October 2023
Your brand’s visual identity can (and should) help you attract the right audience
Have you ever stopped to consider whether your brand’s visual identity is pulling its weight when it comes to attracting the right audience?
Think about how much time and effort you’ve put into making your offer, content, and marketing efforts appeal to your ideal audience.
Why did you spend so much time on those things?
Because you aren’t trying to serve everyone, right?
So you don’t need to waste your time trying to attract everyone, either.
But have you ever stopped to consider whether your brand’s visual identity is pulling its weight when it comes to attracting the right audience?
It’s an afterthought for many small business owners, so don’t feel bad if you haven’t made it a priority yourself yet.
Instead, see this as an opportunity to set yourself apart and get your visual branding as on target as the rest of your brand strategy.
What does your target audience need your visual identity to communicate about you and your offer?
What is a visual brand or visual identity?
Your visual identity is your brand’s image. It’s often the most recognizable piece of the brand strategy puzzle. (Just think of what comes to mind when you imagine a brand you love. Like Coca-Cola’s iconic bottle shape or Apple’s memorable logo.)
Visual identity includes:
Logo
Fonts
Graphics
Color palette
And other imagery
Plus, it covers all the places you can show off that identity, like:
Website
Social Media
Email newsletters
Written assets (e.g brochures)
Storefront, product packaging, etc.
It’s sort of the “fun” part of building a brand strategy, honestly.
Some business owners can’t wait to get to this part and dash a quick logo together in Canva using their favorite colors and fonts. Others wait to go the professional route and hire a graphic designer to create a brand identity they love. Either way, it can definitely be fun setting up your visual identity.
But it can also be a huge waste of time if you fall into the trap many business owners do and only focus on what you like.
Yes, you want your personality to come through (especially for a personal brand), but you also need to consider this: What does your target audience need your visual identity to communicate about you and your offer?
Know your target audience – but know yourself, too
You can’t attract someone if you don’t understand what attracts them.
To make your visual identity do its job, you first need to do the job of understanding your target audience.
One of the best ways to do that is to talk to them. Interview them and find out what their preferences are so you can apply that to your visual identity as much as the rest of your brand strategy. Map what you learn to brand archetypes so you can better understand your audience’s fears, desires, motivations, and so forth.
For quick reference, the 12 brand archetypes are:
1. The Innocent (i.e. Dove)
2. The Sage (i.e. Discovery Channel)
3. The Explorer (i.e. Patagonia)
4. The Ruler (i.e. Rolex)
5. The Caregiver (i.e. Johnson & Johnson)
6. The Creator (i.e. Lego)
7. The Regular Guy (i.e. IKEA)
8. The Jester (i.e. Skittles)
9. The Lover (i.e. Chanel)
10. The Hero (i.e. Nike)
11. The Magician (i.e. Disney)
12. The Rebel (i.e. Harley Davidson)
Next, you can compare what your target audience knows and loves with who you are.
You may not be your own ideal audience, but your ideal audience wants to work with you because they feel like they know you.
And you can usually see how your audience’s fears, desires, and motivations align with your brand.
For example, there’s a good chance that if you aren’t serious and traditional, your ideal audience isn’t either.
So you don’t have to worry that your visual identity will be at war with what your target audience wants or with what you want your brand to convey.
You don’t have to worry that your visual identity will be at war with what your target audience wants or with what you want your brand to convey.
Your brand personality impacts your visual identity
Before you get too far into your brand identity, you need to be able to point to where your brand personality falls on the spectrum.
Ask yourself which end you find yourself on:
| Side 1 of the Spectrum | Side 2 of the Spectrum |
| Affordable (e.g., Timex) | Luxurious (e.g., Rolex) |
| Playful (e.g., MailChimp) | Professional (e.g., Klaviyo) |
| Fun (e.g., Old Spice) | Serious (e.g., Dove) |
| Contemporary (e.g., Coach) | Traditional (e.g., Louis Vuitton) |
You can pinpoint almost immediately where each of the above brands falls on the “spectrum” based on nothing more than their visual identity.
And that’s exactly how it should be.
Your personality needs to tell a story, and that story needs to be consistent – especially when it comes to the visual parts of your brand.
Your visual identity is often a potential client/customer’s first impression of who you are.
Your personality needs to tell a story, and that story needs to be consistent – especially when it comes to the visual parts of your brand.
Feel the difference between 2 visual identities
My boutique design agency works with two leadership coaches whose personalities could not be more different.
One has a very whimsical, playful visual feel. The other has a more contemporary vibe.
Their visual identity beautifully supports these differences and shows you how two women who do the same thing attract a completely different audience.
Their logos, social channels, and websites create a vibe that’s as individual as each of these coaches are. When you land on either website, you immediately feel drawn to or repelled by the visual branding.
And that’s exactly what we want…
We want the right audience to connect strongly with one over the other because that is the brand identity most closely aligned with their vibe, personality, and outlook.
Just for fun, have a look and ask yourself which one you’re most drawn to.
Can you feel the difference between these two visual identities?
Attract your audience with your visual identity
Your visual identity (logo, website, social media design, etc.) can help you attract the right audience – and repel the wrong one.
But first, you need to understand who “your people” are and what they like.
Once you’ve got that intel, you can align the things that attract your audience with the things that make you uniquely qualified to work with them.
Put that all together, and you have a super effective strategy for attracting your audience with your visual identity.
Book your free consultation, and let’s create a visual identity that pulls its weight for your brand.