Brand Pillars: What They Are & How To Create Them

Businesses have long been crafting their image and market presence to stand out from the competition and showcase their unique selling points.

One way to achieve this is by creating brand pillars that capture the core values and spirit of the products or services they offer customers.

This guide will help you understand the importance of brand pillars for a successful business and how to incorporate them effectively into the customer experience.

What Are Brand Pillars?

Whatever the nature of a business, it will have a set of core values, strengths, and unique selling points that define the company’s objectives.

These objectives are encapsulated in a company’s brand pillars, differentiating the business model and clearly stating what customers can expect.

Brand pillars incorporate brand elements through marketing and promotion strategies and reflect aspects such as innovation, reliability, and stylish design.

These attributes will vary from one business to the next, showcasing the essence of the company culture and becoming integrated into the brand messaging.

The best examples of business websites demonstrate how brand pillars are integrated into a customer-facing online presence through their visual identity and informative text.

As such, establishing brand pillars is vital for determining how the brand values are presented to the target market to deliver optimal business outcomes.

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Why Brand Pillars Are Important For Businesses

There are many methods for building a brand voice and shaping how customers perceive a company, with brand pillars among the most commonly used.

Whether launching a new startup or refreshing an established business, using brand pillars is a tried-and-trusted method for connecting with a target audience.

On a basic level, brand pillars allow companies to stamp their mark in a particular industry and communicate their positioning clearly and concisely.

Establishing strengths and selling points unique to a business clarifies the brand voice and makes it more attractive to potential customers.

This includes demonstrating an understanding of the overall customer experience and the pain points, interests, and requirements that drive consumer decisions.

With these elements determined, an original brand story can be established that appeals to emotions and transforms a bland corporate face into something meaningful.

Brand pillars can also be important when building a website and deciding how to use graphic design elements that best capture an organization’s spirit.

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The 5 Brand Pillars

When using the model to update a company’s purpose and develop a marketing strategy, five brand pillars need to be approached in turn.

Let’s detail each of these pillars, from exploring the brand purpose and perception to integrating brand attributes into promotional materials.

1. Purpose

Brand pillars begin with determining the purpose pillar, which should reflect the core values and mission of the company culture.

This step involves asking yourself why the company exists, what problem it is attempting to solve, and what approach will achieve this.

It also covers the brand story, the company’s journey to get where it is today, and how it has shaped its values.

Some of the best startup websites perfectly capture the essence of brand purpose, showcasing their history and what drives their business model.

Learn more: Find out how to make a website in 10 steps.

2. Perception

If the brand purpose requires reflecting on the company’s story and goals, brand perception relates to how potential customers should perceive the brand.

This will vary wildly between companies, with the perception of a food truck business completely different from a tech startup delivering a new app.

When creating this brand pillar, the imagery and language used should be carefully considered to create an appropriate emotional response with customers.

It will also inform how your company values are presented through text, logos, social media posts, and other activities used when promoting to a target audience.

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3. Personality

With the first two pillars established, it’s time to determine the brand personality, tone of voice, and company values you want to present.

The brand personality pillar is essential even for boring businesses and can be used to inject a sense of fun and character that engages the audience.

Deeply influenced by brand perception, it should be consistently applied throughout the company’s assets to cement a clear identity in the marketplace.

Indeed, this step is sometimes called the identity pillar, informing your brand’s persona and integral to all aspects of brand promotion.

4. Position

A brand positioning statement is when a company places its personality within the context and strategy for reaching the target audience.

Market research and analysis are vital for the success of this brand pillar and for identifying market segments and opportunities for exploitation.

Brand positioning also includes an element of art that connects to the emotional aspect of the brand personality and the tone and style used in marketing.

It’s a flexible and adaptable element of brand pillars that should be returned to frequently, incorporating ongoing competitor analysis throughout the process.

Tip: Learn how to make a business website.

5. Promotion

The final brand pillar to approach is brand promotion, which involves practically applying the other pillars in marketing and promotional activities.

This stage involves taking the personality and essence of what the brand stands for and using it to attract new customers to your products or services.

By engaging with and sharing the customer journey, this stage is also crucial for fostering brand loyalty and repeat business.

Brand promotion involves key processes such as traditional advertising, social media engagement, and creating conversations through content marketing.

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How To Create Brand Pillars

Now that we’ve outlined the five brand pillars in detail, it’s time to dive into the methods used to create brand pillars that best reflect your company’s mission.

These steps apply to all types of companies, from small businesses to international corporations with a target audience of millions of people.

Step 1: Understand Your Company’s Purpose

Before you can begin compiling your company pillars, you need to outline its purpose and what motivates its position in the market.

This begins with creating a meaningful corporate purpose that captures why the product or service offered is essential to the given market.

For emerging startups, this purpose could be related to the company’s culture and mission, designed to attract investors and staff as much as consumers.

It should represent the core of the brand strategy and showcase the business as an invaluable contributor to a market sector.

Read more: Check out this small business startup checklist.

