Create a brand identity for your business

Before you create your brand, do some research on your customers and target audience. Think about what will appeal to them. Brand elements that would work for one industry might not work for another. Consider the following questions to help guide your research and brand decisions.

• What do you do best?

• What’s your distinctive personality that will attract and retain customers?

• What do you want your customers to think when they see your brand?

If you’re having trouble getting started, search the web for information on "how to build brand identity". You can also find tools and freelance agencies online to help you get started creating a logo and establishing your brand. Depending on your budget, you might also consider hiring a branding professional to help you move forward. 

Your brand will build a lasting impression of your company, conveying how you want your target audience to perceive you. It can help build customer loyalty, attract new customers and state your company’s mission. It’s the essence of your company and helps your company be more memorable. Consider how powerfully a company logo and well-crafted information can promote and reinforce brand recognition. 

Choose a brand “voice” (serious, casual, quirky) that will resonate with your customers. Establish a value proposition that tells them how you are going to meet their needs. This can be the basis for creating a logo and a slogan or tagline to appear across all your company materials. It can also help you establish the visual elements of your brand identity, such as your:

• Color Pallette

• Logo

• Illustrations

• Icons

• Photography

• Templates

After you've thought about and created your brand elements, you may want to capture all of your brand-related decisions in a style guide. A style guide will help you and your employees maintain your brand personality with consistency across all company communications and messaging. It should include a creative section that will help to relate your values and tell your customer-facing story. Be sure to include:

• Your logo. Having a standardized logo in a centralized location that can be shared and added to a variety of assets is essential to establishing a brand identity.

  Your brand messaging tone. This voice and tone will help to define your values and culture. It is the "personality" of your company and connects your company with your target audience and future customers.

• Your company colors. Colors evoke emotional responses and feelings. Do some research on what colors you think will connect customers with your service.

• Templates. Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Email templates with your brand assets already built in are great way to ensure brand consistency and save plenty of time when creating new assets.

• Typography standards. Choose two or three type styles that best reflect your company’s image, artfully conveying your company vibe. Establish them as default fonts in all of your templates. 

• Brand language. This is the collection of essential words, phrases, and terms your company should use consistently across all communications.

Maximize the power of your brand through a consistent presentation across all points of customer contact. Every interaction is an opportunity to grow your business through brand recognition. Following are a few examples of how you can use your brand elements to connect with customers. 

Email provides a great opportunity for brand impressions. Email signature templates are an easy way to connect with your customers, with ready-made eye-catching graphic layouts that everyone in the company can use, integrating personal signatures with your brand identity at the end of every company email. To learn how to create an email signature for a template, see Create email signatures to build your brand

Do you have standard response emails you send customers, such as promotional information and bids? Create an email message template then share with your team to use as needed to save time and make sure your branding is consistent. To learn how to create an email template, see Drive brand consistency across email scenarios

Do you also have specific phrases and paragraphs you use all the time? Save time and ensure brand consistency by storing them as reusable text that you can insert into emails and other materials. To learn how to create branded reusable text, see Build brand awareness with reusable email text

And you can save time with ready-made templates.  Customize your branded templates for presentations, spreadsheets and documents and share them with your team for efficient reuse. Select a template you like, then add your brand colors, logo, and typography. Several professional designs are available on the Microsoft Office templates site.

To learn how to created branded Office templates, see Drive awareness with a branded price quote template or Reach customers with branded newsletters

You can then download a template and customize it to fit your company needs.

Update your company’s social media platforms and website with your brand information. Make sure your brand is consistent across all these platforms and apply proven search engine optimization (SEO) research so your customers can find you easily. 

Building your memorable, exciting brand will take some time and focused effort. You can get started with research, building your style guide and making decisions about where you want to highlight your brand. Look for opportunities to consistently showcase your brand everywhere you communicate with your customers. Your distinctive brand identity will help you stand out in the marketplace, reflect your company’s unique personality, build credibility, and trust, and attract new customers. Reach out to professional brand companies to help you get started if you need some assistance. 

Happy branding!