Branding vs. Brand Identity Design

October 23, 2017 - Caroll Atkins Leave a comment

You have finally found the perfect name for your business. Now it’s time for a cool new logo to represent that business. One that gets attention and compliments and yes, bring the customers calling. Your logo is your brand after all. Whoa, is it really your brand? Is a logo a brand? Unfortunately many people mistakenly believe their logo is their brand. It is not. It is part of your brand identity design which in turn is part of your branding strategy. Confused? For a clearer understanding of what is your brand and what is brand identity design, please read on.

I started my entrepreneurial career as a graphic designer 13 years ago. Several years in, I was led to explore brand styling, mostly because of instinct and logic. You see, my instinct told me for years, “do not let a customer come to you needing a logo mark without educating them on exactly what that is and what they must know about their brand before getting one.” At that point most of my clients would say, “the logo is my brand, that is what I want a brand!” Many of my clients seemed more interested in something that was anywhere from cute to cool. Most of them knew very little about the market their business was hoping to attract let alone what that market would think is cute or cool and more importantly why. They gave very little thought if any to how they wanted a potential customer to feel once they saw their logo. Thinking about the customer’s emotions to their brand was just not on their radar.

13 years ago, branding was very new to my clients and probably to a lot of other people. What was clear back then is that many were simply looking for brand identity design.

Brand Identity Design: how a business wants to be perceived by its customers. Through brand identity design a brand will communicate with its niche. The brand identity is a cohesive message that uses a name, logo, imagery and various styles.

Branding: this is the purposeful and intentional actions a business takes to reveal its promise and to elicit a favorable emotional reaction from its target audience.

Brand identity design, branding, logo

Even today, there are still a lot of misconceptions between what is a brand identity design, branding or even a logo. Keeping my above definitions in mind, it is clear to see that a logo is part of brand design identity plan and an element used in branding. To make sure your business is as strong and solid as it can be, you need branding. Your branding must be consistent and it must be thoughtful. Many of my clients would say to me, “I just need a logo, that should be enough for my brand and if I really do need branding, can’t I just do it later?” At this point I would inform them whether they knew it or not, as soon as you expose any part of your business to the public, be it through sales, advertising or simply discussing it with people, you have started the process of branding. Is what you are doing and saying consistent, thoughtful, informative with a specific brand personality, tone and voice that you have given purposeful thought too? Do you have a brand design identity plan to introduce the target audience to your brand’s promise? These are the elements you want to make sure are always in place when you are promoting your brand. These elements help to build your brand. So as you can see, in all actuality brand identity design is part of branding.

Branding and brand identity working together

Once you have the branding foundation which will include the business’ core values, mission and vision statements, personality, tone and voice, you can use it to create the visual aspect or the brand identity of your business. Remember branding is about creating an experience for your customer. The brand identity will help to express this visually and give your brand a cohesive, memorable and professional look and feel.

Conclusion

I hope this article helped to clarify the difference between branding and brand identity design. Please take some time before you design your brand’s identity to understand several aspect about what your target audience is like, what they value, what their problems to be solved are and most of all how you would like them to feel and what experience you would like them to have with your brand.

If you are looking for an experienced brand stylist who will help you create and express the intangible elements of your branding into strategic, thoughtful and impactful visuals, please contact me at Caroll Atkins Creatives.

Do you know the difference between branding and brand identity design? What does that mean to you and how do you define it?

Caroll Atkins, Brand Stylist / Creative Director

Develop Your Personality Brand And Watch Your Business Soar

January 26, 2016September 28, 2017 - Caroll Atkins Leave a comment

Your creativeness is something that is manifested, harvested and crafted into ways and means that help others as much as it pleases you. This is your personality brand. ~Caroll Atkins

So many times I hear friends say they believe that they are not creative. When I say nonsense, they then challenge me to show them their creative ability. At that request I chuckle. How can I possible find their creative ability when I do not know what is their ultimate reality and where do they draw their spiritual power. Oh I know virtually everyone will say that they draw their power from Jesus or God or both, but what does that even mean to them? For most I think it is just something they believe they ought to say.

