Brand Identity. It sounds like a word that only Marketing or advertising professionals are kicking around the office a couple times a year. This of course isn’t true. The term brand identity is one that anyone who owns a company or works for one should be concerned about.

Your consumers are inundated with brand identities from the moment they open their eyes.  According to an article on cbs news, the number of ads (which includes brand identities) consumers are exposed to a day is close to 5000 a day. So how do you get the attention of your consumers?

One great way is to have a strong brand identity. If you own a small business you may be new to what a brand identity is or what it can do for you.

Brand Identity 101: How to establish your Brand Identity.

The first thing that can help you establish your Brand Identity is to figure out where your business is positioned in a SWOT analysis. A SWOT analysis is an analysis of your company’s strength and weaknesses, that takes care of the "S" and "W".  The “O” stands for the opportunities you have and finally, the "T" stands for Threats your company faces.  Strengths and Opportunities are advantages you’ll want to highlight.

Next, utilize your team of employees to come up with a brand personality. Something that will make your brand identity stand out in the clutter mentioned above. If you need some pointers, think about brands identities you’re familiar with.

For example, when you think about Nike you may think of hard work, athleticism, and physically fit. Think about Apple, you may think about innovation, and creativity and fun. All brands have an identity to help their consumers bond with them. Remember good ideas can come from any level and no idea is ever a bad one.

Ideas will start flowing so set a time limit for your group to keep on task because this is a fun and productive activity and time may slip away. To help your team get started on a brand identity, ask them a few questions:

1. What human traits does our company make you think of?

2. What would our customers think our companies human traits are?

3. Considering the look and feel of our business, what are some ways our company brand identity would speak if it could. i.e Use Slang vs professional language or funny vs sincerity.

An important note is that the definition of a brand is not what you want it to be, but what your consumers see you as, so get as many opinions as you can.

Lastly, your brand needs to resonate with your customers. If your exercise revealed that your brand is currently very “neat and proper” and you own a skate board shop that has a client base of teenage boys to young men…you may need to assess your brand identity and make sure it’s the most appropriate for your company.

A tool that can help you establish your brand identity is by providing business cards for your employees. This is an effective tool because it enhances their connection to the consumers, can help build business relationships, and every time they hand them out, they are distributing a small portion of your brand identity.

Take a look through some of the unique cards that have been printed to help get some ideas. It's a good idea to go with plastic because plastic business cards will last much longer than paper business cards.