Transcripts
1. Introduction: A successful business can
survive if it doesn't have a strong brand strategy
without a shared identity, everything from your
content to your culture, to your core
business can suffer. But there's a reason why
this problem is so common. Because building a
strong brand strategy, it takes time, effort,
and commitment. And that's exactly where
many people can get stuck. In this course. I've taken everything
I've learned about brand strategy from the
books, podcast, the articles, and personal experiences,
and distilled it down into a simple step-by-step process to create an effective and
flexible brand strategy. This course will help you to understand who your
brand truly eats and use your beliefs and values to guide your decisions in ways that
are best for your business. It will also help you
communicate your brand consistently and
effectively through every piece of content you make, it will help you attract the
right customers and build a long-lasting brand
and positioning your brand in a
way that helps you compete now and tomorrow. We will cover some theory around branding and
brand strategy. How to build your
brand from finding your brand heart to articulating
your brand messaging, designing your visual identity, creating your brand guidelines, and finally, how to bring
your brand strategy to life. And to make it even easier, I've included a brand toolkit which includes hunted templates, questionnaires,
and checklists to help you go through the process. That will be all you need to go through them brand
strategy process, from finding your brand heart to creating your brand
guidelines to express it
2. Introduction to branding: What is a brand? There are 1 million definitions
of a brand. Usually, when people
talk about a brand, they're referring to the logo, the physical marketing
printed on something to identify the business
that manufactured it. But a brand is more
than a physical mark. It's an emotional mark. And more specifically, it's an emotional experience created through every interaction
with that business. The difference from
marketing is that marketing is about what you
say about your business. On the other hand, brand
is what people think, feel and say about
your business. Branding is absolutely
critical to a business because of the overall impact
it makes on your company. It can change how people
perceive your brand. It can drive new business
and increase brand value, but it can also do the opposite if done wrongly or not at all. Reputation builds up whether the business does
something about it or not, and the result can be a
good or bad reputation. So understanding and using
branding only means that you take control on what
that reputation looks like. And this is why it's so
important to consider branding from the very
beginning of your business. Now let's discuss
about brand strategy. Brand strategy is the
long-term plan to achieve a series of long term goals
that ultimately result in the identification and
preference of your brand by consumers and aligns with
your business strategy. And it also helps you to
understand who you are and acts as a blueprint to
help you communicate it. Now that this is more clear, let's talk about the process. The brand strategy process
is broken into three parts. First is the brand heart, which is basically the
core of your brand. Then we have the
brand messaging, and this is how you
talk about who you are. And last is your
visual identity, which is the visual
expression of your brand. It may sound like a
lot of information, but by the end of this course, you'll have a full brand
strategy summed up in brand guidelines to help you
bring your brand to life.
3. Introduction to brand identity: Brand identity is a set of visual components that
represents ideas which allow customers to
remember a brand and distinguish it
from dozens of others. It helps shape consumers
perceptions about accompany, build loyalty and trust, and make a brand memorable. In other words, it's
how your brand looks, feels, and speaks to people. And it includes the logo, color, palette, topography,
and so much more. A strong brand identity is about communicating your brand
story effectively. And design is a powerful
tool that can transform how people interact with your
brand in three important ways. First, we have the
differentiation. This is about how you can stand out in a crowded marketplace. And your brand identity can
play a strong role in this. Whether you want your
product to stand out on a shelf or you want your ads
to stand out on facebook. Creating a consistent, cohesive presentation is the
secret to success. Then we have connection. So the more effectively you
communicate who you are, the easier it will be for
people to engage with you and ultimately join your
community of lifelong fans. And lastly, we have
the experience. Everything you create
reflects your brand. So if you want to
create a consistent, cohesive brand
experience, you need to present a consistent
cohesive identity. And this starts from your
website to your social media, to your sales brochures. A strong identity is the key to elevating your brand experience. And it's all about communicating your brand story effectively. Let's go over some examples of a strong brand identity to
help you understand better. Coca-cola is one
of the examples of well-established companies
with a strong brand identity. When customers here
the company's name, they probably have several
associations with Coca-Cola. It can be it's red logo, a polar bear, or it's popular, Share a Coke campaign. The drink evokes feelings
like happiness and joy. Another example is fashioned to figure is brand that focuses on selling women's
plus size apparel has a really powerful
brand identity. The company has clear
values and always tries to convey its main idea that
fashion is for everyone. The brands motto is fashion
is a state of mind, not a size range. So the company strives to provide its customers
with the latest looks. So why is it important to
have a brand strategy? When you don't know who
you are, why you exist, what do you believe in
or what you're trying to achieve, your
business suffers. And that's from customer
communication issues all the way to
employee retention. And lack of brand
strategy causes problems at every level
within the organization. And the most common
signs of a brand in crisis are often caused
by a lack of strategy. And some of these issues
I will mention now, but some familiar to you. When you have no brand strategy, you don't understand
your purpose, vision, mission, or values. So you make marketing
and business decisions that
don't reflect them. You don't have a
documented marketing plan, but you hope that whatever
you're doing will work. Your team is fractured by
confusion and conflict, making it hard for employees to feel engaged and interested. You don't have cohesive
brand messaging. Your content tends to be
inconsistent and contradictory. And as a result,
it's difficult to attract people who
share your values, whether these are
customers or employees. And lastly, you can't clearly
articulate your brand. And as a result, you don't have a noticeable place
in the market. In short, without a brand
strategy, you lose. So what kind of team
do you need to build your brand strategy after you create your brand
identity and as your business grows and you're
ready to grow the team, you will need to bring in some
additional people to help bring it to life for every
level of your organization. Because it's not only up to you to create the brand strategy. You need people to
