What is Branding?

Similar to the term ‘brand’, ‘branding’ is also a much-misunderstood term! Just like a brand is not merely about a logo or a design element, branding is not merely about putting that logo at places visible to public.

Brand is the emotional and psychological relationship between the company and the consumer. A great logo in itself won’t do enough to your brand if the rest of your business doesn’t respect what it stands for.

Branding then, is the discipline of building a brand, i.e. marketing the brand idea or image to make it recognisable by more and more people and acknowledged with respect to certain services or products among others in the same market niche.

In simpler words, it is the process of developing a brand by shaping the target consumers’ perception or current consumers’ experiences in a positive way. The unique and consistent taste of Maggi Masala is a perfect example of branding by product experience, being loved by all, which makes it a top choice in its product category.

Furthermore, branding is also a means to build a good reputation, which is a vital company asset. Not only does it help build a positive image for the company from the outside, but also has a positive effect on the inside, by pushing the team to live up to the brand expectations by fulfilling the demands and maintaining the quality standards.

Which is why, it is important to have a strong and well-defined branding strategy in place to serve as a guideline to make efforts towards developing clearer, consistent and recognisable business identity that translates into higher brand preference and thus, sales. A strong branding strategy should include:

1. Your Voice: The way you speak to the world conveys the way you want to be perceived and the way you want the audience to feel about your products / services. So, anything you write or speak about your company should either differentiate you from others, offer a benefit or reinforce your brand. Every single interaction should carry your brand stylistically and visually.
2. Logo & Portraits: These must capture the audience’s imagination and attention and fortify the perception of your business in their mind’s eye.
3. Colours: Different coloursoften convey different moods and philosophy. Choose the colour that perfectly suits the type of products or services you offer.
4. Typefaces: Typefaces, like colours carry a message in themselves. Choose carefully, and use it consistently. Because you don’t want a life insurance product to look like a Disney game, do you?

Branding can be as simple and as complex as building a trustworthy relationship with consumers by balancing the company’s objectives with consumers’ needs and expectations.

 What are Brand Values?

How to execute Strong Branding?

Find answers to many such questions and more in my next post on BiggerLogos.