Identity. Every person has one, and every business does too. It’s what tells the world who you are and what you are about. You probably have a good grasp on your company’s identity, but do you understand your brand identity? You can find the “who, what, and how” parts of your brand in your company’s mission statement. But does your brand identity reflect those concepts to your audience in a way they can understand or is it in a box somewhere like your company’s mission statement?
Effective visual brand identityis achieved by the consistent use of particular visual elements to create distinction, such as specific fonts, colors, and graphic elements. A brand’s visual identity is the overall look of its communications. At the core of every brand identity is a brand mark, or logo. At Riley & You, we start with your goals and mission statement that set the course for your company. Then we work with you to create a logo or update an existing logo that reflects your company’s purpose and values. Once you have those in place, we can work with you to create a brand identity and implement it in all your online marketing by following these four steps.
Step One: Create a consistent look across all channels
We research how consistent your current identity is by searching for your company’s name using different search engines and searching social media sites. We can quickly see what each site looks like and whether the color, logo and messaging are consistent on all channels. We may also find fraudulent or joke accounts that are confusing your audience.
Step Two: Know your audience
We survey your social media sites and look at the profiles of the people who are following your account. What do they have in common? What other businesses do they follow and interact with? We can also collect and analyze more specific data about your followers and users by accessing audience demographics from your social media sites.
Step Three: Identify your voice
We look at the posts from your company and determine the overall tone of your interactions online, including comments made back to customers. Is it consistent? Do you use the collective “we” and have a collective identity? Or do you use “I” or “me” to build it around a specific person and make your posts more personal? Will the voice be more professional or more personable? We can help you decide which options are best for your “brand voice” based on your audience and which voice will engage them more.
Step Four: Identify the channels that reach your audience
At Riley & You, we know that not all social media channels are the same, and some may not be right for your brand. We know which age groups are using which channels and can help you target the channels that are most likely to be more effective in connecting you and your audience. You may be doing a lot of work maintaining a lot of channels with poor results. We can help you target which ones are right for your audience.
If you are ready to take your brand identity out of the box and use it to build your business, Riley & You can help. If it is lost, we can help you find it. If it is confused, we can add clarity. If it is inconsistent, we can help you develop consistency in look, voice, and messaging. Contact us today to find out how to begin.
