What Is Branding?

Branding is the marketing practice of actively shaping your brand. That’s the basic definition, but there is so much more that goes into it.

Branding is what your business needs to break through the clutter and grab your ideal customer’s attention. It’s what transforms first-time buyers into lifetime customers and turns an indifferent audience into brand evangelists. It’s what you need to stand out, make an impact, and take your business to the next level.

As you can see from the post image, branding is more than just your logo. From the graphic design silo, it includes; your business name, your logo, brand colors, and what is reflected on your printed materials. Then we move to product, price, customer service, consumer trust, and quality content.

As a media and advertising gal, I would definitely recreate this popular image and add one more medium bubble and call it Marketing. I would slide printed materials under this new category, and then I would add two more bubbles. The first bubble would be Online Assets and it would incorporate things such as; website, social media accounts, and online reviews.

The second bubble would be Advertising, and here I would focus on paid advertising strategy. Why did I do that? Well, Marketing and Advertising, in particular, are two of the most consumer-facing activities that a business does. If your marketing and advertising are terrible, well, no one will buy what you are selling, right?

Each of these areas needs to be given throughout consideration. What kind of impression is this item or interaction leaving? How can we improve it? Sounds overwhelming, doesn’t it? It doesn’t need to be. What is the good ole saying? How do you eat an elephant? Well, one bit at a time.

Start at the bottom and then work your way up. The foundation of your branding presence would begin with your business name, your business logo, and the colors you use to represent your brand consistently. I see these three components as the foundation, think the base of the pyramid, so start here.

This all may sound like a lot; however, it isn't. Take the time to review, and once you are confident, start building your brand from the base of the pyramid upwards. It's hard to change brands color when you are too far down the rabbit trail and that colour you actually despise is on every add, business card and truck decal your own.