What is Branding, Why It Matters and Its Elements?

In a previous article, we discussed the importance of marketing for selling even the best products. And any product indeed needs an effective marketing strategy. But is it enough? But what about branding? Does your business need it? Or is it a part of marketing? Let’s sort it out.

What is branding?

Branding is the initial stage of any successful business plan. It is the process of shaping how people feel about a company or product through its name, logo, or symbol. It involves more than just logos or products —it's about creating a positive and memorable image that people connect with the brand. Your branding should reflect your thinking, preferences, mission, goals, what sets your brand apart, and the inspiration behind it. It's a long-term commitment and the foundation from the beginning.

Branding vs Marketing

Branding and marketing, often seen as similar, play distinct but interconnected roles in a business strategy. Branding defines a project or brand's mission, goals, and uniqueness, forming the core strategy and long-term commitments. Marketing comes into play after brand establishment, employing strategies to understand and engage the target audience. In simple terms, marketing focuses on the quantity of the product sold, while branding centers around its quality. They are inseparable; branding needs marketing for effective promotion, and marketing relies on a strong brand with a clear purpose. Together, they create a comprehensive approach to building and sustaining a successful business presence.

Why is branding important?

When customers pick one white t-shirt over another, it often comes down to the brand. A distinctive tagline, logo, or color palette creates a visual anchor, ensuring consistency across all customer interactions. This visual identity makes your brand consistent and memorable in every customer interaction. Over time, this consistency builds brand recognition and loyalty. Strong visual brands have an advantage, as customers can recognize their content or products even without seeing the logo. Neglecting branding can lead to an unintentional and potentially unfavorable brand image. So, planning your brand strategy carefully from the start is crucial. These decisions impact how customers see your business, shape your choices, and affect the entire journey of your business.

What are the benefits of building a strong brand?

The main aim of branding is to create brand equity, which is the value of a company's brand name and assets compared to a generic product. Higher brand equity means:

• Brand recognition fosters trust and customer loyalty, leading to repeat business.

• Strong brands often see increased sales as customers prefer trusted products.

• Positive brand experiences build customer loyalty and preference.

• Strong brands can command premium prices, leading to higher profit margins.

• Brand strength facilitates market expansion and attracts new customers.

• Attracts top talent, streamlining recruitment and lowering costs.

• Fosters employee pride, satisfaction, and a positive work culture.

• Enables cost-efficient marketing, resonating with the target audience.

• Higher retention and average order value contribute to market share growth.

What are the main elements of successful branding? 

Branding has two main components: verbal and visual identity. Verbal identity is like a brand's unique personality communicated through language, from advertising to customer interactions. It's akin to a distinct accent that helps customers recognize and connect with the brand, building trust and loyalty. Components of verbal identity include the brand name, slogan, brand promise, tone of voice, and brand storytelling. On the other hand, visual identity encompasses the visual elements that convey the brand's identity, such as the logo, color palette, typography, and images. Let's explore these elements in more detail with familiar examples to understand how they work.

Brand name

Selecting a unique and memorable business name is crucial in establishing your brand identity. You can use your own name, get creative with a made-up word, or pick something that tells customers what you sell. Ensure the name is available as a domain and on social media for consistency. Check the federal trademark database of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). If your desired name is taken, be ready to brainstorm alternatives. You can also search GoDaddy for available domain names.

One of the interesting examples of successful brand name selection is the well-known Häagen-Dazs ice cream. The name was created to evoke a sense of European craftsmanship and quality, even though the brand originated in New York City. Using the European-sounding name was a strategic decision to appeal to the American market's perception of superior, artisanal products. This example illustrates the power of creative branding, where a name can shape perceptions and set a product apart in the market.

Here are some other ideas behind popular brand names:

Coca-Cola: The name combines two main ingredients, coca leaves and kola nuts, reflecting the beverage's original recipe.

Netflix: A blend of "internet" and "flicks," emphasizing the streaming service's focus on online entertainment.

Nike: Named after the Greek goddess of victory, representing the brand's focus on success and achievement.

Tesla: Named after the inventor Nikola Tesla, reflecting the company's commitment to innovation in the electric vehicle industry. 

