Brand, like democracy, is often very, very misunderstood. There’s so many definitions of the term branding that if you lined them all up end to end, you’d reach the moon and back.
Call me simple, but when it comes to explaining what branding is all about, I like to refer to Cowboy Branding…. which has its own negative connotations now that I think about it.
The origin of branding, is you haven’t already thought about it, goes back to the wild west and the good old sturdy branding iron. Back in the good old days, ranches would brand their cattle with the mark of their particular ranch to identify it as their property. In fact the tradition goes further back and during roman times slaves would be branded with the mark of their owner. Over time these physical brand marks went beyond a simple recognition of ownership, the reputation of a particular ranch would mean that cattle with their brand would be more valuable at auction and devious competitors would often “fake” the brand of a more successful ranch on their interior cattle. And so the knock-off industry was born!
So your brand was your reputation. Its what people thought of your ranch and of your business. So history aside and looking forward to your business, what does your businesses brand mean to you?
Well, simply put, nothings changed. Your brand is still your businesses reputation. Everything that your business does reflects on it. Whether its the more obvious things like the physical appearance of your business – you logo, your website, your brochures, your business cards, your packaging – all of it reflects on your customers opinion of your business. There’s also a less tangible side to your brand that often can be far more important and ironically usually the bit that costs nothing – your businesses attitude. How your staff answer the phone, how they deal with enquiries, how you process complaints – all of this reflects on your reputation and therefore on your brand.
So before you think that brand is purely a matter for your graphic designer and leave it to them to make the decisions; remember its your reputation.
Now who do you think should be in charge of your businesses reputation?
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