us who we are, right? We each dress a certain way, have certain interests, possess certain skills that set us apart from one another. We gravitate toward things and people and ideas that resonate with what we believe in. This concept of communicating who we are holds true for the ways in which a business should be branding itself, too.

Branding isn’t a facade. Branding is real, transparent, and true. If your company believes in exactly what you claim you stand for, consistency and authenticity shouldn’t be hard to maintain at all. In fact, representing your business in an honest way should come naturally. Consider these key elements:

Voice

Your brand’s voice can take on any style as long as it feels right and aligns with the persona you’re going for. This voice should also be consistent across all platforms and across all material/content that your business is putting out.

You want your audience to recognize your voice. You want your audience to be able to identify your tone and your presence. In order to make sure you’re consistent, try to narrow your brand’s voice down to three words. Do you communicate in an articulate, educational, fact-based manner? Or are you more conversational, light-hearted, and engaging? Use these three descriptions as the basis for the copy you’ll be writing across your platforms and stick to them. There is no right or wrong when it comes to your voice. As long as it’s true to your brand, and as long as it has something to offer that your competitor’s tone doesn’t, whichever voice you land on will work to your benefit.

Color

Similar to voice, there’s no explicit “right or wrong” choice when it comes to picking colors for your brand. But there are certain colors that pop and appeal more than others, and it’s all about narrowing down which 3-5 work best with your brand. Keep in mind you are going to be using these same colors to unify all of your platforms, and it’s important to pick colors that make sense with your business. For example, if you own a pool construction company, it’s likely you’ll want to go with blue tones that are relevant to water, rather than reds and oranges that are more often related with heat and fire.

Logo

Ah yes, the logo. One of the most significant elements of branding as it is the most identifiable piece of imagery that can be tied back to your business. Our suggestion when it comes to logos is that simplicity is key. Great logos should last for years, even decades. We’ve seen logo progression with companies such as Nike and Microsoft, and the most notable change that occurred with both is that their logos have been increasingly simplified over the years. This is why we recommend coming up with an image that is classic, timeless, minimal, and memorable.

We’re eager about getting your branding just right because we understand how important it is to have your story communicated the right way. We know how much effort we put into our own branding, the significance behind it, and how well it has worked to our benefit. We know what you want, too: you want customers to know what to expect when it comes to your company, you want customers to understand the passion behind your work, and you want customers to believe in the consistency and the quality of your product. It’s incredible when you think about it; that a small, simple graphic can encompass so much and create such an impression. But it certainly can, and if you’re willing to reach out, we’re happy to help you transform your story into a powerhouse brand.