What is branding?
Because branding is such a misused and misunderstood term, “what is branding?” has become a common question many business people ask, given so many misconceptions which I am going to address further.

Read on!

Businessdictionary defined branding as the process involved in creating a unique name and image for a product in the consumers’ mind, mainly through advertising campaigns with a consistent theme. Branding aims to establish a significant and differentiated presence in the market that attracts and retains loyal customers.

So what really is branding?
Branding is not just a logo design. Your logo is just a small piece of the branding puzzle, that's why it's most addressed as your "identity".

In fact, your logo design combined with other assets such as business card, letterhead and stationaries doesn't add up much to your branding, it's only part of the process - to put simply: the surface.

Your logo design is part of your brand identity - which is a different thing entirely. Your brand identity is the way you visually represent your company's branding. The way people see it.

To make sure you are following comprehensively. Let's take it down a notch.

First off, here's Amazon’s CEO, Jeff Bezos opinion on what branding really is - "Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room".

To expand on Jeff's understanding, branding is the way people see, feel and perceive your brand. They just know it when they see it.
It's how you the founder and your team, view and perceive the company. It's your what, your how and your why.

Now in my opinion, after evaluating other experts definition. I will define branding as the way which an audience connects to your brand through different dimensions and brand touchpoints.

What is the smoothest way to build a better brand?

The first phase of building a brand begins with you, your company. Because the branding itself has to come from your company. From your brand strategy - which is usually developed by the agency working on your brand.

A designer or design agency that offers branding services builds the foundation of a brand or is brought in to enhance the brand’s visual and corporate identity.

They knit together your brand strategy and brand identity. A good designer or agency don't just produce a variety of pretty designs and call it a branding project.

Good designers follow the branding brief that delivers result.

Professional branding agencies take concepts and ideas from a company’s brand strategy. They then bring them to life in the most appropriate format, sometimes suggesting improvements or refining the original strategy along the way.

A professional design or branding agency creates visual elements that make up the corporate or brand identity of a company, showing what it stands for and highlighting their beliefs.

In Part 2 of what is branding. I will highlight why brands hire agencies, followed by paradigms of global brands that are doing it right.

ABILITY ELIJAH
Brand designer/Strategist/Consultant
Email: Ability@smuvcreative.com