To create brand identity, you first need to know what it is and what it does. Essentially, brand is the image and identity of your company. It consists of symbols that represent your company to customers and brings not only your product to mind when they see or hear them, but brings everything you stand for to mind as well. For example, when you hear or see "Just do it," you think of Nike, or when you see a check mark, you think Nike. That's their brand. What does it communicate? It communicates strength, energy, and excellent products for sports-minded people.

To create your brand identity, it's important to determine how you want customers to perceive your business. Many small business owners name their businesses using their own names. This is a brand of sorts but is more difficult to make into a household word. For artists and writers, using their own name as the name of the business is a good move, because their work will most often be known by their name. For other small business owners, it might be better to choose something that will represent your product.

Brand identity is all encompassing. All the items you use to advertise your business and to present your business to the world should be designed in alignment with your brand. For example, if you have a bookstore that specializes in books and magazines on astrological topics, you might want to brand your business accordingly. For example, maybe you would name the business Crystal Ball Books. With that, your logo could be a picture of a crystal ball with a book swirling in the center. The name and the image would go on everything you create about your bookstore. When devising this image, be sure to choose a color scheme and stick to it. When your brand takes hold, this color scheme will bring your business to mind also.

Put your logo and the name of your business on every page of your website, on your blog, on your business cards, on every piece of advertising you send out, on bookmarks you give away with the books, and on the bag that you put the books in. In addition, your brand will include a motto or short saying that will set it apart from other astrological book stores and will describe the essence of your business. This, too, will go on each piece of advertising you put out.

Once you choose a brand, the trick is to stick to it. If you switch brands frequently, your customers will lose track of you. The beauty of branding is that it becomes a symbol of your business, and your customers will know that it is you at a glance.