Branding – What is It and Do I Have One?

The Problem

The Terms Brand and Branding are thrown around quite freely theses days, but do we know what they mean or better yet can understanding them help us with our business? What it is to have a brand. Are all Businesses Brands or is Every Box of Cereal on the Isle a Brand?Can I just hire a great designer and get my brand from them? Let’s get to the bottom of this.

What is Branding?

What a Brand is:

What exactly does “branding” mean? Simply put, your brand is your promise to your customer. It tells them what they can expect from your products and services, and it differentiates your offering from that of your competitors. Your brand is derived from who you are, who you want to be and who people perceive you to be. – Entrepreneur.com

Iconic Brands –

You don’t need to build a brand to have a successful business, there are plenty businesses that provide services and complete on pricing.

Such as: Banks, Grocery Stores, car dealerships, A/C Repair companies, and the list goes on.

Branding is the Art of Standing out from the crowd by standing for more than selling items for the lowest price. Competing for the lowest price is a race to the bottom.

What Branding is Not

1. A position in the market
2. Name
3. Logo
4. Tagline
5. Business card, Packaging, or Signage
6. Website

How to know if You Have a Brand.

If you haven’t spent tons of time and effort creating a culture around your business that can attract a tribe of people who are loyal to your product because of what it stands for you don’t have a brand.

If you are a business competing for the lowest price, a freelancer using freelancing portals to get gigs, or an influencer taking any check you can get to promote random products you don’t have a brand your a commodity.

What is a commodity? According to Wikipedia, “a commodity good or service has full or partial but substantial fungibility; that is, the market treats its instances as equivalent or nearly so with no regard to who produced them.”

Things all brands have:

1. a Logo “that is in alignment with your brand and mission”
2. Brand Message
3. Mission Statement
4. Consistency “When you stand for something don’t take a hard left on your tribe”
5. Activity
6. Uniqueness
7. a Voice

Things The most Successful Brands Have:

1. Prominence
2. A stance or Point of View
3. Content Strategy
4. Meticulous Brand Strategy
5. Trust
6. Personality

Need Help Building a Brand?

Here are a few resources that can help no matter which stage your at in the Brand Building Process.

For the Beginners or Individuals that are New to the terms Brand and Branding

1. The Brand Gap by Marty Neumeier
2. Zero to One by Peter Thiel

Intermediate Brands or Brand Builders

1. The Futur youtube channel “they dive into everything around the topic of Branding and Brand Building”
2. The Win Without Pitching Manifesto by Blair Enns

The Established Brand that may need a Refresh

1. Brand Intervention by David Brier
2. The Brand Flip by Marty Neumeier

Conclusion:

You don’t need to have a brand to be a successful business but building a brand allows you to attract a tribe, people who respect your product or the way you work instead of being the next customer inline that’s already had a bad day.

So if have an exceptional skill or provide a spectacular service why not take the time to craft, promote, and work on it until it becomes a Brand that we all know and Trust.