Branding is such a buzzword right now. Everyone seems to be talking about it.  While most understand that it's extremely important for their business, they still seem to be asking, "What is 'branding', anyway?". So I thought I would break it down to clear up the confusion.

To begin, let me start by saying that a brand is made up of elements, such as a logo, color palette, sub mark, business cards, etc... that being said, a logo is a piece of the brand, not the brand. While having a well-designed logo, pretty color palette, and fonts that are paired well together are great, there is so much more to branding.

I think that the idea of branding is difficult to grasp because it deals with emotion. As feelings are intangible, it is more challenging to understand.

The easiest way to think about branding is to think of it as the personality of your business. While your logo, colors, and fonts are physical properties of your business, branding is the emotion your business conveys to consumers.

Seth Godin defined it best,

Take Coca-Cola for example, while everyone can recognize the iconic logo a mile away, and knows the coke red from other shades of red, there is more to it. Let's look back at Seth's quote.

1. Expectations. Every consumer knows that when they buy a Coke, it's going to be refreshing and taste the exact same it has every. single. time. before.

2. Memories. Did you know that a color can increase our memory and the ability for a consumer to remember a brand? Think about it, our brains have been trained to recognize Coke red. Colors also bring about emotions. The color red makes you feel love, passion, energy, power, strength, and desire. Interesting, right?

3. Stories. Coke does a great job communicating their global brand message. They do this through both their voice and their visuals. Most times it is very clear that they are targeting everyone around the world, all cultures, ages, and locations. They also do a great job of speaking directly to the consumer by making it personal. This was shown when they came out with the labels that had people's names on them in all different languages.

4. Relationships. There are two important relationships within a brand. Your relationship with your audience and your audience's relationship with your brand. This is where Coke has built a relationship with consumers over the last 125 years. They have built such a strong loyal customer base with their product but also with the relationship. If you go on Coke's website, one of their main messages is "Together tastes better!". While they have a relationship with their audience, their audience has a relationship with them, their audience also has a relationship.

I also love that their tagline is "Taste The Feeling!". If that doesn't summarize the importance of evoking emotion within consumers, I don't know what does.

Conclusion

When we set out to create a brand identity for someone, there is a lot more involved in the process than just creating a pretty logo and pairing it with colors and fonts. Our process is designed to analyze the business, the purpose, the target client, and their attitude. This helps us determine how they want to be perceived. We then create the tools necessary to help that business convey their message to their audience.

People want to know a business' personality. That is why the about page is the second most visited page, after the homepage. People want to know who you are.

How does your audience feel when they purchase something from you, hear your voice through your email in their inbox, or visit your Pinterest boards?

Are they feeling that emotion that you are conveying with your brand?

If you aren't able to answer the questions confidently and want more help, click here to learn about what we do and schedule a free consultation call!