Even though it seems like more people are talking about branding and brands than ever before (or maybe because of it), there seem to be many misconceptions about what a brand really is, and how one is built and maintained.
Branding started as a way of saying “this is mine” and “this is what I do.” The word brand, from the old High German, brinnan, literally translates as “firebrand,” as in “burn a mark” – a practice of branding cattle that dates back to early human settlement and animal husbandry. Early vendors would put signs on their workshops to signify their trade or guild membership, a practice that to this day has vestiges in pawnshops and barbershops. Historically, branding started as a way of identifying something in order to help retrieve lost or stolen property and goods, or of describing a business’s service or product type. But very quickly, purchasers realized that brands, and identifying the origins and types of goods, could also convey information about their quality. In a human society that was booming and becoming more complex, businesses began to realize that it was not enough to tell people what you do and who you are. If you really want to stand out from the competition, you have to tell them what makes you different.
Before mass media, it was relatively simple. People had personal relationships with vendors, service providers, and shop owners, and wider audiences knew a brand by reputation and word of mouth. Umbricius Scaurus, for example, a manufacturer of fish sauce in Pompeii, circa 35 CE, was known across the Mediterranean for having a product of very high quality. He had mosaic patterns in his house featuring images of amphorae bearing his personal brand and quality claims.
Mass media changed everything. Now, scaling brand reach with print, radio and television to our online, ever-connected present means that, on the one hand, more people can be reached and at more touchpoints. But on the other hand, the relationships created between businesses and audiences have become less intimate. Information about products and services has become more readily available, giving rise to the need for brand management. In the following tweet, the outdoor product retailer Patagonia, a brand known for its values supporting sustainability, responds to criticism from a customer in a manner that extinguishes the fire, while also reaffirming their brand commitment:
Many business leaders are beginning to understand that good branding is good business, and are using “your logo is not your brand” in a manner that has already become somewhat of a cliché. However, many people, even professionals, still don’t realize that a brand is a lot more than just what something looks, sounds, smells, or feels like. It is so much more than the fun, “creative,” and colorful stuff you take care of when you’re ready to launch. People also tend to mix cause and effect. For example, when Google was rising meteorically, many designers heard claims to the effect that, “it seems like people like ugly things,” referring to the Google logo and design. Google has since cleaned up their logo and design, and their brand scores are through the roof. It turns out that people didn’t necessarily like the ugly logo, but they were willing to live with it because their overall relationship with the brand was great.
People also confuse branding, marketing, and advertising. Branding as a service is closely related to and has evolved alongside marketing and advertising. Because all these fields utilize similar technologies, tools and skills, people tend to confuse them with one another. Very often, “branding” is handed over to marketers and advertisers as an afterthought. Marketing and advertising are definitely subsets of a brand strategy, but brands are much more far-reaching; they are about relationships.
Jeff Bezos is credited as declaring that “your brand is what people say about you when you leave the room,” but a brand is even more comprehensive than that:
Your brand is what you make people think and feel about you. Furthermore, your brand is also how you make people think and feel about themselves. It is a dynamic relationship that is manifested, and reaffirmed or shaken, with every interaction people have with it. A brand is expressed in everything you do that people encounter — whether it is your product, the performance of your website, the cleanliness of your store, the quality of your customer support, your pricing fit, the way you treat your employees, or your user experience. Customers don’t care about your shiny new logo if your service is still outdated and slow; they feel less eager to buy your product if your checkout process makes them feel inept. This is true for your business’s relationship with its customers, employees, vendors, and even when it comes to yourself. It is about your commitment to the relationships your business has with people.
On an online platform for a home design niche that I worked with, this commitment informed every aspect of their brand, product, and marketing. Understanding that useful home design inspiration was a major part of the brand promise, they started using large images on their site. However, such images typically take a significantly longer time to load. Since long wait times can kill inspiration and engagement, this company focused on speeding up the experience and making browsing seem seamless. They embarked upon technical research about image compression and optimization, along with user behavior research, in order to create predictive caching of images based on a projected user navigation path. By compressing and caching images, page load time could be dramatically decreased, thus improving the user experience.
This project entailed a multidisciplinary effort involving strategy, user experience professionals, designers, and technologists, but the effort paid off. The results led to more than doubled session lengths, and added significantly to page views. The service was described as “addictive” by reviewers. Even the monetization strategy followed the brand dedication to always provide the audience with useful, inspiring, and quality content. Generic advertising networks were banned and only branded ads providing actual value to the audiences were allowed on the site, leading to increased profitability and better engagement. Since then, this company’s brand promise has driven everything they’ve done, from their design to the people they hire and the partnerships they form.
So, how do you know what your brand is? Or how do you decide and define it?
Start by stating what you do and what your goals are. For example, your service could be a cheese guide and your goal could be to become the premiere go-to, one-stop destination for cheese lovers. What is your role in this world? Perhaps to spread the love of cheese and help people learn about and find the cheese that they love. What makes you different? What’s your advantage? Maybe you have a unique AI-based method of personalization that matches cheese to personality traits and moods. Who are your audiences? Maybe they are cheese lovers, foodies in general and dairy vendors. What are their needs, wants, habits, concerns, and expectations? What is their digital literacy like? What is your brand promise? Is it “find your cheese? Every time?” Is it the same for vendors and consumers? How do you align their interests with each other and with your business goals? For example, if you create a user discussion area where vendors can answer customer questions about cheese, both parties have incentives to participate. What is your brand personality, the one that you can live by and deliver consistently? How do you want to make people feel? What can they consistently expect from you? What are you willing to commit to deliver on every front?
The answers to these questions need to drive and guide everything your company does. Is the right look and feel simple? Is it high end? How do you monetize in a way that is consistent with your promise? Do you allow advertising? What type? Do you earn from affiliation? Or from facilitating drop shipment? What type of content are you going to feature on your site? Which aspects of your technology need to be customized? How do you advertise and market yourself? What should you avoid?
When building a brand, think about what you are, the qualities that you stand for, what makes you unique and what you want people to think and feel about you and about themselves. Commit to using these points as touchstones by which you measure every move you make. They’ll be watching you.
