10 Key Concepts You Have To Understand About Branding

At some point, I think it was Tom Peters, told us that we are all brands now.

That is accurate, but it also has had the impact of making the ability to understand what a brand is and does and how it is impactful a challenge as well. Branding is about creating an image for yourself and your company, the one that would directly impact the growth of your business. While many tend to have an in-house branding and marketing department, some prefer to outsource it to specialists! If you fall under the latter category, you could see this page to find a few companies that could handle this task for you.

Nonetheless, here are 10 key concepts and ideas that you need to understand when thinking about your personal brand or the brand of your business:

1. What do I want my brand to be?

It isn’t enough to just say, “We are building a brand.” You have to spend some time focusing on exactly what you want that brand to be.

Do you want to be high cost, high value?

Low cost, low value?

The leader?

What exactly?

2. What is your brand value?

People do a lot of things in their purchasing decisions, but one thing is for sure, they are always buying value.

So one thing you need to spend a great deal of time on is understanding what the value of your brand is and how you can convey that to your audience.

3. What should my brand aspire to?

It is likely that your brand is going to evolve over time. That’s life and as the great philosopher Pat Riley said, “The only thing constant in life is change.”

So you need to make a judgment about what your brand aspires to be.

That way that along the way, you can make decisions about your branding that are consistent with where you are attempting to get to.

4. How do I build my brand?

Too much branding occurs by chance with no thought and no ideas attached to it.

It is therefore important to consider what will serve as the foundation of your brand.

From PR to advertising, to content, to sponsorships, and even growth services like Gramiety, you have a lot of tools at your disposal.

But, before opting for any of the said tools, you need to question yourself: is Gramiety a scam? Will I benefit from it? Will the sales increase? Will it reach a wider audience?

The key choice in building a brand is that you need to make sure that you are putting together a mix of branding activities that are going to reach your target market.

5. What will brand traction look like?

How will you know you are getting the attention you deserve?

How will you know you are going in the right direction?

6. What is my brand worth?

I don’t mean in dollars, specifically, but maybe I do.

What I mean is what is your brand worth to others?

Is it a sign of respectability? Of prestige?

Or, are there sketchy and questionable aspects of your brand?

7. Building on your brand?

You want your brand to be a foundation for all of the work and effort you put moving forward.

So when you are thinking about your brand, you want to make sure that you understand what your brand is building up to become. What will having built a successful brand mean to you as you take the next step and the next?

8. Can I do multiple brands and what does that mean?

Do you have only one brand?

Are you the brand?

Is your brand part of an umbrella of brands?

Do you build multiple brands for different parts of the work you are doing?

Think about how you want your one or more brands to be perceived and build accordingly.

9. Branding is strategic

Your brand needs to set you up in your market or speciality.

By branding in a strategic manner, you are likely to repel as much as you are to attract and that is totally fine.

10. Your brand is about your vision

Do you have a vision for business, life, the world?

Your brand should represent that Point of View.

You want your brand to act as a way to differentiate yourself from others, not to be more of the same.