What is Branding?

It is the marketing practice of creating a name, symbol or design that identifies and
differentiates a product from other products.
“Branding is the art of aligning what you want people to think about your company with
what people actually think about your company.”

Branding vs Marketing:
Branding is who you are – and Marketing is how you build awareness.
Branding is the strategy, while marketing encompasses the tactical goals.
Marketing refers to the tools that are utilized to deliver the message of the brand.

Key Brand elements:

• Brand Name – Name, Tagline, Logo
• Brand Personality – What you want your brand to be known for (Humorous, Serious,
Magical, Forceful, etc.)
• Brand Promise – The single most important thing your organisation promises to
deliver every time.
• Brand Associations – Colors, Taglines, Images, Fonts, Uniforms, Equipment, etc.
The case of Nike.
• The “Swoosh” is the well-known symbol of Nike.
• Originally Nike’s logo included also the shoemaker’s name.
• At the end of the 90’s , the Nike’s name disappeared.
• The “Swoosh” reminded as the main identification of the shoemaker.
• Today, there is no need to include the brand name into this logo since the
recognition of a simple “Swoosh” automatically brings our attention to Nike.

Types of Branding:
Branding isn’t limited to products. Today we witness branding of organisations, products,
services, places, and even people. Here are 4 types of brandings you should know about –
Product Branding
Product branding is one of the most common types of branding where the offering is given
an identity and a personality to make it identifiable and differentiable in the market. Even
though it is called product branding, it isn’t limited to just products. Product branding refers
to the branding of any offering be it product or service.
An example of product branding could be Mountain Dew. Mountain Dew has its own name,
colour, voice, and personality. You can recognize the brand even when the generic product
is not even there.
Another example of product branding when it comes to services is Game of Thrones. Similar
to tangible branded products, this TV show has its own identity, characteristics, and
properties which differentiates it from others.
Personal Branding
Personal branding is very common among politicians, celebrities, athletes and other people
who have niche followership. This type of branding makes it easier for these people to
create an image for themselves among their followers. This brand image not only helps
them in creating new business opportunities for themselves but also benefits the brand
associated with them.
Michael Jordan is a perfect example of personal branding who, because of his niche
followership, was not only able to benefit himself by launching his own apparel line but also
benefited Nike which partnered with him to launch the same.
Corporate Branding
Branding the organisation is as important as branding the offering it’s selling. Corporate
branding gives an identity to the offering provider and opens new opportunities for him to
extend his offerings portfolio easily.
Corporate branding is also of vital importance when it comes to hiring as employees always
desire to work with a company with a known brand.
PepsiCo is a good example of corporate branding. The company has several products lines in
its product mix including Frito-Lay, Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Lay’s, Gatorade,
Tropicana, etc. all of which are owned and operated by the parent brand- PepsiCo.
Geographical Branding
Geographical or regional branding is often used by the tourism industry who create a brand
out of a geographical location by assigning it certain characteristics and experience to
attract more visitors.
For example, Hawaii is being marketed as the perfect destination to visit if you want to go to
beautiful islands lined with beaches of warm, white sand and verdant, lush flora. The state is
also marketed as the only place to experience Hawaiian cuisine, Hawaiian art, and the
Native Hawaiian religion.

Importance of Branding:
Branding Gets Recognition
The most important reason branding is important to a business is because it is how a
company gets recognition and becomes known to the consumers. The logo is the most
important element of branding, especially where this factor is concerned, as it is essentially
the face of the company.
This is why a professional logo design should be powerful and easily memorable, making an
impression on a person at first glance. Printed promotional products are a way of getting
this across.
Branding Increases Business Value
Branding is important when trying to generate future business, and a strongly established brand can
increase a business’ value by giving the company more leverage in the industry. This makes it a more
appealing investment opportunity because of its firmly established place in the marketplace.

Branding Generates New Customers

A good brand will have no trouble drumming up referral business. Strong branding generally means
there is a positive impression of the company amongst consumers, and they are likely to do business
with you because of the familiarity and assumed dependability of using a name they can trust. Once
a brand has been well-established, word of mouth will be the company’s best and most effective
advertising technique.

Improves Employee Pride And Satisfaction

When an employee works for a strongly branded company and truly stands behind the brand, they
will be more satisfied with their job and have a higher degree of pride in the work that they do.
Working for a brand that is reputable and help in high regard amongst the public makes working for
that company more enjoyable and fulfilling. Having a branded office, which can often help
employees feel more satisfied and have a sense of belonging to the company, can be achieved
through using promotional merchandise for your desktop.

