Written by Marnie Bergan on the 06/05/2009
The word brand is one that gets thrown around a lot, particularly in business. We talk about our marketing material and stationery needing to match our brand, that our brand is all about X or that we've decided to change our brand in this way or that way. I asked myself: how many business owners truly understand what a brand is. And then I asked the business owners!
I conducted a survey of business owners on Twitter, asking them what they believe their brand is. They had five answers to choose from:
The responses were interesting. 36.8% of those who answered believe their brand is made up of everything about their business and, in close second, 31.6% believe that their brand is an external perception. A fair chunk (18.4%) believed their brand is their identity, 7.9% think their brand is an internal perception of what the business represents, and 5.3% believe their brand is their logo.
While all of these answers are correct in one way or another, the most correct answer is option number two – your brand is the way consumers perceive your business though their own interaction and experience with it.
I was pleased to see a large portion of those who answered chose option number two, however the other answers lead me to believe that the lines between a brand, its identity and its logo are still being blurred. I'd like to take the time to go over the differences between the three.
In short, a brand is what consumers say it is. It is an external expectation, a perception of a promise of excellence (or in some cases, failure). Your brand is what your customers or clients trust, expect, fall in love with and ultimately buy.
Although particularly external, things your business does internally can have a large impact on your brand. Sending a message of reassurance, stability and consistency through your identity and marketing and performing in a way that supports that message will over time gain trust and respect to form a brand that is perceived as trustworthy, honest and worth buying from.
A brand is built over time through your identity, your messages, your actions, and the reactions from the marketplace. Your business identity however is something you have control of right away.
As mentioned above, your identity is a visual representation of the business. It's made up of your business name, its logo, its stationery, its website, its flyers and more. Identity is something consumers can see and touch and is what presents your business distinctively and makes it recognisable. Your identity is also one of the main things your brand is developed around, so it's incredibly important to get it right and make sure your identity is in line with your brand goals.
I've been asked many times what the difference between a logo and identity is. Some clients ask for a complete identity design while only really wanting a new logo, and other clients request a logo design expecting that it's enough to form the basis of a memorable identity. While the two go hand in hand, the fact of the matter is what they will vary greatly in two ways: how much they cost you and what they will do for your business.
It's important to remember that the logo is only a part of your identity. Your identity is made up of so much more than that. It contains a whole truckload of chosen colours, brand marks and symbols, themes and even photography style and will often include a style guide which all documents and materials coming out of your business must adhere to.
Many businesses will have a logo in place without giving much thought to the rest of their identity – they may have had a strong, professional logo designed but then had it slapped onto a business card that is nothing more than their logo mixed with Arial on a plain white background.
The problem with this is that there is usually little or no consistency with the design of your documents or stationery. Little things like font choices, spacing and size will have a negative impact on that all-important thing called consistency, which helps build your brand.
So now that you know the difference between a brand, a brand identity and a logo, what makes up your brand? What actions can you take to improve your brand and is your identity effectively supporting what you want your brand to be?
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