Brand Image
In marketing and advertising, almost nothing is more essential than brand image.
Communicating your values reliably will enable you to develop your brand’s image and allow it to grow organically over time. For example, the Mercedes Benz image of luxury and quality has grown naturally from the consistent experiences that customers have had. The brand elements that represent a company, such as the logo, signage or slogan, are equally important in this regard. Having a consistent brand image in place promotes brand feelings. When your brand is capable of creating feelings within a consumer it then has the ability to resonate within them – that’s when buying decisions are made.
Brand Imagery
Brand imagery is the aesthetic appearance of your brand’s core messaging.
Just about anything that you can see, touch, taste, smell or hear is that brand’s imagery. For instance, what does your preferred brand of cologne smell like? How does your favorite fast food burger taste? What does furniture from IKEA look like? The idea is to connect the right messages with your target audience so that they will have strong feelings when they encounter your brand imagery. When there’s no opportunity to touch, feel, taste, or smell something, sight quickly becomes the most valuable sense. That’s why these days it is crucial to use images as a part of your company’s overall strategy.
Elements of Successful Imagery in Branding
If you want to truly understand the value of imagery in the business-consumer relationship you have to look at it from the mindset of the consumer. What emotions do you experience in connection with particular logos you see on a regular basis, like McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Apple or even Facebook or Twitter? Each of these images might well inspire a particular feeling in you. This if course would be related to either the physical color or shape of the logo, or an experience you had with the brand in the past. Brand imagery can have an incredible influence on your purchasing decisions.
According to the marketing experts at Small Business Trends, “Learn to believe in your imagery and you’ll find brand equity and success will likely follow”.
It is important to recognize the fact that the work that goes into creating an effective logo or image is extremely detailed and sophisticated. Even if the imagery, logos and brand visuals may appear to be simple, they contain a great deal more work than you might think.
Here are some of the elements that go into successful brand imagery:
Objectives. Before any of the real visual details can be created, the objectives behind a particular image must be clearly outlined. What values and messages are being expressed? What is the purpose behind the visual? These are questions that should be answered at the get go so that there is a clear goal in mind for the marketing team.
Colors. It is a well-known fact that colors are one of the most important factors in brand imagery. Color is an exceptionally memorable visual component of an image, and certain colors evoke certain feelings in consumers. Some say that color increases brand recognition by up to 80 percent. All things considered, that may be a modest estimate.
Straightforwardness. Sometimes the best brand logos and images are the simplest. Think about the logos for very famous brands. Google, Nike and Honda are all very well known to say the least, but they make use of very straightforward shapes and outlines for their brand imagery. Marketing works the best when shapes and colors come together in a simple yet appealing manner.
Shape. Shapes are of great value because most basic geometric shapes have universal meanings that that can be recognized regardless of your race, language group or culture. When shapes are combined with color they can add to the perceived importance of a brand and even elicit particular emotional responses from consumers.
Final Thoughts
It takes a great deal of planning, time and effort to develop logos and visuals that will influence audiences effectively and have a significant impact on purchasing decisions. Remember, this is going to require patience, and you have to trust that the effort will pay off. If you can follow this advice then eventually it will have a positive impact on your marketing strategy.
Topics branding