Branding is not just a pretty logo, it’s so much more than that.
The visual side of branding only accounts for about 10% the whole process.
Branding is actually just a feeling. I know that sounds like a load of bollocks but really it’s not. You see a brand is a gut feeling in your audience. The holy grail is to make enough people have the same gut feeling about your business. You’ve then got an engaged audience and a great brand that is literally a magnet for your ideal clients.
The brilliant brand guru Marty Neumeier says that “a brand is not what you say it is, it’s what they (your audience) say it is”
Your brand is really the personality and voice of your business and just like humans we may see our personality differently to how others see it – remember, it’s not what you say it is…
A question I get asked a lot after saying all this is “so if it’s not what I say it is, it’s what they say it is, what’s the point of branding at all?”.
It’s a great question with a really easy answer – branding can help people collectively come to the same gut feeling about your business by offering consistent and clear messaging that conveys your brand’s personality along with your values and mission. That’s not just listing them on an instagram post, it’s conveying them through everything you do.
Being authentic in your business is a buzz word but it’s not just fluffy rubbish, it’s how you present your messaging. We’ve all heard the term “on brand”, that really is what authenticity is.
One of my clients is an electric cargo bike company. The brand we built is based on how low the carbon emissions are compared to fossil fuel motor vehicles, how quiet the bikes are and just how clean they are overall. This means that they would never turn up to a business meeting in a car, be seen in branded kit in a car and they would never sponsor a car event. It means that everything they do is based on being clean, sustainable and celebrating the virtues of cycling.
This is authentic and shows their audience that cargo bikes and being sustainable isn’t just a gimmick or a trend they’ve jumped on, it’s who they are, who the business is and how they live their lives. Without listing them out, their values and mission are clear for everyone to see.
Being authentic and consistent in your brand is one of the ways you get your audience collectively all having the same gut feeling – remember, the holy grail!
So a brand is not just a logo, it’s so much more and takes time and expertise to build a strategic, relevant and coherent brand. Once the brand is built a great logo and visuals is just the icing on the cake that helps build brand awareness (more on that on another post!).
If you want to know more about how I build brands through brand strategy head to my branding page.