Read through to understand the importance of your brand core identity and why it is the the heart and soul of the brand.
You can have the most beautiful logo, a fantastic color palette and a dreamy typography suite, but if you don’t understand who your brand is at its core, the visuals won’t do much to help you connect with your right audience.
Because when a brand knows who it is, why it exists and what its working towards, it can truly be an effective tool that supports your business journey.
Today’s post will walk you through all the basics of a brand’s core identity, why its at the heart of a brand and how to put your purpose, mission, vision, values and beliefs into practice.
Table of Contents
What is the core identity of a brand?
Your brand’s core identity is comprised of five elements – purpose, vision, mission, values and beliefs – that make up the heart and soul of the brand.
These elements work together to facilitate deep connection between you and your audience.
They serve as the foundation for your brand, so that everything created thereafter – from your logo to a social media campaign – is consistent and meaningful.
What purpose does a brand’s core identity serve (aka, why is it so important)?
While your brand’s core identity is just one part of creating a strong, meaningful, connection-focused brand, its arguably the most important part because it sets the foundation for every other aspect of your brand.
It guides the rest of your brand elements
Everything from your ideal client persona to positioning to messaging to logo design is influenced by your purpose, vision, values, mission and beliefs.
When you understand the heart and soul behind your brand, it’s a heck of a lot easier to determine who you’re a great fit for, what to communicate about your work and what the visuals can look like to best support that communication.
It informs business decisions and next-right-steps
Whether you’re making a decision about a partner, saying ‘yes’ to a client or hiring a team member, understanding your core identity serves as a great starting point to making aligned decisions.
It builds trust with your team and audience
We’ve moved into a time of abundance and endless options – consumers and potential team members alike have a plethora of choices which is why it’s so important to know the stand that your brand is taking; to know why you exist and what you’re working towards. This level of clarity (along with effective communication and aligned action) will connect you with your right audience, the people whose values and drivers align with what your brand is out to accomplish.
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What are the brand purpose, mission and vision statements?
Your brand’s purpose statement is why you do what you do; why you show up every day and put in the work. It’s not an arbitrary idea but rather a reason for doing that connects your brand internally as well as to something bigger – like a cause or movement.
Your vision statement is where you want to go as a business and brand. It’s meant to be big and audacious so it will inspire and instill belief.
Your mission statement is what you’re doing today and every day to bring your vision to life. It’s the overarching theme that guides your daily commitments and actions, so that your vision can be achieved. Ideally, the mission incorporates or is aligned with your purpose/why.
What are brand values?
Your brand values are the north star of your company; your guiding principles; the heart and soul behind your why. They have a big impact on how you connect with your audience and build trust.
Defining the values your brand stands for is similar to defining your target market in that the line you drew in the sand when claiming who you want to work with will become even more pronounced when you start communicating what you value as a brand.
What are brand beliefs?
Your beliefs as a brand are your sacred truths that reflect how you see the world as well as the space you operate within.
How do you put the core identity into practice?
A few questions to ask yourself when making decisions or communicating your brand:
- Does this align with our why?
- Does this support our vision of where we want to go?
- Does this support where we want to go and align with why we’re here in the first place?
The idea here is that you’re keeping your core identity top-of-mind and revisiting them on a regular basis. Because spoiler alert – it’s not meant to be put down on the proverbial paper and then only referenced when its convenient or during an annual team meeting.
The intention is to add substance to your brand AND play an active role in your decision making process.
And with that, happy branding 🙂
All my best,
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Follow this easy-to-implement brand strategy template to create a brand foundation that’s grounded in connection and meaning.