Your brand image is the face of your brand. It is the first thing your target audience sees when first introduced to you. What do you suppose goes through their mind when they see your brand image? Are the colors and imagery resonating by correctly representing your brand values and personality? How about consistency, are you showing one message?
At the first introduction everything is riding on your brand image. If a business’s image is amateur, then they are doing immediate damage to sales goals. Their efforts to save money and get an image on the cheap, only shows their lack of understanding as to how the buying public formulates buying decisions. Their perceptions are the reality in the world of a brand. If a business looks like a small player, a person will have a more difficult time building a belief that the business can deliver for them. These perceptions and reactions happen in seconds. Building trust is huge in the sales cycle and so any distraction from that effort is critical.
Your brand image should also differentiate your company. Choose colors that not only represent your personality, fit psychologically but also are different than competing companies. Every aspect of your brand must be compelling to a prospect. Your brand image mustn’t be simply window dressing either. You have to walk the walk. There are so many things you have to remember in order to succeed, your image should be the wonderful wrapping to a tremendous gift inside.
Take this opportunity to look objectively at your brand image. Ask friends and customers for their opinions in a short survey. Use the results to address any deficiencies and make your job a little bit easier.
Color is fine for brand logo, but it is not significant. The important part is how to introduce brand to people so that they will aware. There are many brand logo with only one color but the sound is huge.
pesuy17Â Color is not just for the logo but a consistent palette across all your promotional efforts creates a powerful connection in the minds of your audience. It’s something on a sub-conscience level. Over time customers associate your name with certain colors. Coca-Cola red, UPS brown, McDonald’s red and yellow/gold.
A company brand has to be attractive, significant and DIFFERENT. Good point Ed, paying to get cheaper image will likely put your company at risk. Making brand takes a lot of time, effort, plan and more plans. 🙂
ChristineSteffensen Entrepreneurs put a lot of importance on decor, equipment, talent etc. but more times than not, they discount marketing – the very thing that generates income. If businesses don’t see the importance of marketing themselves why should customers takes them seriously? Planning, planning, planning – good points Christine!
another informative post Ed. Thanks for the tips! will keep them in mind..
murdoeguy Thanks for coming back Murdoeguy.
Ed Roach murdoeguy always a pleasure being here..your posts has really helped small business entrepreneurs like me learn a lot.
murdoeguy Ed Roach That’s great! Thanks.
your brand should be innovative and attractive so that everyone gets attracted from it and u get the maximum numbers of visitors for your sites.
The power of ‘Brand Image’, IMO, is more often than not an
under utilized exercise. Brand Image helps tweak emotions and defines
the emotional connect along with the recalls.
Differentiated colours add up a majority of advantages. On several
occasions, I have come across untapped colours that would prominantly
associate with target markets but … for unknown reasons aint put to use.
Very useful post, Ed.
GeorgeTent Do you mean that you’ve discovered colors that you could use to differentiate, but haven’t embraced them? If so, why not?
There’s truth in this. As a designer, I value the really creative and methodical approaches to choosing your brand image. Design is king for about 8 seconds when someone comes into contact with you.Â
I just want to add that while your brand image is important, but it’s becoming increasingly less so because of social media. We no longer have to see a brand in order to trust it because we can get a recommendation from a friend that we trust. They bridge that trust gap for us and then the brand image when do see it, doesn’t affect us quite as much.Â
That said, your image still means a lot, i’m not questioning that. All the things you mention here Ed are important, colors, fonts, etc. It conveys a level of professionalism that “cheaper” brands simply don’t have.Â
Hope that all makes sense. In a nutshell, we have to understand that our brand is so much more than the image (which I know you know). That’s just a tiny slice of the pie these days.Â
Great article, thanks for your contribution to the creative world!
JaredLatigo Awesome comment Jared. I agree that social has become the first venue of exposure, but at some point the ‘buyer’ is going to check you out. That could be an online visit or if you have bricks and mortor – a location visit. Every touchpoint plays on their psychi and what their perception will be of your brand.Â
Even if a friend refers us, ultimately we will come into visual contact of some sort and that is where your image plays a part. Even if it’s as simple as two guys pulling up in a pickup. If the image is home-made and the pickup is all rust – that is brand image. Bad image breeds skepticism and that leads to lots of negatives.
Ed Roach JaredLatigo Definitely agree with you. The image is very important and will continue to be. My point was that it’s often not the first time someone hears of us anymore…unlike it used to be in the not to distant past.Â
Thanks for the reply!
This is absolutely a great post. Brand image will go along way to speak for the business. Most of the business owners who understand and utilizing this are really doing well in their businesses. Thanks for this great post.
Hey Ed,
Nice post! It is true that whenever a business starts, it’s the branding of the company that is first to attract people/customers and I totally agree about what you’ve posted that having a cheap brand name, logo or branding promotion would be a big disaster to a business. Well, we can apply the saying that goes “first impression lasts”. So I guess, for those who are just starting and still planning to have an online business ore even offline business, focus first on branding before launching your business.
Brand image should be fresh, innovative, unique and simple! That is the best way how to successfully build your brand!
Excellent post!
Hi guys such a wonderful information
Ya
brand image should be attractive, simple, and informative. Its the
first impression, so its important to first focus on branding.
I am so glad that I have stumbled across your blog. The information you have provided really useful and inspiring. I love all your funny and exciting stories. Keep it up!
I totally agree with your points and thanks for sharing this amazing article on Brand Image. The most important reason for branding is that it helps in increasing your sales. It helps in creating a uniqueness of your product.
Toby Crabtree Thanks for adding to the conversation Toby.