Your Personality Brand

I found my creative ability (my personality brand), when I stopped trying to lead and became led. Not led by a “divine power” but led by awesome displays of all kinds of beauty, majestic power of nature, kindness and generosity. You see I am a firm believer that these examples are what frees creativity, because to marvel at this is to know there is something greater and the beauty and pleasure it brings will certainly make you feel it. As you are no doubt starting to realize, your creativeness does not have to be something specific like drawing, singing, dancing, etc. Your creativeness is something that is manifested, harvested and crafted into ways and means that help others as much as it pleases you. This is your personality brand.

Develop Your Personality Brand Creative Power

So what are you conscious of? What is your reality? Is it material and monetary? If so, I can guarantee you that if you don’t have a readily visible, universally acknowledged talent that you can parlay to the world and be in the right place and the right time for someone to recognize it and pay you for it, you are screwed! Personal creativity is derived from a deeper level. The more you study creation, the more you will grow and evolve and birth your own individual creative personality and it’s brand power. You already have all you need to be creative. Once you learn how to believe in yourself, and know that YOU are your own source of power, you will become aware of what your special creative gift(s) is/are.

I found my creative talents, and yes I do mean talents, and I am continuing to find more and more of them, when I learn to enjoy the power of silence. It spoke to me, it told me to trust my feelings and instincts. I was then able to let go of the need to be in charge and embrace the idea of looking at things with a childlike amazement in order to see its honesty. Nature became something of an infinite well of wisdom. How things came to be? Why things came to be? How do they work together? Why should they work together? You get the point, I looked at it on a deeper more constructive level and in doing so it showed me ways and means that can readily be applied to life and my business and craft. The most important thing I learned, is to not be steadfastly rigid to ANY one point of view. Now don’t get me wrong, I welcome all views, I just do not subscribe to all of them. In business, I have learned to trust my consciousness as my ultimate guide, celebrate others creativity and be open to possibilities, big or small. However the ultimate principle I practice in my life is that of looking for and maintaing balance. No matter what is going on good or bad, I look for the balance. “Too much of one thing is good for nothing” so I have heard and I am inclined to agree!

Caroll Atkins
Brand Stylist / Creative Director
Insta: @CarollAtkinsCreatives

5 Tips For Amazing Logos

January 16, 2016December 12, 2017 - Caroll Atkins Leave a comment

“The first impression is the most lasting impression”, this is bible for a brand’s logo.

When it comes to having one of the most memorable, bad-ass, brand building logos out there, I have 5 tips you must follow. Yes, there are rules to having the most engaging logo that people remember and lead them to checking out your brand. Your logo is part of your brand’s promise. It sets the tone for your business and delivers an expectation to potential clients. Why take a chance to mess up this first impression? You know what they say, “the first impression is the most lasting impression”.

Keep it simple! First of all, no one wants to spend time trying to figure out what all the cutesy, sentimental chackis in your logo is or means. They don’t care! And if they don’t care, you better care. In today’s communication world, the smart phone is king, second is tablets. What this means is your available space to show off your logo and foster brand visibility is smaller and more limited. Simple, flat designs are the most preferred styles because they address this issue. This will be the case for many years to come.
Unforgettable and memorable. In today’s market the demand for a consumer’s attention is simply put, vicious. A typical person viewing your brand online will only spend about 2-3 seconds, so you must make sure your logo is compelling and attractive if you want to create engagement.
So Fresh, so clean. Are you a fan of the phrase “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”? Well in the logo game, it is really not. What it is, is really this phrase “been there seen that”. This is one time that you do not want to remind the consumer of another brand especially if that brand is in a business much like yours.
Be timeless, but modern. Do not confuse trendy for modern. Modern tends to be less stylized. It only captures relevant characteristics of the times and does not become bogged down by over stylizing with too many details.
Keep the balance. One of the things that points out a poorly designed logo from a professional one is the balance and proportions that is used to create it. Even a logo as simple as the Twitter logo is filled with balance and proportions. This is especially useful in logos that utilize both text and graphics. Paying careful attention that these elements work together seamlessly and gives visual balance to the eye, is a critical element to the success of your logo design.

