Stop Branding Yourself. Start Branding Customers.

Branding is one of those buzzwords company leaders endure at every conference, seminar and gathering of industry gurus. Most of the time, the meaning of the word branding is pretty murky.

So let's clear it up.

Branding is what cowboys used to do to cattle. Branding has one objective. Only one. Branding establishes ownership of the cow. If a cow wears your brand, it is your cow. Not someone else's.

If your branding doesn't establish your ownership of a customer, then - quite frankly - your branding isn't working.

Sneaker companies like Nike & Puma & Adidas & Under Armor seem to be about the only companies that still understand branding. (And no, I am not talking about their logo.)

They sign athletes to contracts. If an athlete has a Nike contract, he is contractually prohibited from wearing any clothes made by a competitor.

In other words, Nike owns that athlete - at least when it comes to his choice of apparel.

If your branding doesn't establish your ownership of a customer, then - quite frankly - your branding isn't working.

Branding Is Not About Visibility

The purpose of branding is NOT to make you recognizable, or to make you memorable, or to make you stand out from the crowd.

The purpose of branding is to establish ownership over the customer. Period.

So why are you wasting previous time, money and energy on branding that does not establish ownership? 

Stop it.

Stop spending money to get a fancy logo designed. Stop paying for some goofball-monickered "design shop" to come up with a made-up techy-sounding word for your company name. Lose the color specialists and especially lose the ad men. 

None of them will do you a lick of good if your goal is to establish ownership of the customer.

Branding Is About Ownership

Back in the day, the cow didn't care what the brand looked like, or who designed it, or whether or not the brand was trendy. 

In fact, being branded was not up to the cow. It was up to the cowboy.

Branding is something you do to your target audience. 

Lemme repeat that for emphasis: For your branding efforts to work, you have to brand your customer.

Branding yourself doesn't accomplish anything useful.

Effective branding is active, not passive. You can't wait for your brand to seep into your customer's consciousness like water seeping into a tea bag. 

You can't wait for your brand to seep into your customer's consciousness like water seeping into a tea bag.

Nope, you gotta actively engage in the five kinds of activities that create an indelible psychological mark on your target audience. 

That's how you brand them. That's how you establish ownership. That's how you create customers who are so fanatically loyal to you that they refuse to buy from anyone else.

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Jack Heald is a researcher, writer and speaker. He studies the science of loyalty and teaches the 5 Loyalty Reflex Triggers. His website is Cult Your Brand.