follow and apply the brand strategy into the day-to-day activities
of the organization. But luckily, you
don't have to hire a ton of people to
form your brand team. You can even have a
two-person team as long as both people can cover
these essential roles. But Brand Guardian, whose
responsibility is to align the brand and
the business goals. The creative lead
whose responsibility is to preserve the
brand identity. But unless you are an agency, then usually the brand guardian and the creative later
the same person, the marketing lead,
whose responsibility is to align marketing
to the brand strategy. And lastly, the
Communications Lead, whose responsibility is to share the brand knowledge
and educate others
4. Before starting your brand strategy: If you're starting your
brand strategy from scratch, there are two key pieces of information you need
to know beforehand. If you've done your
business strategy already, you can skip this part. We are for. What we want to do here is to understand our target audience. Before you sell anything, you must do a proper market research in order to determine what types of consumers or belonging in your
target audience. If you haven't come
across this term before, a target audience is a
group of individuals which might be interested
in what you have to offer. Here's a good exercise
that will help you a lot. Start to imagine
your ideal customer. Think about what did
they want most in life? What are their biggest problems? What unfulfilled
needs do they have their age, nationality,
and gender? What's the average yearly
salary that they receive? When you get a clear
picture of how your ideal customer looks like, you can start to validate
your branding strategy ideas, taking this individual into consideration, who
you are against. And this is about
analyzing our competition. If you're planning to take
your brand to the next level, you must know what your
competitors are doing. It's important since
you're fighting over the same target audience. So there's always going to
be a fight over customers. Start analyzing your competition and look for the
following things. The quality of their
products, the brand messages, customer reviews and opinions, and unique strategies
that they're using. This should be enough
to help you start. Take a look at your
biggest five competitors, websites and brands, analyze their strategies and
look for weak spots. And when you discover
a deficiency in your competition's branding, you can leverage it. So you'd want to do something that will fix the issue and let your potential customers notice the difference between
you and your competitors. One more thing,
makes sure that you never copy paste
your competitors brand strategies or else you'll
be branded as a copycat. I would like you
to think and make notes for the following. And make sure to save your notes and add them to
the brand toolkit later is exercise will help you to find who you are and
who you are against. First, let's start
with who you are for. So who are you
trying to sell tune? What do they need and
what do they want? And how are their
needs not being met. To build a brand strategy that helps you genuinely
connect with people. You need to know exactly
who you're selling to, knowing who they are and how you're trying
to serve them can actually bring
clarity to who you are and how you
communicate with them. Then you'll want to know
who you're against. So this includes who
shares your space. Will you be competing
with for attention? And how might they
all chain your brand? This is invaluable
information to help you identify who you are
and who you are not, how you fit in or stand out, and how you can communicate your differences through
your brand strategy
5. Find your brand heart: Now we're getting into the
brand building section. Follow these steps in
the order they appear, because each step builds
on the preview one. If this process is
done correctly, you'll end up with a
comprehensive brand strategy that helps you share
your story effectively. And every touch point, I suggest using the brand
took a document which includes more examples to
start building your brand. Every brand holds a basic set of beliefs that influence
everything they do. We call these beliefs
your brand heart. Knowing what these
principles are and why they matter is
essential because they are a powerful
force that can actively support or sabotage
your business. When your brand's beliefs
and business are aligned, you can successfully
bring people together, build a community, and create the future you want
for your business. When you have no brand beliefs or if those beliefs are toxic, you can easily alienate both
employees and customers, hurt your culture,
and make decisions that crush your long-term goals. Your brand heart is comprised of four elements that help
you clarify who you are, what you do in white matters. First, we have the purpose, which is about why do we exist. Then the vision
that it is about, where do you want to get to and what does the
future look like? Then we have the mission, which is about what
are we here to do and what do we do to
create that future? Finally, the values, which is about how do you
behave to get there. But what is the difference
between purpose, vision, mission, and values? One of the biggest problems when discussing this topic
is that there doesn't seem to be a commonly accepted
set of terms to define the brand heart elements and how a company then translates
them into action. So let's define them to make
it easier to understand. Starting with the purpose, this is the why you exist, the high-level reason for why you exist as a
business other than just making a profit or
driving shareholder value. Creation is the where, where is it that you want to get to? This is a destination
of what you want the brand or business
to be in the future. For example, we want to be the world's leading
provider of cars by 2025. We shall is about the what and what should you do to get there. These could be specific
initiatives or tactics centered around
product development, operational excellence, go-to-market strategies
or brand communications, values or the house. And how would you like to
behave in order to get there? What is the
organizational culture of the company and what are
its qualities or behaviors. For instance,
curiosity, inclusivity, and diversity of thought. Here are some examples to understand better
the brand heart. Tesla's original mission
was to accelerate the world's transition to
sustainable transport. How they did it was by creating
a culture of technology, design and innovation fueled by a gigantic ambition to move the world away from
polluting fossil fuels, what they created to
do it with a series of electric vehicles as well as the entire infrastructure
to support them. In the brand heart can
evolve as the brand grows. Tesla's original statement was, we exist to accelerate the planets transition to
sustainable transport. Now the current purpose
statement is We exist to accelerate the planets transition
to sustainable energy. Did you notice the
word that was changed? Transport chains to energy
with that one word, tasteless signal, they
were no longer just interested in the Tesla
car in your garage, but also the Tesla solar roof
tiles on top of your house, and the Tesla Power
Wall battery, which stored the
energy they collected. With that one word, they
changed in their purpose. And just like that,
Tesla announced that they were no longer
just a car company. Here are some other statements
