WHAT
BRANDING
IS
Branding is the way people form an opinion about your product or service. Branding is not a science. That is why everybody contributes to it in both communications and actions. However, that doesn’t mean that everybody is qualified as a Branding manager or expert. At the end of the day, branding is the holistic experience that makes customers think and feel about a brand.
BRANDING DEFINITION
A brand is a covenant with the consumer. It is what remains from past behavior that allows the consumer to anticipate future behavior. The more consistent the past behavior, the faster the brand can generate the conviction that we as consumers “understand” what it is about, and anticipate what it will, or will not do for us.
WHAT ARE EXAMPLES OF BRANDING GUIDELINES
Brand guidelines (also known as a brand style guide) are a set of standards and details that explain how your brand should be communicated –– whether in written, visual, or audio form. It should provide enough information to allow all the stakeholders of the brand to communicate in a consistent way across all the activity zones of the brand. It should spell out the brand mood and personality.
Why is Branding Important
Without a brand, or a solid branding process, all you have is a generic commodity, one that doesn’t have any soul, identity, voice, smell or taste. Branding sets you apart from other similar products or services in similar categories. It allows your customers to identify with you and form long term relationships with you and your brand.
WHAT IS A BRANDING KIT
People refer to a “brand kit” when they mention the graphic elements that are identified with a specific brand. The logo, the brand specific dominant colors, the fonts used to communicate the brand in print etc.
A branding kit is extremely important to keep any brand consistent in all manners of communication all over the world, at any given time. A brand kit serves all employees in control of a consistent delivery of all touchpoints of the brand and its’ engagement with the consumer.
What is an Example of a Branding Kit
The most elementary components of a branding kit include: a logo that allows the user to incorporate it in all communication types in print and online. (e.g. TIFFs, PNGs, PDFs, and JPEGs)
A recognized font that can be used in all printed materials, colors that can be easily identified by recognized color guides in print and online.
WHAT ARE BRANDING GUIDELINES
Provide a positioning statement, a concise description of your audience and how they perceive your brand. Make sure it declares how you are stacked against your competition. Keep it simple, memorable, honest, and unique to your brand. That is followed by a brand promise. The commitment you make to your target audience in delivering the brand to them. What are you aspiring to be in your customers lives? And add your unique value proposition. A detailed explanation or your brand’s tagline — a short line that immediately tells who you are and what you stand for!
HOW BRANDING WORKS
Commitment, consistency, non-stop! branding never stops! Ad campaigns can come and go, but all the branding activity is alive 24/7/365, just like your customers. They never stop living, so should your brand. Every brand touchpoint you have touches the lives of your customers, every activity of your staff represents the brand to a customer, every piece of communication puts you out there to be judged and reviewed. Your services and products are the ambassadors of your brand, they should always be perfect.
WHAT BRANDING
IS NOT
Branding is not a logo, Branding is not your color, or the fonts you use, Branding is not marketing, Branding is not your tagline, Branding is not your product, Branding is not advertising. Branding is your soul and DNA offered to a client. A product can be imitated without a problem, a brand cannot.