What Exactly Is A Brand?

You may have heard this word, “BRAND” several times, but never really understood it.

For starters, The American Marketing Association defines a brand as “A name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers. 

The legal term for brand is trademark.

The reality of your brand is that it simply is the way people perceive your business.

As humans, we judge people based on what they say, how they act, how they appear and generally all the vibes we get from them.  In the case of a business, the brand is the character of a business, which comprises of elements such as the name, logo, tagline, presentation, workers and its owner.

The Nike swoosh today has become one of the most recognizable brand logos, valued at $26 billion alone.

From the tagline “Just Do It” by Nike, we naturally think of a character, brand that is bold and courageous.  Paying attention to the choice of font and logo, we can infer simplicity

When compared to a tagline “Love Kills Slowly” by Ed Hardy, we are likely to think more in the direction of pain, danger.  Paired with its busy, skull-designed logo, we are able to validate the feeling we got from the tagline.  Side Note: Not a fan of skulls and such and therefore the brand completely repulses me. This is clear reason why you must create a brand for the audience you want to attract. I’m obviously not Ed Hardy’s audience.

To build the character of your business, think of it as a person and then be clear on the sort of relationship you want the customer (another person) to have with this brand (your business “person”)

Start by defining your appearance; when people come to your store or use your service, what do you want them to SEE?  

If you are building a bakery, for example; you’d want to create cute cupcakes that are perhaps, character themed, in an environment that is evidently clean.  Cleanliness is critical considering the fact that it’s a food store.  Therefore random flies that tend to gather at the back of a butcher’s shop, towards the back exit can in no way exist in or around your store.

Secondly, what the customer SMELL is crucial.  

Bad smells don't sell

A customer should not walk into a bakery and smell mosquito repellent or meat.  Create the atmosphere that sells to the customer by taking over their sense of smell.  

Thirdly, take over your customers’ sense of TOUCH.

When your customer walks into your fabric store, velvet fabric should feel nice and soft. If you own a lotion store, cocoa butter should feel smooth and rich.

Your customer orders your product online - your packaging should look exciting to open, be easy to navigate - don’t frustrate the customer with your packaging! And when she opens up the package, the hair extensions that she purchased shouldn’t smell like fish or rotten eggs. 

These are details you must pay attention to, as they affect the entire shopping experience for the customer, and in turn your sales.

Fourthly, walking into your store should never be a mistake.  From the outside of your store, the shopping cycle began, which doesn’t give you much of a head start.  As the customer walks in, the sign post or ad which brought them in passed on the baton to you.  YOU CANNOT DROP THIS BATON! You must run with it till you win the race.  This means, you welcome with a smile and the warm attitude we discussed in the previous post.

I like to describe this stage as highly important, because it is the stage that connects with your customers’ heart.  As we know, people are creatures of emotion.  Once you are able to stir up a happy emotion within the customer, you can then appeal to the logic of your customer.  

This brings us to the fifth stage, LOGIC – The testing stage.

Does your customer choose to buy from you or not?  Is your customer willing to put your product on credit? Are you a friend, he or she doesn’t want to lose?

This is your defining moment with your customer, where he or she evaluates whether you’re a brand he/she would be pleased to be associated with or not.

“Your brand is the perception your customer has of you.”

Make it a good perception.