The Importance of Brand Assets
When it comes to the brand assets of your business, although you may know what these are, such as your logo and tone of voice, you might not have thought about their significance. Essentially, brand assets are what make your business stand out from the crowd, and with so much competition out there, this is more important than ever.
As well as giving your brand a distinctive identity, your brand assets can help build trust between you and your audience. In addition to this, these assets can make your brand easily distinguishable. If, for example, you were to see the Apple logo, you’d instantly know what company it represents. And even a brand’s packaging can be recognisable. When an Amazon package arrives, you’d know that it was from Amazon rather than any other delivery service.
Of course your brand isn’t just about visuals – it’s made up of lots of different elements which, when combined, come together to form a unique and recognisable identity. Although your company will already have brand assets, there’s usually room for improvement! The more well known your brand is, the more customers you’re likely to attract, which should help increase your sales and conversion rates. To help you get started, we’ve delved into the topic of brand assets below:
What Are Brand Assets?
As discussed above, brand assets are the recognisable elements of your business. These elements should embody the identity of your organisation, so more corporate companies may have a formal logo and font, while a quirky business might use stylised lettering and have an abstract logo design.
The general role of your brand assets is to make your brand stand out. It’s also important that if anyone were to come across any of these assets, they’d recognise which business they belong to, even if the person were to only see one element, such as the logo. Common brand assets may include your:
When designed well, your brand assets should stick in people’s minds, and be one of the first brands people think of when they need the products or services you offer. These assets should also deliver a consistent experience, and not be too similar to those of other businesses, particularly your direct competitors.
Certain assets will of course be more important than others for different companies. Most brands won’t have a mascot, for example, but those selling products aimed at children may wish to create one. And businesses that sell things like cereal or other foodstuffs would probably need to concentrate on their packaging more than clothing retailers.
Recognisable Brand Assets
If you were to picture a particular brand, what would be the first thing that springs to mind? For most people, it will be the logo or colour scheme, but it might be the slogan or jingle. We’ve looked at the most recognisable brand assets below:
Logo
Generally speaking, people have a good memory for imagery, so logos will stick in the mind. You should therefore put a lot of thought into your logo – it’s what your customers will form an emotional connection with.
Brand Colours
It may surprise you to learn that colour can make up approximately 90% of an initial impression – this is according to the journal Management Decision. And due to the fact that people form a decision about a brand quickly, you must ensure that your colour scheme resonates with your target audience.
Slogan
Your slogan could be the thing that sticks in the minds of your consumers the most. For instance, if you were to hear the phrase ‘just do it’, you’d probably know exactly which brand it’s referring to. Your slogan has to be fairly short, as well as catchy, in order to make the best impact.
Brand Asset Example
When discussing brand assets, it can be helpful to look at a well known brand, and see what they’re doing right. You can then try and use these techniques to improve your own assets. We’ve chosen the example of Apple, which was mentioned above, as they have a very recognisable brand. Most people would be able to confidently say what company the Apple logo represents.
Apple is one of the biggest brands out there, and will undoubtedly have put a lot of time and energy into developing and then refining their brand assets. The simplicity of the design, as well as Apple’s colour palette, reflect the brand as a whole. Just like the logo, Apple products have simple, clean lines, and don’t typically feature bright colours or complicated patterns.
Although you may not have considered the minimum logo size or font Apple uses, you can be sure that they have created a strict set of brand guidelines which they always stick to. And if you’re curious, the minimum logo size is 8 mm in print and 35 pixels on screen, while the font Apple uses is Myriad Set.