Branding Supports Advertising

Advertising is another component to branding, and advertising strategies will directly reflect the
brand and its desired portrayal. Advertising techniques such as the use of promotional products
from trusted companies such as Outstanding Branding make it easy to create a cohesive and
appealing advertising strategy that plays well into your branding goals.

How to create a Brand Identity or Branding:

1. Research your audience, value proposition, and competition.
Just like any other aspect of starting a business, the first step in creating a brand identity is to
complete market research.

Know the audience

It's no secret that different people want different things. You can't (usually) target a product to a
pre-teen the same way you would target a product to a college student. Learning what your
audience wants from a business in your industry is vital to creating a brand people will love.

Value Proposition & Competition

What makes your business unique in your industry? What can you offer your consumers that others
can't? Knowing the difference between you and your competition is imperative to developing a
successful brand. Keeping an eye on your competitors will also educate you on what branding
techniques work well and those that don't.

Have a clear Mission

You know what your business offers, but be sure to have a clear and direct mission statement that
describes your vision and goals. In other words, know your business's purpose -- you can't very well
create a personality for a business unless you know what that business is about.

Carry out a SWOT Analysis

Finally, completing a SWOT Analysis can be beneficial to better understand your brand. Considering
the characteristics of the brand will help you find characteristics you want to portray in the brand.

2. Design the logo and a template for it.

Once you know your business inside and out, it's time to bring your brand to life. The logo
represents the Brand’s identity. The following factors are ideally necessary to define a logo:

Interesting Form

As imperative as your logo is to branding, it's not the only element that makes a brand identity
strong. Your product(s), the packaging, or the way you present your services all need to play a part in
your brand identity. Eg. McDonald's golden arches for example. They used an interesting form to
create the iconic "M," which is now recognizable all over the world.

Color & Type

Creating a color palette is a way to enhance your identity. It provides you with variety so you can
create unique designs for your business while remaining faithful to the brand identity.

Templates

You probably send out emails, type up letters, or hand out business cards to potential customers on
a daily basis. Creating templates (even for a detail as minute as email signatures) will give your
business a more unified, credible, and professional look and feel.

Consistency

As mentioned in nearly every step already (I can't stress it enough), consistency is what can make or
break a brand identity. Use the aforementioned templates and follow the design choices you've
decided upon for your brand throughout all areas of your business to create a harmonious brand
identity.

3. Integrate language you can use to connect, advertise, and embody on social media.
Now that you've established your brand within your company and have taken all the necessary steps
to develop it, you're ready to integrate your brand within your community.And one of the most
successful ways to accomplish this is for your brand to provide quality content.

Language
Use language that matches that personality of your brand. If your brand identity is high-end, use
professional language; if your brand is laid-back, be more conversational. The language you choose
to use as a brand will be integrated throughout the entire business, so it's important that you
carefully craft your tone to match your brand's personality.

Connection & Emotion

People love stories. More accurately, people love stories that move them (emotionally and to
action). A strong brand identity can establish an emotional connection with consumers, which can be
a solid foundation for building a lasting relationship with a brand.

Advertise

Designing ads, whether traditional or digital, is the most efficient way of introducing your brand to
the world. It's a way to get the message of your brand seen and heard by your target audience.

Social Media

Another great way to establish a connection with your consumers is through social media. The
plethora of platforms on the internet offers up a ton of digital real estate you can use to establish
your brand identity.

4. Know what to avoid.

You can follow all the steps of creating a strong brand identity, but if you're guilty of any of the
following practices, your brand might falter or fail.

Don't give your customers mixed messages.

Know what you want to say, and use the appropriate language and visuals to say it. Just because it
makes sense to you doesn't mean it will make sense to your customers.

Don't copy your competitors.

Your competition may have exemplary branding, and since you're selling the same products or
services, you might want to do what you know works -- don't. Take what they do into account, and
put your own twist on it to make your business stand out in your industry even more.

Don't lose consistency between online and offline

Yes, your print material might look a little different than your online presence, but your colors, type,
theme, and message should all be consistent.

5. Monitor your brand to maintain its brand identity.

Similar to other aspects of your marketing, it's difficult to know what you're doing right (and what
you're not) without tracking key performance metrics. Use Google Analytics, surveys, comments,
social media discussions, etc., to monitor your brand and get a sense of how people talk about and
interact with you. This will give you the opportunity to implement changes to your brand as needed,
whether it's to correct a mistake or to improve brand identity.