What Is Branding ?

What it’s not.

The easiest way to define branding is to just come out and say what it’s not: It’s not advertising. It’s not marketing. It’s not PR.

Branding has to happen before all that. Developing a Brand is, in essence, developing a personality so that you can jump out of the pack. It’s not about giving consumers a choice over the competition.

It’s about providing a solution. The only solution. Do Nike, Kleenex, Starbucks, Google ring a bell?

What it is. Why bother?

First off, it makes you memorable, which leads to repeat uses of your product as well as those all important, word-of-mouth referrals. If someone can't remember your name, what you offer or what about you was unique, the chances of that person coming back or recommending you to someone else are slim.

What does this mean to you?

Branding is all about creating loyalty and building trust. It’s about connecting emotionally. Your brand is the total experience and perception your audience has about you. So if you don’t have a solid Brand Strategy, you might as well kiss growth goodbye.

Why should I spend money on branding? By creating a clear and concise road map in the beginning, a Brand Guide, you’ll reduce development time in all subsequent marketing materials. The upfront investment pays off, as you don’t have to reinvent the wheel for every new tactic. You already have your branding foundation; your playbook, including logos, fonts, brand colors, image style, a campaign approach, messaging and more. And you’ll reduce the amount of time it takes for consumers to make a decision. They trust you!

How does it work?

Start with a Brand Strategy – This is where we assess your current brand and determine your ideal target audience. Once we have that nailed that, we develop the Brand Strategy, or creative strategy, to reach your business goals.

Follow your Brand Guide – Here is where we build a set of creative guidelines, a Spring Board© through a campaign execution so that everyone is on the same page when creating materials for your Brand. This becomes a corner stone document for all communications and is critical in maintaining a unified voice, look and feel for your product.

All of this makes your Brand memorable, valuable and your marketing dollars go further – and that my friend, plus a great product is what really separates the you-know-who’s, from the you-know-what’s.

In the end, it’s creating a perception that makes profit a reality.