What does Branding mean?
Branding is all around us.
Look closely, and you'll find it on websites, product packaging, and different types of advertising. Even personal items, like documents and business cards, bear some form of identity. So what is branding? Because branding is such a misused and misunderstood term, that is a question that we at A:A Designs frequently seek to answer.
Amazon’s CEO, Jeff Bezos, puts it like this:
’Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room’
Simply put, branding is intangible - it is what other people think—about you, your company, your product, or your service, it has a tone of voice and personality of its own. Designers can’t ‘make’ or ‘design’ a brand. Think of it as building a puzzle; designers create strong visuals or brand identity (individual puzzle pieces) that reflect a brand (whole puzzle).
Branding itself comes from the company or business:
core values
unique products
distinct selling point
target audience
The most successful brands gather all this information and, together with their design studio or agency, create a foundational brand strategy that then informs all other visual elements of their business identity - thus building a brand. We will go deeper into what those elements are in a future blog, so keep posted!
Great examples of businesses that have nailed their branding to a T are Apple, Amazon, Nike, Airbnb, Etsy and Lush, to mention but a few. So what do all of these business have in common? They all have a clear core value of what they represent within their market, they have a unique tone of voice and product, and they are consistent in the way they present themselves to their costumers.
Think of your own experiences as a consumer. Have you ever chosen a product simply because you liked the way it looked or how it made you feel? That’s branding! It is the life and soul of your business, what sticks in people’s mind and in that instance, convinces them to invest in the product.
Did you find this helpful? Are there any other questions regarding branding that you’d like us to tackle? Please leave all your comments below. We can’t wait to read them!
For even more inspiration, make sure to hop on over to our Pinterest or Instagram profiles.
Happy Musings!!
