“Branding” is “what makes a brand special”
Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2024 8:34 am
Even today, it is still surprising to see debates about “Brand or marketing strategy, what does your business need?” It is the eternal discussion (what is better, why should you bet first…), as if it were a matter of prioritizing what comes first, the chicken or the egg .
I always like to explain both concepts through a phrase that I once read and that I believe sums up and clarifies everything:
“Marketing is like asking someone out and Branding is the reason they say yes.”
In this way, “ Branding ” is “what makes a brand special” . That “I don’t know what” and “what do I know” that catches you, hooks you and makes you fall in love. Branding is the reason why you say “Yes, I do” when Marketing proposes a perfect plan . Both things are complementary and we cannot understand one without the other.
Branding is therefore important, not only to make that first good impression on consumers, but also so that our customers know and understand what they can expect from our company and why we are the best option , beyond what we sell and offer.
It's clear that all brands want their buyer personas to know about their products and buy from them, but it's just as important that those buyers know who you are and why they should choose you.
In highly competitive markets, implementing a marketing engineer phone number list strategy that is isolated from the branding strategy, based only on “asking out” the user or, in other words, focusing solely on product features , is no longer enough. Let’s think, for example, about one of the predominant demographic groups today: millennials .
They have high expectations of brands and, in addition, they live in a world full of problems that concern them: pollution, inequality, job uncertainty, etc. Many would like the brands they buy to show concern not only for making money and selling products, but also for the communities they serve and the world in which we live.
Consumers feel a closer attachment to brands that share and defend values and ideals similar to their own and that is the only way to forge meaningful relationships with our customers.
We must understand that companies have gone from targeting audiences based on demographic data , to targeting them based on psychographics and micro-targeting their essence, based on aspirations , values and lifestyle related to the market they are targeting.
We are now in a time when we buy the why and the how, and not just the what. Therefore, without marketing there is no branding, but without branding, there is no brand, nor a company's reason for being.
See success story: ISTEC's digital strategy and brand strategy
To understand the relevance of branding, let's go back to the beginning and understand in this post why it is important to keep in mind that marketing, without a good brand strategy, is often lost.
A brand is not a logo: the origin of branding
The concept of a brand began simply as a way to differentiate one product from another . Thus brands were created, whose names served to identify each product manufacturer.
By the late 19th century, laws were put in place in many countries to legally protect the use of trademarks, including logos, names, and slogans. But, as product manufacturing exploded through the Industrial Revolution , logos became more of a differentiation than an identification .
As product quality began to catch up with modern manufacturing, a familiar product logo was no longer enough to win over consumers in competitive markets .
So, in the 1950s, brand marketing was born , or in other words, the concept we know as “ branding .” In this way, brands began to project themselves as a collection of ideals and promises that aligned with the consumers they courted.
Consumers began to identify more and more with the brands they were loyal to . Brand loyalty thus became a two-way relationship , where customers were willing to follow and support a company as long as it remained in line with their ideals.
This is how branding was born. When we talk about branding strategy or brand strategy , there are thousands of definitions, but we refer to it as:
The perpetual process of identifying, creating and managing the assets and actions that shape the perception of a brand in the minds of stakeholders.
To develop this definition, we based ourselves on the following.
We say it is a perpetual process , because it never stops: people, markets, companies, are constantly changing and the brand must evolve and keep up with that pace.
There is a structured process to building a brand, one where we must first identify who/what we want to be to our stakeholders , create our brand strategy to position ourselves accordingly, and then constantly manage everything that influences that defined positioning .
Positioning must be translated into assets (e.g. visual identity, content, products, ads) and actions (e.g. services, customer service, human relations, experiences) that project it in the minds of stakeholders (all our audiences).
When we talk about “brand perception ,” we are referring to reputation . This is the association that an individual (customer or not) has in mind regarding our brand. This perception is the result of the branding process (or lack thereof).
