The Missing Piece in Your Company Branding: Custom IDs and Lanyards

When it comes to building a strong brand, many companies focus on things like website development, logo design and marketing campaigns. These are good and critical to a company’s branding efforts, but one piece of the puzzle is often overlooked: custom IDs and lanyards. These small but mighty tools can play a huge role in reinforcing a company’s brand and promoting unity among employees.

Whether you’re looking to improve security, build a sense of community, or simply make a memorable impression on employees and customers, custom IDs and lanyards are essential. Keep reading to learn the many benefits of custom-branded credentials, and tips for creating your own cohesive and professional brand identity through ID cards and lanyards.

The Importance of a Unified Team

Is there a more widely discussed topic in corporate America than employee engagement? Time and again, studies have shown that engaged employees are more motivated, productive, and likely to stick around for the long haul.

There are myriad ways to increase employee engagement through employee appreciation initiatives, health and wellness programs and overall company culture. Studies have also shown that employees who feel unified — like they are on a team — show higher levels of engagement than those who are more siloed.

In fact, according to Forbes, “Interpersonal connectivity is important in the workplace and goes a long way toward making employees feel valued by the company.”

While employee dress codes or company jerseys may land poorly with your team, custom-branded lanyards and ID cards can be one small step toward making employees feel that sense of belonging and team spirit. Not only do custom IDs serve as visual cues to reinforce the company’s brand, but they also place emphasis on unity within the organization. This is especially powerful for those who work in large office parks or buildings where it can be easy to get lost in the crowd.

5 Ways to Build Brand Identity With ID Badges

1. Use your company colors and logo.

This may seem obvious, but a consistent brand starts with the colors and design you already have established. Rather than just slap the logo on the corner of a generic badge, consider how you can iterate the design of an ID badge to make it an extension of your overall branding.

Get your design team involved and have them create custom badge designs for the whole team, which will help to reinforce your brand, make it easy for employees and customers to identify your company, and give employees a badge they’ll be proud to wear.

And don’t forget the accessories. Lanyards and badge reels can also bear your company’s colors and logo. Seemingly simple customizations like these ensure that when employees wear their badges out in the community, they’re walking billboards for the organization.

2. Keep it consistent.

Make sure to use the same design elements and style across all of them. This will help to create a cohesive and professional look for your company. Even if you use different looks to signify departments or roles in the company, keeping elements like color, logo and typeface consistent is important.

3. Make it clear.

Make sure the text on your custom IDs and lanyards is easy to read and legible. This will help to ensure that employees and customers can easily read and understand the information on the IDs. After all, you can have the coolest design around, but if you can’t read the name and title, your ID badge is just an oversized piece of jewelry.

4. Use high-quality materials.

Nobody likes the look or feel of a flimsy paper badge hanging all tattered and torn around the edges. High-quality materials like durable plastic or sturdy fabric will ensure that your custom IDs and lanyards last. Solid, high-quality materials will also help to create a sense of durability and longevity for your brand.

5. Allow for personalization.

Adding employee headshots or company mottos to all ID badges can give a more personal look to your credentials. But try thinking beyond photos to how ID badges and lanyards can be used for employee engagement and culture building. Use badge backers or custom badge reels to give employees space to express themselves.

For example, a large health system designed custom badge reels in the shape of a heart that read, “I care for you like my [BLANK].” Employees filled in the blank with the names of loved ones. Not only did it project a unified look for all employees across the system, but the reels also became a talking point among patients and staff alike.

Beyond the Brand: More Benefits of Custom ID Badges

Custom badges and accessories are a great way to boost engagement and unify your team. But, of course, there are loads of other reasons to implement a badge program for your company. Here are just a few more:

Security. Employee badges can help ensure smooth and efficient security processes and incorporate building and area access controls, allowing for easy identification of authorized and unauthorized individuals.

Time clocking. Employee badges give employees an easy way to clock in and out. They can also eliminate the problem of "buddy punching," which can cost companies thousands of dollars in lost time and productivity, by ensuring that only authorized individuals can clock in and out.

Parking. Use badges for secure parking access and parking lot management. RFID badges can even serve as employee parking passes.

Health and safety. Touchless technology available in some ID badges helps prevent the spread of germs that tend to linger on high-touch surfaces like keypads and door handles.

Custom ID cards and accessories serve an essential role in the workplace. They help promote unity and brand identity among employees, streamline processes and offer increased security.