What is a brand identity?
Quill Definition: Brand Identity is, in its most basic form, the soul of an organization. The brand identity acts as a north star so that all representatives for the brand can confidently align their actions to best represent the values and personality of the company and maintain the path to fulfill the mission and chase the vision.
With something so complex as a brand’s identity, we often use tools to help us paint the full picture. This not only helps us organize our thoughts but also allows us to communicate them to our clients. One of the many tools we use to start a brand identity project is the brand matrix. The brand matrix guides you through different aspects of your brand and lets you hone in on what your brand is all about. After you figure out each piece of the matrix you can determine your brand core which is the factor that leads all other brand decisions.
There are 9 key parts of the brand matrix that help you get to your brand core. We will walk through 4 of the most important parts with you below.
Value Proposition:
- What do you offer your customers?
- What makes you different/better than your competitors?
Expression:
- How do we communicate our products/services to our customer base?
- How do we stand out? Is there something that makes us recognizable in a crowd?
Personality:
- How do our customers see us and how do we want them to see us?
- How do we want to be viewed in the market when standing next to our competitors?
Mission:
- What drives us? Why do we do what we do?
- What are our goals and how do we want to reach them?
Once you answer these questions you can pull together your brand core, and from there you always have something to reference when determining if your next move fits your brand.
