Brand. What is it?
A brand is the set of characteristics, the personality, the way of doing business with you that is evident to anyone who does business with you, or who observes you.
- It tells people who you are.
- It tells people what you’re like when they do business with you.
- It tells people what your personality is.
- It tells people what you know…or don’t know.
- It tells people what they can expect from you.
- It evokes a feeling based on all of the above.
Let’s look at a an example:
Starbucks
What comes to mind when you hear or see the name Starbucks? It’s different for different people.
- Expensive?
- Quality drinks?
- Trendy?
- Choice?
- The go-to place for coffee lovers?
- Quality plastic cups?
- A little too cool for school?
Whether you’re a Starbucks fan or not, certain words and feelings come to mind when you hear or see their name. This is their brand in your mind.
You have these thoughts and feelings because of the process that Starbucks, their customers, supporters and detractors have undertaken to communicate what they are like to do business with.
That process is branding. It is the act, or actions, that communicate the brand that we discussed above.
Branding is often in our control because of a strategic process we have undertaken that helps us identify what our firms, companies and individuals stand for, and how they would like to be perceived. It is sometimes out of our control because of the reactions others have to our brand, and their attempts to alter that perception in peoples’ minds via any chosen method of communication.
If branding is the process of communicating that which we know we stand for, our brand, and which we’d like to make sure others understand about us, then what should that process include? It should include just about everything we and our colleagues say and do because our clients, potential clients, influencers, media and others we have defined as our target audiences are watching today in a way they never have before.
Because we are communicating so publicly today via Social Media, we need to remember that our presence in these media, just as in traditional media, helps to communicate to others what our brand is.