of well-known brands to bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world. To inspire and nurture
the human spirit, one person, one cup, and one neighborhood
at a time to organize the world's information
and make it universally accessible
and useful. To refresh the world, to inspire moments of optimism
and happiness. So the brand heart is usually
an internal document, but it can be translated into external facing
messaging everywhere, from your website
to your packaging, which is why it's
so important to have it nailed down
from the beginning
6. Brand personality: Now that you have your
brand heart documented, you are getting closer
to knowing who you are. Next, you need to figure
out your brand essence, which is about how
to express who you are and your brand messaging, which is how to talk
about who you are. When you refine and document
these elements effectively, you can ensure that
your brand will communicate authentically
and consistently. And now that the brand
hard part is ready, it might be tempting
to skip straight to designing your
visual identity, like the logo and
choosing the colors. But this would be wrong
because there are a few crucial steps to
complete before that. Things like your logo, colors, and topography are
vital to your brand, but they're ultimately
a visual translation of your brand's
essence and messaging. If you don't know what you're
trying to communicate, it's difficult to create a
visual identity to illustrate that your brand essence consists of your personality,
voice, and tone. Your personality is basically your brand's human
characteristics, emotions, and attributes. Are you curious
and enthusiastic, elite and sophisticated,
or wild and crazy? Your personality is a
reflection of your brand heart, influenced by your beliefs and demonstrated in your behavior. Your brand's personality
essentially is how it shows up and act in
front of customers. And your brand personality is composed of the
tone and voice and all the other elements
that make an individual unique and establish identity. So by understanding your
customer well enough, you are able to shape
your brand personality in a way that evokes the like, know, and trust factor. Think of it more like
meeting people at a party. There are some people that you immediately vibe with
because something in them evokes feelings of comfort and familiarity or respect. It may be there look,
or the way they talk, or how they think,
what they say, or how they make you feel. This is like a brand
attracting the ideal customer. Of course, there
are other people you like and value in time, but the relationship
just requires more work. This is a brand
attracting the periphery. This might be a customer
ambivalent about your brand, but who appreciates and
values your products. And finally, there are those
we dislike on first sight, this is a brand
repelling customers. It doesn't want to attract. There are many
different ways you can create your brand's personality, but there is one I normally use, and that's Jennifer offers five dimensions of
brand personality. She designed a framework which essentially says that there are five dimensions to
one's personality and each contains
a set of aspects. In each aspect contains
a set of traits. So to apply these to a brand, you need to rank the traits
on a scale of one to five, with one being the
least representative of your brand and five
being the most. The five dimensions framework
can be used to compose the personality
of a new brand or to articulate a
brand's current state, which is defined by customer
perceptions and attitudes, and also the future state, which is defined by
desired perception. And finding your
brand's personality. It's important because when you have an understanding
of your personality, you can infuse it into
every aspect of your brand, from your customer
service process to your product packaging
and product descriptions. This is a very powerful way
to differentiate yourself
7. Brand voice: To create your brand essence, you need to identify
your personality, and also you need to identify your brand voice as well
as your tone of voice. Let's start with identifying
your brand voice first. And to clarify what this means, this is the way your
brand sounds and speaks. Remember that every
brand voice is unique and yogurt brand doesn't speak the way a car
brand speaks in one car brands sounds
different than another. Your personality already
influences your brand voice, but you just need to
articulate it so that you can communicate consistently
in your content. Your brand's core
personality, disposition, and spirit shape its voice,
tone and temperament. As a result, the tone
and voice drive how you communicate in all your brand's
actions and interactions. And to put it
simply, your voice, tone and temperament should be distinctive and consistent in
all aspects of your brand. Wouldn't it be weird to
connect with a super familiar, warm voice on Instagram
and then visit a website that's
called an impersonal. Your customer would
be confused by that kind of bait and switch. So remember that confusion leads to brand the abandonment. To help you understand
this even better, think of the voice
you use every day. This voice exists and is part of your personality and energy. Also, think of the words you
use and how you use them. Think of the images,
colors, and fonts. You lean towards
two and consider the pitch and velocity
of your voice. That's how you claim your words
and establish your style. But remember that
your brand isn't limited to adopting the
voice of the owner. What might work for a
small business could be a huge fail for a
multinational corporation. Imagine the CEO of Apple's
voice all over social media. That definitely wouldn't sound right behind your brand voice. It could be a character or the creation of another
voice for your brand. And it all depends on the
size of your business, the industry you're in, and
what feels right and natural. Our end goal is to create verbal and visual
guidelines that will guide all aspects of your
brand's communication. Remember the word slant and
jokes you use to communicate your identity in both
direct and indirect ways. And think about how
you want to speak, but also how your customers
want you to speak to them and take all that
into consideration. Now we're moving on to
identifying your tone, which is basically
your general attitude. The tone of voice is the
expression and embodiment of your brand's personality,
beliefs, and values. Imagine it like the person
who's behind the brand. It's the emotional inflection
applied to your voice, and it changes based
on what suitable for a particular
piece or message. So let's say that your voice
might be authoritative, but the tone is respectful. Think of your brand's
voice is how you talk, and your tone is how you
talk in different contexts. You always use the same voice, but you may shift your tone depending on who
you're talking to. For example, a social media post about a fun sale would have been more lighthearted tone as
opposed to the tone you'd use for a breaking news post
about accompany crises. Your tone is not only
about how you speak, but also the word to use
and how you use them. And this includes the rhythm, velocity, and length
of your speech. For example, these big,
fast or withdrawal. Or you loud or
quiet and reserved. Do you speak in long sentences or you're punching
into the point? And they use emojis. Or D is industry jargon
or plain English, or these that we just mentioned. Makeup, your tone of voice, and you can use them to
create your brand tone.