While there are many more elements one can add regarding proper logo creation, for the purpose of a brief article, I chose these 5. Many times when I see logos that miss the mark, these are the elements that have been ignored. A logo is a beautiful thing, but mostly it is a very important investment one has made for their business. Make sure it is also the wisest.

Caroll Atkins
Caroll Atkins Creatives

Why Millennials are critical to your brand

January 8, 2016 - Caroll Atkins 1 Comment

Smart brands know that the holy grail for brand promotion comes directly from the consumer. They are connected to the consumer market and dialogue directly with them instead of at them.

It is 2016 and you may be gearing up for the best year of business thus far. This is a great time to start or refocus on your branding efforts. What is definitely NOT advisable is to believe that you can be impactful by connecting separately from your consumer. If you have not heard, engagement is the word!

Smart brands know that the holy grail for brand promotion comes directly from the consumer. They are connected to the consumer market and dialogue directly with them instead of at them. They know that organic conversations are preferred and user generated content (UGC) is king!

All you have to do is look at most of TV and online ads, and you will see that the theme attempts to make an emotional connection with the consumer. They do this through various mediums. Some even use personal home made videos or YouTube content. Why do they do this? One word, Millennials!

Why are Millennials coveted for brands?

If as a brand you are not connecting and learning about this group, you are missing a huge opportunity not to mention section of the consumer market. A person born 1982 thru 1999 is considered a millennial, start date varies. It is estimated that there are 80 million of them. Why are millennials so coveted? They typically have increasing buying power as they get older and they are usually early adopters ready to try new products while being huge influencers on the purchases of others. However, their thought process is different from the Generation Xers. Social causes are important to them. Brands with positive outcome for the consumer is key. They have higher tolerances and are more broad-minded. They see higher education as a necessary and expensive consumer good. They are politically oriented and community engaged. They are masters of self-expression and are determined to set their own path. (Millennial Generation Research Review) Above all, consumer markets research shows that this group relates best to the people they perceive to be like them. With such big numbers, increased spending power, influence over purchases and a desire and determination to express their selves as they see fit, you can see why they would be sought after. Also, if you acquire their attention and trust at an early age, it’s possible to have their loyalty for many years to come, and this is critical because their peak buying power is still decades away.

How do brands reach Millennials?

With an annual purchasing power of an estimated 200 billion, knowing how to reach millennials can be critical to your brand.

The majority of millennials use social media to connect with brands. They spend 1.8 hours a day on social media.
A brand that shows it cares is attractive to this generation. Be involved in philanthropic causes. Be concerned about how your product/service affects consumers.
Have highly engaging content online. Millennials are willing to share information about their brand preference with their peers online.

Finally, you must have good branding and story telling. Knowing what this generation enjoys in terms of graphics, language and tone is crucial. Offering perks and being positive is very important. Never be fake. Always be authentic. For both males and females, happiness is their ultimate goal, so never “sell” them. They are very optimistic a trait that can be very beneficial to brands who provide products that they hope will change the world!

Caroll Atkins
CarollAtkinsCreatives.com

You are a visionary and the world needs your creativity

December 26, 2015 - Caroll Atkins 3 Comments

Visionary. Once upon a time, many of us thought this word was limited to huge figures in history who discovered things like electricity, the wheel, etc. However, nowadays, we see this role in a much larger capacity. Vision like creativity, can be had by many as long as they are willing to step forward, communicate and recruit good people to help make it reality. Vision can be simple or it can be common sense that just somehow lost its sense and has become no longer common. Vision has become more and more important in this day and age simply because times are getting darker and more murkier. We are losing our way, our view has become narrower and we cannot see the forest from the trees. Because of this, vision is needed now more than ever. We realize that the same old way we have been used to doing things, are no longer working or just plain outdated for today’s life and circumstances.

When you are a visionary people come forward to serve you, not to spite you.

