Brands are all around us, whether we realize it or not. And how you brand a product or a business is what determines its place in this cut-throat business world.

Business is not accessible, and neither is branding. But with proper branding, marketing, and ideas, you can sell a rock to people and earn yourself tons of money.

Branding is what makes a business; there is no way around it. Companies have branded and rebranded themselves ever since their existence. While branding might sound complicated, it’s a simple process. It’s the planning, which is the tough part.

Improper branding can lead to public outcry and negative opinions, but if you carefully plan on it, you can truly make the best out of a bad situation.

Do you remember New Coke? Neither does anyone else because it was a complete commercial failure. Back in 1985, Coca Cola introduced a new recipe for their flagship drink, which was universally hated.

This branding failure sparked controversy, which in turn brought more attention to the eventual reintroduction of the classic brand.

This is branding at its finest. While commercial failures are unavoidable in any significant business, through proper branding, they can be a lucrative opportunity for manufacturers.

What is Branding?

Coca Cola, McDonald’s, Mercedes Benz. When you read these names, you can envision the company, the product, and the association. This business practice paints the picture of the sheer power of branding.

By definition, branding is the practice where a company creates a specific name, symbol, design, and decal to represent themselves or one of their products. It should be simple, easy to identify and establish a product, differentiating it from any possible competition.

This symbol is the cornerstone of any successful product. This symbol, idea, and representation is what sets a product up for success on the down road.

Some of the benefits of branding are:

• Increased Customer Awareness
• Recondition Boost
• Improved ROI
• Increasing Business Value
• Trust-building Properties
• Promotional Material Creation

What is Rebranding?

Much like branding itself, rebranding is the marketing practice in which a company re-invents either itself or one of its products. With times often changing and trends changing as well, a company needs to rebrand itself to remain relevant and competitive.

Unlike branding, rebranding doesn’t always have to remain permanent. All the LGBT+ rainbow flags on products, Christmas hats, and trees, the pumpkin spice – these are all seasonal or event-focused rebranding attempts by companies.

Seasonal rebranding has found significant mainstream success, allowing companies to associate their products or themselves with an already established event or theme. There wouldn’t be a red and white Christmas without Coca-Cola, and no thanksgiving without Kraft stuffing.

Mc. Donalds is as American as apple pie, and it has worked to establish itself as such for decades. Slowly following trends and gaining the hearts of numerous consumers has intertwined such a company with popular events.

Brand Identity and its Creation Process

Now that we’ve established the sheer importance that branding has on the consumer and the corporation, it’s time to get into the process itself.

While branding is as simple as giving your business/service/product a name and a look, maintaining consistency as your brand grows is far from easy. You need to set your business or product up for success and watch it achieve that potential through appropriate management and marketing, including using an asset library to insure everyone is using the most up-to-date branding materials.

Branding is a practice that is beneficial for everyone, no matter the location, size, or type of service, business, or product. To fully understand how to brand a product or a business, we need to understand the following:

Brand Identity. Brand Identity is synonymous with branding. It’s the look, feel, and character of your product, service, or business.

Brand identity is what paints the picture of your brand. This identity is what customers are going to feel and experience while interacting or observing your brand. It’s the single most crucial piece of the puzzle.

Logo. A logo might look like an essential part of a brand, and for a good reason. Logos are the visual representations or personifications of your brand. This visual representation is what comes to mind when you think of a company, which is why you need to create a great logo that represents and empowers your brand.

Website. Every good brand needs a website to represent it. Webpages aren’t only exclusive to corporations, as there have been numerous successful instances of products having their website. Websites are the internet homepage of your product or brand and serve to establish your brand identity further.

Social Media Presence. These are the times of social media. The only way for a business to survive is to establish a presence there. Everyone is using Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp, and Snapchat these days. These are the places that people are most likely to interact with brands.

Personality. This is the newest addition to the branding arsenal of many. While brands have always had a face behind them (Eg. Ronald McDonald, Mayor McCheese, Santa Claus, Tony the Tiger, Marlboro Man), the human aspect has only increased in popularity.

Take Wendy’s as an example of a proper personality branding identity. Giving Wendy’s a Twitter presence, a voice, and an attitude has done wonders for the companies revenue. The social media personification alone has garnered Wendy’s restaurants over $64M in profit.

After understanding all these terms and definitions, the question remains:

“How can I properly brand my company/product/service?”

While we whole-heartedly support you in your journey of creating your very own brand, the process is a bit tougher than you might think. While creating the visualization of your brand might be simple, maintaining that quality and regularity isn’t.

This is why larger companies have branding divisions to take care of the process. And it’s a long process that requires a constant flow of content. If you have the resources to hire such a division, that’s going to be excellent.

If you’re not running a multi-million corporation, though, you’re going to find that utilizing Brand Identity Design Services much more profitable.

Brand Identity Design Services are available for hire and are best when outsourced. You can get a professional service done for a fraction of the price if you decide to outsource your branding needs.

You’re going to find professionals that know the ins and outs of the branding process, which will not only handle the initial content-pump but the maintenance of your brand identity.

Courtright Design is one such service provider, with a long and reputable rep sheet of quality branding and similar services. Some of the services Courtright Design offers are:

• Logo Identity Design
• Website Design
• Website Maintenance
• Search Engine Optimization
• Marketing Collateral Design
• Social Media Management
• Brand Strategy Creation
• A/B Testing and Heat Mapping

These are all crucial services that any brand requires to prosper and keep its foothold in the competitive business world.

Recap

Proper branding is a remarkably important part of any business plan. An adequate brand identity is closely tied to the business/product/service itself and is its single most important representation.

Proper branding can either make or break a business – so make sure you’re getting it done properly.