The brand promise acts as a manifesto. It is the summary of what you commit to do in practice to make your purpose a reality.
Often, the brand promise is what we see being communicated by brands . If purpose is an internal process of discovery and understanding how you can impact the world, the promise, in turn, is what makes it tangible.
Mentioning Nike again, they believe that every person is an athlete. They are committed to transforming and creating a better, more sustainable world for people, planet and communities through the power of sport and the most important part is: how will they do that? Through sport. That’s the promise.
If we take a page from Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle , we will clearly understand that the purpose is the why , and the promise is the how .
Brand attributes
Once you’ve understood your purpose and platform, it’s time to talk about your brand attributes. These characteristics are part of the journey, showcasing your brand’s unique way of walking as it navigates the journey to reach its ultimate goal.
Extraordinary brands have unique purposes and promises. However, what often sets the great ones apart is how they go about getting where they want to go. Here, the means are as important as the results.
Clearly, attributes are characteristic of your brand . These are non-negotiable values for it and depend on everything from the way you communicate to the way your employees work.
A few years ago, Asana, the business process management platform, underwent a rebranding process. In marketing, this is what we call rebranding .
In this process, explained in detail here , the company created its brand attributes, which function as aspects of a personality, that is, as if it were a person.
After a lot of research with employees to understand what made Asana unique in the way it operates, they came up with this conclusion:
Clear and action-oriented, these attributes helped the entire company understand what was expected of their communication and behavior. It was a huge success for them and can certainly be a success for your company as well.
Positioning
We already know that we need a purpose to understand why we exist and that a brand promise makes everything more tangible.
We also know that brand attributes help humanize a brand and align expectations . We still need to talk about brand positioning.
According to Philip Kotler , one of the fathers of marketing, positioning is the act of creating an understanding of the offering and image that defines the market space your brand will occupy and how it will be perceived by consumers.
To understand your positioning, you first need to think about your business goals and the real value your company and product offer. This is where you start thinking about your positioning.
A location might focus on innovation , for example. This type is often linked to an idea of disruption. Take Uber, for example.
When it came to the market, its positioning was clearly focused on innovation, on changing the way we relate to transportation.
All of its marketing moves focused on showing the app as the new transportation option, always associated with modernity, while other modes of travel were obsolete.
As other competitors with similar business models advanced, Uber had to adapt to a differentiated positioning.
So, like Uber and other leading companies, you should focus on safety, price, better user experience, or whatever you believe is a unique value for your company.
Positioning is understanding your market, what your consumers need and want .
From there, look inside your company and understand how your product or service can be present and relevant in this scenario.
Having a brand identity is what makes big companies recognizable with a single color or icon.
However, much more than a strong name or a creative logo, it is about creating a unique universe that is easy to relate to your brand.
Arguably the first step is to create a name and logo for your company .
If you already have one, take a look at it and see if it fits your brand. If you haven’t got one yet, you can use these two guides we’ve produced to guide you when developing your company name or creating a logo.
Okay, it’s time to focus our attention on other points that you may not have noticed and that are also very relevant to your branding process:
Structure a visual identity
Yes, the logo is part of a visual identity. However, it is only one end of an ecosystem of elements that help give coherence to all your visual communication. The elements that generally make up a visual identity are three.
Let’s find out more about them below!
Colors
Colors help your identity to be more than just attractive. They are the ones that can be combined with any communication in your company and help it achieve its goals.
You may have heard about color psychology , so you already know that each color gives a certain idea and provokes certain feelings.
So when choosing what your corporate colors will be, it’s important to go back to your brand attributes and answer the question: what colors will help communicate those attributes?
It is important to remember that this is not just a process of choice but also of maintenance. The color red did not become associated with Coca-Cola overnight. This is a work of repetition and attention to detail.
A good example of this is Bancolombia, one of the main digital banks in Latin America.
If you look at it on Instagram, you will see that it has an extremely regional profile to strengthen the sense of belonging of its audience and, at the same time, give an idea of trust, which is fundamental for the financial market.
Nothing better for this purpose than using the colours of the Colombian flag in its visual identity. It is a bank that shows that it is closely linked to the chromatic universe of its clients and that transmits solidity by displaying a national flag.
Icons, symbols and illustrations
The logo is undoubtedly the most recognizable symbol in a brand, but there are other elements that support an identity. Here we will talk more about how they are created than about the symbols or icons themselves.
Here at Rock Content , for example, we work a lot with illustrations. They are a way to help us build an identity that supports our institutional identity.
Our illustrations, especially those on our blog, focus on showing real people. One technique we use for this is applying the grain effect to add texture and make them more human. This is what guides this part of our identity.
For your company, they can be geometric figures, more circular or straight, symbols recognized by your audience or other elements.
The important thing is to create these elements that will help you have an even more coherent brand and, in this way, will strategically communicate your brand at all points of contact.
Typography
Serif or sans serif? Uppercase or lowercase? If you’ve had any contact with design, you know that these are common questions when establishing guidelines for a brand’s typography . As with colors, these details are critical when conveying a message.
Generally, brands have primary and secondary fonts. Primary fonts are usually the most well-known fonts, as they are the ones used in the logo. Who doesn’t recognize the Coca-Cola lettering instantly?
But these are not the only fonts. There are also those we call secondary or support fonts, which are used in other communications, such as social media posts and marketing campaigns.
Can you imagine a Coca-Cola Instagram post written in the main font? Difficult, isn’t it? So they use a support font, like this one:
Create an impactful slogan
A brand does not live on visual processes alone, and we know the power of words very well. Several brands are immediately remembered when associated with their slogans.
“ I’m loving it ” or “ Just Do It” are just some of these examples.
Slogans are often chosen to support brand communication at times when the logo alone is not enough. They are also often used as a feature of a one-off campaign .
There are slogans that are associated with companies for a long time. Others change with the situation to adapt to the strategic positioning of the brand at the time the company is going through.
