What Is Branding, And Why Is It Important For Your Business?
Let’s get back down to the basics for a second. Do you know what branding is? Because if you’re anything like I was, you’ve heard that term thrown around left and right, but you have no clue what it actually means.
That’s because branding is being used to describe a whole number of different things, from your brand colours to your logo, to a strategy to get a sale… And it just gets confusing.
So I wanted to untangle things for you, and hopefully shed some light as to what branding is, why you want to understand it and implement it in your business.
But before I go any further, I just want to debunk some common misconceptions around branding. This will make it a lot easier for you to understand.
Branding is not:
One size fits alls
The entire point of investing time and money in your branding is to make you stand out from a competitive market, all while creating trust and relationships with your potential customers.
So while there obviously are strategies and guidelines to streamline the process of creating your branding, there needs to be room for you to sprinkle your magic. There is no one-size-fits-all formula for creating a successful brand.
Always remember this when you are following a frame-work, and trust those intuitive nudges when they come, because this is what will make your brand unique and magnetic.
The same as marketing
Even if you have your branding down to a T, your marketing might need work and all your efforts to create a clear and attractive brand will be wasted.
You still need a clearly defined marketing plan in order to create success for yourself.
What makes it confusing is that some concepts are common to both branding and marketing, such as clearly identifying your ideal customer and your niche.
Branding defines you and your company (your values, your personality, your mission) whereas marketing defines the steps and strategies that take a potential customer through your business (from awareness to trust-building to conversion), also known as customer journey.
Your logo
It's part of your branding, but only a tiny part of it, there are many, many more elements that go into a brand. Your logo won’t be the reason someone decides to purchase from you over someone else (even if you have the best, most expensive logo in the ‘hood).
Your vision and messaging are much more important than your logo, because they are the things that will truly distinguish you from someone with the same offers as you. No one can replicate your story and your unique skill set that then bleeds into your messaging.
Optional
Whether you work on your branding intentionally or not, if you have a business that you talk and post about, you have a brand.
This means, if you don't put any effort into your branding, that's how your service or product will be perceived, and that's the best way to break trust with a potential customer.
This is why it is important to work out some key elements of your branding (like who you serve, how you serve them, what makes your product or service different from someone else's, what's your personality and what is your brand's personality, etc.)
What is branding?
Now that you have a better understanding of what a brand is not, let’s move on to the juicy part of this post and start talking branding, shall we?
Because of the fact that the words “Brand” and “Branding” have been thrown around so much by a variety of people in a variety of industries, there is no set in stone, simple definition that I can give you.
If it was that simple, you probably wouldn’t be reading this post in the first place.
So in order to explaing branding, I’m going to break down several concepts that can be related to it.
Branding is about perception
Your brand could be described as the face of your company. When someone comes across you on the internet, the first impression they get is from your brand.
This first impression is made through subtle details like your colours and logo, but most importantly the language you use and the way you show up. A spiritual business coach will probably have a different “vibe” than a traditional business professor (even though they might teach the same strategies).
Each of them has their place in this market, but because of how they speak and how you perceive them, you’ll prefer on over the other depending on your personal values and personality.
So through your branding, you show people who don’t know you what they can expect from you. And it helps them identify with your brand if they have similar values and a similar “vibe” to you.
Branding is about the story you tell
(aka what sets your product or service apart from someone else's)
Part of your branding is the story you tell, the journey you take your customer on. This is really important because it can be the deciding factor for a potential client to invest in you rather than someone else because they identify more with the story you tell (rather than a competitor).
Creating a story is one key element of your branding, and it makes the product or service you sell an investment and not just a commodity.
Let’s take coffee to illustrate this concept. Coffee is a simple product, and there comes a point where you can’t improve it anymore. This means that there needs to be an incentive for going to your coffee shop, rather than someone else’s, (other than “Best coffee in town”).
This is where your branding plays a key part. The journey you take the customer one is then the deciding factor for them, and they might even be willing to pay you extra-high if your branding awakens their emotions and plays on their heartstrings.
Branding is key for building Know-Like-Trust factor
If you aren’t being your authentic self consistently, you are doing yourself (and the world) a huge disservice, and it’ll make it very hard for people to feel like they “know” you. You might even seem unreliable or kinda shady to them, even though you had the best intentions and were just trying to “act as if” (which is a manifestation technique that is kinda confusing but really effective when you do it right). I digress…
Through you showing up as your authentic self, with a consistent personality and “style” (meaning the way you speak, the way you show yourself), others can grow to know you, which will lead them to like you and then lead to them trusting you. Obviously, we can’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s only by being true to yourself that your tribe can find you!
The process of gaining someone’s trust can happen in a matter of seconds when they meet you, or it might take you a bit longer to warm up to them, depending on the context.
You might not realise it, but this same process happens when you encounter a brand online for the first time. Through having consistent branding, someone will see your posts multiple times and start creating a persona in their head.
When they then continue to see value and consistency that you put out, it builds their trust, and they stick around because they enjoy your content and they relate to your (or your brand’s) personality and your story.
When the day comes that they need the product or service that you provide, having built the know-like-trust factor with them will weigh into their purchasing decision.
Branding is a process
Even when you’ve identified the core elements of your brand, and put together guides and templates, your brand still continues to shift and adapt.
Just as us humans are constantly learning and evolving, so is your brand. Depending on the shifts in your industry and as you continue to build your knowledge, your brand might evolve with you.
So now what?
There are so many elements that go into branding and what makes it confusing is that everyone seems to have a slightly different definition.
You can use this post as a guideline.
Figure out the main things you need to know and go from there. And know that we’re all just throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks (to a certain extent). The key is to take inspired action. Now I’m not saying you shouldn’t strive to have clarity around your brand and nail your branding and sales message. BUT I am saying that everything constantly changes, not just you but also the market and ways to show up online (I’m talking to you, new Instagram feature).
It’s a lot to keep up, which is why it helps to have at least SOME guidelines for your brand (because remember, even if you don’t do your branding, that IS your branding, and you don’t want that!).
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Hi there, I’m Dorothea!
I am a personal branding photographer and mentor for ambitious female entrepreneurs, who are ready to take their business and life to the next level.
My mission is to help my clients highlight their uniqueness so that they can stand out in the online space, and start attracting those dream clients.
My wish is to help my clients create a business that is aligned with their values, so they can do work they love and have the freedom to live the life they’ve always dreamed of.
