Tip #4: Understand what the word “brand” means. Up to this point, the topics I’ve shared as part of this series have delt with design-related tips — tangible things you can do to help build and solidify your brand. Today’s topic is a bit more nebulous.
The origins of the word “brand,” in the context that we know it today, comes from branding marks ranchers would place on cattle to distinguish one rancher’s herd from another’s. This marking, a brand, helped to identify the cattle as belonging to a particular ranch.
Today’s meaning of the word goes a bit deeper. Many companies and organizations believe that “a brand” is simply their logo, designs or creative elements — all basic markings, much like the cattle, that help identify their organization.
A brand is much more than merely the creative elements. It is everything that makes up the organization. An organization’s “brand” is the soul of the organization. It is customer service. It is sales process. It is strategic direction. It is innovation. All of these things create the soul of the company…the company’s brand. The logos and creative elements are a means to elicit emotion and feeling from those who interact with them. These elements should personify this soul.
Think about it…when you see each of the brands pictured below, you recall interactions you’ve had with these brands and formulate emotions and opinions as a result.
The colors, logos and creative elements chosen to depict these brands attempt to steer your perception into one that the company wants you to believe. Remember Tip #1: Pick colors that mean something? The strongest creative brand elements depict precisely the company’s “soul” for which they represent. Although these feelings and emotions differ from person to person, the organization is in complete control of its brand — through the culture it creates and the elements which depict this culture.
So remember, when formulating your creative branding elements, don’t merely mark your cattle. Consider your organization’s “soul” and choose a direction that reflects the ideals, direction and beliefs that are exhibited by the organization.
________________________________
Small businesses rarely have the marketing and creative resources to provide appropriate brand building or brand management to ensure their brand maintains consistency and strength as business grows. While it’s always good to have a trained marketing eye to guide you along the way, this list of 10 quick tips will help provide added support for your brand building and management — just a few small items entrepreneurs and small businesses can do to get a jump above other small brands with big ideas.
Originally, I intended to post all of these tips together in a single post, however each tip is a different topic in itself, so I’ve opted to separate them out. As each new item is released, I’ll include links to previously posted tips to make things easy. Enjoy.
Previous tips from this series:
Filed under: Branding, Marketing, Strategy Tagged: | brand, branding, cattle, definition, identity
I’ve recently started a blog, the information you provide on this site has helped me tremendously. Thank you for all of your time & work.
[...] Tip #4: Meaning of “Brand” [...]