The 4 Crucial Components To Developing A Successful Brand
You already know what makes your business unique, but how can you best communicate this to the public? How can you take your goods and services, and create a recognizable and meaningful brand?
When it comes to developing a brand, “what it takes” can be distilled into four core components- values, personality, voice, and visuals.
Values and personality help to guide business related decisions in a way that is consistent and honest, while voice and visuals help communicate your services, values, and personality through marketing and promotional materials.
Let’s dive in further and explore what these components mean, and how you can best employ them in the creation of a successful brand.
Values
One of the most important factors in any brand is trust. How trustworthy is your brand? Will potential clients or customers trust your goods and services enough before purchase to inspire a purchase? One of the best ways you can foster consumer trust is through a consistent set of values. As Christina Wallace of Harvard Business School puts it,
“A brand makes a promise and keeps it. It has a purpose, creating a compass that guides the company’s choices, behaviors, and story. When difficult decisions are on the doorstep, a company can turn to its brand values to be reminded of the promise it made to the people it is serving.”
What is the promise your brand is making to people? Sustainability? An exceptionally talented team? A seamless customer experience? Whatever your values are, write them down and use them to inspire everything in your business from the hiring process, partnerships you seek out, and employee culture. Having brand values is a key part of establishing a personality.
Personality
The personality behind your brand is important, because it dictates your messaging, and how people generally feel about your business. A few examples of how personality can be embodied in your brand, and are different from values, is this framework of five traits by Dr. Jennifer Aaker-
Sincerity
Excitement
Competence
Sophistication
Ruggedness
These human characteristics could be used to express any value, but the choice of which of these characteristics you use is ultimately what will make for your unique brand persona. For example, if you’re an outdoor outfitter committed to sustainability, you might opt for a more Rugged personality, inspiring you to choose earthy tones, grainy fonts, and natural images. Which brings us to visuals.
Visuals
The visuals of a brand are perhaps most important in terms of communicating the values, personality, and practicality of your business. This is where branding photography (Hey, that’s me!) comes in. Visuals are crucial in creating an impression of who you are and what you do. They work together with your brand voice to give future clients a feel for who you are.
Voice
Wondering how to engage people with your brand in an authentic way? It’s all about the voice! Your brand voice - from what topics you choose to speak about, to how you speak about them - is defined by its expertise, formality, and grammar. Your brand voice should appeal to the ideal client you’re aiming to serve.
I’m genuinely curious: how would you define your brand personality, values, and voice? Do your visuals and marketing photos represent the brand you are or want to be?
If not, contact me to set up a brand photography consult!
