My Definition Of Branding

Over the years I have worked with few brands and helped them with their branding. A lot of the time, I was asking myself what made these big brands who they are today? I wanted to understand what branding is and how do you build a good brand. I think to be good at building brands, you have to be good at understanding people. Understanding humans on a different level. I soon realised I just had a natural gift when it came to understanding others in ways most people could not. At an early age in my childhood, I became really good at reading people, understanding why so and so behaved the way they did. I could tell you what this person likes and dislikes before I even had a conversation with them. Just by observing how this person interacts and reacts with others around them, I could tell you some of their habits and behaviour patterns. I used to think this was a weird quality to have but when I started working with brands, I really shined the brightest and became an asset. Now I love building businesses and building a brand. It's my most proudest quality, building something from scratch and then being able to maintain it for a long time. So let me explain briefly what my definition of branding is.

A brand is not a logo. A logo is a symbol. A brand is not a product.

A brand is not a promise. It may end up acting that way but that is not what a brand is.

A brand is not based on the impressions you make on an audience. Most of the time a brand is not what we may think it might be. So what is a brand?

Like Marty Neumeier said, “A customer’s gut feeling about a product, service or company.” It is what’s happening in people’s heads. The reputation and the result. So you don’t just have one version of your brand but each of your customers will have a different version of what they think of your brand. And that is all right as long as you have the main brand value in place and those versions are beneficial to the business. Take Apple, for example, we both may have a different way we look at the brand. To me, Apple is an organisation that makes me feel organised, everything is simple and I have

the freedom to be really creative. Branding is important for any business. Branding is key. I always wondered what do brand designers do? what is involved? When it comes to branding, I learned that a lot goes into building a successful brand. A lot of work, patience, consistency, improvements, research, good messaging and flawless designs to make the brand stand out. Building a brand means building a reputation that people will remember for centuries. Not only remember but be able to relate to the values and the why.

A brand is how other people feel and what they think about you. They take all the raw materials you throw at them and build a picture of what you mean to them. Branding is all around us, everywhere you look there is branding being done. Even we as individuals have brands, called personal branding. We are known for our personalities, qualities and what makes us, us. If I asked your best friend or your spouse to describe you in 5 words what would they say? That's their version of your personal brand. Likewise, a business has that branding, the only difference is, that it is not just an individual but a community. A collection of people involved in an organisation all the way from the CEO to the new customer that just signed up with us. This also involves the vision set by the leaders, the culture, the environment, values and the community

If you'd like to know more about this or want to have a conversation with me more about branding, then feel free to send me a message. I'm always looking for more brands to work with.