Tag: identity branding solutions

corporate-branding

What Does Your Company Brand Stand For?

Posted on | by Agency Partner
Expert Tips For What Does Your Company Brand Stand For?

Defining your corporate identity will provide considerable benefits. This article explores the key steps and strategies that should be considered to achieve this goal.

Businesses understand how to define the products or services that they sell. Take Apple as an example. The tech brand has made a fortune by successfully positioning its products as minimal, stylish, and innovative. Even when they’re not constantly reaching these goals, customers still purchase products based on the assumptions that they have these traits.

In contrast, defining corporate identity can be a far more complex conundrum. Defining corporate identity requires a business to answer two key questions:

“Who are we, and where do we fit in the market?”

It’s not just essential to answer this question for a buying target audience. Other audiences care about this answer, too, including shareholders and employees.

Defining your corporate brand and understanding what your company stands for will provide significant benefits.

It can provide a company with the right competitive advantage. If a business understands what the brand stands for, it will know how well they are positioned against rivals. It provides purpose and direction for that business as a whole.

A corporate identity will also ensure successful levels of growth because businesses will find it easier to recruit new employees. They will understand how to attract the best recruits while ensuring that the business’s reputation as a whole is protected. 

Elements Of A Corporate Identity

Your corporate identity is formed from numerous elements such as:

  • Design – This includes assets that ensure a business is unique and stands out from competitors.  
  • Communication – How information is passed to different stakeholders and employees.  
  • Behavior – How the business reflects the core values, brand promise, and brand philosophy.

Understanding Your Corporate Identity And What Your Brand Stands For

Various models are used to assess the corporate identity and the brand position of the company. One example is the HBR Corporate Identity Matrix. This matrix postulates that there are internal and external elements that shape the corporate identity of a business. Furthermore, some features effectively bridge these two different groups.

Theoretically, using the matrix could allow you to understand whether the business identity is clear and where improvements should be made to ensure that your identity provides the right benefits.

Internal Elements

The main eternal elements of corporate brand identity are the vision and mission of the company and the culture. This also includes the capabilities of the company or what it can bring to the table that separates them from other companies and organizations

External Elements

These elements relate to how the business wants or needs to be perceived by stakeholders outside the company. Factors such as value proposition and the positioning of the business must be considered here.

Bridging Elements

The bridging elements are some of those that we have already discussed, including:

  • How the brand communicates 
  • What it stands for 
  • The values that underlie promises made to the customers

These concepts form the core of the brand identity, and they should be represented by simple phrases that summarise the intentions and the positioning of the business.

How Can The Matrix Help You Understand Your Brand Identity

According to HBR, the Corporate Brand Identity Matrix can be used by an individual or team to reveal whether a company’s identity is correctly integrated.

Overall, there are nine different elements within the matrix. HBR suggests that business teams can start by formulating answers to any of the questions within the matrix, including:

  • What is our intended position in the market?
  • What are our key offerings?
  • What attitudes shape how we work and behave?

The organization claims that if companies provide concise, straightforward, authentic, and timeless answers to the questions within the matrix, they will clearly understand whether their identity is integrated effectively.

Past Successes

HBR suggests that many businesses have already found success by using the Matrix. When Volvo was decentralized in 2016, the organization was left in a difficult and somewhat risky position. The business’s identity was no longer clearly defined, so the people within organizations were unsure how to best provide strategic support to “daughter” brands of the business. This led to issues with describing the brand through both marketings as well as investor communications.

Using the matrix, HBR was able to help Volvo clarify its position, strengthen its brand identity on the market and ensure that it could communicate effectively with all the critical stakeholders of the business.

Other organizations have seen similar successes after taking a deep dive into the stance of their respective brands. For instance, Cargotech, a significant player in the cargo handling industry, was able to use the tool to effectively bring three daughter brands together with a “one company” approach.

A Starting Step

It’s important to note that using a tool like the HBR matrix is only the beginning when improving your brand position and clarifying your corporate identity. Once corporate teams understand the identity, the legitimacy must be tested often with internal surveys. If the validity is confirmed, it’s then essential to ensure that every team member understands the brand identity and is working or communicating within these new guidelines.

Taking these measures will ensure that a business succeeds in achieving cohesiveness. It will ensure that everyone within an organization represents the business in the same way with each interaction. Whether they are interacting with stakeholders, clients, or customers, the corporate identity should be upheld.

The right corporate identity can also provide authority on the market and position your business as a leader within a highly competitive industry. This is possible through the right:

  • Action
  • Communication  
  • Design

The profound benefits of understanding and maintaining your corporate identity should now be clear, and tools such as HBRs Corporate Brand Identity Matrix can be vital to achieving these goals.

To gain a deeper understanding and expert support with the branding of your corporate enterprise, contact Agency Partner today. Our dedicated, experienced team is ready to assist you with your brand goals and help elevate your business in your respected industry.

branding-creation

Branding Creation: The Branding Solution You Need To Tell Your Story

Posted on | by devops
Expert Tips For Branding Creation: The Branding Solution You Need To Tell Your Story

According to Nielsen Media Research, there are over 500,000 registered brands worldwide. And, thinking about it, you can probably name a few hundred and recognize over a thousand of them. But what about the rest of them? 

