what a brand is

Branding touches every single facet of experience. It is design, copy, tone of voice, customer service, company culture, purpose, values, mission and marketing approach all wrapped up in one.

This makes defining exactly what a brand is a little tricky. But, in amongst the grey areas, there are some clear black and whites.

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What makes a brand?

Ask ten people what a brand is and you’ll get ten different answers. Some will say the logo. Some will say the marketing. Some will wave vaguely at a feeling. The truth is a brand is bigger and slipperier than any single one of those things, which is exactly why it’s so often misunderstood and so often reduced to just the visuals.

The clearest way to get your head around it is to look at what a brand really is, and just as importantly, what it isn’t. So here are three of each.

3 things a brand is

1. A brand is a perception

At the end of the day, a brand is the perception a consumer has about a company. That perception can be shaped and influenced (through brand storytelling and marketing), and infused into tangible objects like merchandise. But it is the perception that matters most.

It is perception that translates to whether a consumer feels good about your brand or ambivalent (or worse). Obviously creating a positive connection will translate to sales. Therefore, your most important task is to make sure your audience perceive your brand as trustworthy and able to help them solve whatever challenge they are trying to address. You don’t own your brand outright, your customers own a big piece of it, because it lives in their heads.

2. A brand is a stranger

In the not too distant past, salespeople would walk around the neighbourhood and knock on doors to sell their products. This veritable stranger had the task of convincing the person in front of them that what they were selling was worth buying. It can help to imagine your brand as a stranger (an idea we love from the team at A Hundred Monkeys). What qualities does your brand need to get new customers, who may be sceptical about trusting you, across the line? What will make them jump the precipice and convert from stranger to acquaintance to friend to advocate?

Thinking of your brand this way keeps you honest. A stranger doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt. They have to earn it through how they show up, what they say, and whether they back it up. Your brand is in exactly the same position with every new person who meets it.

3. A brand is a relationship

In stark contrast to being a stranger, a brand is also a relationship. It’s what takes place between your business and your audience, once they convert from strangers to customers or followers. There are two important things to consider here:

  1. Everything you do feeds that relationship. This is why every single touchpoint between your business and your customers is part of your brand. And just like between two people, things can go sour if the relationship isn’t nurtured.
  2. It’s not enough to just make an initial connection, you have to work at maintaining that relationship. One great way to do this is to segment your audience for a more personalised marketing approach.

Get the relationship right and you don’t just get customers, you get the kind of loyal advocates who keep choosing you and bring their friends along too.

3 things a brand is not

Or a website or a business card or your marketing strategy. As we’ve already discussed, a brand is the sum of all these things plus so much more. Branding that stops at logo design is as effective as going fishing by dipping your hands in the water and attempting to grab a fish as it swims by. Potentially possible (with a lot of patience and a heck of a lot of grit) but much harder than it needs to be. If you want to go deeper on this, we’ve written a whole piece on the difference between a logo and a brand.

2. A brand is not what you say it is

You can tell people what you think your brand is, sure, but they will always decide for themselves what they think of it. This is why it’s always more effective to focus on shaping their perception than trying to force them to adopt your perception. The space between what you say your brand is and what people actually believe is your brand gap, and closing it is the whole game.

How do you shape their perception? Demonstrate that you are what you say you are. If you say that you care about social justice issues but use sweatshops to make your products, you’re being incongruent with your own values. Inconsistencies reek of inauthenticity and this breeds distrust. Always be open, honest and don’t try to be something you’re not.

3. A brand is not what you’re selling

Your brand is the vehicle through which you sell your product or service, not those things themselves. It’s how you communicate with your audience about those things. It shifts, grows and changes in response to your audience and their perception of it. It is, metaphorically speaking, a living, breathing organism and it requires regular care and attention to keep it alive.

This is closely tied to understanding what business you’re really in. Your product is what changes hands, but your brand is the bigger thing people are actually buying into.

A brand is, and isn’t: at a glance

The whole article in one quick reference:

A brand is… A brand is not…
A perception, what people think and feel about you, which lives in their heads. Just a logo (or a website, or a business card, or your marketing strategy).
A stranger that has to earn trust before it’s let in. What you say it is. Your audience decides for themselves.
A relationship, nurtured across every single touchpoint. What you’re selling. It’s the vehicle, not the product itself.

If you’d like an outside read on how your brand is actually perceived, a free brand audit is a good place to start. And if you want help shaping that perception properly, that’s exactly what our brand strategy work is built for.

Leave your mark.

FAQs

What is a brand?

A brand is the perception a consumer has about a company, the sum of what they think and feel about you. It’s shaped by everything from your design and tone of voice to your customer service, culture and values, but it ultimately lives in your audience’s heads, not yours. That’s why a brand is best understood not as a thing you own outright, but as a perception and a relationship you influence over time.

No. A logo is part of your brand, but it’s only the tip of the iceberg. A brand is the sum of your logo, website, marketing, tone of voice, customer experience, culture and values, plus the perception all of that creates. Branding that stops at the logo is doing a fraction of the job. If you want the full breakdown, we’ve covered the difference between a logo and a brand in its own article.

Can you control what your brand is?

Not entirely, and that’s the key insight. You can tell people what you think your brand is, but they’ll always decide for themselves. So rather than trying to force your version on them, your job is to shape their perception by consistently demonstrating that you are who you say you are. The gap between what you claim and what people actually believe is where brands win or lose.

What does it mean that a brand is a relationship?

It means your brand is the ongoing connection between your business and your audience, not a one-off transaction. Once someone goes from stranger to customer, every touchpoint either strengthens or weakens that relationship, just like between two people. It’s not enough to make the first connection; you have to keep nurturing it, which is why consistency and a more personalised, segmented approach to your audience matter so much.

What’s the difference between a brand and a product?

Your product is what you sell. Your brand is the vehicle through which you sell it, and how you communicate with your audience about it. The product is fairly fixed; the brand shifts, grows and changes in response to your audience and their perception of it. Think of the brand as a living organism that needs ongoing care, while the product is just one thing that organism offers.

How do I build a strong brand?

Start by accepting that your brand is a perception you shape rather than control. Be clear and consistent about who you are across every touchpoint, demonstrate your values rather than just claiming them, and treat your audience like a relationship worth nurturing, not a list to sell to. Get those things right over time and the perception takes care of itself. A brand strategy process is the structured way to pull all of this together.