How We Answer the Question: “Why Branding?”

I was recently looking through AddisonWhitney.com, and when one of the sliding boxes popped up, what it included caught my eye, talking about who Addison Whitney is and what we do:

“…Helping companies envision their futures – through design, naming, research & brand strategy.”

This phrase stood out to me – and not just because it came from the AW site. The concept of a brand helping to shape a company’s future, along with its ability to put into motion the future they envision, shows the true impact of branding and brand development and drives the case to developing a strong brand.

It’s a question we hear all of the time – “why do I need to create a brand? Why branding?”

To me, the best way to answer this question is with a new question “What is branding?”

Branding is… a researched, thought-out, creative name, one that encapsulates the essence of the brand in verbal form. It’s a name that speaks to the consumer and lets them into what the brand is about while also finding a place in their memory and in their willingness to speak it to others.

Branding is… a logo that jumps out from the competition, and is created with the due diligence required to work on whatever platform it sits. It’s a color palette that keeps your visual brand interesting while also keeping it consistent, building brand equity as consumers walk by and drawing them in with its aesthetically pleasing look.

Branding is… the research behind the decisions made throughout the process. Nothing great is created in a vacuum, and that includes brands. It’s speaking to your target audience to discover that a name candidate you thought would be a home run actually needs some refinement before it can reach its true potential, and finding out what the consumer wants your brand voice to say in order to make the emotional connection necessary to build brand ambassadors.

Branding is… the strategy decisions that drive these elements, creating the road map that will get the brand from nothing to something great. It’s the identification of the target audience, the analysis of the competitive landscape, the positioning and architecture of the brand name and any upcoming brand additions, the brand guidelines that are built to ensure that every usage and interaction of your brand is consistent and powerful.

These reasons, these aspects of branding are why its strong development is so important. Creating and growing any business is a process that can take large amounts of time and energy to achieve – that’s a given. So why not spend some of that time and energy to create something that will work for you even after it is launched?

So go ahead, envision your future. Envision the future you want your company to have – where you want it go and the success you want it to achieve. Then look at it through the lens of what a strong brand can provide. If you do this, then “why branding?” becomes an easy question to answer.

Has your company recently experienced change or growth? Due to changes in business strategies, acquisitions, internal organizational changes or the addition of new products to a portfolio, your brand strategy may need to evolve over time. Click here to download your free copy of “Your Brand’s Guide to Corporate Change” today, and learn how to align your brand and business strategy for success!