What the word "Branding" really means
First, lets get some myths out of the way:
A brand is not a logo
A brand is not matching graphic design
A brand is not a product
A brand is the all encompassing global experience someone has with your organization. It’s the personality of the company. It’s how the organization makes you feel.
There are two parts to branding:
- Creating Personality
It takes a lot to create a consistent, or change a consistent, corporate personality. The organization’s work must reflect its mission, their values must be in sync with how they behave in the marketplace, their design must accurately reflect their corporate attitude, their customer support should uphold the company’s promise… you get the picture.
A strong brand is when a company can create an echo chamber of consistent emotions throughout various touch-points with customers, employees, or vendors.
And just like humans, your personality doesn’t change often. Unlike, clothes (which are more like graphic design to a company) they change all the time.
But remember, even if you’ve never branded your organization, you still have a brand. Because…
A brand is not what you say it is, it’s what they say it is.
- To Differentiate
The more common reason companies pay millions of dollars to rebrand themselves is to differentiate. To stand out. Again, it’s similar to humans. When you think of the most interesting people in your life, who comes to mind? People that are different right? They might be funny or loud or creative or maybe they just have an incredible story.
Bottom line, the human mind only notices what’s different.
Via: Dale Patridge
