Answering your questions on BRAND

In a recent Q&A on Facebook, Katie answers questions on brand and everything that revolves around it.

Q: What is brand? 

A: A brand is an idea about you/your organization/product/service that exists in the mind of your customer/stakeholder/audience. That idea is formed over time, and is the sum total of all the touch-points that individual has had with you/your organization/product/service. Lots of slashes there. Sorry!

Q: Isn't brand just a logo? What else is it about?

A: Super common question. And the answer is NO. 😁 A logo is the most important graphic expression of your brand, and a tagline – for example – is the most important content expression of your brand. They are parts of your brand toolkit, but you should have a bunch of things in there!

Q: How do you define a brand?

A: A brand is best defined using a brand architecture. This is a system of meaning that is designed to differentiate you from your competition, focus you on your highest value offering, and create a lens through which all decisions must pass. It is a tool that will create consistency over time, which will help you shape that idea about you that exists in the mind of your customer. Sorry this sounds like school, but it's thoughtful stuff!

Q: What are the steps to creating a brand?

A: Start with building your brand architecture. Ask yourself the tough questions. Focus on creating really powerful value at the top of the pyramid (this is where most people run into trouble). Google "brand pyramid" and you’ll get tons of examples – pick one that feels like a good fit for your situation and fill it out.

Q: What is brand equity?

A: Brand equity is the value of your brand. An increase in brand equity happens when an organization or person invests in developing and applying their brand architecture, and taking consistent steps that have a positive impact on the idea that exists in their customers’ minds.

Q: How do I improve my brand?

A: The only way to improve your brand is to change the idea about you that exists in the mind of your customer. That takes time and effort on a lot of fronts. Ideally brand is something that permeates the whole organization – so it’s not just marketing, it is customer service, sales, company culture, social responsibility, etc. That’s when it’s most powerful.

Q: I love brands, if they would speak what would they say. What is a brand?

A: I’m pretty sure Nike’s brand would say: just do it. Brands do have voices – a collection of key messages, a lexicon, and a tone that they use to connect with their audiences. Again, it’s about consistency and differentiation. You can’t sound like everyone else and expect to stand out, and you can’t be memorable without repetition.

Q: Do I need to build a personal brand before launching my business brand? 

A: Whether you like it or not, your personal brand is already alive and out there in the minds of everyone who knows you. If you are about to launch a business as an aesthetician, for example, it will be difficult to effectively lead that business if you have lived your life without caring about your appearance. Your business brand starts out as nearly inseparable from your own, but as your business grows, its brand gradually starts to stand on its own as it develops equity through touch-points not engineered and overseen by you. So in the development phase, you might want to do some thinking about whether your existing personal brand aligns with the brand you want to build in your business. Alignment is powerful, because it is a kind of consistency.

Q: How does brand intersect with mission/vision/values etc?

A: Yeah this is a tough one. Weird overlaps and inconsistencies often happen here, particularly when a strategic planning process is unbuckled from brand (which it should never be). My advice is this: the functional benefits of your brand pyramid (what you offer/do) should form the ingredients of your mission statement; your brand promise (the top of the pyramid) should be tightly aligned with your vision statement; and your values are a great guide for your brand strategy – i.e. how you express your brand to your audience.

Q: What are some tips and tricks to communicating your brand ideas to other people (i.e. designers, marketing agencies, etc.)

A: The best way to ensure your brand is consistently applied when you’re using the help of designers and agencies is to develop a brand book. This is a guide that includes three components: your brand architecture, your graphic standards, and your tone of voice. Many brand books just include graphic standards – how to apply your logo and treat your text and photos in a consistent manner – which is great, but the whole brand story should include the other two items as well.