The way a brand is perceived impacts overall success, regardless if it is a nonprofit, a start-up, or a product.
In a world full of infinite choices, companies try to find ways to connect with customers on an emotional level. They seek to become irreplaceable and create relationships to last a lifetime. A strong brand stands out from a crowd. People fall in love with brands, they have trust invested in them, and believe in their high quality.
3 Primary Functions of a Brand
Who are you?
Who needs to know?
How will they find out?
Why should they care?
Navigation: Brands help the consumer choose from the vast array of choices available
Reassurance: Brands communicate the quality of the service and/or product to reassure the consumer they are making the right choice.
Engagement: Brands utilize specific language, visuals, and entities to facilitate the consumer to engage and identify with the brand.
BRAND IDENTITY
As discussed above, a brand is an emotional and sometimes philosophical concept, where brand identity is the tangible components of a brand that represent those concepts. Brand Identity appeals to the senses- you can see it, feel it, hear it, watch it move.
Brand identity includes:
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Logos
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Typography
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Color Palette
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Packaging
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Messaging
Brand identity differentiates one business from another. It fuels recognition & puts ideas into reality.
Examples of Strong Branding
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Apple's branding strategy focuses on the consumer's emotions.
They focus on how an Apple product experience makes you feel. Their brand personality reflects the lifestyle, imagination, liberty regained, innovation, hopes, dreams, & aspirations. They focus on the power their products provide people through their technology.
Apple's brand personality is focused on simplicity to remove barriers from people's lives. Their products are people-driven by being a humanistic company with connections to their customers. With that said, Apple is a source to help people & businesses achieve their goals.
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Nike's branding strategy is similar to Apple- they connect with their consumer through emotions.
Nike does not simply brand itself as a shoe or athletic wear business. They advertise as the brand that encourages people to test their limits with their "just do it" slogan.
Nike saw a need- people needed encouragement to get into shape. They focused on what often stops people from achieving their fitness goals, excuses. Nike decided nothing should stop you, no excuses, no limits, anything is possible when you gear yourself with Nike.
TYPES OF BRANDING
Co-branding: Partnering with another brand to strengthen their positions within a given market
Digital branding: Web, social media, search engine optimization, driving commerce on the web
Personal branding: The process an individual takes to build a reputation
Cause branding: Aligning a brand with a charitable cause and/or corporate social responsibility
Country branding: Efforts to attract tourists and businesses
Your brand is a story unfolding across all customer touch points.
-Jonah Sachs
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