How to win at small business branding and identity

It is hard to stand out in a busy, crowded, and noisy world where many companies and organizations are vying for attention. Having a vibrant and dynamic brand identity is essential business success. Having strong small business branding can make all the difference in the world.

Brand identity refers to the visual, verbal, and sensory elements a business uses to help distinguish it from competitors. These elements include color schemes, design, typography, imagery, logos, slogans, tone of voice, and other branding materials. Brand identity relates specifically to the intent behind branding work – how a company wants to be perceived by its target audience, as opposed to brand image, which is how an audience perceives the company. Branding is how businesses portray brands to its target audience and the customer experience they deliver.

Developing a strong brand identity can have an enormous impact on customer purchasing decisions and can encourage loyalty. A clear identity shows that a business knows and understands its mission and purpose and can effectively communicate this to customers. The clearer the communication, the greater the effect on potential clients. This leaves many small businesses asking not just how to establish a brand identity but how to build a strong brand identity.

The guide below explains the role of brand identity in more depth and provides valuable information on how to create an effective identity strategy.

What is brand identity for small businesses?

Creating brand identity for small businesses can help to solidify their image in the minds of customers. Although brand identity is sometimes used interchangeably with the terms ‘branding’ and ‘brand image,’ there are some subtle but clear differences.

Branding for small business is the practice of using marketing to actively shape a brand, i.e., the presentation of the company to the wider world, while brand image is how that is received. In short, branding is what businesses use to attract attention and create an image.

Brand identity is the way these ideas end up looking, sounding, and feeling, to express the direction and personality of the brand. When done well, a brand identity can be instantly recognizable to customers and forge a strong connection between visual and verbal elements and a business. This is why brand identity is important and why small businesses should take their time to understand brand identity elements.

A successful identity should be built on a strong sensory appeal in terms of color choices and other visual elements. However, it can also include other sensory aspects, such as auditory and oral elements, including jingles and slogans.

For example, professional services like lawyers or accountants may want to portray themselves as clean, upscale organizations that a customer could trust. Health services and retailers may show their customers that they are cozy and comfortable. Full service restaurants would want to show sophistication and family-friendly restaurants might cater to their own specific audience, such as having an entertaining ambience.

The role of brand identity across different industries

Brand identity varies across sectors. For example, the color schemes and graphic design adopted by a high-strength cleaning product would not be suitable for use in food or drink packaging. There are established brand archetypes in each sector and while there is room for originality and innovation, brand identity still needs to remain within this general framework. The role of brand identity in each industry presents unique challenges and opportunities. For example, the use of color palettes, typefaces, logos, and imagery would be vastly different within, as well as across, the following industries:

• Retail: Some retail brands are clean, with elegantly crafted serif typefaces to project a more classical, professional look. On the other hand, some retailers may be better served with bold, heavy sans serif typefaces in bright solid letters. Consider the difference between a neatly appointed apparel provider or another retailer who relies on announcing their latest SALE with bold announcements to pick up items before they’re gone, gone, gone!

• Technology: Technology brands will often rely on a more sophisticated brand identity. These are high ticket items that are presented with a bit more reverence. They want to feel more trustworthy and reliable. While there are common design elements, companies also want to make sure they distinguish themselves from their competition. In most cases, there is a perceived quality that needs to shine through.

• Healthcare: Healthcare providers want to make their customers and patients feel safe and taken care of. Their brand identity should foster trust and security, making patrons confident in their choice for their personal care. They want to know that this is a business that will help them live well and thrive. In some cases, businesses may want to show that patients will have access to the latest equipment and technology. In others, it may be more paramount for the brand identity to reflect more literally what services they provide — whether eye care, dental services, or any other specialized role.

• Financial services: Financial services deal with their customers’ livelihood. Many will want to project trustworthiness and security. Others may want to appeal to younger generations with a brighter and more contemporary look.

• Food and beverage: Restaurants have a wide variety of potential brand identities. It can reflect the culture of the food they serve or the dining experience they deliver for their customers. This brand identity will show up at every touchpoint with their customers, from interior design to their menu, packaging, and promotional materials.

It is vital for small businesses to understand the branding obstacles and opportunities that each of these specific industries provides.

Branding basics for small business

There are several essential steps businesses can take to help establish an effective brand identity. Here’s a small business branding guide:

• Conducting research: Analyze the market, identify strengths, and pinpoint unique elements of other brands. The role of market research in understanding customer needs cannot be overstated. It’s important to know what sets a business apart from others and how it can offer an experience that is distinct from its competitors.

• Determining business goals: Craft a mission statement that aligns with the brand capabilities of the business. These goals are an inherent part of the brand identity and are the fundamental reasons for why the business exists.

