Brand Concepts: How they help in building better brands?

Brand concepts usually emerge while creating your overall brand strategy. They might start as recurring themes you notice from client feedback or a merging of a few similar ideas. The end game is a concise, strong idea that excites both your customers and your team. Once you get a concept solid, brand designers use that idea and turn it into concrete imagery such as sketches, mockups, or style guides. The following is a step-by-step process to develop your own brand concept.

1. Assess your brand's position

Begin by examining your current position, including where you stand in the market, how you compare to your competition, and how you are resonating with your target market.  To clarify further, build a brand positioning map. This allows you to see the void your brand wants to fill within the marketplace, and if it's a dense or relatively available niche. Questions to guide you include:

• Who is your audience?

• What do you sell or provide?

• Why are you providing them?

• What is the big "why" of your business?

• How do your products/services enhance your customers' lives or work?

If you are running out of ideas, take a look at rival brands to see how they are coming up with their ideas. It is not copying them, it's about deciding what makes you different from the pack.

2. Review audience persona

Keep in mind, your target market is not set in stone. Individuals' interests, incomes, values, and pain points can change over time. Review your existing audience persona and determine whether it still resonates.

• Demographics: Job title, gender, age, location, income.

• Psychographics: Frustrations, values, hobbies, ambitions.

• Lifestyle: Are they green? Do they follow trends or create them?

By maintaining this information current, you keep your brand idea in the zone. The final thing you need is to introduce a rebrand that will resonate with a market you once had, rather than the one you really wish to communicate with now.

3. Brainstorm values and missions

Gather your mind-mapping supplies, assemble the required partners like marketing executives, creative directors, or even some enthusiastic employees, and brainstorm. You must get down to business on what your brand actually stands for, like quality, sustainability, speed, or innovation. What sets you apart from all the rest, and how do you keep bringing that to the table? Maybe you are supremely local, or you are all about high-end craftsmanship. These values take form on your brand idea, so don't skim over them.

4. Articulate brand concept with a brand story

After you've settled on your values, it's time to spin them into a brand story. Storytelling isn't marketing filler; it's the emotional hook that tells people who you are, what you believe in, and why they should care.

• Emotional connection: Incorporate aspects that appeal to people's dreams or aches.

• Sustainability, quality, or innovation: Be clear about how these elements are involved in your brand's day-to-day activities, not merely in your PR spin.

• Narrative flow: Demonstrate how you began, where you are going, and whom you serve along the way.

Steer clear of puffy ad slogans. Use language that is straightforward and memorable. You want a mission statement that sounds authentic and is simple for employees and customers to get behind.

5. Review, refine, and test the concept

This is your "quality check" stage. Once you have created your brand concept, take a step back and ask yourself whether it actually works with the personality you wish to convey. Slight adjustments in words, tone, or wording can make an enormous difference in how others receive your brand. Get the concept out to a trusted team (stakeholders, key staff, or even long-time customers) to obtain instant feedback. Tweak anything that doesn't feel right, that is confusing, or that doesn't resonate with your core values. Try it out in real-world situations—a brief focus group or poll can tell you if you are on target or completely off base.

6. Implement it

Finally, take that polished concept and integrate it everywhere. From product designs and advertising campaigns to operations on a daily basis and even customer service scripts, your brand idea must be consistent across the board. Ensure that everyone on the team, from the CEO to frontline employees, understands what the brand is about. When each department is aligned with the concept, you will project a smooth experience for your audience.

Develop a brand concept book or style guide that defines tone, messaging, visuals, and any applicable brand guidelines. This way, when someone comes on board with your team—or you hire an outside agency—they know precisely how to maintain the brand's identity.