The Discovery Process: 7 Steps to Creating a Brand Identity
Branding isn’t all logo trends and color palettes. A strong brand identity starts with a true understanding of the business – its stakeholders, audience, industry, values, and more. To strategically end up with branding that represents your company, your branding agency needs to put in the work on the front end – a process we call here at Liquid Creative, discovery.
What Is Discovery?
Without a discovery period, a creative team won’t have the necessary insight to represent your brand. We might not have heard of your business before you became our client, so we take time to get up to speed before any creative work begins.
Liquid Creative has clients ranging from specialized athletic trainers to high-end property management companies. Learn how we gather the insight to create distinct brand identities that are a perfect match for our small business clients!
1. Meet with The Business Owner or Marketing Manager
The discovery process begins right as we’re first approached about taking on a new client. Our Account Management team meets with each new potential client to learn about their target audience, marketing and business objectives, and unique selling points. Once we know a little about your business and marketing goals, we’ll be able to let you know whether our branding services are a good match!
If you feel like your branding is going stale or you’ve outgrown your old logo, it may be time to rebrand your business. Check out these 3 signs it’s time to refresh your branding.
2. Conduct Secondary Market Research
After we’ve determined that a new brand identity aligns with your business and organizational goals, our research begins. We’ll dive deep into your industry, competitors, and target audience. Along the way, we’ll be noting your buying process, unique selling point, and value proposition to know what you bring to customers that no one else can.
3. Team Site Visit
At this stage, we want to see your business in action! Liquid Creative has toured construction sites, production facilities, and pizza parlors to get the best understanding of our clients. We’ll get a feel for your space, team, and daily operations to help keep your brand feeling seamless with how your business is run.
4. Personal Interviews with Stakeholders
After determining who your stakeholders are (customers, investors, employees, and more), we’ll create a list of questions to ask different stakeholder groups. We might request to contact your company leadership, customers, employees, or external partner organizations.
Our conversations with these stakeholders provide insights that can’t be found on a website or by talking to an internal marketer. Through these interviews, we are able to uncover what defines your business, as seen through someone else’s eyes. That’s a core piece of building a distinct new brand identity that aligns with your audience.
5. Discovery Download
Now that we’ve researched your market, seen your operation, and spoken to you and your stakeholders, it’s time to get out some ideas. Our team meets up to brainstorm and discuss what we’ve learned throughout our research.
Our discovery download is all about connecting pieces of our research together to get a full picture of your business. What did you identify as strengths that we didn’t see in your competitors? What do your employees love about their jobs that influences the customer experience? We’ll define what we believe it is your company is offering beyond a product or service. What experience does your business provide?
6. Creative Team, Go!
Now, we’ve determined an organic brand direction that makes strategic sense in your industry and local market. Your branding identity won’t just be a logo – we know just the deliverables you’ll need to maintain a cohesive new brand.
Our branding services include the following:
- Logo: a mark used to identify your organization or product
- Color Palette: the various colors and accents to be used in visual communications
- Typography: lists which fonts to use in various communication scenarios
- Graphic Collateral: graphic design elements consistently used to complement your logo
- Word Cloud: a list of words that best represent and differentiate your brand
- Brand Rationale: a document establishing the tone of written communications
7. Present the New Brand Identity
After a little bit of magic from our creative team, we’ll present you with your new brand identity. Our process starts by presenting 2 logo concepts, often that show two different directions we can take your brand. You’ll choose the one you believe in the most for us to further develop. With final revisions and some finishing touches, your new brand will be ready to launch!
Most of the time, we present two logo concepts, and the client selects one for us to further develop. After the final revisions are made, the new brand is ready to launch!
Rebrand Example
Check out the branding transformation on the 5 Points of Life marathon!
Before
Sketch Phase
Final Rebranded Logo
Distinct Branding that Embodies Your Organization
A brand shouldn’t be feel mandated—it should feel organic, and complementary to your offerings, employees, and customers. Through the discovery process, our team gathers the background, insight, and inspiration to become the creative force that propels your brand towards new opportunities.
Interested in establishing a distinct new brand for your organization? Learn more about our branding services!