8. Tone of voice: If you're not sure exactly
what your tone is, think of how you want
to make people feel. For example, you
might want to talk to them like you're helpful
and kind neighbor. Now, we're going to jump
into a quick exercise. So take your notebook
and pen and get ready. So I want you to
think and choose at least three words
to describe your tone. For example, Uber
describes their tone is optimistic, inviting in Bolt. Now that you have
these three words, this will be your brand
essence and having it created, you have the basis
for communicating who you really are at every touch point
from the pop-ups on your site to your
Instagram profile. Remember that the brands
that do these best are the ones that are loved the most no matter what
they're selling. I find examples to be the best way to learn and
understand the concept. So let's come over some
examples of brand essence. Coca-cola is one of my favorite examples when it comes to consistent brand voice. The brand's voice is positive, friendly, and down to earth. And they are always showing us concept of what a
happy life looks like, accompanied by a positive voice. Keep in mind that
they have been on the market for over 130 years, but their voice remains
consistent with a single-purpose to
evoke happiness. You can see polar bears or families getting
together to have dinner, always having a
Coke in your hands or friends dancing and smiling. But you'll notice that in
every marketing campaign, you'll see the concept
of happy life. Coca-cola brilliantly connects
positive feelings with their drink through
evocative images and perfectly constructed
tone of voice. Then we have Harley-Davidson, which is a perfect
example of how a more aggressive tone can
be used for the right brand. Their voice is strong,
confident, and aggressive. There are some
brands that try to speak in a pleasant
and cheerful way, The playful and fun voice. But Harley is definitely
not one of them. Their tone of voice
challenges the reader to show that they are worthy of handling one of their motorcycles. And the brand personality
is rough and rugged, and so it's their voice. They show their
personality through unique and consistent
tone of voice that speaks well to their
target audiences. And this type of voice
resonates well with rebellious bolt and fiercely
independent customers. So everything about
their marketing evokes confidence, freedom,
and masculinity. And you can see that
by just looking at their website and the
headlines they use. Another great example
is lupus tone of voice, which provides a set of core
elements to define quality, writing across all touch points. The Uber brand voice is considered simple,
bolt, and consistent. And their voice expresses
the brand's essence, showing what the brand is
and what it stands for. Their tone is always
audience first. And the writing is
straightforward and easy to understand. And they obviously try to unite the experience across
all departments, countries, and languages
with their consistency. When you are creating your
brand voice and tone, you need to put a
lot of thinking and everything that
we've mentioned, but there are a
few tips that will make this process easier. First of all, you
don't want to be a copycat version
of someone else. Just because a voice
works for one brand, doesn't mean it
will work for you. And cultivating a voice
isn't a plug and play. Being authentic is about
acting natural and relatable in your brand's voice shouldn't feel
awkward or forced. When you are creating
your brand voice, you want to lean on your story. We talked about how
to craft stories for your brands that are
impassioned and compelling. If you get stuck, talk about what's familiar
and meaningful to you and use details,
examples, and anecdotes. Step outside your industry and search for voices and
bites you admire. When you hover too
close to home, you inadvertently pick-up
phrases and terms of speech. But seeking inspiration beyond your competition will give
you a fresh perspective. The point of view really matters and makes a huge difference. If your voice is in
the first-person, It's the most intimate. So typically, this
works best for small businesses and
creative entrepreneurs. But many companies love
using the word WE because it feels warm and inviting
without being intrusive. Finally, remember that you can't be all things
to all people. Many brands are scared
because they don't want to lose a sale or
alienated customer. And so they tried
to be what everyone wants In an effort to
appeal to the masses, their message and uniqueness can become doubt and diluted. The most influential
brands alienate people because they know that if everyone is your customer, no one is your customer. For example, if you
sell $100,000 cars, you should own it and not try to create value and
budget messaging. Your brand targets
a specific audience and you have to cater
to that audience. And don't worry, if your
products are solid. You will also attract
the periphery
9. Value proposition and messaging pillars: Creating brand messaging. There are many ways to
talk about who you are, what you do, and
why people should choose your brand over
your competition. As an example for
these brands strategy, we will start with the
most basic messaging, your value proposition,
tagline, and messaging pillars. First, you need to share
your value proposition. The value proposition is
a concise explanation of both the functional
and emotional benefits your product or service
provides to customers. It's not just who you are and
what you'd do differently. It's also how you
solve their problem and why they should choose
you over the competition. You can also think of
it as a promise of what your customer will
receive if they buy from you. If you want your
brand to succeed, that you need to
have the answer to this question
before anyone asks. And going forward, this is what all your messaging will ultimately support
and emphasize on. Then you need to
refine your tagline. And your tagline is a sentence, a phrase or a word used to
summarize a market position. Coming up with a
great tagline happens usually through brainstorm
and repetition. Finally, you need to identify
your messaging pillars. Your messaging pillars are the key stories you want
to tell about your brand. What makes you unique
and different. Every piece of
content you create, she'd built up to
those core messages across all touch points. Depending on your brand's needs, you may want to share
additional messaging elements, including your brand
promise, your brand story, your origin or founder story, and your elevator pitch.
10. Brand identity fundamentals: A strong brand identity doesn't
happen overnight and you can't just pick a few colors
and slapped together a logo. You need to approach your
design strategically. This requires deep thinking. A team with strong
communication and design skills and an intimate understanding
of your brand. So the good news is that while this may
seem intimidating, it doesn't have to be
with the right guidance. You can move through the
process effectively and produce a truly great
brand identity. In this section, we'll cover
some theory and then we'll get hands-on and create
our brand identity. We keep talking about
brand identity, but we didn't
actually define it. Is it your logo,
your color palette, or your infographic style? Well, it's all
that in much more. The brand identity is defined as the outward expression
of a brand, including its trademark, name, communications, and
visual appearance. And basically,
it's the sum total of how your brand looks, feels, and speaks to people. Sometimes that even
includes how it sounds, tastes, fields, and even smells. So ultimately, a brand identity is a way to communicate
with the world, differentiate yourself
from your competition, and create a brand
experience that encourages people
to engage with you. Some brands elevate brand
identity to an art sink. For example, brands
like Apple and Lego. But unfortunately, some other brands struggle because they don't know who they
are or don't know how to communicate
it effectively, regardless of where you
fall on that spectrum. One thing is sure, if you want to be a competitive
and successful company, crafting a strong brand
identity is mandatory. When you can successfully
communicate who you are, you can better communicate
with people and form the strong relationships you
need for long-term success. A logo and a color scheme alone. Do not make a brand identity. When designing your identity, you need to create
