Brand Identity is of utmost importance for an online business. While Shopify allows you to set up an online store and sell across the internet with much ease, we suggest seven key elements that help you establish a strong brand identity.
With rising e-commerce stores, competition is intensifying. As we know that big brands like Pizza Hut, McDonald’s and Apple have to compete with rival brands like Dominoes, Burger King and Microsoft respectively. For smaller merchants, it becomes even more crucial to draw a line between their brand and the rivals’. They can leave no chance of mistake from the customer’s end to buy from a similar-looking Shopify store.
A distinct identity of the brand not only helps merchants connect with the target audience but also leaves a lasting impression on the minds of first-time buyers. To create a strong brand identity, we must understand what actually is brand identity.
What is Brand Identity?
Brand identity is the message that the merchant wants to convey in a specific design. It includes elements like logo, voice, tone, typography and color scheme. For merchants that deal in physical products, tangible elements like packaging and appearance also become a part of brand identity.
To understand the concept of brand identity further, think of your product like an individual human being. It is like how we all humans look different from each other. A company has to follow a branding process to ensure the right brand identity for all its products. It not only defines your products but also helps you refine the elements of brand identity.
One has to make careful choices on choices like color, type and voice to establish the brand identity. It is slightly different from the brand itself as online buyers might know about your brand but would still want to know more about your products to retain its identity. It is also how your customers perceive your brand.
Here are seven steps that help boost brand identity:
1. Motive
The brand identity needs a clear motive of what you stand for. It is especially crucial when you are starting an online business from scratch. In the initial stage, one must focus primarily on the mission, vision and values to create consumer’s faith in the company. It makes the merchant target the right audience and create a strong brand identity.
2. Name Matters
Name is the identity of your brand. Some merchants like to sell products without a website or branding but that doesn’t assure success in long run. In case you are confused with an idea or two for your brand name, Shopify offers a business name generator to help you brainstorm ideas.
Name matters the most in brand identity and one must zero in on an easy name with high recall value. There should not be complex words or spellings to avoid losing of potential customers.
3. Start Branding
After deciding the motive of your Shopify store and deciding a name for the, you are good to start the branding process. The earlier you start is better to reach on top of the competition. However, the first stage of the branding process is the most difficult as it requires you to develop a brand strategy. It is wise to take time and think deeply before setting up a brand strategy.
A strategy helps you make conscious decisions about all elements of your brand identity. Once you are confident on paper, you can be confident in the course of branding as well.
4. Target Audience
Brand identity helps you make a strong connection with your target audience. You eventually want them to remember your brand in their time of need. The best practice here is to check what is working well with your audience. This way, you can make positive changes to your brand strategy.
As you develop your brand work, you gain the trust of collaborators. Additionally, it is advisable to focus on a group of your target audience to increase the chances of your brand visibility.
5. Brand Assets
Brand assets are the physical or tangible assets that help you establish brand identity. A logo, business tagline or slogan and business cards are among some examples of brand assets. Shopify offers powerful tools to help you make a logo, slogan and business cards for free.
Other third-party apps like Coolors and Fontpair offer similar features that help you design brand assets with preferable fonts and colour schemes.
6. Guidelines
To maintain the positive identity of your brand, it is advisable to write brand guidelines. This helps you maintain a format for the development of key elements of your brand identity. The brand guidelines also help you present your Shopify store in a positive light to the public.
The entire team involved in your business follows the same style guide with the help of guidelines. Merchants can make a single document or a set of them, defining standards and references for others while making brand-related decisions.
7. Effective Elements
The most important part of creating a strong brand identity is that you must make effective use of six elements — logo, colour scheme, typography, packaging, imagery and voice and tone. These are the main components, though there is no maximum limit to visual elements that eventually become a part of your brand identity.
It is essential to know more about these elements to avoid missing out on a massive advantage.
i. Logo
A logo is the face of your brand and might live for decades. It communicates the message of your brand beyond language and cultural barriers. You should not rush to create a logo design but think deeply about what best expresses your brand. Both pictorial marks and word-based logos are popular among entrepreneurs. You must know the pros and cons of what you choose.
ii. Color scheme
Colors are as important as products of your Shopify store. They help you distinguish from your competitors and visually attract customers. Many customers make decisions based on color psychology so ensure that the chosen color palette resonates with your brand identity.
iii. Typography
It is basically the font that you use on your brand assets. Strict guidelines are essential to ensure no mistake in typography as it may land you in trouble at times. One thing to consider while choosing the right font is that its design should be readable and doesn’t create confusion.
Some fonts are available for free, while others charge a nominal license fee. In-house designers can also create font types as per your company’s requirements.
iv. Packaging
Packaging plays a huge role in the branding of physical products. Brand logo, colour scheme and typography are a must on the packaging, but there’s much more. The consumer is much more aware of the environment now and you must use packaging that is less or not hazardous to the environment.
v. Imagery
Images play an equally important role so make sure you have enough photographs, icons and illustrations to attract your customers. As suggested in the last point that packaging should be environment friendly, you can incorporate photographs of nature in your packaging to gain the trust of your customers.
vi. Voice and tone
Voice and tone show the attitude of your brand. It can be based on your target group. If they are college-going students then there should be fun and humor in your brand work, similarly an older generation will be impressed with straightforward and honest messaging.
