12 Branding Terms Every Business Owner Needs To Know
How many times have you heard the word "branding" come up in conversation without really understanding what it means? Whether you're just starting out on your own or are an experienced entrepreneur, branding is a crucial element to any business. It's important to understand the basics and how they can help guide your marketing efforts. In this post, we'll explore 12 branding terms every business owner needs to know.
BRAND
Your brand is so much more than your logo! It’s all the THINGS. A brand is how people think or feel about you when you aren’t in the room.
It’s not actually a physical thing. It’s how all the things come together to create how people think or feel about you (which is YOUR brand). It’s living. It is fluid, which means it grows with you as you grow. And more importantly, it is either working for you or against you. And trust me when I say, it is WAY better when it’s working for YOU… Can I get an AMEN?
BRANDING
Think of the “brand” as the noun and “branding” as the verb. Branding is all about becoming known, becoming liked, and becoming trusted. If you’ve been in sales any amount of time, you know that the know, like and trust factor is key.
Think clarity and consistency. And just like you, your brand will evolve and grow so leave the need for perfection behind and start. Today is the day, you start. Today is the day, you take steps to solidify your brand.
BRAND OR VISUAL IDENTITY
A Brand Identity includes ALL the visual things that make up a brand.
Logo
Color Palette
Font
Patterns
Illustrations
Photographic style
Graphics
Textures
COLLATERAL / TOUCHPOINTS
Think about ALL the tangible pieces of your brand beyond your core visual identity and you’ve identified collateral/touchpoints. You might not have each of these but this list will help you start thinking about the various pieces of collateral that might be relevant to YOUR business.
Business cards
Welcome note or package
Stationery
Thank you cards
Brochures
Packaging
Stickers
Downloads
Blog
Website
Social Media
E-mail
Newsletters
Store Display
In-Person Experiential Events
BRAND EXPERIENCE
The brand experience is what drives your clients, customers, or partners to share with others. Hello, word of mouth! When the brand experience is on point, it works for you and with you. When it is off, the exact opposite happens, it works against you. And you’ve worked too hard building your business to let this negatively impact you. Trust me, there isn’t any neutral ground here. This is why being intentional and clear about your brand is key.
Every touchpoint creates an experience for your customers, clients, and partners. And that my friend, is YOUR brand experience. Obviously, savvy business owners want each touchpoint to be positive so that the overall experience leaves the customer, client, or partners wanting more and gushing about how amazing their experience is/was. If you’re not a detail person, this is where I would like permission to push you to figure it out. It matters. So, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and get into the weeds to ensure each and every aspect of interaction is on brand and purposeful. After all, you want customers to have a great experience with each aspect of your brand.
Think about the experiences you’ve had with brands that left you wanting more. Maybe it’s a local floral shop that has it together and goes that extra mile to make your floral experience special. The moment you walk in the door, the experience begins with beautiful eye candy of color-coordinated flowers, the hint of smell of the fresh flowers is on point, the way they wrap the stems, as well as how they deliver all add up to an overall experience that is amazing.
Now consider this. You visit another floral shop and they have all of the above except their staff stinks. They aren’t friendly or worse yet, the arrangement you selected on their website was delivered late and they exchanged sunflowers for carnations. WHAT?!? That one decision to exchange the flowers will erase all the other positive experiences. Totally makes sense, right?
If this feels overwhelming, consider starting with some of the basic elements to get you moving in the right direction.
Customer / Partner Onboarding Experience
Happy Mail (add something unique to your packaging)
Simple Payment Experience
Customer / Partner Appreciation Campaign
Simplify Website Navigation
Social Media Audit
Review Content for Consistency
MOOD BOARD
A mood board is an approved collection of assets that capture the visuals of your brand. Think of it as a digital collage of inspiration that conveys the mood of your brand. I love mood boards because they bring everybody together and establish a starting point for collaboration.
Need help? Join the Color of You Pop Up Challenge here. The challenge is a step-by-step (virtual) guide to help you DIVE into color, create a mood board and give your social media profile a FACELIFT!
BRAND STYLE GUIDE
I like to think of this as the “rules” or the roadmap for your brand. It should be an easy reference point and typically it is shared with anybody that is creating assets for you. Usually, this is one of the last items you receive from a graphic designer. The style guide is more in-depth than the mood board. Prior to scaling your business, I recommend completing your brand’s style guide. This type of guide makes delegating and collaborating easier and ultimately is a time saver since it pulls everybody together and ensures your brand continues to be consistent regardless of who is working on it.
VOICE
The voice of your brand includes written and spoken words. It is how you communicate with customers, partners, and your overall audience. Written words include email series, blog posts, social media posts, newsletters, etc. Spoken words on the other hand include video, podcasting, speaking events, phone interaction, in-person interactions.
VALUES
Values of a brand are intended to govern how you operate and deal with customers, vendors, employees, communities, and other stakeholders. The values help determine priorities and facilitate decision-making. Brands should have at least 3-5 VALUE words that define what your brand stands for. Think of it this way:
Values govern how the brand operates
Values determine priorities
Values facilitate decision making
Need help? Get my free Values Download to help.
VISION
A vision or purpose statement does not describe what we do; it communicates why we exist. It should describe future outcomes, benefits, and what the business will look like. The vision of your brand answers these questions:
What is the WHY behind your Brand
What is the long term hope and dream of your Brand
Why does your Brand exist (what change is it inspiring)
What are the benefits of your Brand
What problems does your Brand solve for the greater good
Without a clear vision, people tend to drift away from the real focus and purpose of the brand.
One of the biggest advantages of implementing a clear vision, mission, and values is that it helps ensure you attract the right people to your business and repel the others.
MISSION
The Mission Statement or Mission of a brand is the what & who of the brand. It’s what drives your business TODAY. Questions to ask when developing a mission statement are:
What do we do?
Who do we serve?
How do we serve them?
IDEAL CLIENT/CUSTOMER AVATAR (ICA)
An ICA is a detailed description of who your target client or customer is. The description looks at all you need to know to be able to market what you’ve got to offer. It looks a lot like an online dating profile - it includes some personal details, as well as info on inspiration, problems, fears, objections, and wildest dreams.
If you need help, I have your back. Get my Who’s Your Who workbook here
Grow Your Brand
If you’re just starting your branding journey I know this can be overwhelming but trust me, you can do it. Nobody knows YOU better than YOU. Dive in and start. Words on paper are better than perfection. All brands started somewhere and then they grew and evolved.
The world is a big place and the competition for your business can be fierce. That’s why it’s important to develop a strong brand image that people will recognize as yours, which not only makes you stand out from other brands but also resonates with your customers.
I’m here to help. If you want to go deeper, ping me, or if there are items that you wished I covered, let me know in the comments below.
