Branding – from basics to the complex

Branding is a vital input into the success of your business. A well differentiated brand contributes to profits and everybody knows it. But what exactly does building a brand mean? What are the elements? Read more to understand the most efficient way to build a brand, how to measure your progress and common pitfalls a brand leader must avoid at all costs.

Jeff Bezos says, “A brand is what people think of you and your business when you are not in the room”.

Seth Godin opines, “A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another”.

Our favorite Wally Olins puts it succinctly as, “A brand is simply an organization, or a product, or service with a personality. So why all the fuss?” 

So there you are with three elements so innate to a brand. Perception as what others think of you in your absence, a competitive and differentiated narrative and lastly personality. Together adding up to the required tasks in creating a brand.

Why does your business need a brand?

We live in a competitive world.

Wherein the task of a brand is to attract potential clients on the basis of rational or quasi rational factors. This luxury of differentiation gets blunted as we see the landscape virtually turning into a parity situation. Potential clients are unable to distinguish one company from the other. There is sometimes no real difference between one and the other.

So what does a business do? It has to find ways of being liked, admired, respected or in the larger sense be perceived to be unique – in its behavior, offerings or the overall package that it brings to the table. Therein lies the critical need for a brand. And in fact its genesis…

Audiences for a brand

Simply put external and internal audiences. Who are these and what influence do they have on the perception of a brand?

Let’s list a few external audiences whom you would have addressed in your business activities apart from your customers – journalists, financial analysts, governments, opinion makers, potential employees, investors, competitors and a host of them.

Now step back and think what each of these audiences think or could opine about your business. Different audiences form an impression of your business and organization. Till you consciously create a cohesive, structured and well thought narrative, chances are that you may not be on the winning side.

Shift focus and see your organization as a large audience too. Especially if you are in the service industry where your employees are also seen as an extension of your brand. How important is it then that these audiences also understand, culturally empathize and live the brand?

External and internal audiences together contribute to the overall impression of the business. Here is a quick view:

Source: Wally Olins – The Brand Handbook, Pg.17

Ignorance prevails in the management of a brand

Sad but true that not many leaders know the importance of a brand. In the B2B space and more so with small and medium enterprises the number of aware CEO s and leaders could be far and few.

Ignorance is one thing. But having understood the relevance of possessing a strong brand and still not doing it is a misstep.

There is another category of leaders who know the payoffs of having a resonant brand yet keep tinkering it, supplanting it with their own likes and dislikes and disrupting the cohesive and structured communication of the brand, robbing it off its ability to create a well orchestrated impression time after time across the set of relevant external and internal audiences.

All of these situations are tantamount to a ‘brandless’ business. Knowledge and a battle plan will help. In fact, branding should be seen as a mainstream management activity. Only then will it deliver for your business.

Elements of a brand

Often times we see a brand as a motley set of elements. A logo, colours, strap line or a slogan, typefaces and in some cases sounds, music and more. When these elements get built in consonance with a core driving thought then the brand emerges from it.

What is this core thought? It is the fundamental idea behind the business. What it does, what it owns and everything it produces and delivers should convey what the business stands for and what its aims are. 

The core thought is the purpose of the business. It is what the business is all about and also what it believes in.

On most occasions, businesses are not aware of what they have as unique brand assets. They are not conscious or do not pay enough attention to this hidden and priceless brand ingredients. They go about their business without uncovering or discovering themselves.

Branding can bring about this much needed change. Actually, help pivot a business towards consistency and a pattern. A branding initiative helps in formalizing the core thought and clarifies many actions, beliefs and behavior of the business.

And when businesses have this awareness and make explicit the core thought, then the brand becomes visible, tangible and ready to be manifested in its various touch points to an array of audiences.

While branding elements can be listed aplenty, suffice to state here the important components are the communication, the environment (physical setting), behavior of the business across the audiences and the suite of products and services that are created and delivered by the particular business.

How do you stitch a brand together?

Step 1

Dig deep. Understand and introspect your business and all the elements that have contributed to its success or aspirations. Anecdotes, formal research, customer feedback, analyst opinions, employee perceptions and more go into this bag.

Step2

Listen around. Unaided recall of what your business is all about; what people think of you when you are not in the room. Try and uncover sources, groups, social media cohorts that can give you this uncalled for yet relevant feedback.

Step3

Analyse competition and category. This is the simpler part given that you are constantly trying to outsmart them. What they stand for, what they are communicating and what are the spins their narratives are giving… Add to this the understanding of the challenges? And more.

Step4

Take your core employees into confidence. Employees are the extensions of your brand. Especially if you are a digital native or a growing business, employees are the brand instigators, and in some cases the most heard and seen brand spokespersons. What do they think of your business now? Where do they want to see the business go?

Step5

Mark Point A and Point B. Work towards creating markers for your business. Plot where your business is today – Point A. In terms of perceptions, personality, narratives and the core thought. Factor in competition and your aspirations. Do a thorough capability analysis. Then mark your Point B. Where you want your business to be. Once that is done you will uncover the branding gaps. Your task would then be to get all of those gaps filled in a unified and well differentiated manner.

Brand-thinking Checklist

• Do you understand the concept of a brand?
• How much do you know about your audiences?
• What do they think about your business and your services?
• Are you aware of what your business stands for?
• How does your business stack up against competition?
• Are you perceived to be different from your competitors?
• Do you communicate consistently – a core thought across the various touch points?
• Does your business have a distinctive personality and voice?
• Is branding a management preoccupation?

Author : Raj Mohan Tella. August 21, 2021