Brand identity is an important tool you can leverage to share the message behind your business. It’s the way you communicate who you are, what you do, and why you exist. Without a clear understanding of these elements, you won’t be able to effectively reach your target audience or grow your brand.

To give your brand identity a proper foundation that resonates with your customers, you’ll need to identify your brand message, audience, and goals. Here are three basic need-to-knows for effectively defining these elements.

Define Your Brand Message

First, take time to develop a strong message that reflects what makes your brand unique. Your message should be succinct yet powerful enough to capture the essence of who you are as a company and what sets you apart from the competition. This message should be able to stand on its own, but also provide enough information to give your target audience an idea of the kind of experience they can expect when working with your brand.

For example, Jason Hunter Design is a digital marketing agency that helps you expand your possibilities. What does this mean? We show you on the About page (to nutshell: boost growth, productivity, and profitability for our clients). 

What are the possibilities? We show you through Our Work, other platforms such as Instagram, tell you through our Blogs, and our person-to-person interactions. Remember, your brand doesn’t stop at the screen.

Define Your Target Audience

After identifying your message, you should define your target audience. These are the people who will actually benefit from what you offer. Ensure effective message delivery by defining your target audience before sharing it. 

Start by asking yourself questions such as:

• What does my ideal customer look like?
• What do they need or want from me?
• What problems do they have that I can solve?
• What are their worries and concerns in daily life?
• What is their age and lifestyle?

Here are 3 different example target audience types and messages our agency could provide:

Jane: Meet Jane, a dynamic 55-year-old woman who has excelled in the physical retail space. Now, she's venturing into the world of virtual small business. However, setting up an e-commerce store seems daunting and time-consuming for her. That's where we come in! We show Jane how effortlessly we can handle the digital store setup while she focuses on other aspects of her startup.

Marcus: Meet Marcus, a talented 25-year-old with exceptional tech skills. While he excels in website management, graphic design and logo creation aren't his strong suit. That's where we come in! We’ll take the task of crafting the perfect logo off his hands, so he can focus on what he does best—running his website. 

Claire: Meet Claire, a fast-paced 35-year-old social media influencer who's been missing out on the potential of her existing website. Our message could show her the exceptional value this platform holds for providing users important information, crafting an appealing user experience, and optimization for search engine success. By taking care of the nitty-gritty, we'll help Claire thrive across all platforms effortlessly.

What’s the message in these examples? Saving time. Time is money, and this is something we value for our clients. Nail down your audience’s problems so they don’t have to.

Define Your Business Goals

Finally, set measurable goals for your brand. This could include increasing website traffic, creating a more attractive website design, increasing customer engagement, and optimizing for SEO (search engine optimization) to reach wider audiences. This ensures that your branding efforts will have tangible results that are beneficial to you in the long run.

Some goals to consider:

• Increase website traffic by X percentage or number of visits in the next Y months
• Increase organic search engine rankings for key terms related to your business
• Generate X leads through content marketing, email campaigns, etc.

Sharing Your Brand with Your Target Audience

Once you have the basics in place, it’s time to focus on getting your message out there. Establishing a presence on digital and social media channels is a great way to share stories about your company and engage with potential customers, but it takes more than just having your accounts set up. 

You also need to create content that resonates with your target audience and encourages them to convert. This means understanding how best to communicate with them, then creating content that reflects those insights. If you missed our newsletter with tips on establishing your brand personality through content, you can sign up here so you never miss pro tips again.We wish you all the luck with branding your business! If you’ve tried but find you don’t have the time or want to throw in the towel, just fill out the form below and our pros will set your brand straight in no time!