How brand identity impacts your mobile app

Your branding tells the story of your business, and in the highly competitive world of mobile apps being able to effectively communicate your story quickly and impactfully to users is of the utmost importance. In mobile you have just one opportunity to make a lasting impression, so your brand must be on point and ready to go!

Your brand essentially offers people a glimpse into what you offer and what it’s like to partner with you. According to the American Marketing Association, a brand is a distinctive name, term, symbol, or feature that distinguishes one company’s product or service from those of another company.

It’s also a combination of both the tangible assets of your company (logos, colors, design) with the intangible (the public’s perception of your brand). In a world of thousands of choices, your brand and how you present it is why people choose your company and your mobile application over others.

The goal of building a brand identity is to attract new customers while making existing customers feel right at home.

When it comes to mobile apps, branding is one of the key elements you need to consider before all the hard work is put into place. Once an app is created, tested, debugged, and is ready to go live in the app stores, many companies often make the mistake of thinking that the rest will take care of itself. When an app goes live on app stores it does not mean there will be instant downloads. Before you even begin building your mobile application you must first establish your brand identity and voice.

Whether you are a startup or an established company any time you are launching an app you want to ensure that your branding is perfect.  At Rocket Farm we frequently see that new mobile based startups are creating their brand for the very first time. We also see large enterprises who are launching new products but must determine how the existing brand is going to translate into the new app.

Whether you are a startup or an existing enterprise here are some key solutions to help identify your brand more closely.

1- Revisit your values

We aren’t speaking about your personal values, but rather your mission statement for your company. What is your promise to your customers? If you are a startup and haven’t made your mission statement yet answering the following questions will help you create one!

• What matters the most to you as you work to grow your business or app?
• What are your business goals or goals for the specific app?
• How will you serve your users?
• What is your promise to them?
• How does your product or business uniquely help your ideal user differently from other products?
• Which 3 adjectives best describe your business or product?
• Who are your direct competitors and how do you stand apart from them?

If you are an established company wondering how what your brand offers its customers will fit into your new mobile application think about this:

• Is the app just another extension of an existing product?
• If it’s a new product how is it different or related?

2- Effectively communicate with your target audience

Always keep who you are targeting in the back of your mind!  A great way to do so is to review the user personas that you have previously created and consider the following:

• What do you want your potential customers to feel or think when they encounter your brand?
• What do they NEED to hear to consider downloading or purchasing your mobile application?
• What are their most significant challenges and how does your application help them to solve them?
• What will you utilize to prove the value of your application? Will you use data, testimonials, and infographics?

Answering these questions will help you to better conceptualize the overarching purpose of your company, your mission/vision, and your company’s whole reason for existing. By nailing down your purpose and goals, you can easily define who you are and the customers you want to reach.

3- Think visually

Did you know that only 10 percent of the information that is told to a person will be retained three days later? However, if an image is paired with that information, the retention rate jumps all the way to 65 percent! Impressive right?

That being said, any old graphic won’t do! It’s crucial to ensure when you are creating graphics and icons for your mobile application that you are utilizing your design elements according to your brand and what you want to convey.

Think of your logo, your fonts, page templates, icons, screenshots, etc. Remember the goal is to communicate your brand’s mission and purpose with every design element no matter how minor it may seem.

Here are some of our logo suggestions:

• Think about the future! When designing a logo you want it to be timeless and appealing today and even 10 or 20 years down the road. Avoid being trendy or gimmicky and stick to what is simple and on-brand!
• Keep your fonts and typefaces simple and readable. NO one likes to have to work for it!
• Your color palettes should match the values you want to be represented. Icons and graphics should do the same.

Don’t forget to consider how your design elements will appeal to your target audience. How will they effectively communicate your brand’s values to people who don’t know your app just yet?

Brand identity goes beyond your app’s logo however, and also includes typography, colors, packaging, messaging, quality, performance, ease of use, visual elements such as screenshots, trust, etc. All of these items work together to complement and reinforce the reputation of your brand.  Users will likely love and trust your brand if your product(s) work well, are fast, are easy to use and easy to trust. Brand matters all the way from id through to development.

Why does brand identity matter?

In such a crowded space with millions of mobile applications, getting a download is tough enough. Retaining users and getting them to come back to use the app can be an even bigger challenge. That’s why branding is SO important to your mobile application’s success. The uniqueness and what your brand stands for help set you apart from your competitors, attract your target audience, and improve user experience.

Jarden Rosen the Senior Brand Manager at Wayfair once said,

“Brand identity is more than just finding the right logo to place on coffee cup sleeves or mount above your door. It’s about crafting a personality that amplifies the core elements of your brand’s DNA.”

Are you looking for help building your brand identity for your mobile or web application development project?

Let’s get started.