What is Branding?

To understand what a brand is, we first must describe what a product is.

“A brand is a name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers” (American Marketing Association).

What is a Product?

Basically, a product is defined as anything that performs a function which satisfies the wants or needs of the market. It is not limited to anything tangible, meaning, a product can be an experience, a place, an event, information, or a service.

There are millions of products available to the market for sale. Most products in any given category perform similar functions. Products may vary in terms of packaging, size, color, benefits, delivery, or customer service, but the most effective way to stand out is not physical, but psychological. This is where the Brand comes in.

What is a Brand?

“A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another.” (Seth Godin)

Companies use their brand to distinguish their product from others. Although products can be produced rather quickly, creating a brand takes time since it involves the creation of a set of expectations in the customers’ minds.

Simply put, a brand is the image of your company in your customers’ eyes — and this takes years to build.

The physical features of a product alone does not create the brand. The feelings and emotions that customers develop towards the product is what makes the brand stand out. Over time, as customers interact with the brand’s name, logo, or slogan, specific emotional cues are triggered. These feelings, emotions, and expectations create the brand. This combination makes a brand unique, and makes it incredibly challenging for competing companies to replicate.

“Branding is endowing products and services with the power of a brand” (Kotler & Keller)

Companies use branding to shape the image and expectations in the mind of the consumer about their product. When companies properly execute the branding process, they can communicate why consumers should purchase their products instead of the competition’s.

The impact of branding causes the product’s value to no longer stem from its ability to satisfy a functional need, but on its ability to also simultaneously satisfy other human needs as well.

A person may need a car so that she can travel around the city (functional). But she doesn’t want to drive an ordinary car, she wants to drive a Mercedes. Driving around the city in an expensive luxury car from Mercedes-Benz makes her feel powerful (emotional) and significant (esteem).

Companies who are not working on creating a unique brand will be at a severe disadvantage because eventually, a product can become obsolete, but the brand can always live on.

Originally published at www.partizanmedia.com on March 11, 2018.