Your logo is not your brand.

Many small business owners believe branding is exclusively for large companies with marketing budgets and advertising agencies. That’s farther from truth than absolutely possible. Businesses large and small will benefit form understanding how their brand can stand out form the hyper-local to the largest global companies. The special sauce is in thoughtful consideration and a structured approach to your business and a little introspection on who you are, why your company exist, and who should care..

A brand, much like a person, is how the company is perceived through it’s interactions. These experiences which we can call brand touchpoints, range from your logo, marketing materials, reviews, word-of-mouth referrals, magazine articles and PR, product packaging, or mentions on scial media, and pretty much anything that interacts with the public or potential customers. If marketing is the elevator pitch, branding in those shoes, the tone of voice, the charm, the firm handshake, and everything else that sells the pitch..

I think of branding as pillars that are the foundation of your business. If one is weak, you may find your house crumbling under the weight of growing infrastructure or the burden of running a small business with too many pillars leaving your house rigid and harder to pivot. So what are these pillars?

1. Purpose: Why does your brand exist beyond profit? If profit if yor only answrr you wont’ get far chasing trends and short term gains. A strong purpose gives you a reason to get out of bed and brings those you include along with you.
2. Vision: What does the world look like to you if your company succeeds? How will you truly change the world?
3. Mission: Having a mission gives us real action to take to fulfill that vision. What steps will you take to make that vision a reality? How does your company deliver on that vision?
4. Values: Any mission can be realized without values but as history shows, values empower the right choices. If you articulate values, and your company and people embody those values, you achieve your mission with more intention and with collective understanding of how you’ll do it.
5. Positioning: Why does your audience care about your company over a competitor? Brand positioning give you a starting point to start figuring out product pillars, services, and things you can communicate that will help your audience learn about how you’ll enrich their work or life.

OK, but what the heck is a brand and why isn’t it my logo?The goal os any business isn’t just to create a product or service but to have people love it. There are so many companies so why would any customer pick you? Well, when you build you visula identity on a strong foundation of strategy, you insert a pulsing heart into your business that some of your competitors will lack, or execute poorly. If we know anything about people it’s they don’t fall in love with businesses, they fall in love with a businesses heart. A strong and loud rhythm will bring them closer to you and that where all of these components fit in.

‍Brand Strategy

‍So we’ve covered the aspects of brand strategy—Purpose, vision, and mission allowing us to find reasons to get out of bed and guiding lights to help us act on achieving our mission. Our values and positiong wilp us act more authentically and consistently, and include those we work with in understanding how you’ll collectively win. So far though, none of this is audience facing. This lives in your companies wiki and never shows it’s face to your public.What they do see is your brand identityIt can sometimes be confusing but a brand and a brand identity have distinctions. Firstly, the brand is an idea… and essence… it’s intangible and helps us understand what a personality might be if the company were a person. A brand identity make it tangible by expressing that personality across visual and written touch-points.  Depending on the size of your company you may have few touch-points of many but let’s look at some of the most common and useful for any company.

‍The brand name

‍Often brands are tempted to pick a name meaningful to them. This can sometimes be a great choice if the concept and idea resonates beyond just your personal experiences. In most cases though, the people who will give you money don’t care about your personal taste. Consumers and business care that they can trust a company and sometimes, a cool factor enriches a person’s association to the brand. Naming is an under-appreciated MVP if branding and should never be considered on a whim as beyond the reason of being, it’s the one thing that will last beyond any other touchpoint.

You can learn more about naming in this post I wrote.‍

The logo

‍The logo is definitely one of the most important aspects of a brand in spite of this post’s title. Don’t get me wrong, it carries weight, but alone will not carry you far. A solid logo is incredibly important but just because your date shows up well-dressed doesn’t mean you’re going to fall in love. Some of the best dressed can be intolerable and no matter how stylish or beautiful, consumer trust is fickle and you must go beyond just looking the part.

‍The tone of voice

‍Words have weight. Throughout history they are what make change and inspire people. From political speeches, idioms, proverbs, timeless books, and the most evocative branding, words are paramount in shaping your brand. When the tone you speak to your audience shifts too often you risk confusing people on what you stand for and trust can dwindle fast. An inconsistent tone of voice and way of speaking to your community is a quick way to lose their attention. If you use humour and whit, use humour and whit when appropriate and often. If you need to evoke trust, avoid it at all costs unless there’s a specific moment that calls you to rise to the Occassion of poking a little fun. The crucial aspects is to match the tone of voice to your product, industry, offering and how you choose to connect with your community. Then keep it constant and never boring.

‍The brand assets

‍From marketing, sales, social, and beyond, all of your materials should feel consistently elevated and on brand. I like ot think of this as a companies wardrobe—are we going to a high-end conference where an elevated activation is needed or is this a casual networking event where a few drinks and some business cards and a lapel pins might get our brand top of mind. Is our social media educational and engaging. Do we entertain our audience and encourage brand interaction or are we inconsistent and constantly dressed different.

From patterns, icons, illustrations, advertising, emails, sales materials, downloadable, swag and print materials, packaging, and beyond, a brand’s assets are a closet of tools to connect with our customers with the right personality and outfit.

‍The Website

‍Unless you have a brick and mortar location, a website is the next best thing. It’s your storefront. It’s your showroom. It’s an educational platform, and so much more. I’m sure I don’t have to say it but it’s one of the most important aspects of your brand and should be top-quality. A website is ownable so while social media can offer excitng opportunities for advertising and connecting, platforms can close and fal at any time. If the possibility of a TikTok ban teaches us anything is that your website should take president over anything else in communicating your brand, services, products, values, and everything in between.Video ContentVideo content is a great way to authentically and regularly express your brand voice. Whether it’s just a hero video for your product or service, or a youtube channel with ongoing content, there’s no better way to share your brand’s personality than through it’s people, music, and motion. A solid video strategy and production can help you connect with regularity and high engagement.

‍Gifting and swag

‍Sustainability is a hot topic in the brand space right now but there’s plenty of opportunity to brand items that are sustainable, enriching to partners and customers, and can help create memorability. Especially for culture within companies, gifting wonderful and reusable or sustainable and quality items can enhance your staff’s journey while gifting to partners, customers, and your community can help keep you top of mind and show you care. Gone are the days of branding bottle and cheap t-shirts. Make way for thoughtful and intentional swag that works for your brand while keeping true to a positive future for everyone.

‍Merchandise

‍Much like swag, merchandise can be a great financial opportunity depending on your business. In the right context—like a fitness company, youtube chef, or restaurant—a line of merchandise can offer a secondary revenue stream and connect you closer to your community. If you sell products in a brick and mortar, go beyond to sell them online too. If you have partners with great products, you can have revenue sharing opportunities that offer benefits from both perspectives. Don’t invest in a product line simply for the sake of it but if your brand can sustain it and the endeavour makes sense, it’s a great way to diversify your brand opportunities.

There’s a world of opportunity to explore beyond fonts, colours, and logos.

Hopefully this helps to understand the difference between a brand and it’s identity, and gives you some ideas on how you can take a fresh look at your own strategy. When we build a house, we want a strong foundation so making sure your business has solid ground to start laying the bricks will make the bricks more stable and impactful over time. and brick by brick, touchpoint by touchpoint, you’ll find continued success with fewer crisis and unknowns.