• Identifying customers: Use surveys and focus groups to uncover what customers want when shopping online. Get to know what customers are looking for and provide that for them. Online shopping is simple and provides many benefits for customers. They can enjoy a wider range of inventory than what a business could carry in a brick and mortar location and hunt for the best prices on the goods they want most.¹

• Determining personality and message: Align brand elements to create a coherent identity and discover how to define a target audience. Consistency across all touchpoints will prepare customers for what they can expect from a business. When things are inconsistent, it can become confusing for customers, and could adversely affect brand loyalty.

• Considering visual elements: Color, shape, graphics, and text are all key brand identity elements. Typography and design will feel a certain way and evoke expectations in customers that the brand should be able to deliver upon. Imagery will do the same thing, as will brand colors.

• Designing a logo: A visual trademark using those elements is essential to help build brand identity. The logo should reinforce what the business is trying to accomplish and be consistent with customers’ expectations.

• Creating a slogan: Craft a memorable and concise brand positioning. A simple line can help a business identify its goals and serve as a North Star for everything else the company is doing.

• Deciding on tone: Establish a consistent brand voice that is recognizable and expresses the personality of the brand. Some businesses can be cheeky and funny, others need to be reserved, and sometimes it’s best to just get out of the way and be as direct as possible. Whichever direction the business chooses, it helps to define the brand identity.

• Engaging other senses: Incorporate sound, taste, touch, and scent into branding elements. There could be an audio mnemonic that chimes whenever the logo is seen, or a business could rely on the music playing overhead in the brick and mortar location to help round out an experience. Maybe there’s a flavor that makes one think of a business — pumpkin spice, anyone? The tactile feeling of a company’s products or items in the store contributes to the brand identity as well.

Creating a visual brand identity, and one that incorporates other sensory elements, is the foundation of branding a small business. It is essential to understand the key brand identity elements. Get it wrong and branding will not align with the business aims and objectives, which can create confusion among customers.

How to establish brand identity

Small businesses can struggle to implement an effective brand strategy. Below are some tips that businesses can use to assist with brand identity development:

• Define the story: What should the company be famous for? What is its purpose and mission? Identifying this story will help establish brand identity and help businesses focus in on what experience they can deliver and what their customers’ takeaway will be.

• Research competitors: Understand what distinguishes the brand from others in the same industry. Understanding competitive landscapes is essential for creating a cohesive but unique brand identity. Knowing what competitors are up to can also help a business set itself apart from others and identify the exact niche they can fill for customers.

• Build an identity: Build the company’s identity around its strengths and how it is best positioned in the market. The importance of brand identity is vital to the success of the business.

• Connect with the story: Share brand stories to boost customer empathy and loyalty. This can be achieved through measures like creating structured customer loyalty programs. Knowing what customers want and weaving that into a brand’s story helps to establish a brand identity.

• Be accessible: Enhance brand visibility and accessibility with tools and devices that work for the company’s audience. Meet customers where they are and give them the ability to pay for products the way they like.

• Monitor the brand: Track brand performance at all times to optimize branding elements and ensure effective brand identity development. This can be done with consumer feedback and research. Listen to customers and give them what they want. Remember that the customer is (almost) always right so take their feedback to heart and help it influence the brand identity of the business.

• Allow for evolution: Ensure brand strategy can adapt over time as part of a multi-channel selling strategy. Let customers buy where it is most convenient for them, whether it’s in-store, online, or on social media. Social media offers marketplaces as well as buyable pins on Instagram or Pinterest.

Businesses can also use brand identity development services to help optimize brand elements and increase visibility. For many smaller businesses, the capacity to develop effective branding and identity development may not exist in-house, but there is external assistance available to deliver maximum impact on brand identity.

Brand identity examples

Effective brand identity examples are all around, with most of us being able to recognize dozens (if not hundreds) of individual brands. One brand that almost everyone can recognize is McDonalds. The bright yellow and red color scheme is playful and fun, as well as being warm and welcoming. The ‘golden arches’ logo is also instantly recognizable and easily identified, even in busy commercial environments. This is used in tandem with an upbeat and energetic marketing campaign that combines the slogan and jingle ‘I’m lovin’ it’ – one of the most recognizable melodies in the world. It’s now so ubiquitous that they can abandon ‘I’m lovin’ it’ and just lean on ‘ba da ba ba ba’ in their in-app ordering experience.

Other effective brand identity system examples include Nike, with their ‘Swoosh’ logo and ‘Just do it’ tagline, as well as Coca-Cola, with its instantly identifiable color scheme and font. Of course, not all businesses have the resources and branding power of McDonalds, Nike, or Coca-Cola to create such a strong brand identity, but creative and effective branding is still possible on a smaller budget.

Smaller brands with strong brand identity often include tech startups and businesses working in emerging industries. For example, dating and social app company Bumble was able to achieve a significant impact through clear messaging and content. Innocent Drinks were also early pioneers of exploring the potential of color schemes and brand attributes in a developing market. Liquid Death began with a simple mission, to ‘Murder your thirst.’ It was flat mountain water and has grown into an entire array of flavored sparkling drinks and teas. But the brand identity has remained consistent throughout.

