Confused about brand strategy and brand identity? Here's why they both matter

As an entrepreneur or business owner, you already know that every successful business needs a strong brand. Consistent branding builds loyalty, increases brand awareness, and can help generate leads for your business. If you’re wondering what’s the difference between brand strategy and brand identity, you’re not alone. 

Brand Strategy vs. Brand Identity

When it comes to branding, there are a lot of terms that sound the same. Brand strategy and brand identity are branding elements that are essential to take your business to the next level. They work together to help you stand out against the competition. 

Let’s review some of the most used terms in branding. 

Brand: Your name, tagline, logo, and brand voice. It’s the total experience that helps your clients connect with your business. 

Branding: This is what makes your business memorable. 

Brand Strategy: A long-term plan for your business and how you want your business to be perceived. 

Brand Identity: The personality and the visual elements of your business. 

Brand Awareness: Establishes trust and builds equity for your product. 

Brand Book: Helps people grasp the essentials of what a company means and stands for.

Brand Style Guide: A living document where all your brand's visual guidelines live.

Vision Statement: Explains your brand's vision and where you want to be in the future.

Mission Statement: Declares your why and guides future decisions.

To build a great brand, you need both a powerful brand strategy and a brand identity. In this guide, we’ll explore what these concepts mean and how they work together to elevate your brand. 

Understanding brand strategy: Your roadmap to success

What’s the long-term plan for your business? How are you going to boost your brand image to reach your target audience? To answer these questions, you need to create a brand strategy. 

When you create a brand strategy, you’ll understand why you’re in business, who you serve, what you do, and how you do it. A brand strategy helps put your values and mission in focus so you can create content that attracts the right customers. It serves as a guideline for the way you and your team do business. If all of a sudden, a crisis hits, your brand strategy will help guide you through it. 

To create a brand strategy,  

• Define your why. Why are you in business? What’s your purpose? 
• Create a vision statement that explains your goals for today and the future. 
• Write a compelling and memorable mission statement that tells people what you do, who you serve, and how you do it. 

How to create a Brand Identity

Your brand identity is your business's visual elements, including the fonts, colors, content, tone, and photography that you’ll use throughout your website, marketing content, and sales collateral. Your brand identity should be recognizable and consistent to help make a great first impression with new clients. 

To build a brand identity, you have to know who you’re talking to. 

• Who is your target audience? 
• What do they do? 
• Where do they shop? 
• What are their hobbies? 

The more you know about your ideal customers, the better you will be able to solve their problems. 

Once you understand who your ideal clients are, you can start designing the logo for your business. A great logo should be simple, timeless, and memorable. It should represent your brand values and mission. As businesses evolve, it’s not uncommon for brands to rebrand and design a new logo. While we don’t recommend switching things up too often, a new logo could freshen things up. 

Need some inspiration? Check out these logo examples. 

Before you launch your business, you’ll want to create a set of guidelines for your employees and a style guide to help customers identify with your brand. To create consistency throughout your brand, share your Brand Book with your team. It helps people understand the essentials of what a company means and stands for. It’s also a way to implement, guard, and manage your brand from the inside out.

Keep it handy because this is where all your branding elements exist, including your logos, colors fonts, and brand voice. 

We offer a brand book template with the tools you need to maximize and maintain brand consistency in an effective way. 

You’ll learn: 

1. What should be included in a Brand Book and why
2. What is the business value of a Brand Book
3. How to communicate your brand's values and purpose
4. How to create your own Brand Book

Download the Brand Book Guide here. 

Together your brand strategy and brand identity help create the foundation for a strong brand. To increase brand awareness, you’ll want to make sure you’re consistent in everything you do surrounding your business. Once you’ve created your brand strategy, you can start to develop your brand identity to connect with your audience. 

A memorable brand doesn’t happen overnight. To create a loyal following, you need to work at it. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different marketing techniques and track what’s working and what isn’t. 

Want to keep your entire company on-brand? Lytho's Digital Asset Management Solution allows you to quickly access your assets from the platforms you use most with our integrations. 

Digital Asset Management is a top tool to help you stay consistent, organized, and on-brand. 

Here’s why you’ll love it: 

• You can store, share, and create all your content in one place. 
• Improved efficiency. Produce more content, faster.
• It only takes two days to implement. 
• Save time by not having to search for what you need. 

Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you elevate your business.