Branding is more than a logo

Many people and/or organizations still refer to their brand as a logo. But I feel considerably different on the topic. Although a logo/icon/etc. is a part of branding, it is not branding alone.

In this post, I'm going to describe how I view branding:

A brand does not exist without people. A symbol/icon/etc. is insignificant without people giving it meaning. A brand is not just created and developed by an organization. Rather, it's mostly defined by consumers. Marty Neumeier  said it best in his book The Brand Gap:

It's not what you say it is. It's what they say it is.

A brand is the organization's reputation - how consumers perceive it. But, even though the organization does not fully control its brand, it can influence it. And the best way to influence anything is to be consistent with your actions. If you say you're going to do something - DO IT!

This is a diagram I use to illustrate how great brands achieve brand consistency:

At the heart of a great brand there is a guiding purpose. This is a crazy hairy audacious idea/dream/goal that a company sets out to accomplish. When I ask organizations what their purpose is, there are always a few people who say "to make money" or "we have a board to answer to - we can't chase dreams". These are all valid concerns, but organizations need to remember that they make money to stay in business, but it's not why they are in business! Their purpose is WHY they are in business, and like Guy Kawasaki says - if you make meaning, money will follow.

Google has a great purpose:

Organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useable.

If that doesn't get their employees out of bed and excited to go to work in the morning, I don't know what would. It's Google's amazing purpose and dedication to their goal that has gained them the most loyal following on the web.

Rippling out from the purpose is the value proposition, which specifies how the organization's purpose will benefit its customers. With Google, their value proposition is about delivering  the world's information anywhere you are & when you need it.

This is all well and good - you have a purpose (a reason for existing) and a promise (how the purpose will benefit it's users) - but these are just words. And as we know, words are meaningless without the actions to back them up.

We can't just tell people we'll do something great and not deliver. We need to make our purpose meaningful through actions. We need to engage people so they will  believe in our purpose! Thus, we need to create reasons to believe. These are actions that help the organization achieve its idea/dream/goal.

The reasons to believe produce customer experiences, which influences the perceptions of the brand. These experiences can range from using the product/service, interacting with a sales associate or customer service rep, reading about the company in the paper and so on.

Lastly, there is the brand's personality. This represents the aesthetics of the brand - its corporate colors, messaging, etc. The personality ties everything together, ensuring a consistent presentation of the brand.

These four elements work together to create a consistent execution of the brand, which influences the perceptions of the organization.

So, to me, branding is so much more than a logo - it's about giving organizations meaning.