The Key Elements to Build a Brand (In Order of Importance)
I'm going to start off by saying there are some brands where this won't apply. But for the vast majority of the businesses we work with every day, there are some key branding elements that are essential. And there's an order of importance when building a brand to make it as effective as possible.
#1 Packaging
If your company doesn't sell a product, there are often times comparable items. For a restaurant or store, it would be the design of the building, both exterior and interior. For a service brand the product might be a bit more theoretical...regardless, the packaging of your product is essential. This is the forward-facing brand piece that customers will see right before the decision to purchase.
I've had a lot of clients ask me to start with the logo when we're hired to develop packaging. And my response is always something like this: "Your logo must work on your packaging. We can design websites and business cards with pretty much any logo. But packaging requires a very specific logo depending on the style of packaging, the substrate, the shape of the product and many other factors. We design logos as part of packaging as a whole."
#2 Logo
If you've completed your packaging, you should have a logo as a result. I like to think of your logo like the door to your brand's building. It should encourage people to come inside to experience the rest of the brand. There's no question that a great logo is one of the most important parts of your brand, but a logo on its own won't build a brand. The number of people who use the Nike Swoosh as an example of a great brand is laughable. The idea that such a simple icon is so recognizable just because of the quality of the design is giving way too much credit to designers like myself.
The reason the swoosh is so known is because it is a recognizable and simple icon...that's on every shoe the company produces! That's a great example of "packaging" coming first. The logo is beautifully designed to work on the side of a shoe and as a result is arguably the most recognizable logo in existence.
#3 Branding Beyond Logo
If your logo was your front door, then your brand voice, typeset, colors, imagery, and other brand elements would be what people experience once they step inside. A well developed and complete brand uses all brand elements in unison. Think about the famous Tiffany blue and how that makes you feel. Think about the THX sound and how it makes you feel before a movie. Those are examples of the full brand experience.
#4 Website
This is where I'll probably get some pushback from some folks. They might want the marketing plan first. But it's hard to argue the necessity of having an online presence these days and part of the beauty of a website is the ability to pivot strategies easily. A company's website is often times the primary touchpoint for customers. And even if they don't visit a brand's website directly, that website supports every other piece of digital marketing from SEO to social media, along with every piece of traditional marketing from outdoor to sales materials. Retailers will see a brand's website as an indication that they're not on their own when trying to sell a product in-store or online. Consumers will use a brand's website a resource and will become powerful brand advocates.
#5 A Marketing Plan
The structure of TIV Branding is a confluence of many years of experience. We all realized when forming our agency that the only way to build a great brand is to blend branding, traditional marketing, and digital marketing together to form the perfect marketing plan. Yes, digital is less expensive in many ways, but without the support of other strategies, it will never truly move the needle. Every business needs a marketing budget and a plan for the most effective way to use the budget.
One more trip into our "a brand is like a building" metaphor... Every brand needs to be built from the bottom up and in the right order. It's tempting to skip around or try and bite off too many of the building blocks at once. In the end, the more strategic and systematic the building process is, the stronger the brand will be long term.
Brandt Hoekenga is the Co-CEO and Creative Director for TIV Branding–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––TIV Branding is a boutique branding firm in Sonoma County, California. We specialize in building brands by using traditional, social and digital channels in unison. If you would like to discuss a project or find out more about how we do what we do, please email us at info@TIVbranding.com.