What Is Branding?
Before engaging with branding efforts for your company or organization, it’s important to understand just exactly what branding is. Many people believe that branding is simply designing a new logo and updating your business cards and website accordingly. While the logo is certainly an important part of the visual brand, it’s just one piece of the puzzle.
To establish a strong brand, the development of Brand Messaging should precede the development of the Visual Brand (your Logo and your Brand Identity). On the base level, Messaging can take the form of a Brand Position Statement (or Brand Promise) which describes what your brand does and who it does it for. But it can be much more than that. At Kaptiv8, we often develop a Brand Story for our clients, which is a two to three page narrative that describes the brand. It often includes some background and history, outlines the key offerings, and illustrates the brand values. It also becomes an opportunity to determine how you intend for your brand to evolve and adapt. At the end of the story, it’s all summed up with a Tagline, the memorable statement that accompanies your logo.
Your brand is your reputation in the market. It’s the emotional responses that your clients or customers feel when they interact with your brand. With that in mind, branding is the effort of establishing strong messages and visuals that clearly communicate your brand and your offerings to your audience, in ways that distinguish you from the competition. With all of the pieces in place, you must reinforce the brand consistently and strategically across all media channels to ensure maximum effect.
Of course, no level of branding can determine how your audience feels about you. Your business must live up to the brand that you’ve established. If you are saying one thing but doing another, you brand can get tarnished. But when your organization and your brand are in a state of synergy, the sky’s the limit for success.
To learn more about our approach to Branding in Athens, GA, Savannah, GA, Atlanta, GA, Washington, DC and beyond, please reach out to Kaptiv8 and request a free Brand Assessment.
