Of course it is important for a brand to be recognizable. That's why a corporate identity is very important, but a corporate identity is not a brand. You want to be known for what you do or what you deliver and be recognizable thanks to a certain color, font and other design aspects. A logo is ultimately only the stamp you put on it or the label you attach to it. It is certainly necessary, but certainly not the most important thing.
Why do you refuel at a certain petrol station or sleep in a certain hotel? Of course you have hotels with a special experience and a gas station nearby that contributes to a local cause that may be important to you.
Unfortunately, the majority of these companies do not have one. Because of this, most people make their choice based on the quality and then choose the one that offers it the cheapest in this class. Why pay more if you get the same?
The appearance of a corporate identity often shows what quality you are dealing with. As just mentioned, this can certainly help you to make a choice in the difference in quality.
If you're the only one who delivers a certain quality, a corporate identity can be enough for you. The problem arises when there are several companies that deliver the same quality or when you want to expand to other regions where people don't know you yet. How do you show that you have the better solution for their problem?
I often hear people shout that it's ridiculous, their competitors are doing much worse, have much less knowledge of certain things and that their products or services are much better. Yet those same competitors get just as many, or sometimes even more, customers than those, who often sincerely offer a better solution. How is that possible? That's their brand, even though most of them are still unknown.
Your brand is not what you say it is, but what others say it is when you're not there. That's an important difference. So what you say is a lot less important than what a customer experiences. That is why it is really important to dive into your ideal client's mind, find out what you can help them with and develop your products and services around them.
A brand doesn't necessarily have to be a worldwide recognizable brand, but of course it's important that people know about you. Depending on your goals, you can choose to develop a local, national or international brand.
The only challenge is: the bigger your target group, the bigger the task to let everyone know who you are, what you do and to make sure they remember you.
That's actually the most ironic thing: nobody really knows where to go to develop a good brand, except the professionals in the industry themselves. I think this is because most people simply don't understand what a brand is. While everyone bases his or her choices on them every day.
Developing a brand starts with yourself. You can hire a company that asks you the right questions to give meaning to your brand, but in the end you have to figure out what you want to be known for. Remember: the corporate identity will come later. First the brand, because that's what you're known for.
Have you figured out what you want to be known for and need help working it out or do you just have more questions on this subject? Feel free to send an email to kevin@kendrix.nl and I will be happy to answer them!