a comprehensive visual language that can be applied to everything from
your website, Packaging. Depending on your brand and the type of content
you plan to create, your needs may be
more expensive. But a basic brand identity includes a logo,
colors, the topography, a design system, photography
and illustration, the interactive elements, video
and motion in web design. Remember that your
brand identity should translate across
different mediums. So include everything you
need to make sure it does. Having said that, just because
you design those elements, this doesn't mean
they're effective. A strong brand identity
needs to work for everyone. Both your internal team, for example, your
brand ambassadors, content creators and so on, and the people who
will interact with it. And these are your customers. As you work on the
design process, just make sure your
brand identity includes the following. Its distinct and it
stands out among your competitors and
catches people's attention. It's memorable and it
makes it visual impact. Think of the Apple
logo as an example. The logo is so memorable. They only need to
include this and not their name on
their products. It's scalable and flexible and it can grow and
evolve with the brand. It's cohesive and each piece compliments the brand identity. It's easy to apply, and that means that
it's intuitive and clear for designers to use. If any of these
elements are missing, it will be challenging for your brand team to
do their job well
11. How to build a brand identity - Part 1: The process of building a brand identity can
seem intimidating, but it's something I've
done many times with new brands and from my
own group branding. So I know firsthand
what mistakes to avoid and how
to make it easier. So if you're not
sure where to start, follow these tips
to move through the process seamlessly and build a stronger brand identity that sets you up for success. For this part, you
will need to use the brand strategy
toolkit of this course. Now let's move to Step one. Complete your brand strategy. Brand strategy is a
detailed plan that outlines exactly what you're trying to achieve and how you're
going to achieve it. And it's made up of
your brand heart, which is the purpose, vision, mission, and values. Your brand messaging,
which is your brand voice, Personality, top-line
value proposition and brand messaging pillars. And finally, your
brand identity. And that's your logo, colors, typography, and so on. So basically your brand strategy is comprised of
your brand heart, your brand messaging,
your brand identity. Brand identity is really a
tool to help you communicate your brand visually and also supporting your brand
strategy at the same time. And for this reason, before you dive into
your brand identity, is important to have a
fully fleshed out strategy. To design a strong
brand identity, you need to complete the foundational work of
your brand strategy first, and specifically your brand
heart and brand messaging. And these help you
to understand what it is you're trying
to communicate so that you can then design a brand identity that
successfully does so. If you don't have
your brand strategy documented or have never
gone through the exercise. Follow my guide to creating
a brand strategy and download the free brand started it toolkit of this course. Once you've documented
your brand strategy, you can then focus
on brand identity. Step to dig into your
current brand identity. When you begin a
branding project, you want to approach
each phase from a philosophical and highly
critical standpoint. Inspect and poke until you get
to the core of your brand. Whether you're building your
brand identity entirely from scratch or updating
a stale identity, you need a full assessment
of the current state of your brand's identity and how that brand identity
might be crafted or tweaked align with your
goals going forward. The goal is to understand
how your brand is perceived both internally
and externally. So getting an honest
and accurate reflection is the only way to understand how and where you are succeeding or what
you need to correct. Start with the brand
audit questionnaire, which can be found in
brand strategy toolkit. This survey is a deep dive into every aspect of your brand, from your values and personality to local
and positioning. If you have a team
you're working with, distribute the questionnaire
to that team as well. Step three, know your persona's, your brand identity is the face. Interact with the entire world. Whatever you create should accurately communicate
who you are. However, one common
misconception is that a brand identity is explicitly informed by what your
brand wants to present. This isn't entirely true. It's also informed by what
your brands customers want to engage with or are accustomed
to interacted with. If your identity doesn't
resonate with them, it won't be effective. And this doesn't
necessarily mean that your brands customers will
choose your logo and colors. It means that you will make more effective design
choices once you understand their needs,
wants, and values. To understand who
you're trying to reach, try creating personas that represent your different
target segments. These persona's identify both demographic and
psychographic information that gives you insight into who these people are and
what drives them. So beyond your primary audience, which are your customers, you also want to consider how secondary or third
primary groups might perceive your brand. For example, those could be other brands or
potential employees. And this information can also influence your
design decisions. Step four, identify
your competition in a brand identity is all
about differentiation. Making your brand visible,
relevant, and unique. However, without a
firm understanding of your competitive landscape, it's easy to blend in and
you don't wanna do that. So it's crucial to understand not just who your
competition is, but how your brand compares in perception and presentation. To get a snapshot
of the competition, follow the guide to complete
a competitive analysis. As you move through the process, pay special attention to how your competitors
present themselves. In terms of common
visual elements, trends, industry specific visual themes
and brand personalities. For example, a while ago, I once did a competitive
research for a brand and found that all of their competitors use the exact same four colors. This is an uncommon
because many industries tend to gravitate toward
the same visual elements. Think of Netflix, for example, and YouTube's red color. But that also rebuilt a great opportunity
to differentiate. An example of this, which is back from 2011,
video platform twitch, made an appearance with
they're all purple branding at a time when their competitors
use both greens and reds, and that color instantly became a hallmark
for their brand. By the way, that company
was so successful. It's sold to Amazon for
$1 billion back in 2014. Now on to step five, right, your creative brief. If you've completed
the previous steps, then that means that you have all the information you need
to start with the design, but you shouldn't jump right in. First, started with a
creative brief that details information and
ensure you create a visual identity that
aligns to your brand. And for that, you can use the creative brief template and don't provide too much or
too little information. You brief should always
informed but not overwhelm
12. How to build a brand identity - Part 2: Brainstorm your visuals. By this time, you have
a ton of information to help inform ideation between
your competitive analysis, brand audit,
persona's, and brief. At this stage, you want to take that text-based information and translate it into
visual concepts. And luckily, the information
you have is influenced in emotional language about
your brand's personality, goals and values. Now the challenge is
to figure out how to communicate and enhance
those views through visuals. Start with brainstorming
word clouds that describe your brand. Or you can come in with
five-seven descriptions. To start. The focus is not to associate
words into other words. The goal is to bring those
words to live through visuals. Think about what those
words make you visualize. The associations
may be abstract, but it's important to
get everything out. For example, if your
brand service is fast, don't talk about
other words for fast. For example, swift. Think about what
fast brings to mind. Fast. Cheetah,
