How To Create a Brand Identity That Attracts
Your brand’s visual identity isn’t just about looking pretty and attractive, it is about communicating a message through visuals.
If you want your business to be seen and stand out in a crowded marketplace, you want it to connect with people in a unique way.
You don’t have to be selling something completely new and innovative. Instead, you position your business with strategic branding.
Your brand’s visual identity communicates a message with your audience using visual cues.
But how do you know what message you want to communicate, and how do you make it a message that attracts your audience?
WHO IS YOUR BRAND ABOUT?
You will hear some people say your brand is all about you. That you need a personal brand and you need to tell your story.
Others will say your brand needs to be about your customers and audience, that you need to make them the focus, so they see themselves in it and see it as the answer to their problems.
But if you really want to not only attract but also connect with your audience and create long-term fans, you need to make your brand about BOTH you and your audience.
It needs to be about you so that people can connect with you and get to know you, trust you and like you.
They want brands that are relatable, so if they feel connected to who you are in some way, be it your personality or your interests or style, they will more likely feel they can relate to you, and will then want to buy from or work with your brand over another who offers similar things, but they don’t feel any connection to.
It also needs to be about your audience because they want to see something they are attracted too, feels familiar, they feel a personal connection with and that they can see themselves in and find part of their identity in.
So it is critical that you find a balance in your brand’s style that tells both your and their story and finds that common ground that you can connect over, while also offering your audience some aspiration, and seeing how they are buying into bettering themselves in some way.
WHAT IS YOUR AUDIENCE LOOKING FOR?
1. Your audience is looking for someone they trust and feel connected to.
This means you need to add some personality to your visual identity. It is an opportunity to add character and personal touches and show them who you are.
Make your brand feel approachable and friendly.
Take the time to think about what characteristics about yourself and your interests you want to weave into your visual identity.
It could be using bright fun colors, to show your upbeat bubbly personality or grungy textures and fonts to show your urban style and punchy attitude.
Just like in dating there is someone out there for everyone. In the business world, there is someone for everyone too. So don’t be afraid to show some of your personality or worry it will turn some people away. You want to be attracting like-minded people that are your tribe.
But on the flip side, be careful of using anything too isolating. Don’t use anything too obscure or strange that only very few people would understand or feel connected to.
2. They want something to aspire to.
Ultimately people don’t buy things, they buy a better version of themselves.
This means you want your visual branding, to also reflect where they want to be/ what they want to achieve.
Think about magazines, they appeal to people’s interests but in an aspiration way. People who buy Vogue Magazine aren’t always walking around in luxury designer fashion, but they aspire to it.
Your business is likely solving a problem for your people, so consider why they are coming to you and what they are aspiring to.
It doesn’t always have to be something big or life-changing, it could be as simple as making them feel happier, or making a task a little easier.
3. A solution to a problem.
People look to a business to solve a problem.
It could be to fill a space on their wall, wash their face without it flaring up, losing weight or having beautiful images that help them remember an event.
Big or small, people buy things to better themselves and solve a problem.
So you need to communicate what problem you solve and how you uniquely solve it, as well as showing that you solve it for someone like them.
This is why your brand identity needs to speak to a niche.
You want people to feel like you are ‘the one’ that will finally help them with what they need.
4. Relatability.
You want your audience to think ‘that is so me’ and ‘they just get me’.
Really research your target audience, their interests, hobbies, how they spend their spare time, what they buy.
You want to make your audience feel something, by making your visuals relatable. It helps them connect with you and feel like you really understand them.
5. They need Clarity.
They want it to be plain and clear who you are and how you can help them.
If your brand is confusing, sending mixed messages or no one can quite put their finger on what exactly it is that you do or who you do it for, then your brand is lacking clarity.
You need to communicate your message fast and make it easy on people, or you will lose them.
Test it out and ask people who don’t have any prior knowledge of your brand, what comes to mind when they see your branding.
Do they instantly understand what you do or is it confusing?
By considering all these things, when designing the visual identity and graphics for your brand, you can make your brand attract the right people. It will draw them in and make them feel connected to you.
If you want to dive deeper into defining a brand style that blends both aspects of you, your business and your audience, in a way that attracts your ideal audience, you can sign up for my free email course, that guides you through how to define your brand’s visual style.
