Branding is a crucial element for any business looking to stand out and thrive in a competitive marketplace. It embodies the identity, values and promise of a company to its target audience. Whether you are a startup looking to create a memorable first impression or an established business eager to renew itself to stay in line with current trends, mastering your brand image is essential. In the age of social networks, where information circulates at the speed of light, it is essential that your message is clear, coherent and impactful for your audience to identify and connect permanently with your brand. Thus, an effective redesign or brand image creation is not only a question of aesthetics, but an essential marketing strategy to ensure the sustainability and success of your business.
Faced with the many questions from our customers about the process of creating or redesigning a brand image, we decided to enlighten you. How does that work? What are the key steps in creating a visual identity? How long should you allow for a complete overhaul? In this article, we show you the main steps to follow for a successful positioning or graphic repositioning, a process that is strategically designed to maximize the impact on your success.
Before starting graphic work, it is essential to understand the current reality of the company. This step helps identify the strengths, weaknesses, and inconsistencies of the current business, thus laying the foundations for brand strategy. We conduct extensive market research and competitive analysis to identify the company's target audience, market trends, and competitive situation. This knowledge informs brand strategy and ensures that the new brand position stands out in the market.
The brand strategy is updated and refined to align with new business goals, market positioning, and target audience. This step involves defining the brand's unique value proposition and the message that will resonate with the desired customer base. We are designers, not artists. The main goal of a designer is to find a solution to challenges. So before launching into the graphic world, a marketing game plan must be put in place if you really want to provide solutions with the new brand image. This step, which is often overlooked, is however the most crucial.
Based on the foundation of the previous steps, we have a clear idea of what is in the minds of company leaders from a strategic perspective. Now it's time to master what's there visually. At this stage, we explore a multitude of visual directions to target the ideal and capture the attention of the target customer, while effectively striking the market.
Once the visual direction is defined, the logo and brand identity are designed or updated to reflect the values, personality, and target audience of the business. Brand identity includes elements such as colors, typography, iconography, and standards guide.
All marketing materials, including brochures, flyers, business cards, and other merchandise, are updated to reflect the new brand identity and message in a consistent manner.
Sales presentations, pitches, and sales materials are reviewed and improved to align with the new brand strategy and effectively communicate the brand value proposition to potential customers.
A comprehensive set of brand guidelines is created to provide clear instructions on the consistent use of new brand elements across all channels and touchpoints.
A well-thought-out brand launch plan is developed to present the new brand identity to internal and external stakeholders. This plan includes an implementation schedule and guidelines to manage the transition smoothly.
Ensuring employees understand and embody the new values, message, and brand positioning is critical. Employee training sessions and internal communications help align the team with the rebranding initiative.
For information, this complete process generally takes between 8 and 12 weeks of production.
The creation or redesign of a brand image is a strategic approach that requires in-depth thinking and close collaboration with the team of the company concerned. It is essential to commit to a solid strategic plan, to question certain aspects and to take a step back to better move forward. A brand image does not change every year, so it is important to ensure that it accurately reflects the business and that there is a clear direction for its implementation and use, thus ensuring consistency across all of your communications. We take great pleasure in supporting our customers in this rewarding process and we ensure that this pleasure translates into tangible success for their business.