Amazon: Conveys the vastness of the online marketplace, from A to Z.

Google: A play on the word "googol," reflecting the company's mission to organize a vast amount of information.

Slogan

A catchy slogan is a short and impactful phrase for your brand. It goes to your social media, website, or business cards. You can change it as your marketing evolves. A good slogan is short, catchy, and leaves a strong impression to make your brand known. You can try different approaches like staking a claim, using metaphors, adopting your customers' attitude, leveraging labels, writing rhymes, or describing your brand literally. You can try slogan generators on Canva or Shopify to brainstorm ideas or play off your positioning statement for short phrases that describe your business.

Many slogans effectively contribute to branding success. Take Red Bull's story, for instance, with its famous slogan, "Red Bull Gives You Wings." The co-founder of the future energy drink learned about it during his trip to Thailand, collaborated with its founder, adjusted and created the global sensation Red Bull. Launched in 1987, the brand's success soared globally. The slogan, emphasizing an energy boost, became a key part of Red Bull's branding strategy.

It is worth mentioning that Red Bull faced legal challenges over its "Red Bull gives you wings" slogan, settling a $13 million class-action lawsuit in 2013. The lawsuit claimed the marketing, including the slogan, was deceptive as the energy drink didn't deliver the extraordinary benefits implied. The settlement compensated customers who bought Red Bull products in the U.S. from 2002 to 2014. Red Bull settled without admitting wrongdoing to avoid ongoing litigation costs. This case underscored the need for clear and accurate communication in marketing, particularly regarding product benefits.

Some of the other world’s most famous slogans of all time are:

• De Beers: “A diamond is forever.”

• Nike: “Just do it.”

• L’Oréal “Because you’re worth it.”

• Apple: "Think Different."

• McDonald's: "I'm Lovin' It."

• Mastercard: “There are some things that money can’t buy. For everything else, there is Mastercard.”

• Toyota: “Let’s Go Places”

Dunkin': “America Runs on Dunkin''

Brand promise 

While a slogan is a catchy and brief expression used for promotional purposes, a brand promise is a more substantive commitment communicated to customers, outlining what they can expect when interacting with your brand or buying your products. It's tied to your brand values and mission. Keeping your brand promise, or delivering what you say you will, is important for building and maintaining customer loyalty.

Ebay, a prominent eCommerce giant, is committed to ensuring customer safety and security during online shopping. Their business promise includes a money-back guarantee, user-friendly site navigation, and a diverse range of payment methods, all aimed at enhancing overall customer satisfaction.

Here are some other examples of brand promises across various industries. They reflect each brand's unique values, goals, and commitments, showcasing their dedication to customers, innovation, and positive impact.

• Amazon: "To be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online."

• Starbucks: "To inspire and nurture the human spirit—one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time."

• Toyota: "To lead the way to the future of mobility, enriching lives around the world with the safest and most responsible ways of moving people."

• FedEx: "To be the leader in transportation and logistics solutions, connecting people and possibilities around the world."

• Google: "To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful."

IKEA: "To create a better everyday life for the many people."

Tone of Voice

Your brand's communication style is essential. In your guidelines, decide if it's playful, serious, educational, or another tone for all communications. Consider using or avoiding specific slang. Knowing how your audience talks helps shape your brand's voice.

A notable example of the tone of voice is Oatly, a Swedish company specializing in oat-based products, particularly oat milk. They have gained significant popularity for their dairy-free alternatives made from oats, including oat milk, oat cream, and other oat-based products. Oatly is known for its commitment to sustainability and environmental consciousness. The company has expanded its presence globally, offering a plant-based alternative to traditional dairy products.

Oatly is known for its distinctive and humorous tone of voice in its branding and advertising. They often use playful and cheeky language to convey their messages, creating a more approachable and relatable brand image. The willingness to use humor, even at the expense of traditional marketing norms, sets Oatly apart and appeals to consumers who appreciate a lighthearted and authentic approach. This approach aligns with the brand's ethos of not taking themselves too seriously while still delivering a serious message about sustainability and plant-based alternatives.

Other well-known examples are of the overall brand’s tone of voice: 

• Nike: Inspirational, motivational, and empowering.

• Disney: Magical, enchanting, and family-friendly.

