You Are Your Brand

What is your brand? When you think of branding, you think of big companies putting a big stamp on their products and properties. But branding isn’t all about logos and colors. It’s about identity.

Saying an organization’s brand is their logo is like saying you identify a person by their chin. Well, there are some mighty fine and impressive chins out there, but there is obviously much more to a person’s identity than a chin, even their superficial self: There’s their personality, their energy, the way they talk, the way they walk.

Like a person, an organization’s identity also includes diverse elements, like its sense of purpose, its personality, its aura, and its voice. Identity permeates everything you do – from customer service to the type of language you use to the doorknobs in your office – no offense ;).

Once the brand elements that form this identity are recognized and defined, they need to be fiercely preserved and protected – because that’s how you demonstrate authenticity.

Before HiRaiser, I spent 15 years running a creative agency. I worked on all kinds of branding projects, marketing campaigns and pitch presentations for tech companies, startups and nonprofits. What all that creative work really boils down to is establishing identity to build relationships.

Here’s how a branding and marketing strategy starts: Who are my core audiences? What are their objectives? What is my objective? How do I build a bridge between my objective and their objective? All of branding and marketing is essentially the construction of this bridge to align you with your audience. It is a very narrow bridge, in the sense that it is specific to who you are and what you do – and so it is your bridge to create.

Branding is the identity that flows through everything your organization says or does. It demonstrates that you are actively bringing something of intrinsic value to the world. It is an opportunity to express the talk you talk and the walk you walk in everything you do.

Feel like having (or avoiding) an identity crisis? Let’s chat.