What is a brand?

Every director or owner goes into business knowing instinctively they’ve got to ‘brand themselves’. It’s one of those business trigger words that we hear time and time again—but what exactly does it mean?

When most people hear the word ‘brand’, they immediately think of the world’s most popular companies, whose logos, products and services are universally recognised. Think of Apple, McDonald’s, Nike, Facebook…

Their brand is the reason why these companies have become household names.

Apple’s success is not down to a simple fruit logo and the golden arches aren’t the only reason McDonald’s is a worldwide phenomenon. Rather, these companies have achieved international renown due to the cumulative effect of their brand presence; logos, social media, slogans and taglines, print advertising, TV adverts, company ethos, USPs, and brand personality.

It’s the consistent and repeated presence of the recognisable and unique aspects of a business across multiple media platforms that comprise a brand.

A bit of mouthful, isn’t it?

Yet, creating a business brand is not as difficult as it seems. In fact, it’s simple. All you need to brand yourself is to know exactly who you are as a business, what you stand for, and what’s great about your products and services. Then tell the world—or Ketchup will happily shout from the rooftops for you! (You can read more about PR tips for small businesses here).

Why is establishing a brand important?

I typed ‘dog food’ into Amazon.

There were over 50,000 results.

As a consumer, how am I supposed to decide which product to buy?

I’ve never even heard of half the products that appear in the search results. Then I see Harrington’s, Bakers, and Pedigree and suddenly I’m narrowing my choices.

Why? Because I trust these brands.

And that’s why a brand matters. It’s all about building trust between your company and the consumer so that when a consumer is faced with a choice of whose product to buy, they feel confident picking yours.

However, it’s not just about retaining those customers who trust your brand, but about establishing a brand that attracts new business.

Let me give an example. I hardly ever use cosmetics. I find them overpriced and pretentious. However, when I found myself facing a skin concern a couple of years ago, I decided to take the plunge and try something new.

I didn’t go for one of the major brands - although I might have done if I hadn’t run into a small start-up company in the local shopping centre promoting their homemade, all-natural products.

Their price wasn’t much different from the big-name brands—I wasn’t going to be making any savings—but I was charmed by the pleasant owner, impressed that the products were not tested on animals, contained no artificial fragrances and were paraben-free. What’s more, I wanted to support a local business.

Now, I use nothing else and recommend the brand to everyone.

Ultimately, the owner knew what her unique selling points were and sold them well. That was her brand image, and it’s stuck with me for a very long time.

What makes a brand?

We know that a brand is not simply a logo and tagline but an entire company persona - made up of a range of marketing techniques.

What do these include?

For starters, a brand is made up of the following:

Visual representation — logo, colour scheme, typography, imagery, style
Tagline and/or slogan — a short phrase that is associated with your company name, products or services
Ethos and values — what your company stands for. Are you employee-oriented? Environmentally conscious? Modern or traditional?
Personality — what vibe do customers get from your company? Are you friendly and approachable? Professional experts? Quirky?

It is a combination of all these things that makes a brand. Furthermore, it is important to be consistent across all platforms and business operations to make your brand reliable.

For example, a brand that boasts about its environmentally conscious stance would soon lose its credibility if it started producing incredible amounts of waste or a brand that prided itself on being a great place to work would suffer if they were faced with an employment tribunal.

Once you have developed your brand identity, it’s up to you to consistently enforce it. See how we helped our clients redefine their branding.

Visual representation.

Perhaps the first aspect that comes to mind when someone thinks of branding is the visual aspect.

How your company looks is the easiest way for it to be recognised and to differentiate itself from competitors. Think about when you’re in a supermarket. If you were browsing the crisps aisle and fancied a pack of Doritos, you’d instantly be looking for that bright blue packet (or orange if you’re more of a tangy cheese person!).

This is why the visual representation of your brand is important. You want to be easily remembered and found again by your customers.

Logo

If the visual representation of your company had a body, the logo would be its face.

It can be either an image or a word, or a combination of both.

It’s up to you to decide which type of logo best represents your brand. Sometimes an image can really lend some personality to your brand, but sometimes less is more.

Let’s compare the logos of two of the most famous fast food brands, KFC and McDonald’s.

The famous Col Sanders logo

Compared to the golden arches

KFC has adopted an image of the smiling Colonel Sanders. This plays into their larger brand identity. KFC has a brand narrative about its founder and this narrative comes into play in their logo. It tells a story. It gives a face to the brand.

On the other hand, McDonald’s is simply an ‘M’. It’s impressive that a simple letter with its recognisable typography is so indistinguishable from the brand itself. McDonald’s has also linked its logo into other branding platforms, with their locations fondly known as ‘the golden arches.’

