COVID-19 Branding Basics

A recognisable and sought-after brand is one of the most valuable assets any small business or global corporation owns.

It’s a fact, most consumers prefer to buy products or services from brands they trust and are familiar with. So, when it comes to buyer’s choice and bottom lines, brand matters.

Whilst the definition of branding may differ, what’s consistent is that – brand is everything, it’s what sets your business apart and determines its success. Encompassing more than the visual realm or specific elements, it’s the overall perception and experience that makes a brand.

Your brand is the single most important investment you can make in your business. – Steve Forbes

Great branding comes down to more than just a unique logo or a catchy tagline, positioning the brand at the heart of a business is key and can set the tone for future sales, especially post COVID-19. The global pandemic has already had an enormous impact on consumers and brands, we’ve entered a new era of business, everything has changed and so have consumer behaviours.

Hard times arouse an instinctive desire for authenticity. – Coco Chanel

Navigating the challenges of COVID-19 has been a difficult task for many small and large-scale businesses across all sectors. These unprecedented times demand rapid, yet tactful action to meet fast evolving markets and stay in the game. Yes, business leaders are currently faced with many obstacles, but they’re also presented with an opportunity to redefine or improve their product/service and find new ways to connect with customers to ensure they remain relevant for years to come.

I am a fashion person, and fashion is not only about clothes – it’s about all kinds of change. – Karl Lagerfeld

Every business starts small and has unlimited growth potential. However, turning a small business into a big one is never an easy task and you can’t scale a business if you haven’t established a solid brand identity.

A big business starts small. – Richard Branson

Many small businesses make the mistake of overlooking critical branding practices because they view themselves as a business and not a brand. If, you’re a small business owner who believes branding is something best left to the Apples, McDonalds and Fendis of the world, you can’t be further from the truth – branding is equally important for small business as it is for big names. Therefore, if you’re in business, it’s your business to know;

/ purpose / – what your business does.
/ reason / – why you do what you do.
/ unique / – your point of difference.
/ mission / – your business intention.
/ consumer / – who your customers are.
/ aware / – is your brand well-known.
/ recall / – is your brand memorable.
/ credibility / – is your brand trustworthy.
/ values / – your trading code of ethics.
/ identity / – the overall view of your business.
/ perception / – the public’s opinion of your brand.
/ relevance / – are you meeting current market demands.

Branding is a complex process, but one thing is true – every successful brand has powerful intent behind it, and so should yours. A strong brand knows who they are, who they are talking to and stands outs from its competitors.

Intention is one with cause and effect. Intention determines outcome. And if you’re stuck and not moving forward, you have to check the thought and action that created the circumstance. – Oprah Winfrey

BRAND vs BRANDING vs BRAND IDENTITY

There are many misinterpretations about the use of ‘brand’, ‘branding’ and ‘brand identity’. Put simply, to build a successful business of any size, you need a stand out ‘brand’, consistent ‘branding’ and a solid ‘brand identity’. Yes, they are interchangeable and equally valuable, but individually play significant roles;

/ brand / – a type of product or service by a particular company under a particular name.

A brand is simply trust. – Steve Jobs

A brand is a promise. A good brand is a promise kept. – Muhtar Kent

A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. – Jeff Bezos, Amazon

Brand is just a perception, and perception will match reality over time. – Elon Musk

A brand is a person’s gut feeling about a product, service or organisation. – Marty Neumeier

A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other distinct feature that identifies one seller’s goods or services from those of other sellers.

Brand is how people perceive and feel about a company, it creates the emotional relationship between customer and business. When people fall in love with brands, they trust them and their promises.

/ branding / – the promotion of a particular product, service or company.

Any interaction in any form is branding. – Seth Godin

Branding is the art of becoming knowable, likeable and trustable. – John Jantsch

Branding is the process of connecting good strategy with good creativity. – Marty Neumeier

Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories you tell. – Seth Godin

Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make it inviting to look at. Make it fun to read. – Leo Burnett

Branding is the marketing practice a business or corporation implements to create a name for itself. It’s the process that identifies, differentiates and connects a brand with an audience.

It’s much more than the visual components, it’s a strategic plan of action taken to build a certain image of a company. Branding is how a business influences what customers think of the brand.

/ brand identity / – the complete picture of your product, service and company.

Your culture is your brand. – Tony Hsieh

Design is the silent ambassador of your brand. – Paul Rand

Your entire company should be considered your marketing department. – Unknown

Products are made in the factory, but brands are created in the mind. – Walter Landor

A brand is a living entity and is enriched or undermined cumulatively over time – the product of a thousand small gestures. – Michael Eisner

It incorporates all visible elements such as logo, tagline, design, brand philosophy, company promise and non-visible aspects including customer expectation, satisfaction, end user experience, etc.

Brand Identity is the sum of all aspects of a business, the overall perception of how the market views and feels about a product, service or business.

Brand is the story. Branding is the storytelling. Brand Identity is the outcome. – Demi Karan, Heels Agency

Every great love starts with a great story. – Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook

Branding is an ongoing process of creating, enhancing and growing a business by responding to the market and consumers demands.

Design is everything. Everything. – Paul Rand

Change is the healthiest way to survive. – Karl Lagerfeld

Each day is an occasion to reinvent ourselves. – Ralph Lauren

A business is simply an idea to make other people’s lives better. – Richard Branson

There are three responses to a piece of design – yes, no and wow! Wow is the one to aim for. – Milton Glaser

It’s very important for a brand to have an identity through the years, but it’s very important to evolve because times change so fast. – Donatella Versace