Step 2: Research Your Brand Perception

Understanding how customers interact with and perceive the brand is also vital for developing effective brand pillars that deliver high-performance results.

Whether starting a photography business or running a global company, this perception will help you to determine and prioritize the values that matter the most.

You can begin by analyzing the customer interaction with competitor brands and building a model of the ideal customer based on demographics.

Age, gender, income range, and other factors can all be incorporated into this model of your perception brand pillars to inform your future decision-making.

Step 3: Develop Your Brand Experience

Creating a powerful brand experience reflects the previous stages, capturing the spirit of your brand values and what your target audience is looking for.

This incorporates everything from how you want the customers to feel when they see your product or service to how customers interact with your team.

If you’re focused on delivering a streamlined, fuss-free customer experience, this should be emphasized through the visuals and messaging strategy.

This experience sets the framework for your customer interactions, and it is applicable to everything from starting a makeup line to refining an established business model.

Step 4: Build A Brand Identity

A company’s brand identity is a composite of purpose and perception, covering everything from the business name and logo to slogans and marketing initiatives.

You don’t need a huge budget for this step, and you can still determine a brand identity when starting a business with no money or experience.

There are free online resources such as Canva and GIMP that can be used for striking visuals, or if you have a budget, you can hire professional freelance designers.

Ultimately, the brand identity should deliver an instant impression of what the company offers, both in terms of products and services and the customer’s overall experience.

Step 5: Refine Your Brand Pillars Through Feedback

The final step in creating company brand pillars is to gather feedback from existing customers, employees, and investors.

This feedback process can then refer back to your initial brainstorming and the evolution of your brand pillars to refine and improve them before application in marketing drives.

If you’ve already established a solid social media presence, you can use these channels to A/B test concepts and gauge customer reaction.

This will help you create clearly defined brand pillars that best reflect the company’s core motivations and approach to communicating with your audience.

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Brand Pillar Examples

Here are some brand pillar examples from well-known companies to help you better understand how they can be applied successfully and reflect a brand’s values.

You can draw inspiration from these examples, integrate the approaches into your brand strategy, and apply them to future sales promotion initiatives.

Apple

Few international businesses have achieved the same level of recognition and loyalty in customer’s minds as the technology brand Apple.

Built around its memorable slogan, “Think Different,” Apple’s brand pillars revolve around innovation through unconventional thinking.

The vibrant legacy of former CEO Steve Jobs brings an additional touch of personalization while emphasizing the brand’s human characteristics.

It’s an impressive brand pillar complemented by a minimalist aesthetic throughout its marketing campaigns that reflects Apple’s products’ simple yet effective design.

Netflix

Netflix’s streaming service needs no introduction. It dominates the online viewing experience in the digital age and has rising stocks that reflect its success.

The company has achieved this outcome thanks to its carefully considered brand strategy, which positions it as an innovator in the subscription-based streaming market.

Personalization and convenience sit at the least of the brand pillar, with Netflix’s brand promise built around its accessible content and range of titles.

Netflix also uses its in-house content creation, including movies and original television shows, to enhance its value proposition statement above and beyond other streaming services.

Amazon

While Amazon also offers digital streaming services in direct competition with Netflix, it also provides many other services for its international customers.

The company’s four guiding principles cover customer obsession as opposed to focusing on competitors, with a passion for invention and operational excellence.

Amazon’s brand pillar also covers customer-centric concepts such as convenience and low prices, which are captured in the company motto, “Get big fast.”

Founder Jeff Bezos selected the name Amazon as a visual representation of this motto, referencing one of the world’s largest and most powerful natural distribution systems.

Patagonia

With sustainability and eco-friendly manufacturing at the forefront of many consumers’ minds, Patagonia has incorporated these values into the brand’s personality.

Dedicated to high-end clothing, Patagonia’s principles of functionality, durability, and environmental friendliness are woven throughout its branding strategy.

At the same time, this ethical foundation is paired with a spirit of adventure that reflects its core target market of surfers and other outdoor enthusiasts.

As such, its brand pillars have informed marketing that blends imagery of the natural world with frenetic sports, placing the products in their ecological context.

Spotify

Another hugely popular streaming service with a clear approach to crafting brand pillars that deliver results is the music service Spotify.

With music as its main form of entertainment, the Spotify marketing team clearly understands the importance of emotional connectivity in its branding.

It offers an authentic experience in customers’ minds, focusing on creativity and understanding the social element of music.

As with Netflix, Spotify is also built around the personalization aspect of its service, from the user’s playlist curation to the platform’s Discover Weekly feature.

Learn more: Explore these essential small business tips and tricks.

Summary

All businesses must overcome the challenge of keeping ahead of the competition, but establishing clear and robust brand pillars is a great place to start the process.

As your company expands over time and you gather more customer feedback, your brand messaging pillars can be refined to reflect your business’s journey.

Ensure your brand pillars are complemented with ongoing competitor and market research to stay abreast of significant industry trends and developments.