Branding your company or product is not a process to take lightly. Tailored and innovative branding solutions can elevate the reputation, brand awareness, and image of your business. Oppositely, inconsistent, unappealing, or inadequate branding can cause your company to be quickly forgotten. Essentially, yes – the branding you choose can make or break your project.  

With so much at stake, partnering with an experienced branding agency such as Agency Partner Interactive (API) can truly make a difference. Learn about the elements of branding solutions for small businesses below and discover how we can help you define your brand. 

What is a Brand? Let’s Start From The Basics

When thinking about a brand, the first things that come to mind are a logo, a tagline, or a color scheme. Does “Just Do It” ring a bell?  

But the concept of branding is much more than that and encompasses many aspects of your verbal and visual communication elements. And that’s exactly what makes it so hard to craft a definition of a “brand.”  

The American Marketing Association defines branding as: “A name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that identifies one seller’s goods or service as distinct from those of other sellers.” 

Yet, Kotler & Keller, in their Marketing Management, defined “branding” as: “endowing products and services with the power of a brand.” 

Here at API, we understand that a branding solution encompasses many elements – including 

  • Identity elements include logo, advertising, video assets, online presence, social media accounts, print materials, and collaterals. 
  • Every Point of Contact or EPOC – such as your branded stationery, website, and newsletter 
  • Brand perception – the way your employees and your audience perceive your brand makes up your branding. 

And, it’s these perceptions that drive behavior! Let’s look into the elements of API’s complete branding solutions.

Elements of Branding To Tell A Story

In the video below, you can find out more about branding. Once you are ready, let’s dive into the elements of creating your brand’s identity and your story. 

Visual and Verbal Identity

As we have seen above, your logo, tagline, and color scheme are not the only elements of your branding strategy. And yet, statistics show that using a signature color can increase brand recognition by 80%, and consistency in presentation and tone can increase revenue by over 33%.  

And, since you only have around half a second to make a long-lasting, memorable impression on your customers, there are some branding elements that you can use as communication tools. These include: 

  • Visual elements – logo, typography, and iconography 
  • Media elements – color scheme, photography, and video content 
  • Defining characteristics – personality, promise, archetype, and brand compass 
  • Verbal elements – integrated systems of words, messages, and voice tone that are known to your audience. These include your brand voice, story, tagline, name, and writing. 

Develop a Story For Your Brand

For just under 90% of consumers, finding authenticity in a brand is critical for their buying decision process. But how can you make your brand appear honest, transparent, open, and authentic? 

Telling a story could be your most powerful tool. Your brand story is at the base of your brand personality and should include elements such as: 

  • The story of your brand 
  • Founders and team bios 
  • Mission and goals 
  • Projects and values 

Don’t forget that even if your company entirely operates online, people still look for the human touch and authenticity.

Get To Know Your Buyer Persona

Knowing your audience is essential to creating a brand that is appealing to that specific target market. However, knowing every person in your audience is impossible. That is why marketers use a buyer persona.  

Creating a customer persona can help you discover the likes and dislikes, traits, history, and needs and wants of your audience so that you can tailor your messaging and identity to them. Here at API, we consider  customer person creation a vital element of branding solution services. 

Analyze The Market and Position Your Brand

If you don’t see the ROI expected, that might be because you are operating at the wrong level on the market. In this case, you will need to change your branding or reposition your company into a more appealing sector.  

Some tips for creating the correct branding for your market positioning include: 

  • Be clear on your value proposition 
  • Define your sustainable competitive advantage and unique selling points 
  • Clarify what the message to your audience is 

Remember that your brand positioning can drive consumer behavior and influence how they perceive your brand.  

Know What Media and Channels to Use

They are deciding what media and communication channels you will use is an active part of brand creation. Indeed, not all channels will reach your desired audience the right way, and selecting the right one is central to branding success and marketing effectiveness.  

Running customer research, focus groups, online surveys, and reviews is an excellent way to understand better what channels your consumers use the most and decide how to target your branding.  

Remember – whether it’s social media marketing or you are connecting with your audience via newsletter, having a brand identity that is bold and outstanding makes every touchpoint more meaningful and memorable.   

Monitoring and Measure Success

Sculpting a brand is not a one-time effort but rather an ongoing project. Since the market, your audience, and your company’s goals and mission will evolve, your brand should do so too. In this way, brand solutions can remain relevant and appealing throughout time. And, don’t forget to have solid KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) in place to review and measure the success of your branding or rebranding project.

Discover Your Full Branding Potential With Agency Partner Interactive

Creating a brand is an exciting and intimidating project for all entrepreneurs. But, since adequately branding your company can truly make a difference in your chances of success, you should not think twice about partnering with Agency Partner Interactive.  

Our Dallas-based team can help you create complete branding solutions that encompass visual elements, logo creation, advertising, and collaterals.  

Here are just a few of the services we offer: 

  • Identity Design 
  • Brand Name 
  • Market Research & Buyer Persona Creation 
  • Content Development 
  • Collateral Design 
  • Trademark Consulting 
  • Rebranding 
  • Brand Positioning, Strategy, & Guidelines 
  • Brand Development & Management 
  • Website Optimization 
  • Environment Retail Design 

At Agency Partner Interactive, we believe that each brand is unique and should be its branding solution. Get in touch today with our Dallas-based team of branding experts to find a tailored solution for your needs.