what is branding?
Learn more about this crucial cornerstone that needs to be established for every business.
branding 101
Branding is the “packaging” of a business’s logo, fonts, colors, sounds, smells, tone of voice, and other markers that quickly and easily help customers and clients discern one company from another.
To get an idea of how branding works, picture this: you’re walking through a mall, and immediately you notice a sensual smell wafting from ahead of you. Before you’ve had a chance to see the familiar shop, your brain already knows the smell is coming from a Hollister. Sure enough, the store’s seagull logo in dark maroon and all-capital sans serif letters is confirmation, and you also recognize the familiar dim lighting and beachy decor. You see patrons walking nearby with paper shopping bags boasting the same logo, and when you hop on their website at home and sign up for their email list you see the seagull, over and over again.
Every successful company uses branding because it helps to connect customers to their business by revealing its personality and eventually establishing loyalty.
Coca-Cola has had its signature logo stamped on every product they sell since its founding in the late 1800s, and every Coke die-hard can quickly spot their red + white drink of choice from a sea of competitors in the drink aisle. Prefer Pepsi? Notice how your eye first looks for the color blue as you reach into any icy cooler, and how your tastebuds won’t enjoy a cola if it’s packaged in a red + white can.
Branding works in the digital world, too. Your brain can quickly discern a real PayPal logo from a ripoff if the colors or font aren’t correct, saving you from a world of hurt by falling into an email scam. You also intuitively trust the brands you’ve seen over and over again and have heard positive reviews about, so much so that you’re even more likely to hire someone who works with brands you’re familiar with.
visual elements
A strong brand is made of 3 visual elements:
1. logo
A logo is a key symbol that identifies a company. Like a country’s flag, a logo characterizes a group’s values and presence.
2. color
Color is the fastest way to communicate mood and values without having to verbalize anything. Notice how a lot of major fast food brands use the color red because it symbolizes warmth and heat instead of blue, a color that can be associated with chilly coolness. No one likes a cold hot plate!
3. typography
Typography is a fancy way of saying fonts. Font choice can communicate personality to consumers like “serious and trustworthy,” “fun and playful,” “rebellious and counterculture,” and more.
These three make-or-break elements tell a visual story to your customers and communicate the quality of your offering before your audience has a chance to hear any words. Could you imagine a law firm presenting its Harley Davidson-esque logo, complete with a rebellious black and orange colorway and sharp lines, to prospective million-dollar corporate clients? Of course not! Their clients wouldn’t be able to instinctively trust that the firm’s values align with their own.
Without a logo, a color scheme, and specific typography you not only risk confusing your audience by inadvertently selling a different company than what you offer, but you also risk selling “multiple” brands without a connection point. Your company doesn’t exist in just one place; it shows up on your website and physical location, on other people’s websites or brick-and-mortar businesses, on signage, on social media, in email campaigns, in advertisements, and elsewhere. If your logo, fonts, and colors change from location to location then your audience won’t have the chance to connect with your core business.
other elements
Additional elements that play with the 5 senses are:
smell
What do your customers smell when they walk into your salad-only restaurant? Is it fresh and airy, or does it smell like a slaughterhouse?
sound
What do your customers hear when they shop at your boutique? Is it loud punk music, or is it soft jazz? How about the way you describe your business in advertisements — do you use playful words or on-the-nose facts?
taste
How does your favorite protein cookie taste? Is it chocolatey or chalk-olatey?
touch
Are your go-to knit blankets scratchy, or are they soft?
These examples can of course be translated across different industries with different products and services. The key is to connect all the branding dots to spell out a company ethos that you’re proud to display.
Yumari Digital specializes in creating brands that make sense; feel free to contact us for help with your visual elements.
