Brands and Branding
The Brand
More often than not clients hold the belief that designing the logo is the beginning of the brand creation process. They are partly right; the ‘branding’ process could begin with the creation of the logo. However, the logo, or the catchy tag line isn’t the brand.
The brand in its simplest definition is a promise. A promise of what the brand will deliver to its consumer who use and experience its product or service. It is about the experience. The brand exists in the mind of the consumer.
When one hears of a particular brand it will either stir up a set of positive or negative associations in one’s mind or none at all. In which case the brand is irrelevant or one is unaware of its existence. A strong and successful brand tends to stir up more positive associations than negative ones amongst its target customer base.
So what does it take to create a strong and successful brand that stirs up positive associations? The following factors contribute to creating a strong brand
· Relevant differentiation – The brand idea or promise that makes the brand different and unique relative to other brands in the category, and ensures that people care about the difference enough to consume it. It’s not about features or benefits, they can be replicated. It’s about reaching out to the consumer with a meaningful difference.
· Delivering on the brand promise - Successful brands align their business strategy with their brand promise or idea. It’s about aligning the business model – resources, people and operations to deliver on the brand promise.
What then is branding?
Branding is the approach that is followed after deciding on the differentiated idea or promise. It’s the tangible process of establishing the promise in the mind of the consumer. Apart from the noticeable elements such as names, logos, colours, signage, packaging, etc it includes experiential aspects as well such as the customer care or service experience.
Thus, before getting down to branding one’s business it’s important to understand the difference between the Brand and branding. While it sounds very obvious, it’s something that most entrepreneurs tend to ignore.
