How to Create a Strong Brand for Your Business How to Create a Strong Brand | Page 12

9

What do your ideal
customers look like?

10

What should your new
brand identity look like?

Once you have a clear understanding of what
makes an ideal customer for your business, the
next step is to describe what they ‘look like’.
Giving your ideal customers ‘personas’ will help
you to gain a clear picture of your target audience
and will enable you to better understand the
needs, wants and concerns of your existing and
prospective customers.

Your visual identity generally comprises of your
business name, a logo and a colour scheme. These
are the visual elements of your brand and are what
people see and, therefore, most associate with your
business. It is, therefore, important to get this right
by creating a visual identity for your business that
is in keeping with your goals and values and is
supported by your brand foundations.

This, in turn, will help you to develop a brand with
associated visual elements that are designed to
appeal to your target audience. It will also help
when developing marketing materials since you will
be able to create designs and write copy aimed
specifically at your ideal customer.

When creating the visual elements of your brand
there are a number of questions that you should
consider. For example: Do you want a logo to
represent your brand or simply the business/brand
name? If you want a logo, what shapes best
represent your brand? What colours best
represent your brand? etc.

To create these personas, gather information about
your best customers and then describe them in as
much detail as you can. The exact nature of the
information you need to consider will depend on
who your ideal customer is. For example, clients of
a large professional services firm will have a totally
different persona to those of a local hairdresser.
Remember that your ideal customer may well be a
company rather than an individual. In this case you
can consider what it would be like if it was a person
and thereby give the company a persona.

All of the work you have done to this point has been
laying the foundations for your new brand. The
information that has been gathered should form part
of your Brand Design Brief. This will help your brand
designer create a strong visual identity that is aligned
with your business goals and values and is focused
on your target market.