Branding Misconceptions - What Is A Brand?

Your brand is not just…

• Your logo
• Your name
• Your trademarks
• Your catchphrase
• Your packaging

Your brand is…

The ideas, feelings & emotions that customers/prospects associate with you

So why do so many people talk about logos, trademarks, fonts & call it branding?

Type, design & logos can all carry certain feelings as soon as they’re committed to paper, they can even arouse curiosity & conjur up certain images. They’ll remind prospects of previous images & experiences on both a conscious & subconscious level. But that isn’t their real power: Their real power only exists after you’ve invested in the idea behind them: Your brand.

Here’s the thing: If you invest enough into your brand that it achieves the personality you’re working toward. Enough that your target audience do feel the emotions you aimed at & do associate you with the ideas/heritage you’d like them to, then your logo, name & other signifiers become extremely important: When customers/prospects who’ve been exposed to your brand see ‘marks’, they will act as the ‘face’ of your brand & trigger those emotions.

Just as a smell from your childhood can make you instantly happy, the marks and signifiers of your brand will evoke feelings & can mean the difference between a customer choosing your commodity product or your competitor’s; the difference between them trying your latest product or totally ignoring it.