The Importance of a Brand's Identity

To understand the importance of a brand's identity, we must first answer these questions:

1. What is brand? – The perceived emotional corporate image as a whole.

2. What is identity? – The visual aspects that form part of the overall brand.

3. What is a logo? – A logo identifies a business in its simplest form via the use of a mark or icon.

    

Branding is a huge topic in itself, there are many books and thousands of article written about brands and how a brand brings together the overall factors visuals and feelings that are associated with a company as a whole. I won't get into details but let me start with the basics on Brand Identity and Small Business Logo Design that can help small businesses.

A few of the more important ones are listed below:

• Brand identity helps give the company an established and professional feel. This increases the customers trust in the products or services the company offers. 

•  A powerful brand identity is important as in general, people find it easier to recall images than text. There is an old saying “A picture is worth a thousand words”. The logo represents that picture and can be remembered and identified with greater ease than a thousand words describing the company.

•  Logo graphics can bring about awareness of the products or services that you offer in cases where the company name is not self-explanatory.

• As the company grows, the consumer base stays loyal to the brand.

• The brand value generated can also be leveraged when selling stock in the company or the company itself for a higher perceived value than the actual value.

The identity or ‘image’ of a company is made up of many visual devices:

•     A Logo (The symbol of the entire identity & brand)
•     Stationery (Letterhead + business card + envelopes, etc.)
•     Marketing Collateral (Flyers, brochures, books, websites, etc.)
•     Products & Packaging (Products sold and the packaging in which they come in)
•     Apparel Design (Tangible clothing items that are worn by employees)
•     Signage (Interior & exterior design)
•     Messages & Actions (Messages conveyed via indirect or direct modes of communication)
•     Other Communication (Audio, smell, touch, etc.)
•     Anything visual that represents the business.

In conclusion, most consumers have very strong opinions regarding their favorite brand. These opinions are more emotional than rational. Some brands (e.g. Nike, Coca-Cola etc.) resonate with customers more than others. They form an emotional attachment to these brands, often disregarding better products and services for ones with higher visibility and brand recognition.

Some brands even become synonymous with the product and the consumer starts recognizing the product by its brand name (e.g. Xerox).

It is therefore of the utmost importance that every company – especially the small business, has a sound brand strategy and a strong brand identity with a unique identifiable logo.