Branding tells a story in an instant. Whether the story is about a company, retailer, product, service or non-profit organization, there is a personality to be shared. At Durée & Company, we know great branding is directly tied to the company’s mission statement. In other words, it goes beyond the act of bestowing a company with a particular design or symbol for it to advertise its products and services. Branding builds an emotional connection.
At Fort Lauderdale- and Aspen-based public relations and marketing agency Durée & Company, our 22+ years in the industry give us valuable insight and working knowledge of how a PR agency builds a winning brand and brand strategy.
The following are the four main brand components that should be addressed when building a brand and what kinds of strategies can be put into place to further develop those components. Let’s dive into each category and determine what makes a business more than a name.
Brand Identity
Brand identity includes the visible element of a brand. The colors used in the supporting collateral design, including the logo, can identify and distinguish a brand in consumers’ minds. When these elements have consistent usage across all communication channels, it leads to consumers’ trust and emotional connection. A strong logo that’s instantly recognizable is important. Think about McDonald’s golden arches, the apple logo or the target symbol. They are all easily recognizable and tell the brands’ stories without even reading the name.
Brand Voice
The brand voice represents the personality of a business and the promise to its customers. It’s what someone walks away feeling or thinking after they have interacted with a brand. Brand voice evokes a brand’s values, mission, products or service and how that is communicated. To build a strong brand voice, start with understanding who the brand is and what it stands for, then figure out how to relay that messaging to the brand’s consumers.
Brand Culture
Brand culture is the optimal blend of a company’s ideas, attitudes, beliefs and behavior that shape the brand experience and reputation. It’s the brand story exemplified by its people and customers and how it interacts with their daily lives. As a public relations firm, we are here to help amplify a brand’s cultural story through storytelling and other tactics.
Brand Personality
While we’ve touched on this a bit already with the brand voice, another way to look at a brand’s personality is that it’s a set of human characteristics attributed to a brand. In other words, and more simply, how a brand is described if it were a person. Just like people, brands have recognizable traits that stem from the way they think and feel about the world. The authenticity and consistency of these traits are what separate a strong brand from a weak one.
With these four elements, branding connects an entity’s values with a like-minded audience. Ideally, a brand remains authentic to its audience by upholding its overall mission and delivering a consistent product or service.
As branding experts, we’ve put together a quick branding checklist:
- Determine an ideal customer, target audience or buyer persona.
- Create a mission statement.
- Define the company’s values, features and benefits.
- Create compelling visual assets.
- Write a story for the brand and establish its voice.
- Plan a marketing strategy and market the brand.
With the help of the seasoned branding professionals at Durée & Company, we can assist with developing a brand that gets noticed every time. We can also develop a style guide that will ensure consistency and quality. Contact us today to find out how!
About Durée & Company
Durée & Company, Inc. is an award-winning, full-service public relations, marketing and special events firm founded in 1999. The firm has offices in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Aspen, Colorado. Durée & Company serves the corporate, agency and nonprofit practice areas for local, national and international clients. Services include public relations, social media, marketing, content development, advertising, special events, branding, radio promotions and more. Durée & Company clients include well-known names in business, fashion, hospitality, travel, health and wellness, cannabis and hemp, psychedelics, technology and cryptocurrency, marine and yacht, art and culture, nonprofit organizations, legal and professional services and real estate. Durée & Company is a member of PR Boutiques International™ (PRBI), an international network of boutique PR firms. To learn more, call 954-723-9350; go to dureeandcompany.com; cannabismarketingpr.com; or psychedelicpr.com. Join the social conversation and follow Durée & Company on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn at @DureeCoPR.
