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Brand Identity Plays a Critical Role In Telling the World Who You Are As a partner in Flights of Fancy, a New York design firm working in the fashion and music video industries, Susan Kensington focuses much of her efforts on helping clients tell a brand story. "We consider ourselves a creative consultancy, using design to help clients craft stories that transcend all media," she says. But when it came to creating a brand identity for her own firm, she and partner Rory Dolan turned to outside expertise to make sure they got the results they were after. Flights of Fancy tapped Image Management Solutions (IMS), a marketing and management consulting firm specializing in brand identity and end-to-end solutions for entrepreneurial startup ventures with offices on both the east and west coasts. Kensington credits IMS principals Rene Jason and Daniel Rogers with "helping us focus on the essence of our brand and what we are offering people," she says. The consultants homed in on Flights of Fancy’s creative offerings and deliverables and provided additional guidance on strategic direction. "The first step in any brand identity project is establishing what your goals are," Jason says. "If it’s an existing brand, why does it need to change? If it’s a new brand, is it entering a competitive market? What are your sales goals for the brand?" Caroline Farrell, principal and lead designer at Impish Impulse, a Los Angeles-based consulting firm, agrees that the process with must start with an inward-looking audit. Working with dozens of small, growth-oriented businesses since 1996, she has developed a well-defined approach she calls "brand-blitzing." She starts by having clients sit down and define their business. "An entire lexicon of marketing terms has grown up around this process, and big companies can devote lots of time and resources to it," Farrell says. "But small businesses don’t have that luxury. What it really boils down to is figuring out what your business is about, what your tag line should be."
"Brand identity lets customers and potential customers see the lifestyle of your company. It helps them decide whether they want to do business with you," she says. Properly executed, a good brand identity program can offset a small company’s limited resources for traditional advertising, she adds. Brand identity lends credibility to a small business by giving it a face and a presence beyond just the people who work there, Farrell says, noting that’s particularly important for sole proprietorships.
MORE COMFORTABLE "Instead of a client or customer handing their money to Jane Doe and hoping she goes off and does what she is expected to do, now they’re handing it to a business," she says. "Many people are much more comfortable with that kind of transaction."Farrell frequently puts that principle into practice for her clients, recasting a financial consulting firm that targets doctors as "Medical Community Financial Advisors" and a contractor specializing in luxury homes as "Platinum Builders," for example. She creates logos, marketing materials and Web sites that communicate the desired attributes in a unified manner, which is important. In fact, conveying a consistent, unified message is critical to any brand identity program, Jason says, and that’s one reason such programs should be rolled out gradually. "First, you have to make sure all employees understand the new brand, or changes to the existing brand, and how to communicate the brand to customers," she says. "A gradual rollout reduces the risk of alienating existing customers." Announcing planned changes to your brand identity in advance and involving customers – especially important ones – in the process can also reduce the risk of losing customers, Farrell advises. Surveying your customers during the initial design process not only is reassuring to them, it provides a valuable feedback loop from the people who know better than anyone just what they want your business to be. In terms of the brand design itself, logos and marketing materials are subject to trends just like any other fashion-influenced activity. For example, blue iris was declared the "it" color of 2008 by the Pantone Color Institute (www.pantone.com), while 2007’s must-have hue was chili pepper red.
There’s nothing wrong with being trendy as long as the design reflects the qualities you want to project for your business, but it’s a mistake to choose a logo design on that basis alone, Farrell warns. "Your brand identity is going to be your company’s wardrobe going forward. You don’t want to be stuck with something that makes you look dated." Cost for an end-to-end brand identity creation or makeover (including both strategic and design elements) will be affected by variables such as your company size, goals and the extent of the materials you want produced. Jason says a good brand package for a small business can usually be brought in under $10,000. Marketing experts say there are many good reasons any business, no matter what it’s size, needs to have a brand identity. 'If a brand is the personification of an organization or that organization’s products and services, it must have a personality and an identity," says Brad VanAuken, founder and president of consulting firm BrandForward.
TOP REASONS One of the most important reasons for a small business to have a strong brand identity is to convey to customers and potential customers that it is an established enterprise. A brand identity can also help you attract more clients and increase your credibility. "People are more comfortable doing business with a company that has an aura of staying power," says Rogers.A brand identity can help make your business more memorable in people’s minds. The right brand identity can even convey a sense of "bigness" that transcends the company’s actual size. That may improve your chances of attracting venture capital for expansion, as well as boosting your status in the eyes of some customers and prospects. Every good business plan should include an exit strategy. For many owners, that strategy ultimately involves a sale of the business. Having the right brand identity can help boost your company’s marketability and make it more saleable when the time comes. Probably the most important benefits a good brand identity can provide are those that accrue to a business in its day-to-day operation. It can project a sense of stability and continuity to your clients or customers. It can play a major role in differentiating your business from its competitors. And it demonstrates your commitment to the business and the pride you take in being its owner. "When most people think about a brand’s identity, they usually think about the name, the logo and maybe the tag line," VanAuken writes in his book, Brand Aid. "But the identity consists of so much more than that: It includes typestyles, colors, symbols, attitude and personality, brand voice and visual style, sounds and mnemonic devices, characters and other spokespeople, product design, package design and the list could go on and on."
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