The Difficulties Of Building Your Business Identity

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Building a business identity is, in many ways, similar to the work of a novelist. You need to create an entirely new identity from an entity that didn’t exist until now. However, unlike a novelist, you can’t rely on an imaginative world to support your claims about your creation. You need to make sure that it follows the rules and standards in practice on the market. Indeed, where J.K. Rowling gives Harry Potter a magic wand to make him stand out, business owners don’t have the advantage of setting up the rules of their environment. As such, building your business identity comes with the additional challenge of meeting the expectations of the real world.

Nevertheless, the first and more difficult obstacle you need to face when you’re in the process of building and managing unique identities relates to the existential questions about the meaning, value, and purpose of the new entity. Indeed, an existential crisis is typically connected to individual depression and life speculations. In the business world, the existential challenge is the first hindrance on your path to success. It affects the very essence of your enterprise: What it stands for, what it does, and who it attracts. What makes it more complicated than a typical existential inquiry is the fact that you have to start from scratch. Identity crises traditionally question assumptions made about your past life, but in the case of a new business, you are working in the dark to build your brand identity. 

The first thing people see, your logo

Your identity begins with an image. As a business, your logo acts as the face of your company. Therefore, you need to include not only researching your brand and audience but also testing your creation as part of the logo design process. There’s no denying that you’ll need to consider your customers’ preferences. For instance, a brand such as Apple focuses on creative professionals; as a result, its sleek and simplistic logo acts as a magnet to appeal to an audience who likes effortless solutions with a stylish twist. Your choice of imagery and font needs to apply to the expectations of your audience. You can’t begin the branding journey without making sure you understand your audience. 

The first time people hear about you, your name

Starbucks. Coca-Cola. Amazon. IKEA. Durex. 

Brand names are everywhere. Some of them have been around for so long that they’re engraved in your memory. Others, however, have a hard time making a remarkable appearance in your cognitive cortex. Indeed, choosing a name that is memorable and meaningful can make a significant difference to your audience. Admittedly, it’s best to work with a brand expert who can help you to understand your specific field of activity. Professional naming companies can charge as much as $80,000 to create a name. Your name ultimately communicates your brand values and your uniqueness. It also hints at your activities, such as Italiatour, for instance, which refers to packaged tours of Italy. Acura was developed to suggest precision engineering, as it includes almost the word accurate.

When your color does the talking

What is the right color for your brand? Indeed, unicorn companies – companies with a valuation of over $1 billion such as Uber, Airbnb, and Spotify – have made themselves noticeable by using a combination of black, grey, or white in their color branding. Almost 40% use neutral colors as their primary hue, while a further 10% use these as a secondary color. According to statistics, using black, white, or grey is a powerful choice. Additionally, accent colors can convey the emotional background, such as cheerfulness with yellow, serenity for blue, or success with purple. More often than not, you want to pick a combination of color that supports your business values and promotes your brand.

Your customers want a personal relationship with a brand

Your customers expect unique interactions from your brand. However, a lot of businesses can find it tricky to create the right balance of personalization for their communication strategy. Indeed, it’s fair to say that getting personal when customers never get to deal with the same person – or with a person at all – is a significant challenge. Addressing the issue requires not only understanding the level of personalized assistance your audience requires but also ensuring you can get the necessary data. The typical “Dear John” email can feel old-fashioned when it comes to creating a personal experience. But how much should your brand know to build meaningful connections? The dilemma is at the heart of your marketing and differentiation strategy. 

Are you a cheeky or professional voice?

Building personalized connections is only one factor of your branded communication. Adopting the appropriate tone of voice is another essential challenge you need to tackle as you approach the market. Does your brand needs a chatty and convivial voice or is a corporate tone more suitable? Ideally, defining your preferred language is a decision that falls back to your audience. You need to identify not only what people need but also what they expect – using examples from companies in the same niche. 

Are you the brand? 

Is a leader the face and voice of his or her business? Customers still identify Steve Jobs as Apple’s face or Bill Gates as Microsoft’s face. As a result, the behaviors of leaders can have a dramatic effect on the brand image of the company. Someone who is charismatic and who can emphasize and support the brand values becomes, ultimately, an extension of the brand itself. As a result, backlashes are always a risk to consider. As a leader, you can’t afford to differentiate your behavior from your business image. 

When competing goes too far 

Can you genuinely promote your brand without knowing what your competitors are doing? The answer is no. But, there is a thin line between keeping yourself informed and accidentally letting competitors influence your very moves. Your business image can’t fall into the trap of the copycat who does everything competitors do. First of all, you’re unlikely to be good at pretending to be someone else. Your brand’s uniqueness is all about not being like other brands. As such, competitors can provide valuable insights into market positioning and audience targeting, but they are no role models to copy. 

Do your values translate internationally? 

Reaching out to the overseas market is exciting. However, brand growth can come at a hefty cost. Indeed, your message and targeting strategies may get lost in translation. When you approach a new market, you need to consider whether your brand values and mission translate to the different culture and demographics. As surprising as it might sound, your brand in the US may not be the same as your brand in Japan. Instead of thinking of your business in terms of a single identity, you need to develop twin identities that are meaningful to your new and international audience groups. The key to global marketing is, indeed, brand schizophrenia. 

I am the brand, and yet I am also my own person

Leaders represent the brand in the public eye. However, you can’t afford to lose yourself in the brand. While you are the public embodiment of the brand, you are not the brand itself. Maintaining your personal interests, hobbies, and thoughts without any guilt feelings can be challenging. But, in practice, you have to live your life outside of your brand. Just because you run a burger restaurant doesn’t mean you can’t eat anything else, for instance. 

Building a trustworthy and reliable business identity doesn’t happen overnight. Every decision affects your brand, from the choice of logo to the behavior of the business owner. It’s precisely because identities are a constantly evolving phenomenon in the business world that they’re so difficult to create.