Brand Identity is simply the promise a company makes to its customers. It may be purely the function of a product, or it can be personality or values-oriented. Whatever it is, it’s something companies all over the world attempt to leverage as a way of strengthening their businesses.

Why is Brand Identity important?

A brand identity is important because it has the power to single-handedly set a company apart from its competition. And those who successfully craft their brand identities to positively affect their bottom lines know that doing so takes time, money and effort. It’s not as simple as just a logo or a tagline. In essence, brand identity is the reason you give your market to choose you…is it compelling enough? Your market will decide.

A word on revising your brand identity… The key to a successful re-branding effort is “evolution,” not “revolution.” You must reassure your existing customers that everything they like about you will remain intact and become integral part of something even better. Don’t go to unjustified extremes for any reason because major perceived changes may destroy existing emotional ties to your brand thereby eroding valuable customer loyalty.

More than marketing, Brand Identity is the lifeblood of a company having an outward brand identity that resonates with your market is very important, but just as important is the people who make up your company understanding that brand identity and doing their part to reinforce it. Truly effective marketing starts from the inside out. Do your employees believe in the company? Do they feel like they’re an important part of it and that they have a vested stake in its success? A company with truly solid brand identity can say yes to those questions. If your company can’t, here are some steps to address the issue:

1. Get your brand personality, values and corporate culture on the same page: Marketing needs to work closely with human resources to ensure values and expectations are in sync both internally and externally.

2. Empower your employees to effective brand representatives: Align your criteria for recruiting talent and rewarding performance in such a way that promotes voluntarily brand reinforcement from your team.

3. Constantly reinforce brand-centric values and behaviors: Internal communications are a useful tool for achieving this. Like a good football coach, keep hammering the fundamentals until they’re second nature.

Your employees are your brand ambassadors and the people who determine ultimate success or failure for your company. That’s why it’s so important to get them to buy into your brand identity and take individual ownership and responsibility for it. When that kind of culture exists in a company, growth and success simply become byproducts of a happy, motivated team.

Scott White is President of Brand Identity Guru, a leading brand consulting and market research firm located in Easton, Massachusetts, near Boston.

Brand Identity Guru specializes in creating corporate and product brands that increase sales, market share, customer loyalty, and brand valuation. Over the course of his 15-year branding career, Scott White has worked in a wide variety of industries: high-tech, manufacturing, computer hardware and software, telecommunications, banking, restaurants, fashion, healthcare, Internet, retail, and service businesses, as well as numerous non-profit organizations.

Brand Identity Guru clients include: Sun Life Financial, Coca Cola, HP, Sun, Nordstrom, Archway Marketing Services, Franklin Sports and many others, including numerous emerging growth companies. Scott can be reached at swhite@brandidentityguru.com or 508-238-4347.

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