You don’t need a logo, You need a brand (Part I)
Introduced first on my private email list.
You need a brand
I received yet another email asking for a logo design yesterday.
I called them. And surprised them.
“You don’t need a logo,” I said. “You need a brand”.
A long silence settled in.
I could spend hours telling you just how important is it to define your brand’s voice, to find a language that translates your core values after taking the time to perform a minute analysis of your company’s strategy and habitat.
But I’m guessing my words might be met with that same embarrassing silence.
Let me explain a bit
Why is a brand identity so essential? Because it’s a tool box, while a logo is but one tool in your arsenal. And when it comes down to it, I think we can all agree you’d be hard pressed to build an entire house with a screwdriver. You’d be even harder pressed to build a solid one.
A toolbox, on the other hand, is something you use every day, both internally and externally. It shapes, builds and defines your company. It provides daily answers and solutions to all of your communication and strategy issues, and informs the way you respond to crisis, change or success. If you’re going to invest in any aspect of communications or marketing, you need to start with a clear, powerful brand.
I can almost hear that silence at the other end of the line again.
I know that probably leaves you with more questions than it does answers — I hear them every day and they’re incredibly important to the process:
What should I say? Where should I communicate and how? What tone should I use: fun, smart, serious? Grey scale or colors? Do I need an App? A video? Animations or real video shots? What should the script be? Oh. And what about my blog? What kind of articles should I be publishing? How much content should I pump out? What should I even say? The list and possibilities are endless: social media, print campaigns, word-of-mouth marketing, internal signage, international conferences, interior design…
But where should you even start?
Again, I could drop a lot of jargon and theory here; talk about Market & Competition Analysis, Brand values or Market Positioning. That’s all very interesting, but what does it really mean?
It fundamentally means that you shouldn’t be building structures in New York City the same way you do in San Francisco or L.A. Each and every building is as different as its location is unique, which means it’ll require a different toolbox — a different branding process.
There’s some homework involved in defining your needs. We’ll have to analyse your company’s goals and strategy, get to the essence of its brand identity but most importantly, talk to the real people that shape it, those who will be using that toolbox day in and day out: the founders and employees. This process will allow us to draft a brand profile that resonates with the members of the team, one they’ll feel comfortable using, crafting and making shine.
Once you’re connected to your company’s brand and voice, you’re automatically increasing your credibility and your ability to communicate your goals.
Wait…Let me pipe in here!
Hi, I’m Sarah, one of Adrien’s newest collaborators. This is our first properly shared piece together and I’d love to throw in my two cents as a Content Strategist and Copywriter. I experience a different version of this conundrum with nearly every new client, and I often explain it to them as a need to get to know your brand, to figure out which person it is at a typical weekend party. Is it that cool, knowledgeable and technical engineer drinking good whisky in the kitchen or the hipster standing by the sound system sipping on PBR?
Establishing a communications tone for your brand is like defining its personality, and that “character” becomes the guiding principle in creating a believable, consistent and relatable brand identity. As with people, our tone and demeanour also changes with circumstance — we present differently at that Friday night party than we likely do at work meetings; our proverbial Facebook and LinkedIn.
So as Adrien said, connecting to what shapes your brand and voice — understanding your brand’s vocabulary — has to be at the ground level of any visual or verbal branding experience. Ok. Back to you, Adrien.
Another important perk of that branding process is that it helps us define the BIG IDEA that will support the company’s goals, story, flavor and yes — communication tone. Obviously, all of this work is supported by the creation of a variety of branding assets; Logos, Taglines, Manifestos, a Brand Book, a Communications Stylebook, Marketing materials, etc… But that’s the easy part. Once you’ve put in the work defining your brand, everything else is just a matter of pure execution.
We’ll be talking more about the execution and strategy step of the branding process in our following post, so be sure to check back in next week!
If you enjoyed this article, please click that little green heart below. That would be incredible.
Creativity and talent teamed up to ensure the quality of these articles:
Adrien is the founder of Creatives Without Borders and a creative designer working all over the world. If he isn’t climbing one of the 7 summits or running a marathon, you’ll probably find him consulting about UX & UI for tech startups somewhere between Montreal, New York and Paris.
www.adriencolombie.com
Sarah is a talented journalist and a former CBC radio reporter, loves languages and is a highly capable entrepreneur.
https://medium.com/@sarah_mcsperb
