In the highly competitive business world, Branding plays an indispensable role. It is a link that connects a business to its customers. The concept of branding is quite comprehensive and is often used interchangeably with Brand identity or Logo. Many brand logo design companies say that they will do branding for you, however, all they do is design logos for business. Hence, understanding the difference between Branding, Brand Identity, and a Logo is critical before you start your branding exercise.
Although each of these have different roles to play, they work closely together. Adequate development of all three can help you acquire, retain and sustain customers at a low cost.
Let us first try to understand each concept individually to understand the differences and how each one works to enhance your business.
What is Branding?
As Jeff Bezos says - ‘Your brand is what other people say about you when you are not in the room’. It is the reputation you build for your customers to know you for some specific reasons. The reasons can be a powerful logo, a story that connects you with them, or even your purpose. Some of the intangible aspects of branding are:
- Relationships
- Behavior
- Gut-feeling
- Emotions
- Memories
- Expectations
Effective branding brings out the emotional responses from your customers which further helps in building connections with them. Around 64% of women and 68% of men surveyed feel an emotional connection with a brand. Branding is the essence of all marketing activities. If you want to differentiate yourself from your competitors and stand out in the business market, you must have effective branding in place.
However, your logo does not define the entire branding process. Neither does the identity. But both of them together form a part of your brand-building exercise to create a public presence.
What is Brand Identity?
The visual aspects of a brand such as the Logo, Colors, Design, and Fonts form a brand identity. These are the tangible elements that make up a Brand. Everything that you can see, touch can be termed as brand identity.
Apart from logo and brand design, Colors and graphics also play a major role in creating a strong identity for your brand. For instance, customers are 80% more likely to recognize you if you use the same colors on all your branding material.
Image Source - Biziz
Another aspect of Brand identity is consistency. Presenting a branding consistently over all channels and platforms can increase your revenue by 33 percent. Some of the tangible elements of a brand identity are:
- Stationary
- Collateral
- Uniforms
- Signage
- Websites
- Advertisements
So the next time you want to get designing done for your brand, look for a brand identity designer who’s forte lies in all these aspects.
Image Source - Stonesoupcreative
What is Logo?
A logo is a visual symbol that identifies your business in the simplest form. As simple as it may sound, Logos are very powerful for identification. The logo of your brand, being a part of the Brand identity is the key tool to reflect your mission, values, and personality to your target audience. A logo is made up of the below elements:
- Symbols
- Words
- Color
- Form
- Shape
A carefully drafted Logo can give your business a unique identity setting it apart from the competition. You can get millions of logo design ideas on the internet for free but the perfect one can only be crafted keeping the essence of your business in mind. Although a Logo does not have the power to sell, it can still provide the customer with some crucial information about the company, such as its values.
A Logo corporate identity is very important for a business because it appears on the majority of points of contact with the customers. The POC’s being - websites, brochures, packaging, stores, etc.
Conclusion
After learning about each of the concepts we can say that the elements of Brand identity and the Logo are subsets of Branding. These are also the supporting pillars to build a strong brand name as a logo or a visual element can create a strong visual association between a business and its customers. Aligning your logo to a well-designed branding strategy can boost your business multifold.
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