lightning bolt, Zeus. Did you see what I'm doing here? Think about what concepts
you can visually. It's usually the
elements that evoke the strongest emotional response that trigger additional imagery and help you build a
visual playground. Now, here comes the font
and challenging part. Designing your
individual elements. You want to design each element in the order dictated here. As each element
influences the other, your logo and brand identity is an intricate design system. Each element
influences the other, but it starts with your logo. Everything starts
with your logo. You can go old school here and take your pencils
and free sketch. And as you go through
different versions, flesh out logo marks, core shapes, and
complimentary imagery, all in black and white. As you receive feedback, you want to make sure that the core imagery is
powerful enough to deliver the message on its own without the enhancement of color
and talking about colors. Once you have a solid logo, you can explore
your color palette. Color is a great tool to differentiate your
brand from competitors, but know that color can also
elicit strong emotions. So choose wisely. A good color palette
is clean and flexible, supplying designers enough
choices to be creative, but not enough to overwhelm. And this includes
one main color, two primary colors, three to
five complimentary colors, and to ascend colors. Now let's talk about typography. Every visual element in
your identity should contribute to a cohesive
visual language. Each one should
complement the other. And this is mainly when
we talk about typography, which is should be informed
by the shape of your logo. Every stage has its
own unique challenges, but typography specifically can be tricky in a visual language, especially when brands follow trends that are
trending for a second, but then quickly become
dated or an original. To keep it simple,
limit the number of font families to two to three. This generally includes primary and secondary
brand typefaces for specific purposes, such as body copy,
typeface, user interface, type face, and so on. Design system. This is often a weak point
in visual languages. And thus because many brands
think that because they help their logo color and topography said they can combine
them however they like. But because brand
identity is all about introducing
yourself to people effectively is important
to make it an enjoyable experience and provide
consistent and cohesive visuals. The goal is to design unintuitive hierarchy and layout that makes it easy to navigate. Visual communication considered the proper
order of content, including headers,
subheaders, body copy, images, blurbs, and so on. Now let's talk briefly
about photography. Photography plays a huge
role in your brand identity. From your product images
to your advertising. It's important to identify clear guidelines
about the types of images and visuals that are appropriate and not appropriate. Just so that there is
consistency in everything. When it comes to illustration, you need a cohesive
and uniform language. Don't offer, illustrate
or use flushing styles. Instead, think of how
your illustration will be used in conjunction with
other visual elements. And we also have iconography, which a good iconography
is influenced not just by the creative
visual language, but by the applications
of the work. It depends on what your product and the industry and
the medium as well. For example, if
you're using it on a sales brochure
or on the website. So your brand might have unique communication needs
depending on your industry, content and so on. Just make sure that your brand identity includes
these main elements, interactive elements,
motion graphics, video, and web design. And the final step is to
build your brand style guide. The only thing that's worse than a poorly designed
brand identity is a beautifully designed
identity that is never used or used incorrectly. And a brand style guide
is the Savior here. If it's crafted the right way
of course, include clear, easy to follow guidelines for every part of the
brand identity, including examples
and use cases. Also include practical details. Adding as much information
as needed to help your designer replicate the
brand identity successfully. Once you complete it, make sure your guidelines
are distributed to the team and stored
in an easy to access place to be regularly updated
13. Design your visual identity: In this section, we'll
do a quick summary on your main visual
identity elements before we jump into the case studies to give you a better
understanding, when most people
think of branding, they fingerprinting,
visual identity, the logo, colors, typography, and other elements that act
as the face of the brand. Now that you've defined your
brand heart and messaging, it's time to visualize
it with the basics. Logo, typography,
color, and imagery. A strong visual identity is
meant to have a purpose. You're not just
designing for today, you're designing for your
brands future, okay? Good visual identity
is flexible. It should be able to
grow with your brand, whether you're branching
out into new products, services, or even new
industries, is comprehensive. It should provide brand
designers and content creators with the tools they need to properly
do their job. And it's intuitive. It should be intuitively
designed and constructed so that each
element compliments the other. Let's start with your logo. A good logo is a
memorable logos. And usually the most
memorable logos are the simplest ones. You want it to
reflect your brand. Yes, but keep it simple if
you wanted to make an income. And you also need to
consider how people visually process and
assign meaning to images. Topography is an
extension of your logo. And that's why we start
with logo design first. But topography is more
important than ever these days, because people are consuming
words in multiple mediums. But keep in mind that
something that works on your packaging may not
work well on your website. So it's important to
consider not only how your typography
aligns to your brand, but the many applications
it will be used for. Color is one of the most powerful elements
of your branding. It can affect everything from your brand perception
to purchasing intent. But it can be a bit tricky
selecting your brand colors, because not all colors evoke
the same things in everyone. In our association with
color is very subjective. Imagery is very
important because so much of your brand is communicated
through visual media. Whether you choose
photography, illustration, or combination of both, everything should
align to your brand. Developing a unique
illustration style is a smart way to visually
brand your content. But don't go overboard. You want to style, but it's clear, distinct, and on-brand. Also, don't mix styles. All clutter illustrations. Keep it clean and simple. Photography is an
effective tool that is less time-consuming
to design, but you need a clear aesthetic to keep it consistent
with your brand. A quick way to acquire photography is to
use stock images. There are plenty of
sources to choose from. There is a ton of free, high-quality stock
photography online. And you can easily create unique design alterations
that turn and glands stock image into
a photograph that communicates your
brand image licenses. There are also a variety of
photo services that let you license photos individually
or as a subscription. They are less likely to show
up your competitors site, but it can still happen because
anyone can purchase them. And you can also hire a photographer and
outsource this project, but makes sure they
have the skills and tools to create high-res images
14. Case studies: For our first case study, we're going to
talk about, oddly, a really cool, dairy free, vegan friendly oatmeal company. They've actually been
around since 1994, but they're big
breakthrough came in 2012. And that was when they
decided to rebrand. Now, what makes boatloads
brands so special? Well, they put a strong emphasis on being environmentally
friendly, but they also have
this fantastic ability to stay upbeat and humorous. At the same time. It's like they found
the perfect balance. One of the things that
perfectly captures Oatley submission to be bold
game changers is their logo. It's both eye-catching and features and blocky
exclamation mark. It really shouts
out their message. Interestingly, when otoliths Creative Director
John school craft talked about the
rebranded packaging and refreshed brand identity. He mentioned that someone
