Branding 101: What it is & Where to Start?
Branding - The Basics
Let’s get the facts straight, branding activities, such as designing your logo, building your website, or writing a mission statement, are not what creates your brand.
…Confused?
This is because the brand itself lives inside the mind of the customers, so your business does not actually "create" the brand, but you can make efforts to influence the customer's perception of the brand.
So what is branding, then?
Branding is the art of managing meaning and influencing perception about your business inside the mind of your customer. This is best achieved through the development and maintenance of your brand strategy and brand identity. These aspects of your branding efforts are experienced through brand touchpoints by your customers, where they will create the collective idea of the brand.
The Branding Mix
So let me break this down even further. There are four key aspects of branding that you should focus on to help craft the perception of your brand. I call this the branding mix!
Brand Strategy
The brand strategy is the roadmap to your branding efforts. This is something developed internally to help guide your branding efforts toward achieving your goals beyond profits. It includes things like your brand purpose, mission, defining your target, and your core values.
Brand Identity
Your brand identity encompasses the visual and sensory elements that distinguish the brand in the customer's mind. This includes things like your logo, name, color palette, typography, and brand voice. It is often developed with the help of designers and marketing experts, which can then be articulated in your brand guidelines document.
Brand Touchpoints
A brand touchpoint is any instance in which a customer will interact with your branding efforts. From your website to signage, to your employee's uniforms, your customer is encountering the brand.
Customer Experience
Every customer interaction with a brand touchpoint adds to the totality of the collective customer experience. Whether a customer is holding a business card in their hand or scrolling through your website, they are gathering experiences that will form the perception of your brand, therefore, creating the brand itself in their mind.
So where, should you start your branding efforts?
The truth is... It depends!
Think of the branding mix as a cycle that you follow in succession: From Brand Strategy → Brand Identity → Brand Touchpoints → Customer Experience → Back to Brand Strategy. While I believe it is best to always start with strategy, you have likely jumped in somewhere else along the branding mix. Let’s say your initial investment into your brand was the development of your website, but you are not getting customers from this effort alone. At this stage in the mix, you'll want to gather input from your customers' experience and take that data to develop a fresh brand strategy; then you would follow the cycle accordingly to address the gaps that you may have missed along the way.
There is no right way
The art of branding your business is a complicated game of push and pull, always learning, tweaking, and adjusting. And despite what anyone tells you, there is no right way to go about branding your business. That said, sometimes it can be hard to see where your branding efforts are lacking, so you may need help deciding how to move forward.
If you're feeling stuck, grab my free Branding Checklist below to gain clarity and take your business to the next level!
