Deciding on a brand identity is a good practice for small businesses. If you’ve read through “Branding 101: How to establish your Brand identity” you got some good tips on exercises you can do to get a start on building your brand identity.

Now comes the next step, making your brand “look” like your brand identity and giving those human characteristics a look

That might sound a little ridiculous but I assure it’s a lot more detailed than it sounds.  The last exercise we gave “human traits” to the brand, Now you’re going to put “clothes” on your brand identity.

In the Branding 101, we talked about utilizing your employees as idea generators. We’re going to do that again except this time, you’re going to discuss colors, shapes and themes, look and style.

Gather your team in a space void of distractions, like Facebook or cell phones.

Side note: Make sure you outline ahead of time, who your direct competitors are and why. Is it location? Financial resources?  Additional products or services they add that you currently do not?

1. What makes us different from our competitors?
2. What are some characteristics of our brand identity that make us stand out?
3. Are there any colors, shapes or phrases that could capture our brand essence? (brand essence: The core characteristic that defines a brand. “all about branding .com” )
4. What celebrity does our brand remind you of?  Again, if you’re talking about Mila Kuniz and you sell shoes to only men, look at your brand identity again and make sure it’s appropriate for your customers.

After some ideas start to get kicked around, your brand will start to look, think and feel like a real person. Ask your employees this: now that we know what this brand identity looks like, talks like and interests, would you hang out with them?

You want the answer to be yes because if your brand identity is personable to your employees, your customers will feel the same way. This brings you in to brand loyalty, increased visits to store or website, creating buzz online; All good activities for a personable brand identity.

So now your brand identity is like one of your employees and you want to hang out with it. Great!  Does your Brand identity like to help people out? Or does it always know what’s going on in world news? Maybe your Brand identity likes getting deals on it’s favorite cool products?

If this is your brand identity, it’s probably your consumers too. Gift cards, promotional cards, loyalty cards are all things that create those friendships between your brand identity and your consumer.

Heres a link to some gift card ideas to help get you started. All of templates provided can be tailored to fit your needs such as magnetic strips, printing on clear cards, or even dies.