There are a lot of misconceptions and misinformation about branding. I am observing a trend where brand identity design is being equated to branding. Sure, your logo, colour palette, typography, patterns, and textures are important aspects of your brand. However, design is not branding. It’s merely one aspect of it (albeit the most outwardly visible) but design on its own does not constitute a brand.
So, what exactly is branding?
Well, let’s break it down. We must first understand what a brand is.
Branding guru Marty Neumeier defines a brand as
a person’s gut feeling about a product, service, or company.
He goes further to say that
when enough individuals arrive at the same gut feeling, a company can be said to have a brand.
I really love this way of conceptualising a brand. It gives us a simple starting point to come to an understanding of branding.
Let’s go on…
If a brand is people’s perception of your business, then branding is the intentional act of influencing people’s perceptions or as Marty calls it their “gut feeling”. Branding, then, must consider who these people are and what you want them to think (among other things).
So, now you can see why it takes more than identity design to build a brand. A brand must be built on a solid, strategic foundation. A brand is a perceptual destination.
As a result of all the confusion surrounding branding, I’ve simplified it into four pillars- research, strategy, narrative, and identity. Together, these four pillars of branding work to create a cohesive, charismatic brand.
Brand Research
Research is the foundation of branding. Your business must solve a problem for a specified target audience. Research allows you to identify this problem, your target market, and their wants and needs. As Michael Johnson states
before you go anywhere, work out where you are first, where you could be, and whether you are strategically capable of getting there.
Brand Strategy
Strategy is the road map that takes you to where you want to be in the mind of your target audience. It is the definition of your brand in functional and emotional terms.
Brand strategy begins with the big picture or long-term goals for your life and business. A solid brand strategy captures why your business exists and why anyone should care about it. It details what your business does, who it targets, and how it is done. Brand strategy also identifies the unique characteristics that differentiate you from your competition. It also identifies the core beliefs and values that will influence how your business behaves. This strategy will also address your brand’s personality.
Brand Narrative
Every brand has a voice. A brand narrative is the verbal expression of your brand strategy. Your use of language is a powerful tool to communicate your brand’s value, positioning, and personality. A powerful brand narrative evokes your brand’s promise, its tone of voice, its story and beyond.
Brand Identity
This is where design comes in. It’s unfortunate that branding is often stripped down to this one step. Do you see how many elements come into play before you can consider designing? Brand identity is the visual expression of your brand strategy. It should also be coherent with your brand’s narrative. Brand identity design includes your logo, colour palette, patterns, textures, and typography.
Branding can be complicated and somewhat intimidating. However, I hope that this post helps you to understand what is involved in building a brand. I will expand on each pillar of branding in subsequent blog posts.
Whenever I’m faced with a new client, I always ensure that we both understand where the business stands. We must both be aware of its personality, its story, the customer experience journey, for instance. I also need to understand the clear points of differentiation.
Brand identity design should only happen when the foundations of research, strategy, and narrative are laid. You cannot create an identity for something that has not been clearly defined.
I believe in branding. When done properly, branding can catapult your business to success. However, branding is a long, strategic, and intentional process. Building a brand requires a long-term commitment.
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