Regarding “ stakeholders ” , we must keep in mind that customers are not the only ones who build a perception of our brand in their minds. Stakeholders include potential customers, existing customers, employees, shareholders and business partners . Each one builds their own perception and interacts with the brand accordingly.
I always like to explain both concepts through a phrase that I once read and that I believe sums up and clarifies everything:
“Marketing is like asking someone out and Branding is the reason they say yes.”
In this way, “ Branding ” is “what makes a brand special” . That “I don’t know what” and “what do I know” that catches you, hooks you and makes you fall in love. Branding is the reason why you say “Yes, I do” when Marketing proposes a perfect plan . Both things are complementary and we cannot understand one without the other.
Branding is therefore important, not only to make that first good impression on consumers, but also so that our customers know and understand what they can expect from our company and why we are the best option , beyond what we sell and offer.
It's clear that all brands want their buyer personas to know about their products and buy from them, but it's just as important that those buyers know who you are and why they should choose you.
In highly competitive markets, implementing a marketing engineer phone number list strategy that is isolated from the branding strategy, based only on “asking out” the user or, in other words, focusing solely on product features , is no longer enough. Let’s think, for example, about one of the predominant demographic groups today: millennials .
They have high expectations of brands and, in addition, they live in a world full of problems that concern them: pollution, inequality, job uncertainty, etc. Many would like the brands they buy to show concern not only for making money and selling products, but also for the communities they serve and the world in which we live.
Consumers feel a closer attachment to brands that share and defend values and ideals similar to their own and that is the only way to forge meaningful relationships with our customers.
We must understand that companies have gone from targeting audiences based on demographic data , to targeting them based on psychographics and micro-targeting their essence, based on aspirations , values and lifestyle related to the market they are targeting.
We are now in a time when we buy the why and the how, and not just the what. Therefore, without marketing there is no branding, but without branding, there is no brand, nor a company's reason for being.
See success story: ISTEC's digital strategy and brand strategy
To understand the relevance of branding, let's go back to the beginning and understand in this post why it is important to keep in mind that marketing, without a good brand strategy, is often lost.
A brand is not a logo: the origin of branding
The concept of a brand began simply as a way to differentiate one product from another . Thus brands were created, whose names served to identify each product manufacturer.
By the late 19th century, laws were put in place in many countries to legally protect the use of trademarks, including logos, names, and slogans. But, as product manufacturing exploded through the Industrial Revolution , logos became more of a differentiation than an identification .
As product quality began to catch up with modern manufacturing, a familiar product logo was no longer enough to win over consumers in competitive markets .
So, in the 1950s, brand marketing was born , or in other words, the concept we know as “ branding .” In this way, brands began to project themselves as a collection of ideals and promises that aligned with the consumers they courted.
Consumers began to identify more and more with the brands they were loyal to . Brand loyalty thus became a two-way relationship , where customers were willing to follow and support a company as long as it remained in line with their ideals.
This is how branding was born. When we talk about branding strategy or brand strategy , there are thousands of definitions, but we refer to it as:
The perpetual process of identifying, creating and managing the assets and actions that shape the perception of a brand in the minds of stakeholders.
To develop this definition, we based ourselves on the following.
We say it is a perpetual process , because it never stops: people, markets, companies, are constantly changing and the brand must evolve and keep up with that pace.
There is a structured process to building a brand, one where we must first identify who/what we want to be to our stakeholders , create our brand strategy to position ourselves accordingly, and then constantly manage everything that influences that defined positioning .
Positioning must be translated into assets (e.g. visual identity, content, products, ads) and actions (e.g. services, customer service, human relations, experiences) that project it in the minds of stakeholders (all our audiences).
When we talk about “brand perception ,” we are referring to reputation . This is the association that an individual (customer or not) has in mind regarding our brand. This perception is the result of the branding process (or lack thereof).
Regarding “ stakeholders ” , we must keep in mind that customers are not the only ones who build a perception of our brand in their minds. Stakeholders include potential customers, existing customers, employees, shareholders and business partners . Each one builds their own perception and interacts with the brand accordingly.