Branding is hard to understand, even when it’s your job. And when people talk about branding, chances are they aren’t all talking about the same thing. Is it design? Is it marketing? Who is responsible for it? How do you manage a brand? If you’re confused and feel like you need branding 101, you’re not alone.
Despite all the confusion (and the lack of a clear definition), there are some fundamental principles to branding. When you understand them, branding becomes a lot more accessible.
Read on for some branding 101 basics that everyone should know.
Branding is the same whether you’re big or small
I’ve worked in branding at small companies, large companies, startups, and as a solo entrepreneur. I can tell you from experience that the fundamentals of branding are the same, whatever your size.
The larger the company and more complicated the product, the more time consuming the branding challenges. But the branding 101 basics remain true whether you’re talking about yourself or a large conglomerate. In both cases, the root of branding is about self-awareness — knowing who you are, what you stand for, and acting accordingly.
Big or small, a brand is every action a company and all of its employees (or you if you’re a solo entrepreneur) ever take. The brand is expressed through communication and storytelling — basically what you say and how you say it. Managing a brand is about clarity of purpose and consistency of execution. The rest of it is details.
Branding isn’t a function
Larger-sized businesses are divided into functions that organize staff by the activities that they do. Some functions are straightforward, for example, finance. Other functions are a bit mushy, sometimes reporting into each other and sometimes existing side by side, for example, sales and marketing, which are both selling functions.
Branding is about a business’s strategy (past, present, and future), so branding lives at the strategic level rather than at a functional level. Sometimes teams will call themselves “brand,” and what they mean is design or marketing. Those teams contribute to a brand, but they are not responsible for branding. Real branding emanates from the very heart of an organization, from the culture, policies, and actions of a company.
Branding cuts across all of the functions in a company. That doesn’t mean that an organization won’t have people who functionally work on branding; they do (and should). But the ultimate responsibility for a brand can only rest with the head of a company who is guiding business strategy.
Branding creates an impression
What is a brand? Is it a logo? Is it your colors? The short answer is no.
A logo isn’t a brand any more than your face is your soul. Your face can communicate feelings, and so can a logo, but ultimately your face (like logos and colors) creates recognition. Everything that makes you YOU happens on a much deeper level than your face. But your face triggers recognition based on a collection of memories – good, bad, or indifferent – when someone who knows you sees you. It’s the same with branding.
How a company acts, how its people treat you, and how well its goods and services work — all create an impression in your mind. That impression forms when you hear about brands and experience their products and services. And that impression triggers recognition when you see logos. As Paul Rand, a master of brand 101, once said, “A logo derives its meaning from the quality of the thing it symbolizes, not the other way around.”
Branding takes consistency
How do you learn something new? You practice. How do you train a dog? You repeat the same thing over and over. It’s the same thing with branding 101.
Good branding is about saying what you mean and meaning what you say. It’s about making decisions that reflect and support your stated beliefs. It’s about communicating your brand story in a wholly singular, clear, and predictable way. And it’s about doing it over and over and over again.
People who work on brands sometimes get bored and think that they need to “mix things up” to keep them “fresh.” That’s dangerous. Design and voice play a critical part in telegraphing brand consistency and quality; so do policies and customer service. Changes should be undertaken with the greatest of care.
Branding requires honesty
Transparency is critical to today’s brands, because customers demand and deserve it. Good branding 101 isn’t about fooling anyone; it’s about being authentic. That doesn’t mean you need to give away all your trade secrets. But you do need to respect that your customers won’t be in a relationship with you if you don’t open up to them.
Branding is not a job for the faint of heart. Sometimes you need to speak truth to power and remind an organization what a brand stands for and how decisions might damage the brand. That can be scary, but it’s vital. If you’re someone who doesn’t like to rock the boat and doesn’t want to deliver challenging news, branding probably isn’t for you.
Branding taps into emotions
The essence of branding 101 is about things we can’t see — what people think and how they feel. You can’t look into your customer’s mind or heart and see how your brand connects with them. And even if you ask them and they tell you, they might not tell you the truth. They might not even know themselves.
Anyone who’s been in a relationship knows that understanding another person’s thoughts and motivations can be challenging. Branding is the same because you’re dealing with humans. The more you listen, the more you show empathy, the more you establish trust, the more likely you are to understand if and how your brand is resonating with people.
Branding is both art and science
It’s not surprising that there is often friction between people who work in data functions and people who work in creative functions. But that friction can be incredibly positive when it comes to branding, and both are critical to brand success.
People who are data wizards can discover extraordinarily helpful insights that make strategic decisions easier. Talented creatives often feel when something is wrong and breakthrough to solutions that are delightfully, unexpectedly right.
Branding is about the heart and the mind, the emotional and the rational. It’s both an art and a science. Let’s call branding alchemy, the act of transmuting data and art, together, into something magical.
Branding makes sales easier
Ask people what drives business performance, and they will often say sales. It makes sense — you sell something, you make money. You sell more things; you make more money. That’s why the sales function has so much power in many companies; what sales needs is what the company needs to deliver.
However, as with anything having to do with humans, what we think we need and what we need are often not the same. Sales doesn’t always know they need branding, but they do. Because branding makes selling easier. Branding establishes a bond with a customer, taps into deep emotions, and creates a feeling of belonging. Effective branding builds connection, meaning the door might already be half-way open before sales even knocks.
The trick is that branding takes time to become a formidable asset. And that’s the rub. Just like you have to believe that 30 minutes of walking a day will pay off for you in the long run, you have to believe that branding will pay off, too.
Branding is a long game
Branding isn’t quick, and it isn’t easy. It’s about putting the work in every day, building every brick on top of the one before, and never letting up. Whether you are creating a brand or maintaining it, diligence and dedication are key to branding.
The work you put into branding today might not pay off for 5, 10, even 20 years. It might pay off tomorrow. But even if it does pay off tomorrow, you will need to keep that work up for the next day, week, month, year, or decade.
If you like quick rewards, branding probably isn’t for you. But if you are curious, enjoy listening, and get satisfaction from a job well done each and every day, then branding might be just what you’re looking for.