Why you need a Brand Blueprint
Without defining your brand’s DNA, your brand will be unclear and get lost in a myriad of other options people can choose.
When a company rebrands and says, “Look! We have a new logo!” What do you think?
If rebranding is solely about getting a new logo, you’re missing the point (and leaving money on the table). Research has shown that a professionally designed logo, executed with technical skill, creates a positive impression. Yet, by itself, the new logo’s value is diminished if your rebranding announcement lacks a substantive message or meaning. [See Symbol Story]
The Brand Blueprint is a custom infographic that codifies your brand for easier recall and sharing.
Companies use this blueprint for business strategy, marketing, sales, employee onboarding, and training. Your people are how the world sees, hears, and experiences your brand. Get them on the same page with the Brand Blueprint!
The greatest return on your rebranding investment depends upon having a unique and compelling message that resonates with the people you seek to do business with.
Would you rebrand without a Brand Blueprint?
A successful rebranding program doesn’t start with logo design concepts. Rebranding is an opportunity for your company to explore and define your core purpose and mission, what sets you apart from the pack, attract the right people to work in your organization, and bring ideal customers to your door.
The Brand Blueprint is the tool we created to help companies keep the vital dimensions of their brand front and center, where they can be put into practice with intention.
What is a Brand Blueprint?
A Brand Blueprint is the DNA of your brand on a single page. It’s your brand at a glance.
The Brand Blueprint is a tool you can develop to get your team on the same page, stay customer-focused, and keep your brand aligned through every phase of business growth.
How does the Brand Blueprint impact your customer?
Customers don’t need to see your Brand Blueprint. They need to see and experience your brand’s beliefs demonstrated by your employees.
The Brand Blueprint is a way to reference your values, mission, and key differentiators and align every aspect of your business. It is a tool you will use to onboard new employees and guide your company culture, from the CEO to the latest hire.
Your Brand Blueprint embodies the key elements that describe and differentiate your company. These elements serve to inform your business strategy and marketing and sales initiatives.
Rebranding that Defines and Clarifies Your Brand
Intentional rebranding requires clarifying the true mission of your organization—the big idea you stand for—and identifying the key differentiators that set you apart from the competition.
Meaningful rebranding equips you to explain why you exist, the value you bring to the world, and why people seeking that value should do business with you.
Crafting your unique message will be an empty exercise without defining your brand. Instead, by having the foundation outlined in a Brand Blueprint, you’ll have substance to build on when introducing your new logo.
Defining your distinctive brand will deliver lasting value well beyond your rebranding launch.
Rebranding, Brand-Refresh, and Brand Update
When someone uses these terms, they typically talk about simply getting a new logo. That definition of rebranding is limiting because it only touches the surface. Instead, your rebranding can take your team on a journey with a process that explores and develops a deeper understanding of your brand’s unique value.
Your Brand Identity: An Analogy
People are identified by their name and face, and so is your business. People have core values that drive their behavior. So does your business. Your company also has a personality, and — just like a person — it brings value to the world. (If it doesn’t, you won’t be in business long!)
A business is like a person: both have a face (your logo is the face of your business) and a name. But defining one’s identity requires looking past the surface into more meaningful character qualities and defining your purpose, mission, vision, and values.
• Name
• Face (logo)
• Purpose
• Personality
• Core Values
• Style
• Value they bring: Productivity
Since your logo is the face of your business. When people see your logo, their experience with your company — positive or negative—instantly surfaces.
So, you could say that getting a new logo is like getting a fashion makeover or even a face-lift. A professionally executed design will make a positive impact on the perception people will have of your company. But don’t let your rebranding stop there.
Business beauty is only skin deep.
You can have an outstanding and compelling logo design, impressive marketing collateral, and a stunning website, and miss the mark with your people. Your brand will suffer if your customer service and company culture are lacking.
The marketplace is immensely competitive in earning sales and attracting talent. You want to set your brand apart in people’s minds by offering a distinctive difference in substance and the value you bring.
Your logo is not your brand, any more than your face is your identity. The Brand Blueprint works to help you shape and sustain the multi-dimensional identity of your business.
Examples of Companies Developed Brand Blueprints:
Through this process, outlined below, branding issues are resolved, unique qualities surface and the brand’s core messages become crystal clear.
Brand Blueprint Workshops
The leadership teams in these examples participated in a series of workshops with Identity Creative to define the abstract elements of their brands.
Through the workshops, they covered some serious ground.
• Explored their roots, clarifying the company’s DNA
• Defined their purpose, mission, vision, and core values
• Reinvigorated their customer service statement
• Boldly identified their three key differentiators
These vital brand qualities are codified in the company’s Brand Blueprint.
AUGIES Brand Blueprint
Get an outsider’s perspective to create your Brand Blueprint.
Business leaders often miss what makes their own business unique. Your “secret sauce” may be so familiar that you don’t see the opportunity to build upon it as your brand’s key differentiator. Bring in someone from the outside to help you unearth your brand’s purpose and clarify the key differentiators that set your company apart.
You have the opportunity to develop a beautifully unique brand. Inviting someone to challenge your leadership team and dig to discover your gold could mean the difference between significantly increased profitability and languishing in the marketplace.
Leaders who nail their niche and differentiate their company will gain a greater return on their rebranding investment.
There’s no business exactly like yours. Celebrate your uniqueness.
Live your brand!
Get the whole story! Make the most of your rebranding with Ready. Brand. Launch. and The Workbook. It’s available digitally or in spiral-bound print. Get it here!