Your brand is the most valuable asset you have

Many people confuse product and brand – so a consistent brand image is vital if you want people to see your brand first and your product range second.

A great logo helps, but keeping consistency throughout your comms will make things even clearer. A brand guide/corporate identity is one of the most important documents you can have created. With it, anybody working on your brand will be able to create a harmonious, uniform look across all of your collateral and digital offerings.

The brand is the core of all your marketing efforts. Branding– done correctly, can instantly define what makes your product more desirable than similar products. The best brands are not just consistently conveyed to the consumer, but also a part of the internal DNA of your company. A strong brand also provides the clarity your employees need to be truly successful.

Several key factors are definitive of a great brand identity:

• Strong brands incite a quicker decision-making time. By picking a brand, the clutter is reduced, making it easier to find what you are really looking for.
• Successfully branded products command premium prices for their products, therefore adding to their brands value.
• Brands give customers a reason to share. We all have opinions about the things we experience, and in the age of digital marketing, platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram make it easy to publicly share the products we love.

Buying particular brands also says something about the person who buys it. Purchasing an Apple iPhone tells others we are on the cutting edge, so if we want to stay ahead we buy iPhones. Samsung, Microsoft and Google have proven consistently over the past several years that Apple is not as innovative, yet we still purchase iPhones because Apple has the stronger brand.

Branding simply is the most effective and efficient way to show your customers who you really are, and one of the most foundational pieces of your marketing communications. A good brand doesn’t just happen; it is a well thought out strategic plan executed by everyone in the company.

But this isn’t easy. You need experts to put this together to ensure that a simple, yet logical look and feel can be created. A 192-page corporate identity manual may seem impressive as it thuds on your desk, but be honest, who is REALLY going to analyse or even use every single page? Far better to create a few pages of simple, considered and useful design principles that let anybody get the best out of your brand – and ensure that it is seen in the best possible light.

ec’s branding experts are ready to help you with brand development, logo design, guidelines and brand refreshes – be it for a multinational or a start-up, we’re ready to help.

Your brand. Your biggest asset. Make sure it’s in the right hands, with ec.

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