As we already know, vision exists in every aspect of life. So, when one steps up with their vision it can be in any capacity. As a visionary, many will be attracted to you and your vision. The world still wants and appreciates leaders. If you are such a person, realize that your vision comes with responsibilities and certain acknowledgements. Firstly know this, when you bring a vision to light, those who should choose to follow you and take up your cause by offering their help do so for the simple fact that they want to serve you because they believe in what you believe in. What greater honor is there? Sometimes when we try to bring a vision to reality, it can be very stressful and we may at times find that we can become less than kind to those who are dedicated to help us. Sometimes we can be downright nasty. Nurturing our vision can at times unleash our egos and our distrust especially when those we have helping us reveal information that has us questioning if our vision’s direction is the best one. At such times, it is easy for us to feel that those helping us are trying to spite us. Please be clear on this, those who show up to help you are not there to spite you. One does not sign up to help, cheer you on, congratulate you and most of all they would never recommend you or promote you to others if they did not believe in you and respect what you are about.

Do not let your bright vision, one that may be capable of doing much good and enlightening many, be extinguished by distrust, ego and being self-absorbed. Realize that many are waiting for new and better every day, but may sometimes lack the direction, focus or strength to carry it through. And others may not even know they needed what you have to offer. Be gracious, and grateful, be inclusive, but most of all realize that sometimes your vision may need adjustment, a tweak here and there. I mean we don’t curse our eyes and throw them out when they need adjusting, no we simply get a pair of glasses.

Peace & Light
Caroll Atkins
Caroll Atkins Creatives

Donald Trump’s presidency bid, a lesson in effective branding?

December 21, 2015 - Caroll Atkins 2 Comments

No matter what we may think about Donald Trump, the one thing that has not gone unnoticed by me is his tireless marketing skills. This guy knows how to command a bounty in media attention. Now politics aside, looking at how Mr. Trump has been able to on almost a daily basis garner some media to cover him and his views as he runs for President of the United States is fascinating. How is he doing it? How is someone who is best known in New York and marginally know elsewhere for his casinos and penchant for putting his name on any and everything he produces, able to garner so much press and attention? Not because he is a novelty, Ben Carson is just as out of the box as he is and does not get as much press.

…Mr. Trump’s USP is proposing to give the people what they want.

“Make America great again“, this is Donald Trump’s USP (unique selling proposition). Hearing the American people complain about America’s falling standards as compared to the rest of the world, he saw his opportunity. Using one of the most pivotal principles of business, Mr. Trump’s USP is proposing to give the people what they want.

As a business man, Mr. Trump promotes his products as the best in quality. He fancies himself as a great individual, in fact all that he does and represents he packages as either the best or the greatest. That strategy has obviously worked for him in his business ventures, so it appears that he is adapting it to his bid for the presidency. Americans complain of wanting to return to the good old days. Mr. Trump quickly framed his USP in a manner that promised this, simple and straight forward. Unlike the other candidates who speak and focus on the individual elements of the American economy and culture that need to be improved, Mr. Trump has stuck with this one phrase. While he has not given any tangible information on how he will help to make America great, the public is still on board. Well to be clear, he has not given tangible information on the who, what and when to make it happen either.

What Mr. Trump has done is use his why in a cunning manner. Again, using his marketing skills, he has proceeded to create a need in the public that may not have been there at least not to any great extent. He helped escalate the public’s fear, irrational or latent. He awakened their hate and cultivated their ignorance and propositioned it back to them as being strong and becoming aware. Now, he can now sell them the cure or the fix, and that is to elect him as president a strong, no nonsense, unafraid individual.

Some may argue that Mr. Trump’s message is to build a culture of hope and optimism and bring back greatness to America. It appears all he has really managed to do is to build a brand of hate and fear mongering. The old adage that no publicity is bad publicity is definitely apparent here, at least to the extent it is getting him noticed. The question is, is he getting the kind of brand recognition he wants? Will the culture he has built for his bid for the White House sustain him? Will it bring him the ultimate success? In my opinion this is doubtful. In marketing at some point people stop focusing on the hype and start looking for the plan, the promise, concrete traceable steps of execution. But for the time being I say, well played Mr. Trump, let’s see if you can win the game.

