What are the essential elements of building a brand identity? Most people would argue a brand identity has a tone, a color palette, a logo, a wordmark, some fonts, and a core message that stems from the mission, vision, and values statements.
And they would be right. But how do you know which colors to pick or the tone of voice to write in?
Well, you must consider every fiber of your organization, what makes it tick, who it’s for, your everyday problems, and your most significant accomplishments. But also more mundane things like customer service pain points and product manufacturing specifications.
When you’re entangled in your organization, the brand elements are much easier to come by.
Think about it like a Lego set. At the end of the branding exercise, you’ll have a big shiny police station or pirate ship.
But right now, we have a bag with a few green bricks, one of those white corner pieces, and some round brown pieces.
These questions are not your brand identity; when you put them all together, your brand will start to take shape. Once you snap in those last few, you’ll see a larger picture that tells a better story.
So let’s dive deep (deeeeeeeeep) into your organization and, ultimately, your brand identity.
Let’s start with some general brand identity questions.
1. Why do you exist?
You exist to provide stand for lower prices, better discounts, or faster turnaround times.
You may think, “But we do stand for lower prices.” I will argue that lower prices are simply the result of your ultimate value.
What would be on the banner if your brand was at a rally?
If you strive for lower prices, it is likely in support of the thing you stand far, like providing quality home goods at prices low- and middle-income families can afford.
2. Why should you be the one to solve this problem (theoretically)?
Every good company knows more about something than most of the world. Walmart knows how to source and distribute affordable goods better than nearly anyone. It’s part of what allows them to serve the average American.
At Content Workshop, we know how to harness the power of narrative structure and storytelling to strengthen brands, build websites, and enrich SEO. It’s part of what allows us to help good brands connect with the audiences that need them most.
What does your organization know how to do better than darn near anyone? Be specific—I didn’t say Walmart knows how to slash prices better than anyone.
3. How do you solve the problem (tactically, practically)?
What is your company doing to convert your theoretical knowledge into real-world application?
Think about the answer to your last question. Where do you see that explicitly playing out in your company? What are the steps you take to convert knowledge into products and services?
4. Why should I listen to you?
It’s easy to assume people are listening when we advertise. We’re putting it out in the world, after all. But most people don’t interact with most of what we say unless we prove why they should listen.
And when I say should, I don’t mean in the scolding sense. Don’t tell them why they’re “supposed” to listen to you. Tell them why they should. Tell them what’s in it for them.
But before you can tell them, you have to know yourself. What benefit does your audience get from listening to you?
5. What are you telling me to do?
Do you have a clear call to action? This can be at the product level (like, subscribe, purchase, learn more, schedule a demo, contact a sales representative, etc.) or at the theoretical level (Just do it, Live in Levi’s, Expect more, pay less).
Focus your brand identity lens.
Now that we have some of these headier questions out of the way, you must understand your organizational makeup. This is where the rubber meets the road—the nitty-gritty.
6. Tell us about your business. — how you operate, business objectives, structure, size, etc.
When we talk about brands, we speak in terms of creativity. When discussing businesses and corporations, we speak about margins and profitability. But operations are as crucial to your brand as your bottom line.
A business with straightforward products and a simple organizational structure shouldn’t have an extensive color palette or complex language. And a brand that’s committed to ease and calm probably shouldn’t use red flashing lights in its promotions.
So, talk about how you operate. What does a day look like in your offices or production floor? What objectives are your shift leaders setting, and how do they differ from or complement the objectives set by managers and C-Suite executives?
Is your structure top-heavy? You may need a brand based on specific personalities. Is your line management evenly distributed? You may need a more democratized brand.
Sometimes, big companies need big brands. And sometimes, small companies need intimate brands—not always, but you can’t know for sure until you think it all through.
7. What are your biggest challenges?
Defining success and overcoming challenges often go hand in hand. And the challenges our organizations overcome can often be a foundational building block for our brands.
8. What makes you different from your competitors?
And don’t say, “The people.” Sure, your people are different. But what really sets you apart? If it’s the people, find the specific traits your people possess and the services they provide that your competition can’t compete with.
Your differentiator is likely something more mundane than what you’re thinking. If you’re like most companies, you offer something similar to your competition. What is the ancillary detail that sets you apart? Is it higher quality, increased convenience, or lower prices? Can you provide more colors or faster delivery?
