Brand Identity and Brand Image

 

Photo Source- Medium.com

While it is easy to get confused between the two, brand identity and brand image are two different aspects of a brand. What is a brand? It is not just the logo you see companies using which define who they are, it goes beyond that. A brand is how the public recognizes an organization. Since most of us are familiar with logos, let us take a look at brand identity.

What is Brand Identity?

Brand Identity is the set of elements that make up the image that is portrayed to the audience. Each brand needs to be unique and stand apart from other companies and competitors to be able to get the attention of their audience. It includes all the visible aspects of a brand. These are the logo, type of design, what we communicate, and the choice of colors. If this is not complementing what your brand represents, it can also create a mismatch in the minds of the consumers.

 

 

Now that we briefly clarified what brand identity is, let us take a deeper look into Brand Image. What is it and how is it different from brand identity?

The brand image is the way customers perceive a brand after an interaction. It stems from their ideas, beliefs, and experience with the brand. It is particularly important to have a strong brand image as it helps to attract new customers, retain old customers, and even help with introducing new products. Since the brand is an essential part that plays a role in the mind of the customers, the organization must put maximum effort into building a long-lasting impression.

Take Coca-Cola for example, when you think of the brand, there are certain experiences of happiness and joy that are communicated. Or a premium brand, a person would automatically assume it is for the wealthy customers who fit in the demographic criteria.

                

        

 

So, what is the difference?

Brand identity is how an organization wishes to portray itself to its customers and how they perceive their brand whereas; the brand image is how the audience actually perceives the brand through interaction. These two, along with other aspects of brands must maintain a linear quality in terms of message being communicated to avoid any discrepancies.

Dropbox, the app, initially started out very minimal in their style but began to use colour, bright themes, and lots of images. Compared to their earlier minimalistic style, this was vastly different though continued to match the brand's image.

To sum it up, brand identity is the message an organization is trying to put forth about themselves and the brand image is how the market and consumers perceive this message they are receiving.

With the customers, it can be difficult to predict if they will perceive the message in a positive way or negative. There are a few things to do that can improve your brand image. It is not an easy process, and everyone may not get it right the first time. There are a few ways to know how to improve. The first one is getting feedback from your customers so that you can understand what they really think about your brand. You can only work upwards from here. Once you get your hands on the data, the problems causing highly poor reviews must be looked into to see what is actually going wrong, and areas to work upon. Finally, you can change those problem areas as fits with your brand to improve your brand image.

With the number of organizations that exist now and with the high focus on visual identity, it is more important than ever for new brands and old to ensure they stand out with their image and message they portray to the customers. As much as the logos, typography, and colors are essential to a brand, the message must resonate with the customers that are being targeted. Brands are working overtime to stand out and come up with ways to improve their branding in this ever-evolving world.