Cornering the Millennial Market: Why Businesses Need a Unique Brand Identity

Marketing professionals are used to solving many problems, from content issues to technical issues with SEO. Brand identity is one of the more difficult issues to deal with.

Marketers often neglect brand identity because they don't know how important it is. Why is brand identity so important?

Many marketers are reluctant to spend their hard-earned money on improving their marketing budget. Others think it's nearly impossible to track your progress accurately and joke that you have To be a mind reader to perform it correctly.

This article will help you if you have ever felt this way about brand identities. Continue reading to learn why brand identity is so important for your company.

What is Brand Identity?

This quote from 99 designs is our favourite way to define brand identity.

"Brand identity" is the combination of all elements a company uses to project the right image to consumers.

Let's take Airbnb as an example. They have a strong mission that people can relate to: "Belong anywhere" They work hard to make sure that this message is heard in all communications.

The "A" in the Airbnb logo represents four concepts. It is the symbol of Airbnb's brand identity. "Ahead to represent people, location icons to represent places, a heart to love, and finally an A for Airbnb."

The warm, fuzzy feel continues with the light red colour scheme. The font is friendly and fun. Their brand identity is strong. What do we know? We looked at Airbnb's brand awareness.

How to create a brand identity to grow

Next, we will look at some reasons why your brand identity is so important for growing your business.

A good brand identity is essential for recognition.

Your brand's logo design and colours are two of the most important components.

Everyone knows the colours of Ikea's blue and yellow and the Coca-Cola brand's iconic red. When someone looks at your brand's colour palette, they will immediately recognize that it is yours.

Do not worry about people getting tired of your brand being everywhere. Continued recognition of your brand will increase trust.

The more people recognize your brand, then the faster you can build trust in it. You'll be a household name before you know it!

Some ways you can improve the brand recognition you have.

They are training your team. Everyone must agree on brand identity. Your customers won't recognize your brand if your employees continue to make mistakes.

Create a brand new logo: Your logo should reflect your brand's values and message. Don't assume your brand colours are right for you. Your brand can be influenced by bright colours.

Create a new company name. Are your brand names strong enough? Learn more about naming a company here

Brand Identity builds loyalty and trust.

Your brand must be different from your competitors in order to stand out.

Once you have identified your USP, why not make it your main USP.

Customers who feel the same values and beliefs as you will choose your brand more often.

If you can keep the relationship alive, it is possible to maintain it. This will result in better customer loyalty and higher lifetime value (LTV ).

Poor brand identity will lower revenue.

Strong brand identity will lead to greater brand recognition and brand awareness. This should help increase word-of-mouth referrals for your company.

Your customers will not think twice about recommending your company to others if your brand is prominently in their minds.

How would that same scenario play out if a customer finds your brand unmemorable?

They won't recommend your brand to anyone if they approach you for a recommendation. You risk losing word-of-mouth sales, which can lead to a loss of revenue.

A strong brand identity can increase revenue.

Apple is a brand that has a strong identity. Apple's high pricing is due to its strong and reliable brand over the years.

Apple can charge a premium price despite the fact that Apple products are of a similar quality to the rest. Apple products are valued higher than other technology brands in the eyes of its customers. This is a big part of brand identity.

What can you learn from Apple? You can also attract high-paying customers by spending the money to build a strong brand identity.

How to build your brand identity

First, you need to decide what your brand identity should be. Next, you must create your brand identity.

There are many options for you to do this, including:

Offline and online advertising

Social media Marketing

Marketing to Influencers

Email marketing

Visual branding

Events

This list could go on.

You will not be in a position to brand your brand across all channels at once. You should consider which channels are most appropriate for your current strategy. Then, look at other options to see if they are better suited for your current strategy.

After you have created your brand identity, it is important to maintain consistency throughout the organization. You should make sure that all members of your team are briefed.

Your brand's identity can be damaged if someone disregards your brand style guide and goes rogue. This could lead to customer distrust and loss of loyalty.

Here's a secret to help you keep your brand identity consistent across all touchpoints. Define your target audience.

Create an audience persona once you have identified the target audience for your brand. This persona can be shared with your marketing team so that everyone knows who they are talking to in future campaigns, strategies, publications.

These Brands Can Help You Get Brand Identity Inspiration

Next, we will show you how three of our favourite brands achieved an enviable level of awareness among their target audience through a strong brand image.

Note: All data in this article was collected using our brand tracking program -- which allowed us to generate the insights that we share with you.

Foot Locker

Foot Locker, a retail giant, is a household brand with 79% brand awareness among the general population. That's quite impressive, wouldn't it?

74% of that 79% who are aware of the brand would consider it, and nearly half (44%) would choose Footlocker to be their preferred brand for sports.

What has Foot Locker done in order to achieve such results? This brand is first in tune with its customers.

The brand launched a campaign to embrace individuality during the last year's pandemic. The new campaign featured "leading innovators who champion individuality and a better future for their communities."

A 2018 survey found that over 23 per cent of respondents aged 18-29 said they have shopped in person at Foot Locker within the past 12 months.

Foot Locker's 2020 campaign is an excellent example of how it is trying to connect with these people through movements and values that resonate with them.

Airbnb

Everybody has heard of Airbnb.

Why is everyone so familiar with Airbnb? They advertise everywhere, including TV ads and paid search ads. Initially, word of mouth was their main driver.

It was quickly discovered that referrals were responsible for millions of dollars in sales. Staying in an Airbnb apartment is an intimate experience, based on their tagline "Belong Anywhere". The brand awareness statistics below show that consumers instantly feel at home.

These numbers are staggering! It seems that people, regardless of their age, are willing to use Airbnb.

The process for booking an Airbnb is simple: Find the best location, review the reviews and choose the option that suits you best.

Reviews from users are an extremely powerful and trusted form of marketing. It is so trustworthy that 79% of consumers believe online reviews are as trustworthy as personal recommendations from family or friends.

If you want to create a brand identity that people love, invest in a referral program and then work on delighting customers to increase word of mouth recommendations and online reviews.

Why? Because reviews speak volumes, and users can make quick decisions about your brand.

JBL

JBL makes high-end audio equipment. This market is more niche than Foot Locker or Airbnb. It's therefore not surprising that brand awareness in the general population is currently at 27%, which is a bit lower than the other brands we mentioned.

However, 74% of those who are aware would consider using the brand. We can see that their audience is not large, but it is highly engaged.

JBL's demographic makeup shows that JBL's audience is dominated by men. Men show 30% more brand awareness than women. We see a drop in brand awareness for females to 19%.

What does this mean? JBL seems to be focusing more on men in its brand identity. Maybe JBL has found that they are more open to their brand?

Sources:

https://latana.com/post/brand-identity-branding-essential-growing-company/

https://blog.hubspot.com/agency/develop-brand-identity