Edward Boatman • May 9th
Your brand identity is one of the biggest keys to your success as a brand. It’s not just about how you build your brand, it’s about how you use your brand identity to connect with your customers in a meaningful way. Big brands like Apple aren’t just successful because they make great products — they’re great at connecting with people.
The brand pyramid is one strategy you can use to get a better understanding of your brand identity and how you can engage your customers. Brand pyramids are a simple way to break down the value your brand offers to its customers. Find out how you can use brand pyramids to build brand loyalty and improve customer relationships.
Source: Agency M
The brand pyramid is a strategy you can use to create a visual outline of your brand identity and the things that make your brand special to customers. Stemming from the concept of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, it was adapted in the mid 1990s to apply to marketing, but more specifically, how to brand your product or service. It includes the essence of your brand, how your brand benefits customers, and the core functionality of your brand.
While the brand pyramid is a framework that’s used by brands of all shapes and sizes, it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution. You have to fill in the blanks — or the five sections of the pyramid — based on what you know about your brand. We’ll take a closer look at the individual parts that make up the brand pyramid shortly.
Using the brand pyramid can help you guide everything from brand communication to product development. The goal is to get a deeper understanding of your brand — not just from your perspective, but from the perspectives of your customers as well. Once you understand the value you provide to your customers and what people get from your brand, you can continue to deliver what people want.
The brand pyramid is particularly helpful when it comes to your brand communication strategy. It’s hard to figure out how to convey your message to your customers when you don’t understand your brand or its public perception. The brand pyramid provides a visual framework you can use to shape brand communications.
Let’s say you’re developing a new product or offering a new service to your customers. When you have the brand pyramid to refer to, you can design products and service offerings based on the core functionality, personality, and essence of your brand.
Brand pyramids help you answer simple questions:
You can use these questions to guide your branding strategy, but having this deeper understanding of your brand can also help you make big-picture decisions that have long-term impacts on your brand.
The brand pyramid is broken up into five parts that represent different aspects of your brand. Each level of the brand pyramid plays an important role in guiding brand communication and shaping the customer journey. Let’s dive into the individual sections that make up the brand pyramid.
What does your brand offer in terms of products, services, or features? How does the core functionality of the brand benefit customers and drive the customer experience? These are the questions you need to answer to identify the core functionality of your brand — the base of the pyramid. Maybe the core functionality of your brand is luxury, or maybe the primary focus is on performance. For example, the core functionality of Nike is that they’re a leading provider of athletic footwear.
The second level of the pyramid is where you identify the rational benefits your brand offers. This isn’t just about the core functionality of your products — it’s about how that functionality sets your brand apart and solves specific problems customers may encounter. For example, Grammarly is a service that checks writing for spelling and grammar errors.
Source: Grammarly
The rational benefits of Grammarly are that it saves people time and improves the quality of their writing. Think about how your brand benefits your customers in a tangible way — not just the functionality it offers.
People have an emotional reaction when they interact with a brand, and understanding those emotional reactions can really benefit brands. When people buy from brands that use a portion of profits to support charity or donate products directly to people in need, they feel pride in their purchase. Customers feel the same way when they buy from eco-friendly brands that use sustainable materials and practices. Whether your brand makes people feel confident, comfortable, or proud, figure out how it affects people emotionally.
Think about some of your favorite brands — do they have a personality? Brands often take on a personality of their own, even when it’s not intentional. Through years of unique design and use by creative professionals, Apple has become synonymous with creativity and innovation. Apple has also achieved a sort of friendly personality, with enthusiasts looking forward to Apple Events where upcoming products are revealed and showcased. Consider the key traits customers look at when they think about your brand — that’s your personality.
The essence of your brand is the top of the pyramid, representing the most important aspect of your identity as a brand. Your brand essence is the core purpose or mission of your brand, which is shaped by the values you align your brand with. What drives your brand? What do you hope to achieve when you’re designing new products? That’s the essence of your brand.
Are you ready to use the power of the brand pyramid to transform your brand communication and identity? Check out our step-by-step guide for getting started with building a brand pyramid below.
Before you can build a brand pyramid for your brand, examine your current branding strategy. What do you like about it? What could be better? How do customers perceive your brand? Is your brand known in your niche?
Looking at your current branding strategy gives you a better understanding of your brand and the aspects you want to emphasize. This is also a good opportunity to analyze your strengths and weaknesses as a brand and how effective your branding strategy has been. When you’re finished with your brand pyramid, you can add the brand strategy to your brand guidelines or update it with any necessary changes.
While you examine your branding strategy, make note of some of the positive aspects of your brand and the things that make your brand unique. Maybe it's the audience you sell to. Maybe it is an element of your product or service that is really important to your buyers. It could even be how others think, feel, or see your brand.This information will help you create a pyramid that’s unique to your brand. If there’s anything you don’t like about your brand identity, you can alter your branding strategy to reflect that.
Source: Bazaarvoice
Figuring out the core functionality and rational benefits your brand offers is easy enough. When it comes to emotional benefits and how customers perceive your brand, you can’t get inside the minds of your customers. What you can do is use customer surveys and polls to learn about customer emotions and perceptions and use that information to guide your brand pyramid.
Once you have all the information you need, you can design and create your brand pyramid with information about your brand. Your brand pyramid should be included in your brand guidelines to ensure everyone is aligned with your branding strategy. Make sure you send out a notice to let everyone know the brand pyramid has been added, or if you are using Lingo, new assets are automatically tagged by date, making it easy for members to find new content.
Armed with the power of the brand pyramid, you can start shaping brand communications, product development, and your branding strategy to align with your identity as a brand. Check out these brand pyramid tips to make sure you’re getting the most out of your pyramid.
If you knew everything about your brand and what it offers to customers, you wouldn’t have to create a brand pyramid. Since you’re creating a brand pyramid, we recommend writing down a list of questions you want to answer about your brand — including what you create, why you create it, and what separates your brand from competitors.
Your customers are the reason you’re creating a brand pyramid, so let them be involved in the process. Reach out to customers and ask them to fill out quick surveys and polls to tell you how they feel about your business. Better yet, ask them questions about how they feel about your business and record the responses. The more information you gather from your customers, the better you can use your brand pyramid to improve the customer journey.
Your brand guidelines drive everything your brand does, from your brand communication to the products you develop and services you offer. Creating a brand pyramid and adding it to your brand guidelines is a simple way to make sure everyone is on the same page and working to build a single brand identity.
With Lingo, creating and maintaining your brand guidelines has never been easier. You can create brand guidelines with custom brand colors and assets and share those guidelines with stakeholders and team members. Learn how Lingo can help you optimize your brand guidelines to boost your brand.