9. What is the product, service, or solution?
Sure, everyone in your organization knows what you sell and why. But if you ask them all, you will probably get surprisingly different answers.
Try it as a company-wide branding exercise. Have your staff describe your product and main selling point. You can even ask them how it works and if they can think of any customer use cases.
This question may yield some customer testimonials in addition to brand identity building blocks.
10. What pain points does the solution solve?
Asking someone to buy a product that doesn’t solve a pain point is akin to asking someone for a favor.
Your job is to make or do something that improves your customer’s life. Your brand identity should show your customers how—using language, imagery, and design.
What is the outcome when customers use your product or service to address their pain points?
11. What are the tangible features of the product? If your service came in a box, what would be inside?
Describe your product in the simplest terms. What color is it? How big is it? What would a four-year-old call it?
And if you don’t have a product, then describe your service as if it came in a box. What would be on the packaging? What would follow, “Package includes:…”? Does it come with batteries, or do they have to buy those separately?
12. Which features are most important, and why?
Ask your customer service and sales teams which features the customers use and talk about the most. Everyone on the product or development teams has their favorite feature. The marketing team leans on features they think they can sell.
But what is the feature your customers use the most? Which one are they constantly talking about? Why is it so important to them?
13. Who are your competitors?
What do we have that the customers want and the competition isn’t giving them? That’s Luke Sillivan’s secret to finding your key message in his legendary advertising book, “Hey Whipple, Squeeze This.”
Sullivan says the question is even more potent as a Venn diagram, drawing three intersecting circles.
- What do we have
- That the customer wants
- And the competition isn’t giving them?
Your organization has a lot. And the customer wants a lot. And your competition has a lot, too.
But what do you have? | That the customer wants. | And the competition doesn’t have.
The intersection of those three categories is your brand identity’s physical address.
Think about your customers by drafting personas.
We’ve answered theoretical and practical questions about your company, but now it’s time to turn the camera onto the main character.
Who are your customers? Who is your target audience?
14. What do your customers have in common?
Sometimes, it takes a lot of work to pin down exactly who your target audience is. But you might find some commonalities when considering your best and most profitable customers.
Imagine they’re baseball players or Pokémon. What’s on their card? Are your best customers all relief pitchers? Power hitters? Fire-types?
How and why do each of these personas make decisions differently? This is important for creating your messaging that can tighten your sales funnel.
15. Who uses your product, and who buys your product?
This is a tricky question because your perfect user may be someone other than your best customer. Kids love sugary cereal, but kids don’t buy cereal. Their parents do.
A report from Ipsos shows that women purchase more than 50% of “traditionally male” products, including automobiles, home improvement products and consumer electronics. That’s partially because women also like those things and partially because, in most households, women are the ones who buy things.
You need to know who uses your product, and you need to know who has the purchasing power.
16. What is the triggering event for someone to seek out the solution?
What happened just before the customer decided to search for a solution or drive to your store?
17. What is the main problem a client is seeking to solve?
Most companies offer a variety of products or solutions. And customers often make multiple purchases with their preferred retailers or service providers. In all of those different transactions, there is likely a unifying reason that customers chose your brand.
Did they come to your boutique because they trust your clothing curation?
Do they call your company again and again because they know your service team is reliable?
18. Are there ancillary features of your solution that they may not know about?
Nothing feels worse than finding out a good customer chose a competitor to provide a product or service simply because they didn’t know you could, too.
What are the features, benefits, services, and solutions you wish all of your customers knew about?
19. What makes a stellar customer?
You’re thinking of three or four people right now. They’re the ones who are easy to work with and refer other customers because they resonate with your brand identity.
What do they have in common? What are the core values they share with your company? Those values are the building blocks of your brand.
20. What makes a bad customer?
Like the last question, you already have a customer in mind. What do they have in common with the other two or three you’re thinking about? Do they require more time than you end up billing them for? Are they always asking for last-minute favors? Are they just kind of stressful?
What are the traits your company doesn’t work well with?
Does your company need a guide through the brand identity process?
These are just a few of the questions the strategists at content workshops look at to help an organization fine-tune its brand identity.
We help companies strengthen their brand’s online presence by telling better stories.
Find out how Content Workshop can help your brand build a stronger brand identity.