• Old Spice: Humorous, absurd, and exaggerated.

• Harley-Davidson: Rebellious, aggressive, and freedom-loving.

Mailchimp: Friendly, approachable, and helpful.

Logo

A brand's logo is a fundamental aspect of building a new brand, serving as the face of the company and appearing across various platforms like websites, social media, product packaging, and more. Creating a unique, identifiable, and scalable logo that works at all sizes is crucial. Consider the logo's visibility in different contexts, such as social media profile pictures and video ads, ensuring it remains recognizable. 

Consider outsourcing your brand logo creation if you're not a design expert. Platforms like Fiverr or Upwork, or running a logo contest on 99Designs, can connect you with talented designers. You can also try to generate your logo using AI image generators like Stable Diffusion or Midjourney. Seeklogo offers additional logo inspiration, or you can use our logo maker to generate ideas.

Different logo types cater to varied brand needs. 

• Abstract Logo (e.g., Google Chrome, Adidas, Pepsi Cola): Shape and colors without a direct tie to real-world elements, allowing for flexible interpretation.

• Emblem Logo (e.g., Starbucks, BMW): Circular design combining text with an emblem for a bold and regal brand image. 

• Mascots (e.g., KFC, Pringles, Mailchimps): A character or person that visually represents your business. 

• Lettermark Logo (e.g., IBM, CNN, NASA): Utilizes the initials of the business name as the logo. Ideal for businesses with catchy initialisms.

• Pictorial marks or Icon Logo (e.g., Twitter, Nike, Apple): Represents the brand visually, suggesting something about the product. It is best used in combination with a wordmark for new brands.

• Wordmark Logo or logotypes (e.g., McDonald's, Coca-Cola, FedEx): Turns the brand name, colors, and font into a visual identity, communicating the brand name clearly.

• Combination Logo (e.g., Puma, Tobleron, Mastercard): Combines images and words, addressing limitations of individual types. Provides flexibility for using them separately.

One of the striking examples of successful logos we would like to mention here is Gerber's iconic emblem, depicting an adorable baby. It was created in 1928 and remains unchanged to this day. The enduring design reflects the ideals, principles, and legacy of the company. The enduring nature of Gerber's logo speaks to its timeless appeal and the brand's commitment to its values over the years.

Color palette

Choosing your brand's design involves selecting colors that visually represent your brand. Colors not only define your brand's appearance but also convey the desired emotions and consistency across various platforms. It's essential to pick colors that set you apart from competitors to avoid confusion among potential customers. While color psychology isn't exact, it helps guide choices, especially for your brand logo. Consider legibility with white and black text over your color palette and how colored text appears on various backgrounds. Useful tools like Coolors can assist in brainstorming and discovering cohesive color combinations, providing hex codes for easy reference.

As an example of color pallet branding, let’s discuss National Geographic's use of bright yellow. It not only creates a visually striking and easily recognizable logo but also carries symbolic meaning. The yellow color is often associated with knowledge, wisdom, and enlightenment. In this context, the yellow frame serves as a metaphorical window or portal to the world, aligning with National Geographic's mission of exploration, education, and showcasing the world's wonders. Consistently present in campaigns and on their website, this color choice exemplifies how a well-selected logo color can convey meaning and resonate with audiences worldwide.

There are also some other branding elements that we cannot cover in one article. They are visual typography, image layout, values and mission, and your unique brand’s story. It can even be how brands smell or sound. Yes, why not? Some brands use specific smells in their stores. Sound is also a powerful component of brand identity, and several brands have successfully incorporated distinctive sounds into their marketing. The iconic "Ba da ba ba ba" immediately conveys McDonald's: "I'm Lovin' It" jingle. The signature fizzing sound when opening a can or bottle of Coca-Cola is another universally known sound.

Bottom Line

Creating a brand identity is vital for any business, and you can do it independently or with professional help. While hiring professionals is a valuable option, many new companies, especially those with budget constraints, can use free and low-cost resources like logo makers, business name generators, and DIY design tools. While your branding may not be perfect from the start, you can always make adjustments along the way. The key is building a brand that keeps promises, speaks to your ideal customers, and leaves a positive and lasting impression.

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