Funnily enough, neither company represents its products in its logo. No chicken for KFC and no burgers for McDonald’s yet nobody would deny that these images are brand giants.

So, what’s your story? What’s your brand narrative? Will you reflect your other branding efforts in your logo, or establish a logo and build a brand around it?

Feel

All other aspects of visual representation come down to one thing—how does your look make your consumer feel?

Apple, for example, uses primarily a black and white colour scheme and its stores and online image are very minimalist and modern. What do you think they’re trying to convey?

For me, black and white means simple, straight-forward, and professional. Minimalist and modern makes me think of the future, which is where a technology company likely wants our minds to be.

Very much on the other hand, think of Build-A-Bear. When you come up to the storefront, you’re greeted by the face of a smiling teddy bear then you walk into a colourful, visually stimulating, and textile environment where everything can be picked up, felt, and explored. It’s engaging and invites you to join in.

Why do you think the two stores are so vastly different? Because they know their audience.

If I had to give one branding tip to a small business, this would be it. Know your audience.

Are you catering towards an Apple-esque audience of young modern professionals and gadget enthusiasts, or are you Build-A-Bear who wants to get children excited about a toy they’ve made all by themselves?

Are you appealing to the consumer who buys small and local or the influencer who is always on-trend?

Once you’ve identified your audience, build a visual aesthetic that conveys what you have to offer to them in particular.

Tagline and slogan

First of all, what’s the difference between a tagline and a slogan?

In short, a tagline is a short phrase that represents your company ethos in the long term. A slogan is a catchy one-off that might be used to advertise a single product or that’s associated with one marketing campaign.

The idea of both a tagline and a slogan is to bring your company, product, or service to mind.

How effective are the following taglines and slogans?

Simples!

Just do it.

Because you’re worth it.

Once you pop you just can’t stop!

Every little helps.

Home of the Whopper.

I bet you know exactly which company created each one. That’s the point of a tagline or slogan—it’s another way to keep your business in the mind of a consumer in a way that breaks away a little from the main brand.

A tagline or slogan should encompass and convey the feeling of using a product or service, the unique benefits of a product or service, or the company ethos.

A well-created tagline or slogan can lend your brand further personality and help you reach a wider audience. Slogans and taglines tend to have a word-of-mouth effect that can really boost your brand.

Ethos and values

Increasingly, consumers are starting to truly care about what a company stands for.

Huge brands such as Facebook, Amazon, and BP have all had boycotts called against them for betraying the values and ethos of their consumers. Conversely, some small companies are gaining huge popularity for putting their values foremost of all that they do.

For example, Impossible Foods, a vegetarian company that creates imitation meat and dairy products, has been at the centre of a media frenzy for its forward-thinking attitude towards global warming and the growing vegetarian and vegan movements. Similarly, Handiscover is a travel booking website aimed specifically at ensuring disabled people can find accessible accommodation on their travels.

Consumers want their providers to be socially and environmentally aware as well as cost-conscious. Companies who showcase their values well often see the rewards in the loyalty of their customers.

A company’s values come through in everything they do and monitoring how you represent your values across all platforms is a huge part of creating a brand with a sincere ethos.

Let’s take a look at these two word clouds from the home pages of WWF and Apple as an example.

A word cloud is created from an analysis of the words used within a body of text. The larger words in the above images represent the words that were used most often on these company websites (Word Counter, n.d.).

The top words from WWF were:

Personality

In the age of instant messaging and social media, companies have more opportunity than ever to showcase their personalities.

Companies are now no longer expected simply to have opinions on their own products and services, but to have an online presence that gives them a voice to comment on a whole lot more.

A great example is the American fast-food chain, Wendy’s.

If you visit their Twitter page (@Wendy’s), their bio tagline is “We like our tweets the same way we like to make hamburgers: better than anyone expects from a fast food joint.”

Making a joke at their own expense gives this company character and relatability that has taken the online world by storm. I’m constantly seeing shared images of some of Wendy’s most savage tweets that often make me laugh out loud.

This month, they’re also hosting a music event they’re calling ‘Baconcert’.

They’re funny, and it sells.

Another way to create a brand personality is through clever UX — or User Experience.

This is how you phrase those standard communications with your customers online and through apps.

For example, when someone puts something in a basket in an online store, what message pops up?

It could be something like:

Almost there!

Do you want to take another look around before you buy?

You’re supporting local artists and that’s awesome.

Did you forget something?

Every click of a button on your website is a moment of communication with your customer—so how do you want to be seen?

Give our friendly team a call

If you’re not sure where to begin your company's branding journey, get in touch.

Ketchup’s team of in-house experts are professional brand entrepreneurs. We’ll work closely with you to make sure your brand ethos and personality are communicated to your target audience in the way that works best for you and your business. We want you to thrive, not just survive!

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