Brand identity

The Online Group ensures brand loyalty by shaping your brand identity

What makes a brand unique and differentiates it from others, is her identity. Brand identity is the way in which an organization wishes to identify and position itself in the marketplace. Brand identity is also the promise a brand makes to the consumer: is the quality guaranteed, does it offer an experience or a pleasant feeling? A brand can call up the connection of a product, a personality or a set of values. This is dependent on the personal connection that consumers have with the brand (for example: when people think of the brand Puma, many automatically think of the sprinter Usain Bolt). Also connected to brand identity are the distinct characteristics of a brand, like a certain color, logo and name of the symbol. They shape the brand identity and are different from other brands in the eyes of the consumer. Think of the characteristics people attach to a brand, like the color red of Coca-Cola, the durability of The North Face or the famous swoosh logo of Nike. Marketing is only a tool to communicate this identity to the consumer.

Why is branding important to your organization?

Branding is the opposite of marketing. Marketing is actively promoting a product or service, and serves as a ‘push’ factor that conveys a message that is supposed to stimulate the sales of a product or service.

Good branding precedes and underlies marketing. It is the ‘pull’ factor. Branding is the expression of the essential value or truth that forms the base of an organization, product or service. It is how the characteristics, value and attributes that make clear what the brand is or not is, are communicated. A brand can induce people to buy a certain product, and supports the sales- and marketing activities, but it never explicitly communicates ‘buy me’.

The Online Group knows that the identity of a brand cannot be seen as separate from her online appearance, and knows how to answer questions like: ‘In what way should your brand be represented on the internet and by who, on what channels should this take place and what is the message that is to be conveyed this way?’
There are so many more people to reach, inspire and motivate with a strong Facebook- or Instagram campaign than with a billboard above an expressway. The Online Group views specifying your brand identity as part of a strong online marketing strategy.

From the mission, vision, values, personality and promise of a brand comes the brand identity. This brand identity expresses itself through a certain behavior, visual style and way of communicating.
The Online Group can help you develop a suitable brand identity to build a strong brand. Depending on the target group and positioning we look at what resources can be deployed on different online channels for a maximum effect.