Brand identity refers to the concrete symbols for the feelings the customers have about a company, such as a name and design scheme. Feelings are created by continued exposure to a specific product or service, both directly relating to its use, and through the influence of advertising. A brand is all the information connected to a company, product or service. A brand serves to differentiation between companies and their product or service. A brand is used to encourage customers to be loyal, help a business build its position and long-term viability.
Brand is everything. Brands are not simply products or services. Brands are the sum total of all the images that people have in their heads about a particular company and a particular product or service. Brand often includes an explicit logo, fonts, color schemes, symbols, which are developed to represent implicit values, ideas, and even personality. The brand, and "branding" and brand equity have become increasingly important components of culture and the economy, now being described as "cultural accessories and personal philosophies.
The brand identity of a small business is essentially the same thing as a larger corporation, the only differences being that small businesses usually have a smaller market and have less reach than larger brands. Some people argue that it is not possible to brand a small business, however there are many examples of small businesses that became very successful due to branding. Starbucks is one company that used almost no advertising and over a period of ten years developed such a strong brand that the company went from one shop to hundreds.
"A great brand raises the bar -- it adds a greater sense of purpose to the experience, whether it's the challenge to do your best in sports and fitness, or the affirmation that the cup of coffee you're drinking really matters." - Howard Shultz (head of marketing for Starbucks and formerly Nike)
We often underestimate how long brands can hold on to a negative association. The Web has increased the consuming public's ability to rant or rave about a company or service. Smart companies now recognize the necessity of being responsive to the criticisms, in real-time, and of making sure the brand is consistent—and is as good as it can be—wherever it shows up, and even after the sale has been made. The tools the salespeople use to sell it, public relations efforts and follow-up customer service all must reflect brand values and impart a consistent brand image.
Most Web-based retailers still don't fully understand merchandising, particularly from the branding identity perspective. A lot of brands are pulling their hair out, especially over some of the unauthorized sites that just say, "Here is the item or the brand, and here is the price," and do nothing to explain—much less leverage—what makes that product unique. To make matters worse, lots of consumers are looking for information and brand cues, and Web retailers that fail to deliver those will lose the sale to someone who does. Price is not everything.
Manufacturers must also recognize the value of brand identity, and stop making one product and shipping it to just any outlet with price as the only major means of differentiation. Eventually, price points and profit margins collapse and the brand gets hammered because the value proposition in the minds of the consumer has been destroyed.
Some business owners think brand identity comes first and the company's success follows. In fact, when you look at most businesses, the products came first, they built their infrastructures, and their brands evolved along with the success of the products and services over many, many decades.
Without product and infrastructure all the brand identity in the world is no good. You have to build that infrastructure. It's expensive, and it takes a long time to develop a brand into a presence in people's lives. It isn't an instant conclusion, but it is essential, so be patient and persistent.
A brand makes a promise: "If you buy this product or buy from my company, you can rely on me because of the attributes attached to the brand identity."
A new kind of brand identity is emerging. It is a customer-centric branding where the promise is, "I know you as an individual customer better than anyone else, and you can trust me to assemble the right products or services to meet your individual needs."
Most product companies can go a significant distance toward enhancing their customer focus, especially given the capabilities and technologies available on the Internet. But there are limits. At some point, a company is going to have to make a fundamental choice: What business is it really in? A company will have to decide whether it is prepared to sell a competing product if that is the best solution for a particular customer. Once that bridge is crossed, it stops being a product company and becomes a customer relationship business that has a greater potential to build a deeper customer-focused brand identity because its promise moves beyond product.
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