actually criticized it, calling it the worst, most child is packaging
they had ever seen. But here's the thing. Oatley is fearless even when faced with the
challenge of rebranding, which can be a nightmare
for many companies. Otoliths creative team
knew that they needed a drastic change to
achieve dramatic results. They took a bold step
and it paid off. Their marketing strategies are punchy and attention grabbing, like the poster that boldly
asks, Are you stupid? The melt lobbyist
thinks you are. It's direct, unapologetic,
and unmistakably Oatley. Now let's dive into the interview
with John school craft, where he shares his
top three tips for transforming creative
culture in the workplace. This tips are really valuable, so pay close attention. First, he advises us to take action instead of just
talking about change, because actions speak
louder than words. But you're building
the new packaging oddly showed their team the new direction in a tangible way that words
alone couldn't achieve. It's all about making
things happen. The second tip is all about removing PEA from the culture. When people feel safe and
secure in the workplace, they're more likely to make the right decisions
for the company. It's important to create an environment where
everyone feels empowered to take risks and
contribute their best ideas. And finally, he wants us to inspire the people
working at the company. He believes that this
moment in their career should be the best period of
their professional lives. There are no limitations
holding them back. It's all about
instilling a sense of excitement and possibility, making them believe
that they have the power to shape
their own success. So there you have it. Artless journey
of rebranding and their remarkable growth is a testament to the
power of being bold, fearless, and true
to your brand. Take this valuable lessons
from John School Crafts, interview, and apply them to
your own creative endeavors. Remember, actions, fearlessness, and
inspiration can make all the difference. For our second case study, we're going to talk about Nando's and global
chicken restaurant that takes immense pride in its South African and
Portuguese heritage, is beautifully reflected
in its brand identity. When you step into any
lambdas restaurant, you will instantly recognize
its unique design, vibrant colors, and effusion of South African and
Portuguese elements. One of the things
that sets us apart, the unmistakable look of the restaurants from
the moment you walk in, you're greeted by a
vibrant color palette, rustic stone and
wooden furniture, and the soulful sounds of
traditional African music. It's unexperienced
that takes you in the rich culture that
Mendel's proudly embraces in. The restaurant branding is
so strong that even if you walked into a lambdas
with no logo or signage, you'd still know you were in a nonetheless, how cool is that? Now, let's talk
about their logo. The logo has its
origins in Portugal. It's a rooster that symbolizes both a love of life
and good fortune. In Portuguese culture, it's a meaningful representation of their heritage to pay their
respects to their routes. Nonetheless, even
gave a special name to their iconic logo. And the cute little
chicken sticks you find on every table they
call them bar says, it's the small details that make Nando's brand identity
so unique and memorable. Now, when we look at the
Nando's brand as a whole, you'll notice an unconventional
combination of elements, a fiery touch and black
rooster and a red heart. These come together to
create a brand identity that it's not only family-friendly
and authentic, but also deeply rooted
in cultural history, isn't visual representation of their passion for great food, lively experiences and spreading joy through their
delicious chicken. So there you have it nonetheless stands out as a leader in restaurant branding thanks to their strong connection to their South African
and Portuguese roots, they vibrant design, cultural
references in iconic logo makes them instantly
recognizable and create a welcoming
atmosphere for all. It's a fantastic example of how embracing your heritage and infusing it into your brand
can make a powerful impact
15. Create your brand guidelines: Create your brand guidelines. Your brand guidelines serves
as a playbook for how to use your brand specifically in the content and
communications you create. Maintaining quality
and consistency can be a huge challenge, especially if you work with freelancers or outside agencies. That's the reason, but your
brand guidelines should include enough
direction to guide any creator to produce work that strengthens the brand
instead of weakening it. To ensure your brand
guidelines are comprehensive, they should include
both verbal guidelines and visual guidelines. Verbal guidelines, brand, essence, personality,
voice, tone, top-line value
proposition, messaging pillars at anything else
helpful or relevant. Visual guidelines. Logo, color, typography, imagery, photography,
illustration, hierarchy, iconography,
interruptive elements, video and motion, and so on. After you've completed
your guidelines, make sure you have
a designated person who can answer questions
about applying the brand guidelines
correctly and make sure your guidelines are
accessible to your team.
16. Bring your brand strategy to life: Now that you've completed the full brand strategy process, it's time to bring it to life. You now officially
have all the tools you need to communicate
your brand story, aligned your brand
and your business, and built the lasting
relationships you need for long-term success. And to implement
your brand strategy effectively going forward, you'll need to do the following. Keep up on best practices. Create content that's
aligned to your brand. Muster your content creation tells you a brand story
at every touch point and maximize your
content-rich to make sure your content gets in
front of the right. Nice
17. Brand activation: I want to talk to you
about how to create a killer brand
activation strategy. If you're in marketing,
you know that branding has changed a lot
in recent years. Nowadays. It's not just about
clever ad placements. It's about coming up
with ideas that will get people talking
about your brand. The goal of branding is to make lasting positive
impression on people. One way to do that is
through brand activations. Whether your brand is new
and need some extra love or has been around for awhile and just needs a little refresh. A campaign like this is a great way to get
people talking. We're going to dive into
what brand activations are, how to plan one and give you some ideas to inspire
your own campaigns. They are all about building
awareness for your company by directly engaging with
your target audience. And no, you don't have to
throw an event to do it. But rather, it can
be as simple as a virtual interaction or as complex as an
in-person experience. There are different types of
activations that might work best for your brand, like
experiential marketing, digital campaigns,
influencer marketing, social media sampling campaigns, and in-store or virtual events. And the benefits are many. For example, you can
reach new audiences, reinforce your company's
position in the market, and make your brand
more relevant. But don't just think that
this is only for new brands. Established brands
can benefit too. It's all about getting
attention and creating lasting emotional connections
with your audience. So let's start by answering the simple question on
what brand activation is. It's the process of
building awareness for accompanied by engaging
directly with target audiences. And it doesn't necessarily
have to involve an event. It can be as simple as a virtual interaction or as complex as an
in-person experience. Depending on your brand,
industry and audience, there are different types of activation campaigns that
might bring the best results. The first type is the
experiential marketing, which is offering customers and experience at the
point of purchase. Some retailers
create pop-up stores or allow shoppers
to use products, create an engaging experience. Another type is the digital
marketing campaigns, which enabled brands to reach audiences beyond
physical interaction, engaging customers, and providing marketers
with a chance to collect data and gain
insights to improve their marketing and
sales campaigns. And then we have
influencer marketing, which involves influencers. And if it's a
well-executed campaign, it can lead you to your
