Difference Between Brand Identity and Brand Strategy (With Table)

A brand can be a name, term, a number, or any other feature of a company that distinguishes it from others but it is not restricted to this, it is everything a company, an organization does. A company’s website can be a brand, how the receptionist answers the call is a brand, the company’s corporate office can be a brand, which makes it crucial.

If one wants the world to know what his/her company stands for, it should be displayed, spoken, written, explicit or implicit in everything the company does. Despite their intangible nature, a brand is a commercial tool that drives commercial value and helps the owners, stakeholders, etc. to earn profit and run their business smoothly.

A Brand Identity and a Brand strategy are two different things that are related to the business world.

Brand Identity vs Brand Strategy

The main difference between brand identity and brand strategy is that brand identity refers to the visible items of a company that distinguishes itself from the rest, brand strategy denotes the long term plan for the company’s development which is connected with the needs and demands of the consumers.

A Brand Identity, is the visible items of a company such as design, color, logo, that it is remembered as, all of these items distinguish itself from others in the customer’s mind.

Whereas, a Brand Strategy is the long term strategy that a company or an organization follows for its development to stand out and achieve specific goals.


 

Comparison Table Between Brand Identity and Brand Strategy (in Tabular Form)

Parameter of Comparison

Brand Identity

Brand Strategy

Meaning

Brand identity is everything that a customer sees, feels, listens to, and uses of the company.

Brand Strategy is the long term marketing strategy of how the company will attract its customers.

Advantages

The brand identity creates brand loyalty, customer reliability, wins the trust of the customers.

Whereas, a good brand strategy attracts more and more customers towards itself which in turn increases the brand value.

Dynamic

A brand identity is not dynamic, i.e. it does not keep on changing with the changing business trends.

However, a brand strategy is dynamic. There’s a constant need for analysis of the trends that might affect the business and hence, bring changes in the strategy.

Examples

Examples of brand strategy are logo, color, slogans, the work environment of the company, its product or services.

An example of a brand strategy is premium pricing, which means setting a price higher than its competitors to give a perception of quality to its customers.

 

What is Brand Identity?

The brand identity is the visible item such as the logo, which is memorable, unique and makes an impression, the colors, which are pleasant to the eyes, the font, which should be easy to understand and the brand visuals.

The brand identity includes everything a customer sees, listen and touch that is of the company. Everything falls under the category of a brand and indeed leaves an impression on the customer’s mind. It is how one portrays his/her company to his clients which includes the name of the name, its logo, color, and design.

The brand identity plays an important role in the E-commerce world that we live in today:

  1. Confirms the credibility: This follows the age-old axiom of “you get what you pay for.” Every customer’s perception towards quality and cost is that if a product costs more than a comparable product, it must be because it provides better quality.
  2. Creates user loyalty: With a strong brand identity, customers are much more likely to remember your business. If the customer is happy and satisfied with the product or service that the company offers then it results in customer loyalty.
  3. Reliability: A branded company is likely to be known as the one who is experienced which in turn wins the customer’s reliability on the company’s product and services.
  4. Differentiation: Every company, firm, or organization looks for different ways in which it can stand out among the rest of the companies. The perception of quality helps the company to win the customers’ loyalty which in turn makes the company raise their prices and earn more profit. 
 

What is Brand Strategy?

The brand strategy is the long term plan for the development of the firm or company. A brand can be summed up by how the customers perceive the company and its product or service. Therefore, the brand strategy should act as a guide in every way that the company interacts with the customers, which makes it important to define the mission, vision, and positioning statement.

The importance of brand strategy not only benefits the organization or the company, but also the customers as the strategies are laid down in such a way that it fulfills the demands as well as the needs of the customers. The obvious reason is that a brand makes a company distinguish itself from the rest and make itself recognizable in front of its customers.

A brand strategy also provides a marketing strategy for the company. It lays down a clear agenda of why the company engages its customers and how they are going to do the same. A cohesive message attracts the customers towards itself and not only does it provide consistency but also caters focus for employees. A clear brand vision enables the employees to work towards the common goal together as a team which in turn leads to the progress of the company.


Main Differences Between Brand Identity and Brand Strategy

  1. The brand identity revolves around the visual items that distinguish the company from others while, on the other hand, the brand strategy is short- term or a long-term marketing plan to attract the existing as well as potential customers.
  2. The brand identity is not affected by the changing trends and demands or needs of the customers, whereas, the brand strategy is affected by the trends and needs of the customers which forces the company to change its strategy, if needed, to survive.
  3. The brand identity is everything a customer experiences which is involved with the company and in the case of brand strategy, it is everything that a customer has to bear like a company’s strategy can be premium pricing, which means setting price higher than its competitors which in turn makes a customer perceives that the product or the service that is being offered by the company is of better quality.
  4. The brand identity includes logo, slogans, color scheme, design whereas, in the case of brand strategy it only includes long term as well as short term plans.

 

Conclusion

Both the brand identity and brand strategy play a crucial role in the business world. Where, the former helps the company stand out from the rest and makes itself recognizable in front of its customers, the latter, revolves around the marketing strategy, both long-term and short-term that should be used to attract more and more customers.

Where one is necessary for recognition, the other one is crucial for the survival of a company. Both play an equally important role. The choice of logo, color scheme, and slogans is very crucial as it affects the impression of the company in front of its customers and therefore should be chosen wisely. On the other hand, a brand strategy is the marketing strategy of the company through which it can attract customers and increase its brand value.

A brand strategy is most affected by the trends and customers needs or demands. Both brand identity and brand strategy decides the future of the company and therefore should be decided smartly by the company, firm, or organization.


References

  1. https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=52290
  2. https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01803752/file/viot_2011_JP%26BM.pdf