Brand, Branding, Brand Identity: What’s the difference?
Person A: “Branding is just about making things look pretty.”
Person B: “Our branding doesn’t matter as long as we have a good product.”
Person C: “What are you talking about, it’s just a logo and some colors.”
I try my best to run when I hear any of those statements.
But I don’t succeed.
Most times because I’m able to educate people on what branding is.
Others, I just leave them to themselves.
I’m writing this so you can grasp these terms and sound impressive when dealing with others.
A brand is the perception of others towards you or your business.
When your name is mentioned, what does someone think? What do many people think? What do you think?
The answers to those questions will vary.
What you think about you is what you’d want someone to think about you — hopefully.
The process of making someone think about you the way you want them to is called branding.
Branding is the process of creating and establishing a brand — the process of controlling the perception people have towards you.
Branding isn’t a service. It’s a process.
It doesn’t end — unless, of course, you’re immortal.
I see all these small companies claiming to offer “branding services”, and it’s just clear evidence that they don’t have a clue what they’re doing.
We all offer brand services but not all of them. When you say that you offer “branding services,” it clearly means you’re capable of doing everything related to branding. Are you some sort of branding machine or what?
Imagine offering branding as a service like this: “Hey, let me teach you how to function, how to walk, how to talk, and how to be you.”
It’s like saying, “I know you better than you know yourself, so let me show you how to exist.” And that’s pretty absurd.
So branding is a process.
In that process of creating a brand, you have to create a brand identity.
Your sense of self is like a trick of the mind, and your brand is also a trick. Your brand identity is like the outfit you choose, influencing how others see you.
It’s a form of connection that is both emotional and logical. It’s like connecting with your audience emotionally in a logical way.
To put more context into it: consider trying to write a piece of content. Assuming you have a visual to accompany your content, the visual aims to draw in the reader using emotion, which is logical as you do want them to read that content.
It’s an interweaving of both to make it work.
I’ll leave you with this statement:
A brand is how others perceive you, branding is the process of shaping that perception, and brand identity is the emotional and logical connection you establish with your audience.
See you later!