But what can work best for the company that is just starting to establish its brand identity? Billykirk works in the American leather industry and they have a focus on quality craftsmanship that one can count on. Their customers appreciate the brand for exactly this authenticity. Dollar Shave Club created a humorous, fun vibe to set itself apart from other historically macho razor brands. RXBAR set itself apart from other powerbar companies by embracing a no frills design sensibility where they only show their logo and the ingredients, without unnecessary branding elements, reinforcing the reliability of their product.²

Common mistakes in building a brand identity, and how to avoid them

As well as adopting best practices and investing time and effort in monitoring brand identity, small businesses need to be aware of the pitfalls to avoid when building and maintaining a brand identity. Classic brand identity mistakes include:

• Lack of a clear brand purpose: If a business does not have a distinct understanding of their purpose, they will not be able to communicate to customers what should be expected of the business. It’s best to know ahead of time what the company wants to accomplish and how it fills a need for the consumer.

• Inconsistency in brand presentation: The brand identity should be consistent at every touchpoint in the customer’s journey. From marketing to packaging and product to customer experience, everything needs to be in lock step with every other brand element so the customer has a clear understanding of what to expect.

• Absence of a style guide: The style guide is what keeps the brand true to itself. It includes a color palette, typography, and rules of logo and imagery usage. This is something that internal and external vendors can look at to make sure that there is consistency in how the brand shows up for customers.

• Lack of originality: It’s also important to make sure that the brand stands out from other competitors. It’s too easy to get lost in the marketplace if the brand has not identified a way for it to highlight what makes it unique.

• No defined target audience: When a company does not identify its customer base clearly, it will not be able to reach them appropriately. It must understand its audience and give them what they are looking for.

• Poor logo design: A company’s logo is as much a reflection of the brand as any other thing the business does. It needs to reinforce all other messaging in the brand identity.

All things considered, the brand identity needs to be consistent at every point so customers get a sense of what the company will deliver with their product or service.

Brand image vs. brand identity

While brand image and brand identity sound very similar, they are actually flip sides of the same branded coin. Very simply, brand image is what customers think of a brand and brand identity is how the company portrays its brand.

Brand identity is something the company can control when presenting its brand. It’s the mission of the brand, the tone of voice, the logo, colors, and typography. Brand image is how a customer sees a brand. It’s the quality and value of the service or goods to the customer, the level of their satisfaction with the shopping experience as a whole, and their likelihood to return to the brand.

If these two are incongruent with one another, business can suffer. When the brand identity is portrayed in a particular way, but the brand image is not perceived in the same way, customers will notice. Customers need to be satisfied with the product and with their experience with a brand. That is what will build customer loyalty and keep them coming back.

Monitoring, measuring, and adapting brand identity

It is important to realize that it is not just creating a strong brand identity that is crucial. Businesses must also work hard to maintain brand identity in a constantly evolving marketplace. Visual elements such as color schemes, graphic design, and fonts are subject to developing trends and tastes in the public sphere.

Customers are also adopting new buying behaviors. For this reason, small businesses should monitor and evaluate the success of their brand identity to keep it in line with consumer opinion. This is further accentuated by emerging technology, which has a significant impact on the way people shop for goods and services.

Keeping brand identity consistent across channels

Once a business has done the hard work to establish its brand identity, it’s time to transfer that identity into its marketing channels.

The marketing strategy will leverage many of the data points that the business used to develop its brand identity. It will look at the target audience, consider the competition in the field, and focus on what sets it apart from its competitors. It will set marketing goals, decide what products and messages to pitch in marketing materials, and set a plan in motion to accomplish its goals. The marketing strategy will also measure the results of the marketing plan to actively improve the plan going forward.

Omnichannel marketing is a marketing strategy that ensures the brand identity and customer experience are consistent across multiple media channels. Whether it’s through a company’s online or mobile shopping experience or in any paid, social, or email marketing, the customer’s relationship with the brand is protected and a congruous message is delivered at every touchpoint. This also extends to loyalty programs and customer support. This will help the company build a strong brand identity and increase customer loyalty.

While there are many media channels where a business can reach customers, an increasingly important channel is on social media. It’s a great place to target the right customers and build relationships with them that honor the intentions behind your brand identity. Different social media platforms will offer unique benefits and target audiences that fit a businesses goals.

Use PayPal to kickstart building a brand identity

Brand identity, as distinct from brand image, is the visual and sensory component of any wider branding strategy. It determines the way customers view the brand. This is why it is so important to understand both the target audience and how they respond to different brand identity elements.

For help and assistance understanding how to make brand identity work harder, open a PayPal business account to access more information, tools, and branding solutions that can boost sales and sustain growth. In addition, start accepting marketplace payments with PayPal and take advantage of the other business features a PayPal business account can offer.