Caroll Atkins
CarollAtkinsCreatives.com

5 Amazing Ways To Make Your Brand Stand Out

December 14, 2015September 27, 2017 - Caroll Atkins Leave a comment

Have you heard of a USP? Do you have one? The power of a good USP (unique selling proposition) is priceless. Think of Nike and their “Just Do It” or McDonald’s and “I’m Loving it”, they are reaping the rewards and benefits of a solid USP that speaks directly to their customers emotions and of course they have the solution. In my article “Are you building a brand or making one up” I spoke of how branding is a process of many features, and one of those features is definitely a USP.

Spend time exploring things about your product or service that is original to you. Call it your special sauce if you will.

The first thing to consider in your business is, what are my offerings. Basically, what is in it for your customers. Your product must solve a need or offer a clear and defined service to your chosen demographic. In addition, find the differentiation in your product and your competitor’s product. Promote this!
Today’s customer especially millennials, purchase products and services based on an emotional quotient. They want to know the products and services they use are in some way or another beneficial, safe, responsible even ethical in addition to being reliable and of good value. Your product or service must fill several of those needs.
How original are you? Spend time exploring things about your product or service that is original to you. Call it your special sauce if you will. If you offer the same product or service as your competitor, you should find ways to differentiate. It could be better service, increased benefits or features, whatever it may be, promote it!
Have you heard of the elevator speech? Well start thinking of the “company one liners”. Create as many short phrases about your company as you possibly can. Whether it is to sell the business, service, people, customer, etc., create them so at any and every opportunity you can promote your business and let everyone know how passionate you are about your business and what it can do for them. Try to resonate with their emotional senses, show them you can fill their product or service needs.
When all is said and done, every customer simply wants to know, “what is in it for me?” This is your chance to go directly to the point of your product or service’s benefits. Bottom line it for them. Visa tells the public, “We are everywhere you want to be”, it lets potential customers know that it’s use is global and so they will not have a problem having their card accepted at any and all merchants. What I am trying to say is, potential customers want to know that you can solve their issue or at the very least you can inform them of a potential issue that you already have a solution for.

When you are trying to stand out, think very carefully about your brand and what it has to offer. Think about your competitors what are they offering? How are you different? How can you be different? That’s the message you have to get out, every single chance and in every single way and promote this!

Caroll Atkins
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Are you building a brand, or making one up

December 11, 2015December 11, 2015 - Caroll Atkins 4 Comments

Your brand is your verbal, visual and written promise to your customers. It sets the stage for what they may expect from the products and services that you offer. It is your opportunity to differentiate your self from your competitors. Your brand is created when who you are and who the public believe you to be as well as what you want to be is clear.

You have a logo, you have a website, you have business cards and you have product, lots of product, with your logo on it. You are advertising on all the social media sites. That’s it! You have built your brand right? Or have you?

Branding today is a critical part of any business, whether small or large, even B2B, having an effective brand strategy will give you a major edge in this increasingly competitive consmer market. Knowing what branding is and what it means is crucial if you want to stand apart from the crowd and command your share of the consumer market. Building a brand is much, much more than just those things. Sure, they are critical elements of your brand, but what is the brand?

Brand
/brand/
Your brand is your verbal, visual and written promise to your customers. It sets the stage for what they may expect from the products and services that you offer. It is your opportunity to differentiate your self from your competitors. Your brand is created when who you are and who the public believe you to be as well as what you want to be is clear.

How is your company positioned in the consumer market? Are you innovative, experienced, reliable, a low-cost leader, etc.? To answer this you must know who your target customer is. Once you know this, you can give them what they want and need. Stay away from the trap of trying to be all things to all people. This will muddy your brand and confuse your customer.

Logos, color palette, packaging and your voice in marketing material and advertising are all things that will support your brand. Careful attention should be given to these as well. Building a brand is not so much what you have, but largely how you make your customer feel. If you can make them want something they never thought they had a need for, then your branding is successful.

Caroll Atkins, CEO
Caroll Atkins Creatives