Brand, brand, branding: What does it all mean?
Do you know what branding is? What about a brand? Or a Brand?
While these terms are commonly interchanged, they’re all unique elements of your company, and all deserve your time and attention in different ways.
Let’s break them down.
What is branding and why is it important?
Branding refers to the actions you take to establish and influence what your brand is and how it’s perceived in the minds of others.
Those actions include items like creating a logo, deciding on a colour scheme for your marketing, and determining your company voice, tone and style.
These are all very intentional choices you make to create an impression.
The approach is both strategic, taking into account the big picture vision and values you have for your company along with your goals and purpose, and tactical in terms of how you execute these decisions on a day-to-day basis in your content, product or service offerings, and marketing materials.
Branding helps to provide your audience with a general idea of who you are and what you stand for. Different colours create a different look and feel, your tone of voice can help hint at who your ideal audience is, and your logo can provide contextual clues as to what your company represents.
You likely already have many of these elements in place in your business. In fact, this is often where many companies start (we’ll discuss whether this is my recommended approach down below).
However, it’s also important to note that these elements are fluid. There’s always the opportunity to change your company colours or logo down the line if you change directions or decide something isn’t aligned.
Now let’s chat about different brand structures
When we talk about brand architecture, there are a number of different structures to outline:
Branded houses like Google maintain focus on a single, well-known company. Their branding is consistent and they have one voice.
Houses of brands (for example, P&G), home numerous brands. Each brand is independent of one another and each has their own audience, marketing plan, goals, and branding to set them apart. Consumers may or may not be aware of the fact that these brands are part of a larger house of brands, though there is generally some indication on the product or service linking the two.
Hybrid structures are those where both branded houses and houses of brands exist (like Coca Cola). They’re known primarily for their main product offering but also have a number of other stand-alone brands underneath them.
Endorsed brands (like Marriott) include different product or service brands, each positioned individually from the parent company while still maintaining an association or endorsement with the parent brand. For example, the Marriott brand includes the Marriott Vacation Club, JW Marriott, Marriott Hotels and Resorts, and other diversified companies that share some uniformity in their standards and quality, though they each may appeal to different consumers with different budgets.
Sub-brands (for example the Apple iPhone), are brands within a brand. They’re a product or service with a unique name that have developed to a point where they are essentially their own brand. These sub-brands can have different consumer expectations and branding than the parent company.
Regardless of the type of brand structure we’re talking about, each includes different types of brands that are established through strategic decisions by the business with heavy research and input from marketing.
How does this relate to you? If you’re just starting out it likely makes sense to focus on building a branded house to establish yourself, hone in on your expertise and audience, build a team, streamline your company, and (ideally) see sustained growth and continued success.
However, it’s never too early to start planning and envisioning the future, and if you see yourself building a house of brands down the line, or you notice that one of your offerings might be taking on a life of its own (hello, sub-brand), this will come into play in some of the decisions you make for your company.
Consider,
How will your communication need to change as you grow?
What structures, systems and automations will set you up for success?
What do the internal operations of your company currently look like? How might they need to change and shift based on the brand structure you’d like to build?
What pieces can you put in place to build a strong foundation for your business to grow on?
Brand architecture appeals to different audiences in different ways, and you need to be strategic about how you build your business from the ground up, based on the consumer you’re trying to reach, as well as the goals you have for your business.
Brand with a capital B
Then there is your Brand.
The part you don't have any control over.
Your Brand is the perception of who and what you are that lives in the minds of the people you interact with, including your clients, potential clients, and other stakeholders in the community your business is known.
You can influence your Brand from start to finish by making strategic decisions of how you want to set up your business and branding. However, you don’t have control over the outcome.
This is where the Brand (capitalized on purpose because this is important) is much more complex.
Your Brand is what people say about you publicly, even if you don't agree.
Your Brand is what people feel about decisions you make (good or bad), whether they talk about it or not.
Your Brand is the experience customers have when they buy from you.
Your Brand is the packaging they receive and the communications you send.
Your Brand is whether your customer service makes your customers feel heard or dismissed.
Your Brand is whether your customers sense a genuine human connection.
Your Brand is whether you get the customer's name right in correspondence and phone calls.
Your Brand is when your database has dirty data that shows up when you use merge tags for personalization.
Your Brand is a million things, big and small, that make up the view of your business for each individual you interact with every day.
And your Brand is what’s going to predict the success of your business, more than your font choice or the type of brand house you’ve decided to build. Unfortunately, many people spend more time on their branding than their Brand.
While colours and logos can be supportive in communicating who you are and what you offer, those elements don't matter nearly as much as how those interactions are perceived by your people.
And while you can do your best to create a certain look and feel for your company through intentional branding choices, every consumer is unique, and everyone is going to have a different perception of your company based on the choices you’ve made.
Beyond individualistic preferences and preconceptions of artistic choices, consumers are going to further make their judgements based on their experience interacting with and working with you.
Do they feel heard and understood?
Do they feel you upheld the standards they were expecting?
Did they have a pleasant experience that was congruent with their expectations based on their initial perception of your brand?
Did each step in their customer journey go smoothly?
Consumers want to work with and support companies whose actions are aligned with the perception they’re presenting. If there’s a disconnect between the image you’re suggesting through your branding, and the actions you’re taking to represent your brand, consumer trust is easily lost.
Your Brand needs more of your focus
This is where intentional marketing and content come in. Because when you don’t have a long-term marketing strategy that makes sense and is aligned with your business goals, good luck effectively (and consistently) presenting your company in a way that is well-perceived.
Marketing isn’t simply checking items off a to-do list, it’s finding a unique path and plan for your business so that you can have clarity and confidence in prioritizing your marketing and business activities.
Without that clarity and direction, your Brand is likely to suffer.
Focus on building a brand with a long-term vision, clear values, and an intentional strategy, make aligned branding and business decisions based on your strategy and plan, and you’ll find you’re more likely to have a well-received Brand that can continue to grow and evolve.
As always, I’m here to support you along the way. Book a free consultation call with me here.