Basics of Branding: Lecture 2
Understanding your brand
Since a brand is a perception, understanding what your brand currently is really comes down to understanding what perception others have of your current brand.
You build your brand by setting a trajectory or where you want those perceptions to be.
Figuring out what perceptions you want associated with your brand requires thorough market research. This involves understanding not just who your audience is (demographics like age, location, income), but also why they make decisions (psychographics like values, interests, lifestyles), what kind of brands they appreciate, and what other brands are competing for their attention.
To understand current brand perception, consider methods such as:
- Surveys & Interviews: Directly ask customers, employees, and stakeholders about their views.
- Focus Groups: Gather qualitative insights from small groups to understand deeper motivations.
- Competitive Analysis: Analyze how your competitors are perceived and identify their brand strengths and weaknesses.
- Social Listening: Monitor online conversations and sentiment about your brand and industry.
Once you have a good grasp of what your current brand perceptions are and what perceptions you would like to move towards, you can get to work at building your brand.
Building your brand
There are many factors to think about when building your own brand:
- Name: Your brand name is often the first point of contact. It needs to be memorable, easy to pronounce, and ideally, convey something about your brand’s essence.
- Logo: A visual cornerstone, your logo should be unique, scalable, and instantly recognizable. It works in tandem with your name to create strong brand recall.
- Personality: This is how your brand would behave if it were a person. Is it serious and authoritative, like IBM, or playful and innovative, like Google? Defining this helps shape all communications.
- Colors: Colors evoke powerful emotions and associations. A carefully chosen color palette can significantly influence how your brand is perceived, as discussed in Lecture 4.
- Company Culture: The internal values and practices of your company directly influence the external brand perception. A positive, customer-centric culture often translates to a strong, trusted brand.
- Website: For many businesses, the website is a primary brand touchpoint. It should reflect your brand’s aesthetic, personality, and values, offering a consistent and intuitive user experience.
- Product Design: The design and packaging of your products are critical. They communicate quality, functionality, and the overall experience you want customers to have, reinforcing brand perceptions.
- Store Experience: For physical businesses, the in-store environment—from layout and decor to staff interaction—is a direct extension of your brand, shaping customer perceptions in real-time.
To ensure consistency across all these elements, many companies develop a Brand Style Guide. This document outlines the rules and guidelines for how your brand should be presented, covering everything from logo usage and typography to tone of voice and color palettes.