brand goals effortlessly. There are many ways to
convey your message to the intended audience
through influencers, like social media
account takeovers, giveaways, guest blogs, or
personalized discount codes. We also have the social
media engagement, which nowadays they
are considered a component of any
brand activation. These types of interactions
drive engagement, create brand awareness,
and generate buzz to ensure the campaign receives
the exposure it needs. Another activation is
the sampling campaigns, where 80% of people think
that live demonstrations and free samples drastically helped solidify their
purchase decision. They can help you
better pinpoint your target audience and the positive brand
experience can boost sales and create
brand awareness. And lastly, we have the events which can be
installed or virtual. This type of activation involves an experiential element
where customers can feel and interact
with the products. Every one of these options
I've mentioned is meant to generate brand awareness and interactivity with
your audience, helping you forge lasting
emotional connections between your brand and
its target audience. Now, let's touch on some
benefits of brand activation. There are a number
of proven benefits, like reach new
audiences that have yet to engage with your brand. We enforce your
company's position in the market as an
established brand. Acquire relevant customer
data and opsins, collect consumer feedback in real time as they
interact with your brand. Cut through traditional
advertising clutter, such as TV commercials, print and digital ads, and make your brand
more relevant. You might be wondering
if activations are only intended
for new brands. So the benefits aren't just reserved for industry
new commerce. They can also be
beneficial to well-known, established brands that
want to attract the tension in any kind of brand can use this type of marketing tactic. In fact, activations
are ideal for brands that are not getting valuable
feedback from customers, that are failing to connect with their customers and generate emotional attachment or trying to increase brand awareness. As you've realized by now, it's tough to stand
out from the crowd, especially in an
overcrowded market. So brand activations
are a great way to show your business personality
and identity. There is an eight-step
strategy that works in that I'll be
sharing with you now. So here we go. Step one is to
define your goals. A great strategy always starts with identifying your goals. Ultimately, you'll
want to create a brand activation strategy that increases brand awareness. However, narrowing down
your goals even more will make them more measurable
and attainable. You could have one main goal
or multiple smaller ones. For example, increased
impressions and brand awareness, customer acquisition
and user sign-ups, social media engagement, brand recognition
and reinforcement. And brand the reality. Once you know your goals, you can begin brainstorming various brand
activation campaigns that you can do to achieve them. Start to focus on your audience. Every single brand
activation should start and end with your specific
audience in mind. Having this kind of
mindset will naturally translate into more
customers and sales. Ask yourself, how
can your audience benefit from your
marketing activations we use to price them
started conversation or help customers create
a positive impact. Step three is to
solve the problem. So consider an idea that can actually address your
customers issues. This could help build
a more positive brand. Recall, meaning that your
customers may remember their experiences with
your brand in the future. This could mean something like
resolving customer issues or directly addressing
customer reservations, or even proactively
communicating sensitive product touchpoints. Step four is to take
advantage of specific trends. Using trending ideas is an
older tactic that still works. By relating your brand
activations towards popular. You're increasing
their potential to reach a larger audience. So here's how you can do it. Relate to what's popular on social media or in pop culture, then is relatable and
relevant hashtags to grow your visibility
based on the algorithms. Step five is to set
yourself apart through differentiation
and your main goal is to provide
unique experiences. So answer the
following questions to know how to
position the campaign. What makes your brand standout? How are your products
helping customers? What differentiates your brand from other brands
in the industry. This will allow you to create a brand activation strategy
that exceeds expectations, promotes your brand's values, creates a fun way to share your brand's origins story and provides unique experiences. Step six is to partner
with influencers. So influencer marketing has been an effective strategy for brands that are looking
for that added punch of exposure in other brands that possess an
extensive network of social media followers
are turning this into a crucial part of their
brand activation strategy. Partnering with influencers for a brand activation allows you to attract both your brands and the influencers target audience. Step seven is to make your
experiences shareable. No matter what brand activation
campaign you go for, make sure people can
share and talk about it. The easier it is for
consumers to share their experiences with your
company on social media, the more often they will. You can achieve this by making, sharing simple or rewarding
and creating a giveaway. And finally, step is to use
technology to your advantage. Technology can be a great
tool to help market, rebrand or introduce a brand. It can help you
reach audiences in different areas and
encourage business growth. Okay, So you're
thinking about doing a brand activation campaign
to increase brand awareness, impressions and new customers. Using tactics like
experiential marketing, digital campaigns, influencer marketing,
and events, you can engage your audience
in a more personal way. Let's take a look at some
examples of brands that have run some successful
campaigns in recent years. We've both Feste is a
clothing brand that throws a festival every
year at Coachella. That's a great example of
using a combination of experiential and influencer
marketing tactics. The festival is known as the
celebrity party of the year. The brand hand picks
influencers to wear and promote their products
during the festival. They also require influencers
to post twice a day using predesignated hashtags
to promote the brand. So as a result, they have
a yearly viral campaign that's driven 70% of
sales for the company. Another example is top line, which is a beauty company
in an industry leader in a space crowded with local and
international competition, they decided to capitalize
on their strong point, which is an audience with a clear affinity for
visual experiences. They implemented shoppable
galleries into category pages, which led to 9,000 plus
total visuals and over 3,300 live assets collected automatically under
interactive and visual stores. This fully digital brand activation increase
conversion rates and kept visitors lingering across top line product pages
longer than usual. Our last example is Samsung, which found out that 60% of the Romanian urban population had never been to
a museum exhibit. The company encouraged users of its Samsung Galaxy
S9 smartphone to take perfect photos
in any conditions using the hashtag
re-imagine Museum. Using omnichannel
marketing, Samsung created a unique museum
experience from scratch. The Samsung light
museum was launched on the International Day of
museums and democratized art. And it's curation by exhibiting Instagram photos as
art in real time. So these are just a few examples of how different
brands have used brand activations to bring in sales and drive
awareness for the brand. With the help of influencers, revolt has successfully bridge the gap between fashion and influencers in a way that few others have been
able to replicate. Top line has turned an
inventory of 12,000 plus beauty products into
an interactive system of recommendations. And Samsung has
increased awareness for a course using omnichannel
communication. Alright, so you've
got a list of ideas for your brand
activation strategy. Now it's time to
put it into action. And this can be a game
plan for your brand, especially since you
know what you want to achieve and how you're
going to make it happen
Stella Chrysaki, Digital Marketing Instructor
